looking for crag near Danbury, CT

I'm wondering if anyone has information about a crag I remember climbing on outside of Danbury many years ago. I can find nothing in the MP "guide" that seems to fit.What I recall is that sometime in the '70s--as I said, many years ago--someone told me about and gave directions to a crag located near the Danbury airport, called, I think, Bear Crag. It was located on a hill/ridge above and to the west or northwest of the airport(I don't know if that airport still exists). There was a road up the hill and the crag was a fairly short walk down from the road and looked over the airport area. I don't recall the crag as being very tall or extensive, but the most obvious line was a striking overhanging crack up the tallest section. I first had an epic trying the crack as a top-rope solo--ended up having to prussik out. I later came back with ropegun Al Long and we did it one afternoon en route to the Gunks. We rated it 5.9, but that's what we rated anything that we found hard. Any of this sound familiar to anyone? If not, it may be worth it for someone local to try to locate and bring into the 'modern world'. Though it wouldn't surprise me to find that it is now part of someone's million dollar McMansion.

Hi Alan.. you're memory serves you well sir! The crag is to the SW of the airport and has a parking lot on top of it. The cliff is kind split in two sections with the most impressive section being the northern one which, consequently has been surrounded by No Trespassing signs along every tree of the boarder of the property. The southern cliff is a park/conservation area and is sorta vertical and but pretty much garbage from my memory. Think it was broken by a ledge that kinda killed what would have otherwise been a good cliff. Though for beginners the southern cliff might be good for some TR'ing post work. There is a cliff directly above Rt 7 on Moses mountain as well which is legal to climb and documented here on MP.

Black arrow points to Bear Mountain... you can see the cliffs in this LiDAR scan showing up as small green splotches on the grey topo...

Closeup:

Thanks Morgan. I'm assuming that the crack I recall climbing was on the northern crag. There were no "No Trespassing" signs BITD. Despite the signs can you see enough of the crag to tell if it has decent potential were access ever to be restored? I recall the crack being quite good and reasonably hard. On my solo attempt I was using a very primative TR self-belay technique (I've never been any good with that sort of 'technical' stuff), came off and swung into space. It then took me quite a while to figure out how to escape--as I said "I've never been any good...".It is really too bad that the crag--however limited, is closed, as a few more accessible crags in the CT/NY border area would be a very good addition. Armonk--home to another excellent little overhanging crack--was another very worthwhile crag now closed. I am familiar with these places as I grew up in Westchester and my parents remained in the area for years after I moved further northeast. Thanks again for the updated information.

Alan Rubin wrote:Thanks Morgan. I'm assuming that the crack I recall climbing was on the northern crag. There were no "No Trespassing" signs BITD. Despite the signs can you see enough of the crag to tell if it has decent potential were access ever to be restored? I recall the crack being quite good and reasonably hard.

I have photos from my exploratory hike up there, somewhere. Yes you can see plenty if not all of the cliff from the trail. And yes some very impressive short overhanging rock of decent looking quality. The amount of signs posted really gives the impression of an unbalanced (and uneducated in recreational law) landowner... so at the time i didn't ignore them.

Armonk... ya that's a wonderful cliff, like truely wonderful. I learned to climb outdoors there in the 90s and it breaks my heart that the property has been posted all these years. As the regional coordinator for the AF here in SW CT I've done some work along with some other folks to try to restore access but to no avail. Did you ever visit Great Ledge?

No I never visited Great Ledge. Where is it? What is it like? While I grew up in Westchester and my folks continued to live there for years after I moved on, so would visit them often, I really didn't do that much climbing there--the Gunks were just too convenient. Armonk--once I learned of it's existence--was a convenient stop off for a quick 'climbing fix' en route either to or from family visits. The place that was closest to where I lived was the bouldering (and very short top ropes)in Saxon Woods county park on the Scarsdale/Mamaroneck line. Not a bad little place at all, which, interesting, doesn't seem to be listed on MP. Even in the '60s I recall some old fixed pins in the tallest (still not very tall) boulders. Laddin's Rock was close, but I only learned about that place after I was no longer regularly visiting--stopped and looked once but never actually climbed there.

Great ledge would have been a bit outta the way for you but a very nice 60-80ft cliff over in Redding, CT. Good granitic gniess with some steeps and roofs.

mountainproject.com/v/great…

Oh Laddins... that's a place I'd gladly forget!

Wow, you bring back some great memories! I grew up in Brewster and spent time at all the places mentioned in the 70's and 80's along with several others. Last time I was up there was a couple years ago. Almost everything is posted now, even the few routes near Dean's Corner bridge. We headed over to West Point to visit friends and found the area near the tracks also posted... Sad.

Great Ledge has a easy (but still more of a) walk than a roadside crag.

Do you like to have fun and accept the rock as it comes,
WITH-OUT. - Not Welcome Signs, - & conflicting, open space, trail blazes?

Do you want to climb on steep secluded rock,
that sits above a highway,
Is in the flight path of an airport,
across from a gun range

and not complain about how things aren't going your way?

Do you like to climb five.fun to 5.12+, safely on fresh the rock ?
on climbs that have not been covered with white dots of chalk everywhere?
Early action; 3rd & 4th person to climb it or FA's?

stretched out over a few miles so your not crowded,
unless you want to climb in a group.?

That is what the climbing here in Danbury is all about.

Now that we've got that clear,

let's go climb some rocks and be excited about it!