Get Out! Outdoor Climbing Courses

Whether you’re an experienced climber or a beginner, want a solo workout or a fun day with the family, we offer the perfect outdoor experience for adventure enthusiasts. If one of these five courses doesn’t fit your schedule or isn’t exactly what you’re looking for, then Boston Rock Gym will work with you to set up private, semi-private, or group lessons tailored to whatever it is that you need. Climbers of any skill level can check out www.bostonrockgym.com to see a full list of offered classes, summaries, and pricing.

Get Out: Introduction to Rock Climbing

Start the summer off with an “Introduction to Outdoor Rock Climbing” excursion led by a Boston Rock Gym expert. The class is perfect for those that have never climbed before or have indoor experience only! Experienced instructors will cover all of the basics including tying knots, appropriate climbing gear, proper climbing techniques and rappelling. Available as private, semi private, or group classes. Courses available in Hammond Pond (Brookline, MA), Quincy Quarries (Quincy MA), Pawtuckaway (Raymond), NH and North Conway, NH.

Family Introduction Courses:

When children first learn to climb it’s critical that they have FUN! Boston Rock Gym offers a family intro course to climbing that focuses less on the technical aspects of the ascent and more on simply climbing. Available as group of two to five with an adult (or two) and children fourteen and under. Courses available at Hammond Pond (Brookline, MA).

Top Rope Set-Up and Management

This course will teach you how to set up basic top-ropes so that you and your friends can be climb on your own time without needing any other assistance. Available for scout leaders, camp workers and any others who are interested in furthering their knowledge of outdoor climbing. Available as private, semi private or group classes. Courses available in North Conway, NH and Pawtuckaway (Raymond), NH.

Learn to Lead Trad

A course that will teach you how to lead any kind of climb. Boston Rock Gym instructors will supervise and help as you build the skills you need to be on the sharp end including rock protection, placement & removal, route finding, leader falls, belaying with placett and setting up anchors. Available as private or semi-private classes. Courses available in North Conway, NH.

Now What: Improvised Self-Rescue

Learn the skills that will get you (and any fellow climbers) back to the ground quickly and safely in an emergency. Learn how to escape the belay, how to rappel with an injured partner, improvised ascension, ascending or descending to your partner and haul systems. Available for private, semi-private or group classes. Courses available in North Conway, NA and Pawtuckaway (Raymond), NH.

 

Social Outcast: GEAR SWAP!

Social Outcast: GEAR SWAP!

On Sunday, April 7^th,  2013 we will be hosting the 5^th installment of the Boston Rock Gym Social Outcast Club—a unique way for climbers to learn, socialize and share experiences about what we all love in a fun, relaxed atmosphere. During each gathering, several BRG climbers and guest speakers cover a range of climbing topics!

MARCH TOPICS: 

Self-Rescue, Mike Hall

How to Work Projects and BRG Ice Trip Recap, Aleksey Shuruyev

Guiding as a Profession with Joe Lentini, one of the most experienced guides in New England

SPRING CLEANING! GEAR SWAP/ SALE

Bring in used and unwanted gear, and sell it or swap it with another climber. Another man’s trash is another’s treasure.

WHEN: Sunday, April 7^th, 2013 at 7PM.

COST: FREE for all!

WHAT TO BRING: Your favorite food and drinks for potluck table—and a smile of course…

ADDITIONAL: Please email us, or let us know if you want to share your experiences and show your videos at one of the upcoming meetings.

 

NEW: No Contract EFT Membership

This March we’re excited to introduce the new, No Contract EFT membership!

Get all the climbing you want, with no strings attached!

$55 initiation fee

$60/month.

No contract, cancel anytime. You’ll also get all of the added BRG membership perks including:

Unlimited climbing during regular business hours.
Discounted rates on all of our classes, guiding, and clinics.
10% discount at JRA Cycles in Medford, MA.
1 free guest pass per month.
15% off full-price apparel and 25% off any full-price Moosejaw-branded gear at the retailers location in the Natick Mall. Simply mention the BRG at checkout.

Call us at 781-935-7325 for more information!

INDOOR SUMMER CAMPS! JUST $190/WEEK

The Boston Rock Gym is committed to being the hub of rock climbing in New England. Whether you are an avid climber with years of experience, or someone who has never experienced the thrill of the sport, we have the best instruction, clinics, and terrain around! We are thrilled to be able to offer high quality and dynamic summer climbing camps. Our philosophy is to create an environment where each child can feel free to take emotional risks, challenge themselves, and make life long friends. We ensure this through providing the best possible staff and stressing teamwork throughout the week. Come and see what a difference the Boston Rock Gym’s summer camps can make in your child!

