Spring Cragging Days

/

We'd like to invite past Rock Program and Ice Program students, volunteers, and instructors to join us for top roping sessions at some of favorite local crags.

Saturday April 10 - Quincy, MA @ Quincy Quarries

Saturday April 17 - Malden, MA @ Waitt’s Mountain Park

Saturday April 24 - Newton, MA @ Hammond Pond

Saturday May 1 - Hopkinton, MA @ College Rock

Each cragging day will run from 9AM to 3PM, be limited to (10) participants, and all participants will be required to follow AMC COVID guidelines related social distancing, mask compliance and hand washing / hand sanitizing. We'll bring the gear and the ropes, you just need to bring your harness, shoes, helmet, mask, and enthusiasm. Sign-ups are open now!

Climb*OM Yoga Series Extended Through February 2021

/

Stressed? Stiff? Sore? Restless? Connect with AMC for an evening of yoga and community. Join AMC co-leader Amber Carr for a virtual vinyasa yoga practice on. Amber’s classes are unique, often mixing creative cues to a sturdy rhythm. She intertwines playfulness with mindfulness throughout practice that leaves you reflecting on your flow with a new perspective. She enjoys cultivating a playful environment with new and seasoned students alike. Classes are held on a series of Monday evenings through February 2021. See the events calendar for specific dates and details.

Harvard Mountaineering Cabin Needs Your Help

/

The Harvard Mountaineering Club Cabin, at the base of Huntington Ravine on Mt Washington, needs some help paying the bills this winter so that its caretaker can help keep climbers in the Ravine safe. If you've ever enjoyed the cabin or climbed in Huntington Ravine please consider making a donation at the link below.

Many of our Ice Program graduates and leaders are familiar with the HMC cabin. This public-use cabin is normally open for the winter season (Dec. 1 - Apr. 1). The cabin serves a sizable community of ice climbers, backcountry skiers, mountaineers, and other outdoor recreationists. It provides a warm and welcome base camp and emergency refuge, with a propane cooking stove, a wood heating stove that is lit for the evenings, water brought in from a nearby stream, sleeping space for 16 inside, and tent spaces outside. The cabin and Huntington Ravine have a long history as a training venue for climbers looking to hone their alpine climbing skills.

The cabin caretaker, aside from making sure things run smoothly in the cabin itself, plays an essential role in the safety of the people who recreate on Mt. Washington: posting the local weather and avalanche forecast every morning, providing information on backcountry conditions, reporting an avalanche or other emergency promptly, and being a vital part of search and rescue efforts.

The cabin itself will not be open to guests this winter due to the COVID-19 pandemic however the Forest Service (which grants a special use permit for the cabin) asked the cabin to provide a caretaker nonetheless, because of their importance in search and rescue efforts. Normally the revenue generated by visitors to the cabin is what funds the caretaker's position, and while the tent sites around the cabin will still be open the public, this year the cabin is going to need help paying the caretaker.

The committee that oversees the cabin successfully applied for a $3,000 grant from New Hampshire Outdoor Council to help cover part of the caretaker's pay but still requires an additional $4,500 to cover the remainder. There are also a few outstanding cabin projects that require funding (first and foremost, replacing the privy) and any excess funds will be put towards maintenance so we can all continue to enjoy the cabin for a long time to come.

*Note: This is the "Harvard High Cabin" on Mt Washington run by Harvard Mountaineering Club, not the "Harvard Low Cabin" in Pinkham Notch that is owned by the Harvard Outing Club and administered by the AMC.

Climb*OM Yoga Series

/

Stressed? Stiff? Sore? Restless? Connect with AMC for an evening of yoga and community. Join AMC co-leader Amber Carr for a virtual vinyasa yoga practice on. Amber’s classes are unique, often mixing creative cues to a sturdy rhythm. She intertwines playfulness with mindfulness throughout practice that leaves you reflecting on your flow with a new perspective. She enjoys cultivating a playful environment with new and seasoned students alike. Classes are held on a series of Monday evenings through December 2020. See the events calendar for specific dates and details.

Local Climbing Organization Guidelines

/

Hello Boston Climbers! We hope you're all safe and healthy.

Members of AMC‘s InterChapter Climbing Committee and Local Climbing Organizations of the Northeast region met virtually over the past few weeks to discuss what climbing may look like as we start to reopen. 

You can find a copy of the guidelines here.

Here are guidelines/best practices we believe will help us climb safely and minimize impacts to the communities that host climbing activities during the pandemic.

