Main Cliff

What if I were to tell you that a stellar sport cliff exists just outside the traditional stronghold of North Conway, New Hampshire? What if I said that this cliff offers high-quality bolted routes and that this cliff is decidedly different from Rumney? What if I said that this cliff saw the first emergence of "sport" ethics in New England and that one route actually sported a bolted-on gym hold. Would you believe me?

Probably not, and that is why Sundown Ledge is almost always deserted. Maybe it's because most climbers around North Conway set their sights on bigger and more grandiose objectives on Cathedral or Whitehorse. Maybe it's because the sport routes start at 5.11+ at Sundown where at Rumney, you can clip bolts on everything from 5.3 and up. At any rate, people seem to have forgotten about Sundown. Maybe it's a good thing that Sundown has faded from popularity because when the crowds get bad at Rumney, yet you still want that bolt-clipping fix, then Sundown is pretty much the perfect crag.

Plus, the sport climbs at Sundown are pretty slabby by modern standards and consist mostly of strenuous pulling on small edges up vertical or slightly overhanging walls. This place is no Orange Crush, that's for sure. While a few quality trad climbs exist, most notably the Henry Barber fingercrack testpiece Vultures (10d), it's the sport climbs that bring people to this quiet crag. Romper Room (12a) is the perfect little sport climb, and Eyeless in Gaza may very well be the best 12b in all of New England. Yellow Matter Custard (13a), The Argonaut (13a), and Pastryworks (13b) offer harder challenges for those who have maintained their dime-edge crimping technique that they cultivated in the eighties.

For a comprehensive look at Sundowns many crags, including the even lesser traveled outlying areas, Ed Webster's guidebook works well. The Rock Climbing New England guide lists the more popular routes at Sundown's main walls. Conway and North Conway, about ten miles away, hold every amenity imaginable.