We're planning a week long vacation in the US (visiting friends in Boston and NYC) early September and would very much appreciate a bit of advice reg. climbing destinations reachable on a 1-2-day trip from Boston. What we'd like to do is to spend one day climbing a longer multipitch up to ab. 5.10 (is there anything on Mt. Washington?) and one more day climbing shorter routes, preferrably sport so that a bit more could be climbed. Thanks in advance for all sorts of beta.
Alexey & Liza

You might find good answers here too. Sorry I can't help much.

http://www.gunks.com/

Damnit, I had a long reply with lots of links, and I think I closed my browser instead of minimizing it when my boss walked by.

Short version:

Alpine: Huntington Ravine, Mt Washington ~3 pitches actual climbing; 3 hours from Boston and about three miles from the road

Trad: Whitehorse and Cathedral Ledges - varied lengths up to 9 pitches, including some cool friction pitches on Whitehorse. ~2.5hrs from Boston and five minutes from the road

Trad: Cannon Mountain - our only "big wall". 2 hrs from Boston and ten minutes from the road.

Sport: Rumney. This is something of a sport-climbing mecca. I think everything is single-pitch, but there's some burly stuff. Maybe 1 hr from Boston, maybe slightly more, I forget.

Oh, and you haven't really seen climbing in the Northeast until you've visited the Gunks, but that's a six-hour drive.

For more details try websites like neclimbs.com; you can find very sparse info about all the above (except Rumney) here on SP too.

nartreb wrote:
Sport: Rumney. This is something of a sport-climbing mecca. I think everything is single-pitch, but there's some burly stuff. Maybe 1 hr from Boston, maybe slightly more, I forget.

Oh, and you haven't really seen climbing in the Northeast until you've visited the Gunks, but that's a six-hour drive.

All good suggestions, but the Gunks are more like 3.5 hours and Rumney more like 2 (from downtown). It will of course vary by location and traffic, but 6 hours to the Gunks is crazy. (No, I don't live in Boston, but one of my climbing partners does).

don't they still climb at ragged mountain in connecticut? i think the routes are short

poke o moonshine or the beer walls at chapel pond maybe (off round mt) both in new york Adirondacks or maybe wallface? and the long walk in to what i believe is the one east's biggest cliff's

Go to Cannon Cliff in New Hampshire...climb Moby Grape 5.8...one of the longest routes in the East. There are harder routes too...Vertigo 5.9 (crux is an offwidth, runout except with maybe the largest BigBro's), VMC Direct Direct 5.10d (no doubt very hard). Moby Grape is full value and all of the routes here require some experience on big trad routes.

For an easier day, go to Cathedral Ledge...the best rock in the East, in my opinion. Lots of trad routes of all grades from 1-5 pitches. Recompense 5.9 is amazing. There's also Book of Solemnity 5.10a. There are some excellent one-pitch finger cracks in the 5.9-5.10 range as well to round out the day.

Gunks are amazing, but if you only want to climb 2 days, go with the New Hampshire locations. The climbing is awesome and it's closer to Boston. Of course, if you're driving NYC-Boston, you could easily re-route a bit to hit the Gunks. Rumney is crowded and generally uninspiring...but I'm not that into sport climbing. If you really want to clip bolts, it's the best option and is on the way back to Boston from Cannon.

six-hour drive

Whoops, temporary insanity, somehow I got New Paltz and Keene mixed up.

You've got plenty of good advice. I'd put the Gunks very high on the list for a day of several "shorter" routes, unless you're really tied to the idea of sport (in which case Rumney would probably be better.) If you haven't already been warned, Northeast routes tend to run a grade or so stiffer than the rest of the US.

If you're in Boston on a Tuesday or Wednesday evening, come cragging with us.

Tom Fralich wrote:Go to Cannon Cliff in New Hampshire...climb Moby Grape 5.8...one of the longest routes in the East. There are harder routes too...Vertigo 5.9 (crux is an offwidth, runout except with maybe the largest BigBro's), VMC Direct Direct 5.10d (no doubt very hard). Moby Grape is full value and all of the routes here require some experience on big trad routes.

For an easier day, go to Cathedral Ledge...the best rock in the East, in my opinion. Lots of trad routes of all grades from 1-5 pitches. Recompense 5.9 is amazing. There's also Book of Solemnity 5.10a. There are some excellent one-pitch finger cracks in the 5.9-5.10 range as well to round out the day.

Gunks are amazing, but if you only want to climb 2 days, go with the New Hampshire locations. The climbing is awesome and it's closer to Boston. Of course, if you're driving NYC-Boston, you could easily re-route a bit to hit the Gunks. Rumney is crowded and generally uninspiring...but I'm not that into sport climbing. If you really want to clip bolts, it's the best option and is on the way back to Boston from Cannon.

agree with all what Tom said - skip Rumney go to Cannon and Cathedral. Also, if you want to add to the list climbing in spectacular seascape surroundings - check out Acadia NP in Maine - 5hr drive from Boston.

Thanks so much everyone for all the info! I'll start reading right away
Alexey