curious about obscure crags in northern VT, NEK

I have been scouting out a bunch of small crags close to where I live and thinking about putting up some routes. I'm curious as to whether anyone else has already considered some of these places, what people think of them in terms of rock quality and potential, or if there are already routes that no one knows about. Also if anyone is interested in exploring them with me and maybe doing something to climb them.

Eagles Ledge, in Wolcott, is a pretty big cliff with a long and buggy approach (unless you own a mud truck) and a lot of loose rock, but I think could offer up at least 10 fine lines.

There are some small cliffs on the eastern side of woodbury mountain that are intriguing.

Nichols Ledge in Hardwick is a popular and beautiful little (tiny) hike, but is maybe two pitches high and seems like someone would have climbed it sometime. I've never hiked in to the bottom of it, but for all I know there are routes on it that you can't see from above.

Mt. Pisgah is a huge cliff. There is no rock climbing there only ice? Seems like there must be a few good pitches there unless it is just always too wet.

Hawk Rock up in East Haven... I snowshoed up there this morning and saw a bolted line following a crack in the middle of cliff. Any other routes? and where does that climb end up? I couldn't see if it went through the big roof at the top or not. Either way, that is some nice granite up there.

Silver ledge, in Groton?

Anything else? I saw a place in the gazeteer called "The ledges" in craftsbury/wolcott, but I haven't searched for anything there as of yet.

Please respond either to the forum or pm if you have any opinions or info., Thanks!
Ira

I think Pisgah is off limits except in winter. Tradman will know for sure...

There is tons of undeveloped rock in Vermont, no question. It's a sport that is constantly evolving. There's still a considerable amount of development to be done in the Bolton area, particularly at Bone Mt, which has huge potential. The problem with development, and in Vermont in particular, is that most of these small cliffs are pretty mossy and dirty. You can scrub them down, but until they get lots of traffic it can be quite a hassle to climb at these lesser visited cliffs. That, and there's not really enough people in Vermont who are climbing, which we need in order to gain the traffic at lesser visited places, although that is changing. Take the Bolton area for example, there are 14 crags in Bolton, yet most people stick to upper and lower west. As this sport continues to grow, I am certain that many of the places you mention will be developed, but right now there's simply not enough interest in establishing new places. That being said, if you are starting to put new stuff up, I would get in touch with Travis Peckham at Vermont Rock. He will be able to offer lots of insight when it comes to what's been done, access issues, and responsible development ethics as they pertain to Vermont climbing. For the most part, the community will likely be psyched to see new places getting some attention.

The eagle cliff that I am aware of is near vershire and has two significant corner climbs 5.7 and 5.10? looked like a few other developed lines as well?

Pete Tapley told me about a cool roof crack he did at hawk rock years ago. He may have done other stuff there as well before moving back west.

I've been to the bottom of Nichols. Ledgy and loose, though I know of at least one route there. There was also an AINAM write up about an incident there a number of years ago.

There are a few rock routes on Pisgah though I'm not certain whether rock climbing is an activity permitted by the state. Pat Purcell put up a 2 pitch 5.11 that I recall being so so though I also remember strongly suspecting it has at least a couple of drilled pockets.

Lots more potential in them there woods...

Dave powers would know the beta for pisga.. My guess is sunbaked and scary right now...

Eagle ledges is not in Wolcott, but is close by. Super wet approach and you now need a permit to off road in the area if you approach from the south or East. A lot of the rock in that are is pretty junky, cracks look good from afar but in reality are detached death blocks/flakes. Also the area gets overrun with hunters in the fall so I'd be super cautious if climbing during the best time to be there.

Hi Ira. A note about Hawk Rock. Please be sure to get permission from the land manager before climbing or even hiking on the land. If you are caught trespassing without permission you will find yourself in a very uncomfortable situation with an angry land manager, more importantly jeopardize access.

There are many, many rock routes on Pisgah. In my experience even the best looking rock on Pisgah is poor quality or has hundreds of feet of terrifying loose rock above it. Plus I believe there is a climbing ban on any climbing besides ice.

Woodbury mountain has some huge potential for routes, there's almost a mile of cliffs up in the woods, hard to get to get to and completely uncleaned and unclimbed. I have photos of it. I know this is a little late.

Greg Hayward wrote:

Woodbury mountain has some huge potential for routes, there's almost a mile of cliffs up in the woods, hard to get to get to and completely uncleaned and unclimbed. I have photos of it. I know this is a little late.

Hey, Greg. Where on Woodbury Mt. are these cliffs? That pano doesn’t look like any aspect I recall. Are pics 1 & 3 out off Eagle Ledge Rd. by chance?

that looks like the mountain that you see to the north on rt 15 on the way to smuggs from hardwick? pretty close to the junction with 108? 

Woodbury does have a lot of small scruffy cliff bands. 

