Dol Guldur
5.11 YDS 6c+ French 23 Ewbanks VIII- UIAA 23 ZA E4 5c British PG13
Avg: 3.6 from 25 votes
Type: | Trad, TR, 80 ft (24 m) |
FA: | 1975 FFA: Trocchi & Heintz, 1976 |
Page Views: | 7,440 total · 37/month |
Shared By: | David House on Oct 12, 2007 |
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
Climb the crack with a variety of thin fingers and face holds to the top of the crack, traverse left, go up and back right. Tricky and sequential, and tough to protect on the lead. You'll need every trick in the thin crack book. I am a bit embarrased to be posting this since after many tries I only managed to do this once during the mid 90's shortly after Ken Nichols had made his 1000th ascent of the line! I gave it the traditional 5.11 grade, but let me say this is a SOLID 5.11. One might whisper sandbag...
From Mike Heintz (FA): The FFA of this route was undoubtedly the greatest adventure of my Connecticut climbing days. Originally a difficult aid route, it saw just two ascents, mine being the second. While aiding it, I noticed there might be adequate holds to free climb the route, and began attempting to do so on toprope shortly afterward, succeeding after many tries. The route was clearly harder than anything else in the state, and harder than anything else I'd done up to that point. Tony Trocchi became interested in seeing if we could do it free, ground up, on the lead. We were both unemployed at the time. It was November and winter was approaching, as well as Tony's commitment to leave the state for a guiding position in New Hampshire for this year's ice season. Day after day, we drove to East Peak, punched the clock, and advanced a little higher. Tony would go up and get one more piece of gear in, then he'd come down. I'd go up and push it a little further, get one more nut in, then come down. It went on like this for days, each advancing a little further with every try. On at least one day neither one of us could reach our high point. Eventually, we got to the arch. The end of the major technical difficulties, but the start of the real head trip. In those days, the last 20 feet was both loose and unprotected, as well as being overhanging. There was a big loose flake out there you had to layback on. We again took turns venturing onto that head-wall, only to reverse the moves back to the arch, pushing a little further each time before returning to safety. The only difference was there was no protection being added as progress was made. We both kept chickening-out, try after try. Time was running out. Tony was already supposed to be in New Hampshire. If we didn't do it within the next couple of tries we'd have to bag it, knowing the route would go to Bruce Dicks, the most capable climber in Connecticut at that time (he ended up doing the second ascent). At last, Tony pushed through to the top, and I seconded the route, cleaning all that gear which had hung there for so many days.
13 Comments