Type: | Trad, 115 ft (35 m) |
FA: | unknown |
Page Views: | 666 total · 13/month |
Shared By: | Andy Casler on Jan 13, 2021 |
Admins: | Morgan Patterson |
recreational activity on town land only for those individuals who maintain active membership
with the Ragged Mountain Foundation.
As of late 2019, active members of the RMF can obtain permits sanctioned by Meriden’s
Department of Parks and Recreation that allow for the responsible use of the town’s many cliff
sides, trails, and boulders in pursuit of rock climbing.
Permits can be obtained (by active dues paying RMF members only) from the Meriden Parks
and Recreation building located at 460 Liberty Street between the hours of 7:30 am and 3:30 pm
for a $5 fee. The Parks Department maintains a list of all active RMF members. You can
purchase or renew your RMF membership here. You can also become a member via the “Joint-
Membership Program” with the Access Fund. Please be aware that it may take up to 30 days
between the time of purchasing a membership with the Ragged Mountain Foundation and
appearing on the city’s list of individual climbers authorized to receive permits. Also,
please be aware that permits are issued on an individual basis, and are not interchangeable
between multiple members in a single party.
The permits from the City are good for one calendar year from the date of payment, so you will
need to renew again the following year. Please keep a copy of your RMF membership and a copy
of your permit from the City (electronic image okay) on hand. As part of the agreement, park
rangers and City officials have been informed to ask for identification if they observe
climbers/climbing. Climbers without proper credentials are subject to fines.
This is a massive step forward in the relationship between climbers and the City of Meriden. For
more information on the agreement, please look at the RMF Blog.
As always, be safe and be respectful.
Description
Beautiful rock, great holds, and fantastic sustained movement. A testament to the high quality climbing at East Peak.
Scramble up blocky ledges near a small elm tree. Follow face holds to reach your first piece of protection at about 30' (5.10- X). Climb higher, eventually reaching a wide horizontal crack that spans the cliff face. Carefully peer into the crack, seeing if the monster rat snake has returned home that day.
Rest and then pull above the roof at a left-facing corner, questing into the action packed cruxes above. Follow an incipient rounded crack, sloping hand holds, and virtually non-existent footholds up and then move left, (crux, 5.12d R if placing gear on lead) eventually reaching a rest stance. Good protection is available here, but the gear is very specific, somewhat finicky, and it's strenuous to place.
Continue above, following an interesting variety of holds near a jagged crack, and enjoy sustained pumpy climbing. Crank higher into the delicate and powerful redpoint crux - slapping for holds right at the top of the cliff.
Location
Starts on the face that's right of the Trial and Triumph dihedral, and left of Falling Star and Reflections of Fall.
Climb the deceptively steep face and an incipient crack system.
Protection
Unobvious, somewhat finicky, and extremely specific. Mico cams, cams, offset cams, and nuts.
The FA lead was done headpoint style. Climber rehearsed the route on toprope and then placed all his gear on lead.
It's possible to take much of the danger out of this route by stick clipping the first piece, pre-placing protection on rappel, and then using one preplaced 2' sling and one 4' sling to allow clips before crux sequences (the style that I used).
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