Climbing at Joe English Hill
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Someone mentioned Joe English Hill to me the other day since they thought I would be able to get legal access because of my current line of work, but he had never climbed there and didn't know much about it. |
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I climbed therre a lot in the 70's including some FA's/FFA's. Haven't been in ~30 yeras - probably wouldn't be able to find much today. Typical ne granite. Fairly extensive. |
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I know someone with legal access. Bring a brush and some goggles . Much of what I've seen has been reclaimed by Mother Nature. |
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I'd like to check it out also. |
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You get access and Ill go out there with you!! |
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Lived in Francestown for a couple of years in the mid-80s and used to go free-solo there every now and then. Good blueberries up higher as I recall. Would just go hangout up on ledges in the sun and it was always a nice escape from a fairly intense R&D programming job whenever I got overly saturated with code. At the time I didn't realize it was closed to climbing. I believe I read somewhere that it was where Dean Potter started as well. |
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Healy you were prolly ok. I think it was closed after 9/11. |
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As far as I know the base is still off limits to the general public. You can hike up to the top of the cliff to the old fire tower site, from the back side, but not the base of the cliff. |
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I have climbed at Joe English on and off for the past 10 years. You have to be very low key to say the least. I have been there climbing while the military was preforming exercise at the cliff and they said nothing. Other times they will escort you out and hold on to your rack for you( no joke). The other problem is there is no place to park that is low key. The neighborhood at the base enjoys it being closed and not looking for traffic. If you park there they will call the base. That being said some really good route and most important some historical routes. I have climbed a route up the center of the cliff unearthing old ring pins!!! I think it was an early AMC practice cliff |
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Thanks to everyone who replied or sent me PMs. I finally made it out to Joe English Hill this past weekend to check out the climbing. While quite a bit of the climbing looked like it was covered in lichen or had dirt filled cracks there were still a decent number of climbs that were quite clean. We got on everything from slabs to cracks to overhanging sport. If the access was open to everyone it would be a popular climbing area. |
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Man I miss that place. Used to go out almost everyday after school back in the late 90's, 2000's. We never got kicked out or had problems until 9/11 which is when they really upped the security. Before that we'd see base personnel patrol the road but they never paid attention to us. There is certainly a lot of decent lines there, it really is too bad about the access. Thanks for the photos! |
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Seeing that people are sneaking out to Joe English for a little fun... Here's the a link to the old 1977 guide to the cliff. |
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I was contacted by the "head of security" tonight and informed that NOONE HAS LEGAL ACCESS TO THIS CLIFF. It is to be considered off limits to all climbers including active duty military personnel. Sorry folks |
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Derek Tremblay wrote:I was contacted by the "head of security" tonight and informed that NOONE HAS LEGAL ACCESS TO THIS CLIFF. It is to be considered off limits to all climbers including active duty military personnel. Sorry folksI recently got a message from someone at the base as well. Apparently there is an endangered species of bat that lives on the cliffs. |
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Bummer. |
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I just stumbled across a mention of this place in an older version of Rock Climbing: New England, are there any recent updates on access or is only the top of the hill still open for hikers? |
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I live in town and climbed there extensively PRE-911 with the help of Gerry Hapgood at the local YMCA gaining us weekday permission. I wish those day's were back, it's literally 10 min's from me, I can see it from the porch! Wonderful Trad/ Sport and ICE ! Maybe the access fund can get the new Space Force Commander to look at the issue again ! |
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I climbed there a fair amount in the '70s/'80s with Paul Duval and others. It is an excellent crag with a good selection of one and two pitch routes with a good range of grades. Pre-9/11 it would be closed, then reopened at the whim of the current base commander. As others have noted, since 9/11 it has remained off limits to most. Todd's ( Gunkswest) most recent information gives reason to hope that this situation may now be ripe for change. I think this would be a good time to organize local climbers, along with others ( such as the Boston AMC climbers) who would be interested in having climbing there reopened, to work to approach the Base authorities in a unified manner to attempt to achieve this goal. While I'm sure that the Access Fund will be willing to provide support, it will require 'local energy' to take the initiative. |
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After receiving a few inquiries about Joe English Hill at events, I reached out to Congresswoman Kuster's office for assistance in engaging with the Air Force in 2019 to learn more about the rationale behind the closure. I hadn't read the Joe English section in the new S. NE Ice Guide. It's interesting that there seem to be two different stories related to whether access is permitted for those with the appropriate military credentials. |