—-Indoor Wall Monkeys Camp

This indoor climbing camp will give your child the skills and confidence to scale the BRG’s 30 foot high walls with ease. If your child is already an experienced climber he/she will learn the skills it takes to tackle the BRG’s harder and more strenuous walls. Our experienced staff will focus on building skills and community all in a fun and supportive environment. SKILLS COVERED: Climbing Technique, Use of equipment, Adventure Games, Initiative activities, climbing safety. Space is limited so sign up early!

Ages: 5 and up
Price: $190/week $145 for BRG annual members.
Times: 9:00am-12:00pm M-F

NEW WALL IS BUILT, SET, AND OPEN! CHECK THE PICS!

Well, after weeks of insanity, design, re-design, re-re-design, color picking, hold purchasing, construction, noise, long hours, re-re-re-design, flooring discussions, renovations, debates, re-re-re-re-design, and labor….OUR NEW BOULDERING WALL IS DONE AND OPEN. It debuted at our seminal yearly HEART OV ZTEEL event to a blown-minded crowd of enthusiasts and climbers. And for the last few weeks since the comp, the wall has been set with just under 20 boulder problems from V0-to VGnarly and is ready to be climbed! In addition to the sick new wall which boasts a 17 foot lip, and is 28 feet wide, we also made a big investment in an amazing custom flooring system from Futurist Climbing. Many of you may be a little wigged out when you come in and see a huge tall highball wall like this with no crashpads under it. But we assure you, the 14″ thick, seamless custom flooring system from Futurist Climbing is the best landing you could ask for! This flooring had just as much thought put in to it as the wall itself. There is not a flooring system like it in the Northeast! Unlike most commercial gyms with carpet bonded foam and drag mats, this flooring system greatly reduces the possibility of turned ankles on uneven edges of drag mats. We are happy to be able to offer this increased risk management to our die hard bouldering fans, because believe us when we say this wall is tall! Let these pictures by our good friends at ASA PHOTOGRAPHIC speak for themselves:

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HEART OV ZTEEL BOULDERING COMP

Ok people. Here is the deal. If you have been living on Mars for the last three years, you might not know about our yearly Boulder Competition called HEART OV ZTEEL. Well, go check out the HEART OV ZTEEL website and learn all about the madness that is going to ensue on March 26th! Pre-register and get to training! Keep you eyes peeled on the HOZ site for promo videos, updates, and more!

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Matt McCormick on his recent trip to Pakistan and the Copp-Dash Inspire Award.

By Gavin Heverly

Matt McCormick is a good friend of mine, and a familiar face around these parts. For years up until he moved up to Vermont he was a regular at the Boston Rock Gym. A positive figure in our climbing community, and always motivated to train and try new things, we were all really excited to hear that Matty had won the 1st Annual Copp-Dash Inspire award to take a trip to Pakistan to deliver books to children and to make an assault on the unclimbed Southwest Pillar of K7 West. I caught up with Matty to get the lowdown on his trip.

THERE SHE IS!

Gavin: Tell us a little bit about your climbing history. What was the journey that led you from the gym to Pakistan?

Matt McCormick: The progression and journey is a major part of what keeps me psyched in my climbing. Knowing that there’s always more places to go and routes to climb is really motivating. I started climbing in 1997 in Massachusetts where I mainly climbed at The Boston Rock Gym and Crow Hill in Leominister. From the start I always have been interested in pretty much all aspects of climbing; from bouldering to ice and mixed climbing. Going to Pakistan this summer was really the result of those 12 or so years of progressing through all those different disciplines in climbing and traveling to pursue my goals in each.

Climbing in the seeming never-ending rain.

G: What was the application process like for the first annual Copp-Dash Inspire Award? What made you go for it, and how did it feel when you got it?

MM: The idea to apply for the Copp-Dash award was pretty whimsical. My good friend Jim Shimberg suggested that we apply (he later chose to not go) and so I did a bunch of research, picked an objective and filled out the application. More so than other grants, the Copp-Dash was really meaningful because Jonny and Micah. Although I did not know Jonny and had only hung out with Micah briefly in the Red River Gorge, their energy and spirit seemed pretty contagious throughout the climbing community. I had just landed at Logan Airport coming back from Yosemite when I got the message that we had gotten the grant. I had not been overly optimistic about my chances of getting the award and all of a sudden it was fully real that we were going to Pakistan.

G: So why K7 West Face? What was it’s appeal to you? Tell us a bit about the climb, the region, and the mountain.

