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Stewart's Crack

5.9+, Trad, 190 ft (58 m), 2 pitches,  Avg: 3.6 from 40 votes
FA: Jim Dunn, Michael Macklin '75
New Hampshire > WM: Kancamagus… > Greens Cliff > Main Wall

Description

A classic Jim Dunn crack out in the woods. Jim got around and knew a good line when he saw it. This beautiful crack runs the full height of the cliff, starting with a 9+ pitch of hand jamming up a corner to a big belay ledge. The crack then continues with an angling wide section to a pod where you can get a stance. A few chimney moves gets you back into finger and hand jamming. When you get to the pine tree, step out left to the clean crack that leads to the bolted anchor. Taping for the hand jams recommended.

Originally done as three pitches using pins on the ledge and a now deceased tree for a belay, the belays are now bolted. A single 60m will get you down in 2 drops. Gear for the first pitch is excellent, especially if you have a finger sized off-set cam for the first piece. The wide section of the second pitch requires some care and a #5 Camalot early on. Oh, and the second pitch might feel like a wicked sandbag at it's traditional 9+ grade unless you have huge mitts.

Named for Stewart Green, James' friend . Get It ?

Location

Right of center - From below the big roofs on the right side of the cliff, walk to the climber's left under the very steep slab of the porcelain wall section until you see the classic hand crack in a left facing stem corner.

Protection

Pitch 1 - Cams up to #3 Camalot size, doubles of the red and gold (you could use 3 golds if you have them). A finger tip sized off-set cam makes a great first piece, otherwise you have to boulder up a little more to put a regular one in. For pitch 2, add a #4 and 5 Camalot (used early on) and a light set of nuts. The belays are bolted (1/2" SS Rawl 5 pc with quicklinks) rap stations. A single 60m gets you down with a lower and rap.

Photos [Hide ALL Photos]

This kind of shows how wide it gets up there near the top, bigger than my fist and a bit flaring. Jammed it up that far but then had to layback the wide part.
[Hide Photo] This kind of shows how wide it gets up there near the top, bigger than my fist and a bit flaring. Jammed it up that far but then had to layback the wide part.
Hope Vince onsights the first pitch of Stewart's Crack.
[Hide Photo] Hope Vince onsights the first pitch of Stewart's Crack.
The start of Stewart's Crack
[Hide Photo] The start of Stewart's Crack
Chris Magness seconding Stewart's Crack<br>
Photo by Dima Shirokov
[Hide Photo] Chris Magness seconding Stewart's Crack Photo by Dima Shirokov
Starting up the recently cleaned second pitch
[Hide Photo] Starting up the recently cleaned second pitch
Looking down at the belay atop ptch 1 from the pod
[Hide Photo] Looking down at the belay atop ptch 1 from the pod
Stewart's Crack, at the good rest just after the crux.
[Hide Photo] Stewart's Crack, at the good rest just after the crux.
Hand jammin' P1.
[Hide Photo] Hand jammin' P1.
P1, belay is up and R from small bush.
[Hide Photo] P1, belay is up and R from small bush.
what a beauty
[Hide Photo] what a beauty

Comments [Hide ALL Comments]

