Yo if you go to red rock don't miss ray's picture. Walk past the gully to another small slab. There's a mini zipper that is a ton of fun. It goes 5.10, but not until the top. It's a worthwhile endeavor after your newbie buds try zipper and toe jam. TR setup requires lots of webbing or long runners. Lead requires brass spheres, friction, balance, and a good belay.

Good stuff guys - as usual thanks for the insight. I think Red Rock offers a more 'outdoorsy' experience, but aside from Zipper 5.6 and Toe Jams 5.5, there are not too many beginner options, I think the Quincy Quarries will be my best choice. And I'll definitely have to go check out "Six Pack" soon; it looks like fun.

Greg - great Cannon story, we were up on the WG this past Friday with the showers and it was an awesome experience! ~ especially when a free soloist cruised past us on the pipe pitch wearing a full rack and interior frame pack!

I've been dying to get on the The Grape, and especially Reppy's since I first heard about it - Thanks for a terrific, detailed adventure summary.

Lousy forecast for the weekend, but take heart everyone the best climbing season of the year is soon upon us!!! Sunshine, cool temps and low humidity are just around the corner!

If one was going to go missing I would have chosen the upper one. The horizontal it is in takes solid small cams.

For those interested, I was up at Red Rocks the other day and there are a number of new TR anchors for most of the lines on Main Wall and the Pink Floyd Wall. This not only opens up a number of hard to TR lines (including quite a few easy ones) but also gives the poor trees a bit of a rest! Talk amongst yourselves.

For those interested, I was up at Red Rocks the other day and there are a number of new TR anchors for most of the lines on Main Wall and the Pink Floyd Wall. This not only opens up a number of hard to TR lines (including quite a few easy ones) but also gives the poor trees a bit of a rest! Talk amongst yourselves.

Which has created a stir amongst the local climbing community on the north shore. Whoever did it, did NOT get the support of the community. I would be very surprised if they stayed.

ANd it's NOT just toprope anchors. I would have less of a problem if that's all it was. They also cut down trees and put in lead bolts. On one climb, it looked like there was ONE bolt. A 20-25 route and you put in ONE bolt so it can be lead? WTF?

Josh

Ahhh.... consulting the "community." It's funny that gets brought up. Who actually is the community?

Aren't we all, as users of the crag, the community? I have been climbing at Red Rocks for over 15 years and I've lived in or around Gloucester most of my life.

I think the recent modifications at the crag are a big improvement and from what I've over heard most people saying at the crag in the past couple of weeks, the masses agree.

Over the years, most folks I've talked to up there (the community?) have repeated a concern for the health of the trees at the tops of the crag, a desire to be able to lead more lines (both by having top anchors to rap off and having/ replacing bolts on current TR lines) as well as having TR set-ups that don't require 40 foot slings.

Sadly, the question of bolts at Red Rock has a long, checkered history but it seems to me that the ones against them are actually in the minority.

This weekend I was talking to a group from Boston's AMC while they were using some of the new bolts. They were saying that until that day, there had been discussions with the club to put new anchors in themselves. They were happy to see it was already done. Though I do understand there are some folks out there who never used bolts there in the past, so feel they are unnecessary. I feel that at a crag with as much traffic as Red Rocks, they serve a valuable purpose.

As for the newly bolted lines, if one looked closer they would see that the first bolts (just the hangers) were actually stolen, so in fact there was no single bolt death line. I'm not sure how long after the bolts were put in this happened, but I guess it was less than a week. I did meet the party involved in removing them, he said he was "making a statement about preserving the original nature of the crag."

I have mixed feelings on this sentiment. I can see some would want to hold on to the original nature of a climb/ climbing area.

My contention to this is if a) there is no written history available for the masses to know what has been lead in the past and by who and b) the first non-TR ascent was done on dodgy or no gear! At a crag like Red Rocks, which is typically a training ground for newcomers to the sport and recreational climbers, I doubt there are a lot of people who would still want to lead a 30 foot 5.10+ on 2 RPs! An old forgotten line which only receives an occasional TR could be better suited with bolts to spread out congestion and improve the over-all usability of the crag.

I do believe, however that when details about the first ascentionist are available, permission should be sought before bolts are added to the actual climb (TR anchors are different as that they don't affect the nature of the climb as much).

As for trees being cut... there isn't a crag in New England that hasn't had a few trees cut down around it (including Red Rock, on many previous occasions) to make access to climbs better and/ or allowing them to dry quicker and stay cleaner. Furthermore, it seems most of the trees that were cut were already dead. I suppose it is all about perception and personal beliefs but I think the work done up there benefited all users of the crag as a whole.
Perhaps in the future, to avoid similar communication issues, a North Shore climbing group could be formed... something like the W. Mass Climbing Coalition? It would not only be a good way to reach real consensus on crag renovations/ restorations but also for maintaining access to areas and working to open/ re-open other areas?

As for trees being cut... there isn't a crag in New England that hasn't had a few trees cut down around it (including Red Rock, on many previous occasions) to make access to climbs better and/ or allowing them to dry quicker and stay cleaner.

Furthermore, it seems most of the trees that were cut were already dead.