First Day at Farley

After Saturday's fun at Cathedral, it was time to stay somewhat local and try something new. "KITT" and "RRC" met at my place at 8am this morning, and we headed off to Farley Cliffs in Erving, MA to explore what we had heard were a few sport climbs in the middle of nowhere. We wanted to judge the ease of getting there, the quality of the climbs, and how many there were. The verdict?

Farley sucks!

We arrived early, and found the approach annoyingly thin and blocked due to falcon nesting. Many of the early climbs, those closest to the parking, were closed, so we had to trek even farther to get to something worth climbing. When we finally arrived, we found the first several climbs soaked in the hot 80-degree sun. The dirt, or rather, sand, was too hot to walk across in my bare feet, and after two climbs, we sought to find shade.

On our way to the shade, the topic of nicknames came up and why "RRC" is "RRC". I've mentioned this before: because he recommended the Red Rocks Casino to "Tattoo" and I as a place to stay while at Red Rocks last fall. The problem with that? Red Rocks Casino is a $400-per-night place to sleep, and we weren't looking for anything that averaged less than $100 per night. Well, "RRC" noted that he had a pretty weak nickname, and "KITT" and I had to agree. We joked around a bit until "RRC" came up with his own nickname of "Killer". Of course, because "KITT" was next to climb and "RRC" was belaying him, "KITT" wasn't thrilled to give "RRC" a chance to earn this nickname. As the day went on, other nicknames were proposed, including "Cleaner", because "RRC" was climbing last and cleaning everything as a result. That was OK, but only OK. He certainly earned the nickname, but it isn't notorious, and thus not worthy of a Greg's-Climbing-Blog nickname. That, and, "Cleaner" and "Killer" kind of mean the same thing (ever see Leon - also known as The Professional?). At the end of the day, I finally came up with a nickname that seemed to fit the conversation: "Mr. Pink". All I wanted was to get him to say, "Why do I have to be Mr. Pink?". Due to the context, I think it fits. Folks, meet the new "RRC", now known as "Mr. Pink".

We played around on a 5.7 (maybe 5.8), 5.10c, 5.9+, and another 5.9 at the end of the day. It was a lazy Memorial Day, and that was OK with us. We got outside, we played around on complete, utter choss, and finished up with an antique ice cream, root beer float, and grilled cheese sandwich at a joint just down the road back toward Boston.

Will I come here again? Oh sure, just like I keep going back to Quincy Quarry. It's here, and there's still stuff to do. But I wouldn't send anyone here unless I was going with them, because I just couldn't bear the thought of sending friends to a crappy climbing area without them having the chance to berate me on the spot and to my face.

On a side note, it turns out that "Ratherbe" ended up at Farley, too, but for some reason we missed each other. Actually, she said she saw us leave, but she did't think it was me in the group because she's never seen me wear shorts before. Kind of bummed that we didn't meet up, but it was probably OK, as "Mr. Pink", "KITT", and I wanted to have a light day, and so we left somewhat early as a result.

For pictures from today, click here