This is hands-down my favorite climb at Rose Ledge.  It has two distinct and great cruxes, wonderful face climbing, a short but relatively splitter crack, a juggy roof and some sequency crimping.  I'm a little uncertain as to whether the rest of the Western, MA climbing community would agree with me about how classic I think this route is (it was one of my first 5.10's so I'm biased) but I'll let you make up your own minds.           The climb starts in the obvious finger crack just to the left of the big left facing corner in the middle of the Tennessee wall (the Guillotine).  After climbing this crack to a large ledge you can rest and chat with your belayer before the first crux.  Follow the chalk above your head (really fun sequence) until you've gained a stance involving a small flake and edges for feet.  Then some easy climbing leads you to the roof on your left and crux #2.  A reachy move past the roof leads to a jug, from which you can gain a good crimp and pull the roof on smeary feet.  This section looks blank put there is a great jug...if you can find it.  At this point, mantle onto the ledge and touch the anchors. 

Marie Antoinette

This is a face and flake climb with a (formerly) Tennessee-shaped flake near its top.  It is a bit runout at the top if you choose to lead it.  Rated 5.7 in the 1970s, the loss of a key part of the Tennessee flake since that time has resulted in a change in grade to a current consensus of 5.9 to 5.11, depending upon your reach.  To most folks, the crux of this route will seem like pretty solid 5.10, with small crimpy handholds, delicate, balancy footwork, and a long reach to more reassuring holds near the top of the route. 

Tennessee

Starting to the left of Hampshire Corner under the right side of the small roof, a cool crimpy boulder problem leads into big moves between juggy rails straight to the top. Walk off the ledge to the right.Variation (5.8): climb up Hampshire Corner a few feet, and traverse left into the Red Wall.

Red Wall

Sit start super low on the left side of the overhanging face with your hands matched on a good, flat jug. Keep your butt off the ground (a thin pad helps), and make fun moves to a classic mantle topout.

Pommel Horse

Sit start on the left, then follow a sloping rail up and right.

Bishop

This is the left arête on the Overhang Buttress.  It has pretty good climbing.  Topping out is considerably harder on one side of the arête than the other.

Sideline

Hampshire Corner climbs a corner crack to a stance below a roof, moves a little to the climber's right, and exits through an opening in the roof.

Hampshire Corner

This ascends the overhang just next to Everything is Purple. Start matched on the incut crimp rail, and make a hard, first gaston to a crimp just below the lip. Finish with a balancy topout on the slab.

French Press

Start with your left hand where you put your left foot for "French Press" (lower on the rail) and your right hand in a hueco pocket. Climb into French Press.

French Press SDS

Traverse in from the right. Climb the arete to the top.

Delaney's Arete

Begin at the arete on the right side of the Double Overhead Cam dihedral.  Climb the arete and, at its top, traverse right and up to a small overlap.  Climb past the overlap, and continue up and somewhat left, on the right side of a vertical seam that is crosscut with horizontal edges, to the top of the crag.

Widowmaker (aka Leave it to Beaver)

Start below the middle of the rail of crimps on "None So Vile" with a good left hand crimp and a good right hand edge. Make your way into the crimps of "None So Vile," and finish on the same drop off jug.

None So Vile Variation

Start at the bottoming crack in a small, left-facing corner that switches to a right-facing corner. Move up left to the large horizontal.Note on location by MP user Dave Cramer: “It is in the Amphitheater; the leftmost of three grooves (the center groove is Playland, the right groove is Tree Flake).”

P. V. T. A.

Sit start on great ledge, and make two awkward moves before reaching more good ledges and an easy mantle topout. This is good for strong beginners who are afraid of heights.

Deadpoint

Right Twin Crack is a straight up, sustained crack with crimps, slopers, finger jams and liebacks.  Really fun.  It is steep all the way up and strenuous to place gear.

Right Twin Crack

Start sitting at the base of the lip on some small holds, make some punchy moves to the right to gain good holds, and finish on "45 Moves Packed Full Of Meat."

90 Moves Packed Full Of Meat

Ascend the large, left-facing dihedral to a ledge, then right and up the dihedral, which narrows to a slot as you reach the top of the crag.  Super classic, super moderate.

Beginner's (aka Easy Corner)

This climb is located on "Overhang Buttress" 

  Start in the short, right-facing corner. Continue up over small upper overhang.

Lunge Roof (aka Rhino Dyno, or Gunks Roof)

The Chimney is a short, fun chimney climb. It is very unique!

