| Summary | |
| Owner | MITOC Gallery Administrator |
| Creation Date | 2006-04-06 00:35:31 UTC-0400 |
| Description | Woody Hoburg and Darren Verploegen headed up to Cathedral Lendge in North Conway on another beautiful spring day in April. Starting a bit late, we climbed a very fun linkup on the left side of the cliff:
Three Birtches (5.8+), Upper Refuse (5.5), and finally The Prow, last 30 feet (5.9) After Woody headed up the wrong climb entirely, we located the start to Three Birches, right where it says it should be in the guidebook. My bad. Three Birches is a fun two pitch climb that ascends an arching 5.8 roof, then moves up on easier flakes and ledges to a belay. The second pitch had more fun flakes and cracks, up to an intimidating mantle move, the crux of the route. Wee! Three Birches tops out on a large tree ledge, where Upper Refuse conveniently begins. Upper Refuse deserves its three star rating; it is very easy climbing but pure fun. A beautiful view, relatively airy, great pro. After a few pitches we topped out on another large ledge below the tourist lookout on Cathedral. We traversed right and looked down into oblivion. We downclimbed a few feet straight down to a tree belay above the spectacular exposure that is the prow climb. Our final 30 feet of climbing took us up the final bit of the prow (5.9), spectacularly exposed. An easier 5.6 route was mentioned in the guidebook, but the 5.9 crack we followed looked fun and felt easier than the grade. The topout is a fun move from a perfectly vertical face to the perfectly flat top of the cliff. Darren finished this last bit in the dark, good job keeping it together and getting it done! All in all a great day of climbing. |