Ginseng Route

Ginseng is perhaps the best route at Shagg. It's pretty much the perfect endurance test (for the Northeast). Start off a pile of boulders left of the obvious right-angling weakness of The Great Escape (10d).

The first half of the route climbs up a beautiful pane of Shagg's trademark fine-grained granite. Unlike granite elsewhere in the area, this rock forms into perfect horizontal slots that make for good, if a bit slopey, handholds. A few taxing moves take you to a break. This is where the cliff changes to schist and the angle kicks back even more.

The schist is a bit reminiscent of the rock at Orange Crush at Rumney and offers interesting big flake/sidepull features. Like all good endurance routes, a tough move guards the anchors.

8 bolts