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House and Barn boulders in Westford, MA?

BCavanaugh · · boston,ma · Joined Aug 2010 · Points: 155

^ very blatantly chipped. Hand width edges, arm spans away from each other. On 2 aretes of the big boulder

john strand · · southern colo · Joined May 2008 · Points: 1,640

A buddy of mine went in as well, and said a fair amount of chipping had happened

Taylor J · · Taos NM · Joined Nov 2010 · Points: 390
BCavanaugh wrote:^ very blatantly chipped. Hand width edges, arm spans away from each other. On 2 aretes of the big boulder
Well that's upsetting thanks for the info... Was there any chalk? Had anyone been there recently as far as you could tell....
BCavanaugh · · boston,ma · Joined Aug 2010 · Points: 155

There were chalked holds on the 1st boulder with the overhanging face(non chipped) looks like it could be decent hard problem. At least v8 or harder.

Taylor J · · Taos NM · Joined Nov 2010 · Points: 390

When I was out there a couple years ago there had been no recent sign of climbers, although I do recall and old pin or perhaps just a drilled hole on top of one of the boulders for some top roping....

Jeff Ilg · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jan 2014 · Points: 0

Will have to check this out, live in Shirley, MA. if anyone want to check these out one day that its not 5 degrees out.

Jeff

Mike Collins · · Northampton, MA · Joined May 2013 · Points: 0

I live in Littleton I've been wanting to check them out too but as you mentioned it's horrendously cold.. Hopefully soon

Jeff Ilg · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jan 2014 · Points: 0
Mike Collins wrote:I live in Littleton I've been wanting to check them out too but as you mentioned it's horrendously cold.. Hopefully soon
Hey, I did a bit of playing around at Ayer Boulders this am, some snow, but atleast it was warmer out.
Shoot me a message if you want to get out when it warms up.

Jeff
Mike Collins · · Northampton, MA · Joined May 2013 · Points: 0

Thinking I may try to get out today it's supposed to be about 50 (what!?). Which area do you think is more worth while ayer boulders or westford ? They are about the same distance for me. I have one pad

jbo · · Cambridge,MA · Joined Mar 2014 · Points: 5

Checked out the boulders today. Very disappointing to see the chipped holds. Probably going to head back there one of these days after work. Would be fun to send some of the taller lines. If anyone is going out there weekdays, let me know.

Taylor J · · Taos NM · Joined Nov 2010 · Points: 390
J Meagher wrote:Do you guys think access is stable enough where I could post this area? I went out there today and climbed a couple lines that I'm pretty sure are first ascents and I think its a big enough area to warrant a spot in the database
If I remember correctly we parked in a cul de sac really close to a few homes to access these boulders. If that's the only access I would keep it a locally known area only I don't see any good posting these being so close to private land. Just speculating but sounds like enough traffic could cause problems here.
jbo · · Cambridge,MA · Joined Mar 2014 · Points: 5

I parked at the same place as everyone.
The westford conservation and trust has a nice map of the trails:
westfordconservationtrust.o…
I hiked the whole trail and there isn't much more parking on the other side of the trail so we should probably keep it quiet.

jbo

jim.dangle · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jul 2011 · Points: 5,882

The boulders are on public land so I would post them up. The readership of Mountain Project is pretty small even within the climbing community, and the amount of people that will make it out there will be even smaller. If you are concerned about access just make a note a of it in the listing. Be vague on details if you like. If there is no guidebook or any kind of approach, 99.99% of the climbers will never ever go but you will be helping out fellow climbers in the area looking for someplace nearby to explore.

My two cents.

Jim

Oliver McMahon · · Nashua, NH · Joined Dec 2013 · Points: 285

I have to agree with J Meagher and Jim. This is not a destination many people will travel to. The boulders are impressive and nice to have in the area but I can't see it being more than a local attraction.

I got a picture of a slightly overhanging rock wall farther in off the yellow dot trail. It's about 8' vertical with maybe a 12' face. It has some features and looks climbable. J Meagher may have climbed it.

Expand the picture for detail. It doesn't look like much in the thumbnail. The base is flat so there's room for a pad.

The yellow dot craglet.

W.C. · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Mar 2014 · Points: 0

I just wanted to clear up an issue raised earlier in these posts: these boulders are not on public land, they are on private land. The trail to them begins on public land, but they are in the middle of a 4.8 acre parcel of privately owned land.

Oliver McMahon · · Nashua, NH · Joined Dec 2013 · Points: 285

I think W.C. is right. I looked this up online (see picture). It looks like the House and Barn are on MacDonald's property. I can't be sure. See what you think. Here's the link...

gis.cdm.com/website/Westfor…

GIS map of Saw Mill Rd area, Westford.

jim.dangle · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jul 2011 · Points: 5,882

Seems worth figuring out the access. My initial understanding was that these were on conservation land but I am not located in that part of the state. Just because the land is privately owned, however, doesn't mean that there is no deeded public access-- there could be an easment on it or it could be part of a privately held land trust.

Be forewarned: finding who owns what land and what right the public has can get kafkaesque fast.

Jim

Travis Dustin · · Mexico Maine · Joined Jan 2012 · Points: 1,665

Went out there today and Wow those are some awesome big boulders! There is an awesome fist/hand crack and some fun slabby problems! Worth checking out if you are in the area. There looks like ter will be some pretty hard stuff too!

boulderbum · · NY · Joined Feb 2011 · Points: 0

Chipped? Wow wtf man..

J Meagher · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Oct 2012 · Points: 285

So do we know if the landowner is cool with people climbing here?

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

Northeastern States
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