Where to learn to crack climb?

I'm based near Boston right now, and would like to hear some crack climbing suggestions (routes/areas). I'm planning to spend a while out in Utah in the spring and would love to get some practice here first. 

A bit of searching here on MP should turn up some threads comparing eastern and western crack climbing, along with some route recommendations. However, when you refer to planning to spend time climbing in "Utah"--if you mean Indian Creek or other similar areas, there is basically nothing really similar (with the possible exception of some 'gym cracks'!!!) in this region---eastern cracks are almost invariably more featured and less 'consistent' than you will find on the Wingate sandstone. However, despite that, you can still develop good basic jamming skills locally, then, once in the desert, gradually adapt those skills to the long, parallel cracks common in that region. While there are a few short cracks scattered around the local Boston-area crags, the closest area with a good collection of crack climbs is Crow Hill--Intertwine, Diagonal, Cro-Magnon, Jane, amongst others, all involve some good jamming sequences. Out here in western Mass--Farley has several excellent cracks--Yosemite, Peapod, Barndoor, as examples---and, jumping a long way up in grades--Bulletproof is an off-width testpiece.  However, it is New Hampshire that has the most crack-climbing options relatively close at hand. Though very short, there are a number of good pure cracks of varying sizes at Pawtuckaway. The largest collection of cracks is found at Cathedral Ledge, with too many good ones to single any out. Most of the other White Mountain granite crags have good cracks as well--search on here or pore through the guidebooks and you'll find plenty to both keep you busy and to help you develop a good variety of jamming skills.

Crow hill has some really nice cracks. Farley as well. Further away cathedral ledges is very high quality granite crack lines and Cannon also has the alternative start to moby grape which is about as splitter as you can get (and I believe there are chains on top so you can do it as a single pitch.

Also don’t underestimate gym cracks (particularly the off sizes). I think crg has an assortment of them, but I’ve been out of the area for a while so I may be thinking of a different gym.

Not CRG, unfortunately. Cambridge has a 45 degree adjustable crack trainer, but they are planning to move that location closer to Alewife next year and said they'll probably be ditching the trainer in the process even though they will have more space in the mall location. I've petitioned for them to add some cracks at Watertown many times but no luck. Seems like their master plan is to be a string of bouldering facilities next to T stops and boulderers apparently don't care about cracks. Maybe Metro? BKB/BBP will often set crack routes with their Wide Boyz volumes but that's not the same as some permanent splitters like you'd get in most Colorado or California gyms. 

Like Luke and Alan said - your best bet is to go to Cathedral, especially the North End and Barber Wall. Other crags like Farley or Hanging Mountain will have a few cracks but not the best option if that's your primary goal. Cannon is a step up in terms of objective risk so be careful even if you're doing the single pitch thing. Greens Cliff (NH) or Spider's Web and Beer Wall (Daks) are other good options if you are up for either a longer hike or longer drive.

CRG Hadley has a sort-of desert style crack--big fists to hands to increasingly wide off-width---it hurts!!!!

Alan Rubin wrote:

A bit of searching here on MP should turn up some threads comparing eastern and western crack climbing, along with some route recommendations. 

https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/122870693/learning-to-crack-climb-as-a-northeast-climber

However, when you refer to planning to spend time climbing in "Utah"--if you mean Indian Creek or other similar areas, there is basically nothing really similar (with the possible exception of some 'gym cracks'!!!) in this region---eastern cracks are almost invariably more featured and less 'consistent' than you will find on the Wingate sandstone. However, despite that, you can still develop good basic jamming skills locally, then, once in the desert, gradually adapt those skills to the long, parallel cracks common in that region.

Agree completely. Even if the local resource doesn't offer anything quite like the splitters of southern Utah, you can still develop a solid base of experience to set you up for success in Utah.

Pawtuckaway has several good jam cracks from fingers to off width, try the Upper Cliff, Lakeside and Devils Den. They can be TRd or lead.

People whose routes to look for: Weissner and Barber. The Gunks hasn’t  been mentioned for crack, there are some good chimneys there - squeeze and wider. 

The spiders web in the dacks is the best single pitch crack crag in the east. Heavy in the 5.11 range, with routes from 5.8-5.13c it is a great spot for anyone, several lines can be climbed from the same anchor, notably fear and loathing in keene valley, 5.11 and mr rogers neighborhood 5.8; on the loose 5.9+ and romano’s 11c, white knight 11+ and ku klux ken 12+(direct start to white knight); and TR 5.10- and zabba 5.13a. This makes the web a great training area. The far left side has easy top access for tree anchors to top rope if you aren’t skilled at leading. 

Nick Budka wrote:

The spiders web in the dacks is the best single pitch crack crag in the east. Heavy in the 5.11 range, with routes from 5.8-5.13c it is a great spot for anyone, several lines can be climbed from the same anchor, notably fear and loathing in keene valley, 5.11 and mr rogers neighborhood 5.8; on the loose 5.9+ and romano’s 11c, white knight 11+ and ku klux ken 12+(direct start to white knight); and TR 5.10- and zabba 5.13a. This makes the web a great training area. The far left side has easy top access for tree anchors to top rope if you aren’t skilled at leading. 

This sounds like exactly what I'm looking for, thanks a lot! 

Single pitch is perfect, it would be great to just run laps on top rope, maybe solo, and try out different techniques.