Moss Island

Moss Island is the most popular crag at Little Falls, and a good place to spend a day toproping or to bring new climbers to. The main cliff band is on the southern edge of the island and faces south, making it very hot on sunny summer days. The northern side of the island features several boulder problems, which stay much cooler in the summer. It is often called an "outdoor climbing gym."I have yet to hear a definitive determination of the rock type at Moss Island. Some say it is gneiss; some say it is black granite. Regardless, Moss Island was victim to severe grafitti in years past, and while the paint is slowly wearing off, some still remains. The un-painted areas offer decent friction properties and a range of small edges and rounded slopers. The angle of the walls is quite varied, with several slabs, vertical walls, and steep overhangs.Leading: Only a handful of routes accept good gear for leading. The rock is generally very solid, and holds gear well. Other than top anchors, not there are no protection bolts on Moss Island.Toproping: Many of the routes have top bolts for anchors on Moss Island.  You'll need long webbing to set up climbs since many of the bolts are at least 1'-4' back from the edge. Access to the top is easily gained at either end of the cliff, or via one of the many 3rd class ascent/descent routes along the wall.Routes range from 5.0 to 5.12c, with everything in between. That said, sandbagging is a bit of a tradition here. Every inch of this wall has been climbed at some point or another, don't even think about a first ascent. The now out-of-print guidebook lists around 100 named routes; some good, some bad, some incredibly contrived. A new digital guidebook written by Gary Thomann details 81 routes with full-color zoom-able photos/lines and GPS-enabled maps, and is available in the Gunks+ app. Good and popular routes of various grades include:Jeff Loves Eileen (5.4)The Thinker (5.7)Older but Weissner (5.8)Sno-White (5.8)The Dreamer (5.9)Curbar Edge (5.9)Triple Overhang (5.10a)Fool's Overture (5.10a)Fred P. Jones (5.10+)Spiderman (5.11d)One Over The Hill (5.12c)