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Bethel Area Cliffs Ideal for Rock Climbers

July 11, 2011 - Bethel - Square Dock cliff in Albany.

The Androscoggin cliffs in Bethel.

Payne’s Ledge on Twitchell Pond in Greenwood.

Many area residents may be familiar with the cliffs, perhaps without even knowing the names.

Most likely do not realize that these spots, and many others around Bethel, have for decades drawn rock climbers to the region.

“It’s amazing that we have such really good rock to climb on,” said Bob Baribeau of Bethel.

Baribeau is a longtime climber and a member of Mahoosuc Mountain Rescue.

Many of the cliffs in western Maine are pegmatite rock that he describes as “heavily featured, with horizontal and vertical cracks.”

The surface of the heavily featured rock is rougher compared to, for example, the smoother, more polished cliffs in the Conway, New Hampshire area.

The history of climbing in this area goes back to the 1930s, when climbers from the Appalachian Mountain Club scaled the Androscoggin Cliffs off the North Road.

Evidence of their presence is still visible today.

Rusted iron pitons (spikes wedged into rock cracks to anchor safety ropes) are still visible, said Baribeau, as well as pieces of old manila rope, which was used then.

In the 1960s, Baribeau said, military climbers in Army training “could see the outcrops over by the North Road,” and they honed their skills on the same cliffs.

Also using the cliffs in that era were special forces units based at the Brunswick Naval Air Station, he said.

Today, recreational climbers come from other parts of northern New England to scale the many cliffs in the area.

They distribute hand-drawn maps to each other to outline routes that bear names such as “Anesthesia,” “Jack Be Nimble,” “Forehead,” “Amphitheater,” and “Stench of Death,” and to grade each according to difficulty.

Individual routes can vary from 50 to 200 feet in height.

Baribeau estimates the Bethel area climbing community numbers between 40 and 60.

But since it’s not a sport organized locally into clubs, it’s hard to know for sure, he said.

“I’ll go out and see people from Bethel and Newry who have been climbing for years, and I had never seen them before,” he said.

Other climbing spots in the region include Bucks Ledge in Woodstock and Hawk and Bear mountains in Waterford.

Today’s climbers fall into two general categories: traditionalists like Baribeau, and sport climbers.

Traditionalists typically focus on the adventure of climbing and the quiet and solitude of nature. They also take a “leave no trace” approach, removing most evidence of their climbs.

Sport climbers, he said, are often younger, enjoy the social aspect of the activity and may leave a notice of their passing with bolts (now more commonly used than pitons) drilled into the rock.

They are also more likely to use bolts regularly, rather than natural cracks in the cliffs.

It’s common, said Baribeau, for sport climbers to first repel down from the top of a cliff to drill bolts into the rock, then climb up from the bottom. Traditional climbers typically work from the ground up.

An example of a popular sport climbing location is Shagg Crag in Woodstock, he said.

Many younger climbers have learned the basic skills at rock gyms.

“It’s a different approach,” said Baribeau.

Most rock climbers in this region are in the traditionalist camp, he said.

“Shagg is a sport-climbing area in the middle of a traditionalist area,” he said.

But regardless of philosophy, said Baribeau, the Bethel area is “a perfect area to learn. There are beginner, moderate and difficult climbs.”

Alison Aloisio, Bethel Citizen, July 2011


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