West wall at Bretton Woods

[PG]

I'm not sure if anyone knows about the West wall at Bretton Woods Ski area but I had the pleasure of climbing there this past Sunday. It's a crag off the summit of the ski area about 300+ ft. with 5 or 6 slab routes in the 5.5 to 5.7 range. The ski area offers a free chair lift ride up and then it's a 40 min. walk through the woods on a trail to the base of the cliff. The climbs have some bolts and needs a gear placement or two here and there. The belay / rap stations are all new and well done gear. We spent the day up there and saw noboby there. It faces south looking into Zealand and Pemi wilderness area. You have to check into the base area to get your free lift pass and there are people who work there who will give you bata on the area. They also have a guide and were happy to make us a copy of it. At the end of the day we walked back to the chair lift and stopped at the summit pub and had a Tuckerman's on the deck overlooking the Mt Washington Hotel and Mt Wasington in the background. We rode the chair back down to our car and all in all had a nice day out. The climbing reminded me of Lost in the Sun on Webster with a more casual walk in and out. The employees said that they don't get many climbers there and were glad to see us there. They said they put up the routes two years ago. My original thought was it might connect to the routes on Mt Oscar. I guess you can access those routes from there but it' easier to go in from Zealand. Just a nice place to climb, away from the crowds and beautiful veiws and it's all free. For more info check out their web site.

[Admin Al]

I heard about this a couple of years ago. I thought that they were doing guided adventures up there.

[perswig]

http://www.neclimbs.com/SMF_2/index.php/topic,6147.0.html

Info from Jamie (Smartpig) about development and routes at BW buried in this thread from 2011 (?).
Dale

[smartpig]

Dale, et all: here is an overview pic/topo of mine of the relationship with the West Wall to the Mt. Oscar climbs to give every one a sense of what is there.

[smartpig]

In the link that Dale provides above I chime in on page 3 with history and info on the climbs.  I also posted several photos as well.  I have also posted much info on Mt. Oscar as well on this site. So you can do the "European" approach via BW ski lift (with lunch and Brew, followed by a Canopy Tour, and finishing the day off with frizbe golf) or mountain bike and/or hike in to the bottom from Zealand Valley.  Either way is all good!

[perswig]

Jamie, thanks for revisiting this info.  I remember planning to get out to BW after your info on the Mr. Oscar thread but kinda forgot about until now.
Dale

[PG]

Al, they are doing guided tours of the area, but are also interested in getting the word out that anyone can climb there. They were happy that we were interested in the climbs. They did a nice job developing the area. Hopefully it will get some use.

Pete