A dazzling beauty still in the midst of undisturbed wilderness, the Infinity Wall reigns on the easternmost end of the Rumney crags. Stumbling upon it accidentally on a bushwhack home from the upper woods, and not knowing that development had already begun by Brady Libby and friends, Bradley White and Ryan Barber casually called the wall Utopia as a tribute to its magnificence sitting peacefully against series of stony waterfalls and mossy boulders.
All of the climbs listed in the 2009 Rumney Guidebook are towards the righthand end; the three prominent 5.11 cracks (Ass, Grass, and Gas respectfully) being on the upper level of the righthand side of the crag. As you work your way right to left at the base you will be dazzled by the deep overhanging caves which marks the home "Victim or the Crime" (V5) as well as the intimidating "Overclang Underhang" (5.12c).
With no real signs to mark the way, this cliff remains one of Rumney's undiscovered treasures, and thus Brady Libby named the wall "Infinity" as there is a near infinite plethora of unclimbed potential waiting to be explored.
Getting There
From the parking lot, walk right Past the Bakery and bushwhack through the woods several hundred yards. Don't be mistaken by the small crag a few hundred feet right of the Bakery. Keep walking up the beaten woodland pathways staying left, inward, and up the hillside until you come across the lower sections of the Infinity Wall. Be aware that this approach may be on private property and that National Forrest access is to hike the trail past the New Wave Wall; at the top of the gully, but still below the Kennel Wall, angle off right and then continue over the other side of the ridge, to a seasonal river which runs directly beneath a surprisingly long series of pretty crags which are mostly unclimbed.
I stumbled upon that short (~25'?) but long cliff band you mentioned, after hiking around the right side of Kennel and finding a well beaten path that traversed the top of it. There were chalks on some of the juggier, less committing lines. The best part of the cliff band was overhung on blank, pretty rock.
In reference to this, I assume the Infinity Wall is lower on the hillside. Any idea how much further towards the town center? Or would I have passed it by that point?
By M Sprague Administrator From: New England Feb 28, 2013
Infinity is not very tall, at least the climb worthy stuff. After you exit the cave, most of it is broken and crappy. There are short sections of cool rock along there, but when I was exploring it I didn't see much to do that hadn't already been done. It was a lot of cool looking highball boulder problems over a bad landing to crappy finish stuff IMO. I kind of figured it was a cool looking, magical natural area, but not so good for sport routes, so I chose not to disturb it. Maybe some anchors that you could clip with a long stick clip for TRing would make sense.
The most identifying feature of the infinity Wall is the steep cave of New Wave like rock at the base and the pretty stream that runs along next to it. There is a good pool if it is hot and you want to cool off. Bring a bunch of pads if you want to boulder in the cave.
The cracks on the upper section were dirty when I got on them and harder than they look.
Did you find the 5.9 crag? It is small, steep and has a few awkwardly bolted routes on it that last I knew needed to be retroed. If you got above the meadows /Parking lot Wall and head back and to the right , you should find it, more bouldering walls too.
By lee hansche Administrator From: goffstown, nh Mar 1, 2013
haha i pride my self on knowing rumney pretty damn well and i have failed on numerous attempts to locate this ethereal craglet they call the infinity wall... i will continue my search...
I found the infinity wall this past summer by continuing out past the bakery for about 10 minutes, passing a few small crags without much potential on the way. When we got to the wall, we said, hmm this looks cool, let's put our stuff down here and go find the infinity wall. After about 30 minutes aimlessly searching, we found our way back and then realized that it was actually the infinity wall. So, in conclusion, it is not as impressive as its name may imply. Marks description is good, and it is east to northeast facing, I believe. Jeff, sounds like you were too high (on the hillside, that is)... probly had to continue more toward town.
By lee hansche Administrator From: goffstown, nh Mar 2, 2013
haha thats pretty funny that you kept looking after you found it.. thanks for the warning, im not expecting too much but it's kind of "my thing" to put lots of time and effort in to doing silly things at Rumney :)
By M Sprague Administrator From: New England Mar 2, 2013
If you are in to exploring, it is worth the effort to see it. I was exploring higher up the mountain and then came down, around and approached The Infinity Wall from the east the first time I saw it. From that angle for some reason it looked huge. I thought I had found another Main Cliff that had somehow been overlooked. I was like "Holy shit! How can that be here?" I bounded through the woods until I saw reality.
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