MM:I’m definitely not the first person to eye the Southwest Pillar of K7 West. A few different teams have made attempts of varying significance on the pillar but no one has made it to the summit as of yet. The pillar combines both high-end rock and mixed climbing which is super appealing to me. The Charakusa Valley is a beautiful place with tons of wild flowers and streams running through base camp. Far from the cluttered glaciers of some of the bigger mountain base camps.

The reason to travel. Seriously.

G:Ok, the experience and the trip itself…let’s hear it. Success? Failure? Difficulties? High Points? Low points?

MM: It’s seems that successful expeditions to the alpine are the sum of many parts. Weather, partnerships, skill, and good bit of luck. The weather really hampered our attempts on the main objective of K7 West. On each of our attempts we got absolutely soaked and ended up walking back into base camp looking like drowned rats. We managed to summit the beautiful pyramidal summit of Naisa Brakk in a pouring rain storm after repeating Tasty Talking (11-). Climbing-wise the expedition was not as successful as I would have hoped but that seems pretty par for the course the majority of time in the alpine.

One thing that stuck with me the most was the amazing people that we met in Pakistan. The Pakistani people were some of the most welcoming and friendly people I’ve met anywhere and I made many friends that I hope to visit on future trips. May f our friends expressed a perception that we were crazy to go to Pakistan due to the anti-American sentiment. What we found couldn’t have been farther from that perception.

G: Why talk about this crazy snow-capped mountaineering business on a rock gym website anyways??? In your eyes, what are the connections? Is it unreasonable for the average gym climber to aspire to go on expeditions of this nature?

MM: For me it comes down to a passion for climbing in general. Whether it’s far-away alpine objectives or trying to send your plastic project, the same energy drives you to send. My climbing started in the gym as I think it does for many young climbers these days. The future of hard alpine climbing lies in climbers taking hard free climbing skills to the mountains and climbing and training in the gym lends itself to this end without a doubt.

It is certainly not unreasonable for the average gym climber to undertake an expedition of this sort. The first steps of researching, planning and then ultimately buying the plane tickets is all it takes. There are objectives for every one of all skill levels. Interestingly, Jason Kehl and some others were in Kashmir this past summer to boulder in the alpine. Maybe this is the future of bouldering…? Expedition bouldering!

NOR’EASTER AND UNIFIED BOULDERING CHAMPIONSHIPS WRAP UP

By Gavin Heverly

All photos by Stephanie Crumley

For those of you whom have been living under a rock, this past weekend was the Eastern Mountain Sports/NE2C Nor’Easter Fest up at Loon Mountain in New Hampshire. The event was a slammer jammer mash-up of music, cyclocross racing, bouldering competition, outdoor climbing clinics, vendor village, and really, really bad food selection. I went up for the main events on Saturday and to support our head route-setter Maxim Zolotukhin in the UBC Pro Tour finals. He placed 16th in qualifiers which didn’t quite get him in to finals. Boston Rock Gym was also the partner gym for the event, and we helped with some logistics, volunteers, as well as climbing holds and crash pads and some other random stuff. The Geekhouse X BRG cyclocross team was also along for the ride as their team captain and Geekhouse owner Marty Walsh was racing!

The author being a social butterfly in the vendor village.

At any rate, Saturday went down something like this: Woke up super early to get Marty to the race. We arrived at Loon and skipped our way right to staff parking. A nice luxury of being an event partner. Thanks guys! Marty got suited up and we scoped out the cyclocross course. It looked, as Marty put it “like a mountain bike course”, which meant that a lot of the roadies in the race were going to be not psyched, but guys like Marty whom have a mountain bike racing background were stoked!

The Custom Built Handmade GEEKHOUSE Cyclocross machine ready to roll.

Marty rocking the coolest cycling kit on the entire course as he rolls through some of the switchbacks on the race course.

After the cross race was over, I headed over to the vendor village to chat up some pals I hadn’t seen in a while at the Prana and Evolv tents. Everyone seemed pretty psyched on the cross race seeing as how the entire vendor village was basically in the center of the course. Overall the cyclocross race was pretty awesome. A great course and a welcome addition to the Nor’Easter. It definitely helped make it seem as though there was something HAPPENING since there were bikes whizzing past you all throughout the day. A nice element. There was also some big stage with bands playing. But I didn’t really pay any attention to it, and that seemed to be the general consensus. Although after the UBC comp, some more big name bands like The Gaslight Anthem played, as well as !!! (Chik Chik Chik), and The Walkmen. And while I didn’t stick around, I would guess a great deal more people were interested in that.