The Chimney

Fist Fight is a great little crack climb that is located around the corner on the left end of the Tennessee outcrop.

Fun Crack (aka Fist Fight)

This is a crack to the right of Leave it to Beaver that starts in a shallow, right-facing dihedral that turns into a narrow, flared chimney about halfway up or so. 

Double Helix (aka Rikert's Corner)

Head straight up obvious crack.  Some find the start to be cruxy. 

  The local guidebook (by Al Rubin) is available through the Western Mass Climber's Coalition...  climbgneiss.org/

Straight Crack

The easiest start is from the right, but a number of variations are possible. There is a two bolt anchor with no rings.

Easy

Start squeezed in between two small trees and the face. Climb straight up for about 10 feet then start angling up and to the right, aiming for an obvious (crumbling) jug on the overhang.  Pull the overhang on positive holds, and then top out slightly right on a series of slopers.  This is a good climb that unfortunately has some poor rock quality.

King Phillip's Face

Start sitting low on the large jug rail and move left on small crimps to eventually gain the large drop off jug.

None So Vile

This route starts in a crack which turns into a right-facing corner about 10 feet up. The crack starts out about hand-sized then gets wider to fist/OW-size at the corner, although there are numerous face features. It was pretty wet when I did it, but I imagine it'd be fun when dry.

Jam-Boree

On the left end of the French King Buttress lie two blocky, featured cracks. Devil's Pitchfork is the right crack. It has generally good holds, but some sections of laybacking make it somewhat powerful.

Devil's Pitchfork

Sit start the arête to the left of Pawn.

En Passant

From a standing start, follow the lip from left to right, topping out at the apex of the boulder.

The Lip

Start on the good flake, and traverse right on the rail to gain the jugs. Top out straight up.

45 Moves Packed Full Of Meat

Start all the way on the right in the gap between the boulders with hands in a great horizontal crack. Follow the crack left until you can move up on positive crimps.

Rook

This is a short, left-facing dihedral that curves hard left at its top, where you traverse left and up to the top of the crag.  If you choose to mantel onto the top of the crag short of the end of the traverse, it goes at 5.10.  It's difficult to say what would be more exciting - a fall from this route on toprope, or a fall on lead, as this line traverses a good bit left at its top.

Pendulum (aka Ben's Boot)

Go up the slightly left-facing corner that's directly under the HUGE roof/cave on the top of the ledge. It's probably wet. Go up to the small roof, and make big moves to top out.

 The local guidebook (by Al Rubin) is available through the Western Mass Climber's Coalition     climbgneiss.org/shop/

Playland (direct finish)

This climbs the face between Delany's Arete and Solar Flare. The crux is a traverse move right to reach the diagonal slashes up high. It is named for a song by the British punk band 999.

High Energy Plan

Sit start, and move straight up on sloping crimps.

Pawn

Crouch start with hands behind sharp flake and with crummy feet.  Move up and then left to top out.

Paper Guillotine

Climb the arete staying mostly on the right (5.9).

Variation 1: use the crack on the left side. When it stops, transition back right (5.10).

Variation 2: climb the left side crack, but then continue to the top avoiding the arete (5.12).

Indian Summer Arete

Climb and stem the obvious ugly and awkward groove. Pull the bulge, and head straight up.

Erosion Groove

Begin in a left-facing dihedral to the right of Tennessee.  Climb the dihedral to an overhang on the right.  Pass the overhang with some difficulty, and step up a few moves to the top of the crag.  It is easier if you're tall.  The crack that ascends part of the face on the left of the dihedral is a separate climb, but can also be used to climb the first part of this route.

Guillotine (aka Double Overhead Cam)

Struggle up this offwidth crack in the usual manner to the top of the cliff.

Offwidth (aka Stetson Stumble)

A nice easy route with good gear placements.  Find the obvious crack with a little tree growing out of it about halfway up and just follow it to the top.

Summer Stroll

Start on the incut crimp flake, pull on with scarce feet options, and make some moves to the right on incut crimps. Top out directly.

Angry Man

Greeting Crack would be a pretty good first lead or an easy warmup to start the day or maybe one last route on the way out.  Locate a block that is at the bottom right hand corner of the crag with an obvious hand crack above it.  Start at the crack that forms the left hand edge of the block, climb up and traverse right into the crack, and then go straight up, or just climb directly up the block into the crack.

Greeting Crack

Start on the good, heavily chalked sloper rail, then either do a massive dyno to the jug slot above or grab a tiny crimp, and do a hard lockoff to the same slot. It is the same difficulty either way. Make a few easy moves on jugs to the ledge above, and then drop off.

Dunk It, Rat!

Same start as Rook, but head straight up on crimps

Rook Direct

This route is too good to not be on MP, but you should still buy the Al Rubin guidebook and/or support the WMCC.  

  Start on the boulder, then follow the seam/crack till it ends at a horizontal. Get some really good gear here, and then run it out straight up to the top on crimps. Exciting!

Partners in Climb

Start off by finding the easiest way onto a large block to enter the corner. Work your way up the corner until you get to a small roof. Make a move left to the face, and make your way to the top.

Camp Corner

Climb the overhanging arete on the Chumbo Boulder, then top out. This is a nice, fun, overhanging jug haul. The top can be dirty/mossy.

Chumbo Arete

Climb the obvious crack in the groove, finish left.  The local guidebook states that if you finish right of the overhang it is more difficult. 

  The local guidebook (by Al Rubin) is available through the Western Mass Climber's Coalition...  climbgneiss.org/

Playland

This is the face between Widow Maker and Double Helix. Finish up the face to the left of the little arete close to Double Helix. Going straight up the arete is a little easier and had been climbed earlier, and it was called "The Creation" (I think) by Eric Sutton.

Creation Science

Joe Brown Special climbs up a widening crack in a left-facing corner below an overhang.  Climb the corner, watch out for some loose rock, gain a good ledge, and then climb through the overhang using the crack that splits it.

Joe Brown Special

Not the original name. This tricky toprope between Stetson's Stumble and Beginner's Corner had a crux dyno with a tree annoyingly close to your back. This tree seems to be gone in the photos of nearby routes (I haven't been back for decades). Also, the dyno launch point is from a tight horizontal crack, which wants to bend your fingers back the wrong way. It may be better than 2 stars without the tree.

Fight Club

Tiger Walk ascends a nice, overhung bulge.  The rock is clean for the first half, including the crux - pulling the overhang.  The rock can be dirty at the top.  

  This is a fun climb that lets up a bit after the overhang. 

  It is usually shaded.

Tiger Walk

Start sitting on slots on the large, curving feature. Make a few moves to the left to gain the flake on the face, and then make a hard move up to the lip. This is listed as a V5 in the "Rose Ledge 2.0" guide, but it certainly didn't feel like one to me....

A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again

Climb the slightly awkward and weird corner crack. 

Weird Corner

Starting under the large flake, climb the path of least resistance up following the left-to-right-leaning crack. Establish yourself in the squeeze chimney behind the flake, and head straight up.

Fat Flake

Trundle Corner is an interesting and varied climb up the detached boot-flake, then into the chimney above.

Trundle Corner

This is the thicker version of Tree Flake. Bring wide gear or maybe just sling the tree and head up the sweet crack to the right of Hampshire Corner. Someone let me know how hard the tree eliminate version is!

 The local guidebook (by Al Rubin) is available through the Western Mass Climber's Coalition. It's got a bunch of great information in it!    http://www.climbgneiss.org/shop/

 

Lonely Crack

Everything is Purple is an amazing line put up by Josh Larson in 2012. Long powerful movement on large grips lead to a technical topout. A video of the FA can be found here: FA of Everything is Purple.

Everything is Purple

Start right of the seam on some low crimps.  Climb crimps until you can pop (or dyno) to the perfectly shaped lip. 

  A number of variations of this climb could exist - heading up and right from the marked start is easier but is on possibly questionable rock. Starting seated in the small cave to the right will add some fun, steep moves on quality rock, and probably a grade of difficulty. 

  If anyone knows more accurate info, please inform me, and I'll update the page.

Chumbo Love

Start along an easy ramp, or start  below the flake (slightly harder). Go to the tree growing out of the wall.

Tree Flake

Sit start matched on a great undercling.  Make a few moves up and left to a hard rock-over onto the slab.

Uppercut

Do a crouching start on the right side of the boulder. Move left to the pair of jugs, then throw for the top.

Snake Eyes

Start up Tennessee Flake,  once you reach the thin crack that diagonals left and up, move out and continue up the very thin crack.

Solar Flare

Start on some small, incut crimps on the right side of the cave, the side you enter from. Establish and make a very punchy move to the huge jug. Hold the swing! Finish with an easy topout directly. This was formerly known as the "Aviary Project."

