Farley

On Saturday, Ben, Tyler, Aaron and I got up bright and early to venture to the far off and mysterious land of Farley, Mass.

In recent years, Farley has been home to some pretty bad access issues, thankfully the Western Mass Climbers Coalition resolved a lot of them. This is great because Farley is also home to some of the highest quality rock in the Northeast, and one of the best problems in the U.S. Speed of Life - V10.

Tyler on the stand start of Speed of Life - V8 (stand)

After getting lost many times and completely losing trust in technology, we arrived at Farley. The hike in was easy, and soon we were amidst the awesome granite blocks that litter the ledges. We warmed up on The Wave - V6. A very cool problem with a dynamic move at the end, only Aaron sent, and I'm psyched to get back to it.

Next we went over to Terrordactyl - V8. After sussing the beta, Aaron and Ben got close on this 2 move problem, but no sends.

Aaron on the crimpy and weird Terrordactyl - V8

We headed on to the next point of interest... Big - V7. The name describes this problem well, its a beautiful overhanging prow with interesting balance moves to a committing final hop for the top. Oh, and its tall. No one sent, but Aaron got very close, as did Tyler.

After Big, we headed down and began trying the start moves of the incredibly beautiful and impressive Speed of Life. Its a 30 foot block, that maintains a steep 30 - 45 degree angle the entirety of its face. The landing is stepped, so the fall from the top isn't bad. Perfect, big moves between incut crimps leads to a sloping mantel press top-out. Sick.
Maybe some other time.

JP in full send mode (Tongue out) on Tweaky Bird - V7

Finally, we tried Tweaky Bird - V7, a climb we regretted not trying earlier. The moves are great on the problem, starting with powerful bumps up crimpy sidepulls, to a sloping and kinda sketchy lip traverse, to a techy top out. Ben got VERY close, and though we could all do separate parts of the problem solid, we couldn't piece it together.

Ben trying HARD on a bottom up go of Tweaky Bird,
this photo really shows the sketchy tree.

Overall I was really impressed with Farley, the rock quality is stunning and "Exactly like Switzerland" according to Tyler. The climbs are beautiful, hard, and have good movement on solid holds. We'll be making the trip numerous times this summer.

The next day, Tyler, Ryan and I headed up to Moreau in Ryan's beater Mercedes (This point is of importance). We were lured, as always, into the woods at the sight of what looked to be a cliff. We found some cool looking slabs, and a virgin cliff, but nothing too exciting.
Next we headed over to the main area, and realized the extent of the possibility of bouldering at Moreau. The rock quality is good, and there are some really cool features, my favorite being an overhanging prow with some interesting looking moves, and a high and scary arete with refrigerator slapping on slopey edges.
We warmed up on a new piece of rock, Ryan and I both did an interesting high angle slab climb with a committing top. I got the FA and called it Black and White Praying Mantis with Night Vision - V0, after a dream I had.

We got to work, then, on the Pressure Cooker Project. I got a little closer to hitting the sloper, but realized the problem isn't over. In the picture below you can see Ryan trying some different beta.

So far, the crux is reaching the sloping ledge a few feet directly above Ryan's head

We leave for the south Friday, and I'll be sure to fill you guys in on the sends and what not as soon as we get back.

Till then.

Peace.

So this is actually the 99th blog post. Lol.

-WB