SPEAKING OF THE UBC COMP!:

Boston's own Francesca Metcalf waiting for her go as Terry climbs on Men's 2 in the background.

Sasha DiGiulian high on Women's 2

The comp started pretty promptly at 3pm. Lights, camera, ACTION! Jason Danforth took the mic and introduced the day’s finalists:

MENS: 6th place Terry Paholek, 5th Ian Dorey, 4th Brian Kim, 3rd Ethan Pringle, 2nd Vasya Vorotnikov, 1st Daniel Woods.

WOMENS: 6th Melissa Lacasse, 5th Natasha Barnes, 4th Alex Johnson, 3rd Angela Payne, 2nd Sasha Digiulian, 1st Francesca Metcalf.

So with that sort of placing going in to finals, it certainly felt like it was anyone’s game. And man did it turn out to be a surprise ending. The turnout for the comp was a little less than what I expected, although with the weather being about 68 and sunny and breezy, perhaps it was both a blessing and a curse for the event. I quickly snagged a seat front and center to absorb all the action I possible could. it became clear early on that Daniel Woods, the crowd favorite, and shoe-in for the win was NOT having such a hot day of climbing. Problem #1 which was a techinical tension based boulder seemed to work against his style and essentially shut him down. New York’s Brian Kim flashed it. Done and done. “What’s this?”, everyone thought as he easily flew to the top. He cruised to the top on number 2 as well. Where as Daniel and Ian Dorey had some real trouble with the opening dyno. Vasya came about as close as you can on #2 without actually sending. Also quite the upset. In the end, it was clear that the men’s competition was going to be east meets west as Brian Kim and Ethan Pringle duked it out.

On the lady’s side, it was clearly anyone’s game. Although I think most people were assuming Angie or Alex would take it. Francesca Metcalf crushed. Although women’s #3 appeared to be a bit reachy for all the competitors. (Editor’s note: I was told over a cup of tea in my living room the following day by one of the route-setters that all the girls botched the beta on the problem.) Natasha Barnes came out of nowhere to fly up women’s 1 and 2 with ease. In the end, it was hard to even tell who would win.

Natasha Barnes come all the way from SF, CA to crush on Women's 2.

All in all a good comp.The organization seemed to be much better than at the Salt Lake City comp. the MC-ing was greatly improved upon, although left something to be desired, and the route-setting was a lot better as well. Here were the surprising results of the day:

MENS: 3rd Daniel Woods, 2nd Brian Kim, 1st Ethan Pringle

WOMENS: 3rd Angie Payne, 2nd Francesca Metcalf, 1st Alex Johnson

The Nor’Easter is a massively valiant effort by the dudes at NE2C to bring an exciting and energized outdoor festival to the East Coast. Combining music, climbing, cycling, and more to give the residents of New England an entire weekend of activities and to grow the community that I know for sure Jason and Pete of NE2C care so much about. So while there are a lot of things that I would do differently, my hat is off to them for their passion, organization, energy, and dedication. The climbing world could use a lot more Jason Danforths and Pete Wards. Looking forward to next year. Count me in, and count BRG in.

ASCEND!

SIZE MATTERS?

by Gavin Heverly

Ok. We aren’t delusional. We know our walls are not the tallest in the industry. Or even in the Boston area for that matter. But what we WILL brag about is our route-setting. Maxim Zolotukhin, our head route-setter is probably the most passionately obsessed route-setter in the country. And I am not kidding. Then there’s Donny “Hot Karl” Martin. Who has been setting here at the gym for what seems like forever. He cares so much about the quality of his routes, and how much the customers like them that it’s almost a problem. Myself, I have been route-setting for something like 8 years. And I basically consider it to be one of the most scientifically challenging art forms in existence. Anyhow….Maxim will be talking more about the BRG’s route-setting philosophies in a later post.

For now…let’s talk about the HUGE volume holds we just got this morning. Ranging in size from 12″ to FOUR FEET across, these things will be *sick*. Don’t believe me? Come see the masterpieces Max and the rest of our pro-setting team whip up with them for yourselves.

HUBBA HUBBA.

TEASER TEASER TEASER

By Gavin Heverly

Wow. Mountains. Being primarily a boulderer, and occasionally doing some multi-pitch trad….I am not going to lie, I totally romanticize the idea of traveling to some far region of the world and spending weeks or even months assaulting a mountain. My good friend, long time BRG member, and strong climber Matt McCormick recently returned from an expedition in Pakistan. Look out for an exclusive interview in the coming week or two regarding his trip and his experiences.

For now, check out the video Matt made about preparing for the trip: