Climbing around Boston?

So my wife has a conference the in the end of March in Boston, and I'm considering going with her for a few extra days. But while she is in the conference for the weekend, I was wondering if there is any good roped climbing or bouldering around the Boston area? Say within an hour or two?

Hammond Pond is nice since it's within Greater Boston, but proximity is it's best feature.

Lincoln Woods is 45min - 1 hr away, depending on the quantity of lead in your foot. Lots of excellent problems.

Those are the two spots I would recommend within an hour. Bump it to two, and tons more places open up - Rumney, Farley, Pawtuckaway, etc, etc, etc

For local contacts check out MetroRock in Cambridge and Rock Spot in Dedham

Hammond Pond has good bouldering as mentioned. The "roped" climbing is all ~5.6 range and tops out around 40 feet. This is the easiest spot to get to from Boston.

South of the city is a spot called quincy quarry. The routes aren't amazing, but there is one or two bolted 10's that you may enjoy, and the graffiti can be pretty interesting. Theres also a pretty good view of Boston from the top. If you feel up for it, there is a great trad line called mountainproject.com/v/under… that would be worth the trip in my opinion.

Lincoln woods will also have great bouldering.

North of the city is a great spot called Red Rocks. The routes are pretty short and moderate, but on good quality granite. There are also some great friction slab routes in the 10-11 range that you could try on top rope. The view from the top looks out into Plumb Island Sound, and is pretty pleasant.

Depending on the weather, you might be able to make a trip to Rumney, which is without a doubt the best sport climbing crag in the Northeast, and would be just a bit over two hours to get too. If its warm enough, this is without a doubt the best bet for climbing this time of year.

If you were really gona do it right, I'd book it north and do some climbing in Huntington Ravine.. Thats where I will be anyhow.

Thanks for the ideaas. Rumney sounds pretty sweet, but I'd have to find a partner for that. Definitely would check out the bouldering!

if you are willing to drive a little, Farley is a little bit closer than Rumney and is very high quality. Bouldering is generally pretty hard there and lots of sick sport and trad lines (and mixed).

Micah Klesick wrote:Thanks for the ideaas. Rumney sounds pretty sweet, but I'd have to find a partner for that. Definitely would check out the bouldering!

Crow hill in Leominster has amazing single pitch trad

Rumny in march will be great rock climbing on a sunny day. You may need real winter boots and micro spikes.

Milford has some good bouldering basically in my backyard. If I'm around I could give you the tour. We have somewhere around 75 problems I would guess. College rock in Hopkinton has some top roping. Some of it has been lead on gear. Both places are 45 minutes from Boston.

Crow Hill in Leominster is fun. Some of the best near by trad that I know of.
Rumney has a lot of amazing sport climbing.

Rumney was always only 1.5 hours for me. I lived in Somerville, so maybe it was the easy access from the north, but it was pretty hard to do it in more than 2 hours.

Mid march can be a real crap shoot in New England...I would check weather with neclimbs.com.....if it's a tough winter, go south and for sure avoid Crow Hill

Remember...viryually NO sport climbs outside Rumney this time of year either

Lynn Woods and Cape Ann offer great bouldering very close to Boston.

For bouldering Lincoln Woods Ri, or Pawtuckaway in NH. Sport climbing Rumney is the place to go and trad id go to Farley, lots of good single pitch cracks in Pawtuckaway also.

Sounds like your winter weather is similar to ours over here in the PNW. Wet and cold. Just have to wait and see what the weather is like!

Hey hombre - send a PM when the date gets close, be happy to take you out climbing near BOS.

Farley is a leisurely 1.5 hours from Boston, and I'd call it the best of the nearby crags.

Don't subject yourself to Quincy Quarries. The climbs are covered in graffiti, most of them are not very good, and you stand a reasonable chance of getting gear stolen and your car broken into. There's a lot of good climbing in the Northeast, and Quincy Quarries shouldn't even be mentioned in the list of nearby crags. If you're that desperate and don't want to travel, we have a shit ton of good gyms now.

Hammond is ok, or you could go to Farley or Crow Hill and climb routes that are actually good.

We also have some decent trail running in the Fells and the Blue Hills if the weather is bad for climbing. Good mountain biking too.

And of course, there's always the potential for ice still being around, plenty of long easy things you can solo in NH.

go to NH or western MA.... climbing around Boston is pretty disappointing overall. I honestly don't know how some people get so stoked for some of the things around here..

Rumney is two hours north of Boston if you hustle up I-93 at 75-80 mph. As you know, it's a world class sport climbing area, and it's always good-to-go as long as it's over 40 degrees. If you want to boulder, go to Pawtuckaway or Farley. If you want to do trad, don't go to Crow Hill. Go to Connecticut.