Newspaper Article

SOCIAL CLIMBING THE CLIFFS OF RUMNEY, N.H., CHALLENGE EVERYONE FROM CURIOUS TO ADDICTED

Monninger, Joseph

2004

Overview

[Carter Peck] is \"on belay\" (belaying being the process of paying out rope to the lead climber, or taking in rope for a follower, while he climbs, and of preventing rope from being paid out if the climber falls), which means his safety is in [Justin Hast]'s hands. At intervals of five to seven feet, Peck snaps onto preexisting bolts, the rope trailing behind him. He is \"on lead,\" responsible for stringing the top rope that Hast, a less experienced climber, will depend on that day. It is poor mountain etiquette to grab the hardware, or the rope, because the object is to climb rock, but Peck doesn't need help anyway. Although he can fall the \"reach\" of each section or, said another way, as far as his last connection to the mountain this climb is not particularly challenging for him. If his equipment holds, the maximum he can tumble will be a dozen feet or so, and then Hast will catch him on belay. A good route through a climb anticipates where a climber might fall if he \"peels off\" the rock. Equally amazing, perhaps, is the growth of climbing at Rumney. Compared with the better known Cannon and North Conway climbing destinations, [Rumney], or Rattlesnake Mountain, is a climber's climbing spot. According to \"Rumney,\" the definitive Rumney guide written and self-published by Ward Smith, the big Rattlesnake rock faces escaped assault until the 1960s. Then George Wendell and his son climbed a three-pitch (or three-stage) line up the Main Cliff. They did not return to climb other walls, however, because, in the spirit of the time that championed conquest of the highest and hardest, they found the smaller walls too insignificant to bother with. Gradually, sports climbing following a prepared line of waiting bolts gained popularity. Sports climbing appealed to a wider audience, concentrating, as it does, on physical gymnastics more than technical proficiency. \"In the mid-'80s,\" [Chris Buckley] says, closing the trunk on his rope and harness, \"sports climbing became generally accepted and it made the sport much more accessible to a wider range of climbers. It was a perfect fit for Rumney, where schist is the dominant rock. Granite is harder. If you use traditional equipment on schist, you risk it pulling out. Sports climbing made sense for Rumney, and it led to a boom in climbing\" in this areag a hammer drill, he pounded them into the rock and often glued them with a bonding material. Over the years, he has designed routes and lines that others can follow.

• Publisher: Boston Globe Media Partners, LLC
• Subject: Rock climbing / Rumney New Hampshire / Tourism / Tourist attractions