Local Climbing Organizations, Access Fund, partner organizations and land managers throughout the Northeast have been in discussions regarding what it means for us as society begins to reopen. Between being cooped up inside, gyms being closed, and nicer weather upon us, we sympathize with your desire to get out and climb. However, we are also concerned about how our behavior may impact the current situation as we head back out to the crag. When that time comes or if you do plan on climbing, please keep these notes in mind​.

WHY WE ARE CONCERNED:

  • Distance: With high levels of COVID-19 cases in Eastern Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York, traveling outside your local area may adversely affect mitigation efforts in our region, and contribute to the spread of the virus.

  • Density: We have a lot of climbers and only so many climbing areas. Too many people at a crag will make it difficult to practice social distancing; not only for fellow climbers but also for park employees, rangers, and trailhead volunteers. It may also overwhelm infrastructures such as parking areas, public resources, and trails and belay areas.

WHAT ARE WE ASKING:

  • Know and follow government regulations and health guidelines for your area.

  • Do not climb at areas that are not currently open, or on private or restricted property - this could impact longer-term access. Check with your Local Climbing Organization, or refer to the list of closures maintained by the Access Fund at ​https://bit.ly/CragClosures​.

  • If you do go climbing, Stay Local - the closer you stay to your home the less chance for you and others to be affected by the virus. Less than a 30-minute distance is ideal.

  • Respect rural communities that are still urging climbers not to visit.

  • Don’t go to the crag if you’re having any COVID-19 symptoms or think you may have been exposed.

  • You could be an asymptomatic carrier, so try to climb with those in your household or those you have been in routine close contact with.

  • Try to limit your group size to only you and your partner.

  • Don’t add to the burden on our first responders - select objectives that are well within your limit and climb cautiously. If an accident were to occur, it could put more people, besides the climbers, at risk of infection.

  • Avoid busy climbing areas and crowded trailheads. If you encounter a busy trailhead or crag, go to a second option, and maybe even a third or go home.

  • Don’t put the rope or gear in your mouth.

  • Don’t climb directly next to someone. Apply the six to ten-foot social distance guideline to your route selection.

  • Use hand sanitizer before and after climbing a route, belaying, and snacking.

  • Bring your mask and wear it when passing other parties on the trail or at the base. Consider belaying in your mask as well.

  • Be self-sufficient with food and water, and try to limit your use of public resources.

  • Be prepared to dig a cat hole or use a wag bag if public restrooms are unavailable.

  • Avoid sprawling your belongings at the base of a route. Minimize the need for other people to touch your gear.

Our personal decisions on if, when, and how we climb will impact our communities on a level we could never have imagined before. We are asking for your help to keep our crags and communities safe in an effort to keep them open. Do what you can now so we can all climb in the future.

Dear Boston Climbers, please, stay home

/

Dear Boston Climbers, 

Hoping that you and your loved ones are healthy and happy.  

Among the many impacts of the global pandemic, the climbing community, perhaps for the first time in our history, is being significantly affected.  Usually, at this time of the year we would be busy making plans for trips, ratcheting up our training at the local gym and dusting off our gear from our basement. And yes, the ice season was quite short this year but at least, spring is coming sooner. 

But unfortunately all the gyms are closed and we are advised to avoid crowds and practice social distancing. This is a surreal time, even for climbers.

We, the AMC Boston Mountaineering Committee, understand that many of us are looking out of our windows, feeling the weather is about right to get out to climb. All of us are probably asking similar questions of what to do and not to do. We are an outdoor community, being outside is what we love and strive for, what makes us stronger and happier. We pride ourselves on not being couch potatoes, right?

We have to understand and take the current situation seriously, however, for the well being of everyone, including ourselves.  As one Italian doctor in the epicenter of the outbreak near Milan (Italy) put it: the enemy in the fight against the coronavirus is not among us, it is actually us. We have the power to spread or contain this disease through our actions. 

As the AMC Boston Mountaineering Committee we want to join our fellow climbing organizations such as the American Alpine Club, the Western Mass Climbers Coalition (Farley), the Rumney Climbing Association and the Southeastern New England Climbers Coalition (SNECC) in fighting the coronavirus. The best tool we have so far is simply staying home for a while. 

Staying home  is not an easy decision to make but we think it is the right one. We believe that making this small sacrifice now will help to protect the Boston climbing community as well as the local communities across the country that so generously welcome us climbers every year. 

So, yes, please, let’s all keep our ropes coiled, leave the gear in the bag and air out the climbing shoes a little longer, they are probably still stinky anyway. When we get through this and look back we can all say that we did our part.  And that it was definitely worth it.