[Hide Comment] yup, climbed it in 2007 with a buddy when i was working for the appalachian mating club, we climbed two pitches from hands to fists and left nuts to rap, sweet route, i wish it was a bit cleaner (nasty as hell) but then it would be more popular, the approach was easier than I thought coming from sawyer pond. Strandman, did you quote websters second edition there with "stewart green-get it?". Classic. Oct 30, 2009
john strand
southern colo
  5.9+
[Hide Comment] Ya Ed and I discussed the name a few times, thought it was pretty good. Jan 1, 2010
M Sprague
New England
  5.9+
[Hide Comment] The starting pitch looks pretty clean, but from the ground the upper parts look clogged with dirt and greenery. Also, I didn't see any trees on the route worthy of rapping off. To my mind the route looks like it could use a cleaning and maybe a couple discrete rap anchors. The hike off is classic heinous thick spruce scruff and windfall, and the route ends near the middle point of a wide cliff. GPS coordinates: N44.03604 W71.39926 Apr 26, 2010
M Sprague
New England
  5.9+
[Hide Comment] I had a chat with Jimmy Dunn and he was in agreement with replacing the old pin/webbing/cord anchors with new bolted ones so I have placed a new 2 bolt anchor at the 1st pitch belay ledge with quicklinks for rapping off and cut out the detritus. We left the pins in for historical purposes. The idea was to also do the second pitch, but it is horrendously dirty so I am putting the effort into other routes first..Maybe later. Amy C has taken on the task of giving the first pitch a sweep and is almost done. I TRed it while it was still dirty and can't wait to lead it. It is really nice.

If the top was cleaned, with modern length ropes, I think this would be a 2 pitch route. Jul 2, 2010
Jeffrey LeCours
New Hampshire
[Hide Comment] "upper pitches look like turf tugging dirt fests"... LOL! The start pitch looks great. I can't wait to check it out. Jul 14, 2010
Amy Colburn
Boston, MA
 
[Hide Comment] Pitch one is clean now.
Pitch one cleaned, with help from Mother Nature.

Pitch two has great potential for vertical blueberry picking.
Technical Vegetation.
Jul 18, 2010
john strand
southern colo
  5.9+
[Hide Comment] i bet the bears could clean pitch 2 ! I can't believe how much has grown in there since i did this route. Of course it has been a while (17 years). I'm pretty sure the dead tree is the one we rapped off ! Jul 19, 2010
M Sprague
New England
  5.9+
[Hide Comment] I led this the past weekend (first pitch) and it has washed up from the rain after the scrub very nicely. It was very fun, much better than when it still had some loose dirt in it. Great handjamming and a little laybacking. Tape on the back of the hands is a good idea. Bring an extra # 2 gold Camalot or two. I had to run it out some with only one. I was glad I had brought a few of my offset cams too, but you would be fine without them as long as you had multiples of the red and gold. A finger tip sized offset cam works great for your first piece. I'm bumping this up to three stars now that it is clean. The first pitch is also longer than it looks..not much rope left when rapping with a 60 meter. The first pitch is G rated if you have enough cams. Sep 13, 2010
Amy Colburn
Boston, MA
 
[Hide Comment] climbed it again last weekend and the first pitch has dried out quite nicely. Oct 12, 2011
Tom Bowker
somewhere in the USA
  5.9+
[Hide Comment] The recently cleaned second pitch is awesome. I found it harder than the first. Looking at the before picture of Amy's the effort to clean this pitch was huge and totally worth it!!!!!!!!!!!!! May 14, 2012
M Sprague
New England
  5.9+
[Hide Comment] The new second pitch anchor is now fully in (two 1/2 SS Rawls with fat quicklinks). They were placed just below the lip so the vegetation at the top didn't have to be disturbed. I think Jim may have finished up the right hand corner at the top originally, but I set the anchors up for and cleaned the left hand crack finish. It is good and a little steeper and I didn't want to clean out the top corner as it would kill the big bonsaied pine. So, the route is now two pitches and can be done with a single 60m. Get out and get on it before it fills back up with vegetation! Aug 18, 2012
Ira OMC
Hardwick, VT
  5.10a/b
[Hide Comment] I would strongly recommend the second pitch . It seems like a lot of folks do the first pitch only. But it's well worth it to continue up... . Sep 21, 2019
Steven Lee
El Segundo, CA
 
[Hide Comment] Great climb. P1 was excellent with a fun crux. Totems were nice to have.

Got spanked by the second pitch, but it was great. Mistakenly saved the #5 for later and should have just used it early instead of fiddling with smaller gear to conserve. The second 1/2 of the second pitch had plenty of places for finger/hand sized gear. Sep 14, 2020