Sleeping Giant Hamden CT

I hiked through Sleeping Giant State Park today and saw some good looking cliffs. There were a few climbers TRing. I searched MP to find out what they were on, but didn't find anything about Sleeping Giant.  What's the situation over there?

I think you just described the situation. 

https://www.mountainproject.com/area/111681977/sleeping-giant-state-park

Thanks, Robert. I was looking in Central Valley, so I didn't find it.

Sleeping giant  has at least 3 great routes...Weisners rib, Yvette, and rhodamanthous.  Look them up and climb them if possible.  They are each wonderful in their own way and worth the short hike in.  The rib is a true classic in my opinion 

The cliff has a great history. It was one of the first ones climbed on in New England---in the 1920s, by folks such as Roger and Hassler Whitney.It was probably the first cliff in the US to have a girdle traverse type route. Fritz Wiessner also made significant contributions. Unfortunately a fatal accident in the early 1950s led to the cliff being closed for over a decade but then Connecticut climbers such as Sam Streibert, John Reppy, and the late Jim Adair put up the classics mentioned above. 

The cliff however does have more than it's fair share of big, loose blocks and poison ivy, so be careful.

A good deal of bouldering has been put up in recent years and can be found here: https://www.mountainproject.com/area/106360330/sleeping-giant

Most of it has been put up by Chrysanthemum Desir (no idea if that's his real name) and it seems like he's done a great deal for Connecticut bouldering in general.

Lily Johnson wrote:

A good deal of bouldering has been put up in recent years and can be found here: https://www.mountainproject.com/area/106360330/sleeping-giant

Most of it has been put up by Chrysanthemum Desir (no idea if that's his real name) and it seems like he's done a great deal for Connecticut bouldering in general.

Alex Catlin did a LOT of bouldering at SGSP back in the early 1980s. Not just in the chin area but also by the Blue Trail/Red Triangle intersection, the Tower area, Left leg, Right Knee and Hezekiah's Knob. As Al pointed out, people have been climbing there since the 1920s. Because of that, Alex gave boulder problems "working names" but he was careful about claiming first ascents.

Bob Shrader, Chip Tuthill and I climbed there a lot at the same time as Alex. It seemed every cliff we visited had evidence (old rusted pins) of having been previously climbed

On the Chin, mixed in with the three routes mentioned by Climberdude, are Bolted, Frenchman's Cap, and Defender.  The latter two are directly above Yvette.  All are fine routes.

There is a freestanding pinnacle near the viewing tower that has multiple routes and variations, including a Tyrolean traverse first done by previous poster wivanoff.

There’s a fair amount of info in Fasulo’s guidebook

wivanoff wrote:

Alex Catlin did a LOT of bouldering at SGSP back in the early 1980s. Not just in the chin area but also by the Blue Trail/Red Triangle intersection, the Tower area, Left leg, Right Knee and Hezekiah's Knob. As Al pointed out, people have been climbing there since the 1920s. Because of that, Alex gave boulder problems "working names" but he was careful about claiming first ascents.

Bob Shrader, Chip Tuthill and I climbed there a lot at the same time as Alex. It seemed every cliff we visited had evidence (old rusted pins) of having been previously climbed

Ah thanks for the history. I have little knowledge on the subject and was just parroting back what I saw on MP, good to know though and you might want to leave a comment on the bouldering page.

Another bummer is the poison ivy in the summertime, so this is a good time to go up there.  I know Lyle M does a lot of good work if anyone else is willing, I think that we could actually put a dent in it and make a clear path somewhere

Alan Rubin wrote:

The cliff has a great history. It was one of the first ones climbed on in New England---in the 1920s, by folks such as Roger and Hassler Whitney.It was probably the first cliff in the US to have a girdle traverse type route. Fritz Wiessner also made significant contributions. Unfortunately a fatal accident in the early 1950s led to the cliff being closed for over a decade but then Connecticut climbers such as Sam Streibert, John Reppy, and the late Jim Adair put up the classics mentioned above. 

The cliff however does have more than it's fair share of big, loose blocks and poison ivy, so be careful.

An interesting aside.   A young impressionable Princeton climber by the name of Jim McCarthy was a witness to the fatal Sleeping Giant accident (which involved a loose block).  McCarthy was just starting out and was considering quitting after that experience, but Hans Kraus, perhaps seeing in Jim's experience the reflection of his own tragic beginnings, took Jim under his wing, and the rest is history.

rgold wrote:

An interesting aside.   A young impressionable Princeton climber by the name of Jim McCarthy was a witness to the fatal Sleeping Giant accident (which involved a loose block).  McCarthy was just starting out and was considering quitting after that experience, but Hans Kraus, perhaps seeing in Jim's experience the reflection of his own tragic beginnings, took Jim under his wing, and the rest is history.

I never knew that.  Thanks for the cool facts rgold 

Ross Ayer wrote:

Another bummer is the poison ivy in the summertime, so this is a good time to go up there.  I know Lyle M does a lot of good work if anyone else is willing, I think that we could actually put a dent in it and make a clear path somewhere

 True, there’s a lot of good potential there still but any real cleanup efforts would have to be organized and I’m not the paperwork type of guy. If someone wanted to take care of the paperwork and political bs I’ll put in the work though.