3005

This "aka" name for this route is a play on the name of a route named Foops, which is a striking roof problem at the Sky Top cliff in the Shawangunks.  Ascend the left-facing dihedral and pull through the overhang above at its widest point.  Alternatively, you can bypass the overhang on its right at a more moderate 5.9.

Tale of Two Cities (aka Whoops)

Rose Ledge consists of a series of small cliffs on the east side of the Connecticut River Valley, in very north central Massachusetts. Rose Ledge is principally a top-rope area because the cliffs are quite short - not much more than 50 feet high, at most. Many of the routes can be led using a trad rack if you're so included, and there are a number of routes with pretty moderate grades, which makes Rose Ledge a great place to learn how to lead with trad gear. There are no sport routes at Rose, due to the traditional ethic that is the norm at this crag. What Rose Ledge lacks in size, it makes up for in quality. It's absolutely worth a visit if you're in the area. 

 Rose Ledge is located on Northfield Mountain. Northfield Mountain is owned and operated by FirstLight Power Resources, formerly Northeast Utilities, which is a local utility. FirstLight has a hydroelectric pump-storage reservoir at the top of Northfield Mountain, and you'll see related electrical infrastructure - overhead powerlines, an electrical substation, near FirstLight's Northfield Mountain Visitor Center, etc.- on your approach to Rose Ledge. FirstLight hosts summer outdoor programs and a winter cross-country ski area on the mountain and Northfield Mountain's trails are popular with hikers and mountain bikers. A number of schools, colleges, and universities in the area teach introductory rock climbing at Rose Ledge, and climbers regularly visit Rose from at least as far away as Boston. 

 The rock at Rose Ledge is horizontally stratified gneiss. The rock is pretty solid, and Rose Ledge is home to routes that range from 5.3 or so up through 5.13. There are a number of really popular routes at Rose. These routes date to at least the early 1970's when Rose Ledge was frequented by Dave Rikert, and then by Al DeMaria of Vulgarian fame and Al's students and instructors from his excellent outdoors and rock climbing programs at the nearby Northfield Mount Hermon School (NMH). These routes -- including Fist Fight, Tennessee, Double Overhead Cam, Leave it to Beaver, Rikert's Corner, and Ben's Boot -- have been given these names -- the names that Al and his programs used in the mid-1970's -- on an "Also Known As" ("aka") basis in this online guide, with modern route names used first, in order to make it easier for today's visitors to find these routes. 

 As of 2020, Al Rubin's excellent guide, "Rose Ledge Rock Climbs (2nd Edition)," is once again in print. This guide is an encyclopedic source of information on rock climbing at Rose that provides far more information that we've assembled here, and Al's guide also includes a lot of information on routes that are less heavily used. As of April 2020, this editor was able to acquire a copy of Al's guide via the Western Massachusetts Climbers Coalition website [climbgneiss.org]. It's possible that Al's guide is also available elsewhere, at Central Rock Gym in Hadley or online or in a retail shop. Please consider supporting Al's efforts by buying a copy of this guide. 

 A note on climbing advocacy and access issues at Rose Ledge: The Western Massachusetts Climbers Coalition [climbgneiss.org] has done a lot of good work to improve and maintain access and trails to Rose Ledge to maintain a good relationship between the climbing community and FirstLight Power, and to mediate conflicts between climbers and the folks who own property on Poplar Mountain Road which is home to a popular but small parking lot that is heavily used by climbers. The relationship that the WMCC has developed with FirstLight and the related Northfield Moutnain Recreate and Environmental Center and local climbers and property owners have played crucial roles in keeping Rose Ledge open and accessible to the climbing community. Please see the WMCC website [climbgneiss.org]

for current information on access and relations with FirstLight and local property owners before you visit Rose Ledge. Please follow WMCC's advise on any and all local issues regarding bolting (don't do it) and access to climbing at Rose Ledge and respect any and all rules posted regarding climbing or access to Rose Ledge. That's the best way to assure that the climbing community will continue to enjoy access to this beautiful crag. 

The Western Massachusetts Climbers’ Coalition (WMCC) is a local 501(c)(3) non-profit volunteer climbers’ organization that works to build inclusive relationships with diverse advocacy groups, state and local governments, landowners, and conservation groups to keep climbing areas open and accessible to climbers from all backgrounds, and to conserve the climbing environment in Western Massachusetts.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Rose Ledge