I personally have not found any potential for quality roped climbing ... I've spent a ton of time up there over the years. But I could certainly have missed something. However, there are a lot of 20' tall cliffs of quality granite and a lot of beautiful glacial eratics. A lot of potential for quality bouldering if anything ever stayed clean.....

It's an interesting spot geologically, being the confluence point between the schist of the green mountains formerly the Champlain Sea and the granite plutos that rolled in from the east. There for there is beautiful granite with a mix of terrible choss higher above. All the cliffs high on the mountain seem to be of poor quality whereas the granite is below. At one point, there were around 120 granite quarries around Hardwick. There is a very small one on the northeast base of Woodbury right near an enormous boulder. 

These two rocks combined are what forms the unusual rock patterns at Nichols ledge, a couple miles away. The granite fusing with the slatey schist molded itself to the broken, convoluted surface of the choss, then the less stable rock eroded away (mostly) leaving the featured granite. At least, that's my theory.... 

Nick Goldsmith wrote:

that looks like the mountain that you see to the north on rt 15 on the way to smuggs from hardwick? pretty close to the junction with 108? 

That picture is Woodbury. 

Nick , are you thinking of the bear mountain area near Waterville? Where the bear notch ice climbing is? I think you can see that hillside from the spot you are describing. 

I could be wrong about the fall picture, I was spending a couple hours trying to find good aerials of the area. And that looked fairly close, although not quite I guess, The other two photos I took myself.

Edit: Also I did notice the rock lower down was nicer, and have just looked at caltopo and can absolutely see what was meant by the different in rock.

Edit 2: you're talking about prospect rock in johnson?

Ira. on the way to smuggs. I can't remember exactly where but I think its after Johnson on the right behind a run down farm.  other side of the river.  Big field, then a river and a mountain with pretty big looking cliff but no visible ice on it? 

Nick, I think I know what you are thinking of. It's above 109 ... I couldn't find anywhere to park anywhere near it to schwack up there. Apparently the person who owns it at one time had a via feratta type thing set up there. Probably all rusted out now. It's interesting looking for sure but most definitely on private property. 

Greg, I love your enthusiasm about Woodbury, lmk if you find anything cool. Like I've said, I've cleaned off some boulders but only the V1s haha. When I went to look at those upper cliffs they got smaller and smaller the closer I got to them. My friend likes to huck off them on his snowboard.   

the Vermont dilemma. the longer the shwack  the closer you get the cliff shrinks....   Ira, I stopped and scoped that thing with binoculers and it looked like private with no close parking. if it had a via feratta on it maybe the owner would be open to climbing? 

I've answered a lot of my own questions from 2015, if anyone is interested...  

Ira OMC wrote: Eagles Ledge, in Wolcott, is a pretty big cliff with a long and buggy approach (unless you own a mud truck) and a lot of loose rock, but I think could offer up at least 10 fine lines.

Nope, total choss. Nothing good

 Nichols Ledge in Hardwick is a popular and beautiful little (tiny) hike, but is maybe two pitches high and seems like someone would have climbed it sometime. I've never hiked in to the bottom of it, but for all I know there are routes on it that you can't see from above.

Some really good rock amongst the choss, generally in the 5.11 range. One older route and some more modern stuff. 

 Mt. Pisgah is a huge cliff. There is no rock climbing there only ice? Seems like there must be a few good pitches there unless it is just always too wet. 

Choss. Not a good place to be in the summer. Although potential for some climbing at small buttresses below. Some rock climbs have been done but rarely, if ever, repeated .. 

Hawk Rock up in East Haven... I snowshoed up there this morning and saw a bolted line following a crack in the middle of cliff. Any other routes? and where does that climb end up? I couldn't see if it went through the big roof at the top or not. Either way, that is some nice granite up there. 

Beautiful rock, private and posted though. 

Silver ledge, in Groton?

Just a big bouder , no ledges to speak of. 

 Anything else? I saw a place in the gazeteer called "The ledges" in craftsbury/wolcott, but I haven't searched for anything there as of yet. 

Nope, just some 20' little cliffs although they have been climbed. 

Other places I've  looked: 

Jobs pond, garbage choss

Big and Little Deer mountain, in Groton. Maybe potential for like 1 or 2 not very good bolted lines, with a 3 Mile approach. Not worth it. 

Hazen's notch. Interesting features and a big cliff. Very low angle aretes and vegetated dihedral ramps. You could climb it, but why

That cliff that you see between Johnson and Jeffersonville on the other side of the river, actually has developed roots on it and used to belong to one of the 10th mountain guys. I can't remember his name. Friend of Alex Sergeants his name is alluding me at the moment. He died from a brain tumor. Very sad. He was a great climber. Anyhow, there were a bunch of routes up there.
I hear there's also a couple of bolted routes up on checkerberry ledge, which is something that you can see from the top of laraway.

Interesting, there is now a hiking trail that goes to checkerberry ledge from the Bakersfield side. I had heard it's bad rock but might be worth another look!