News
What Goes Up Must Come Down – A Lesson in Lowering from Above
The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn… -Alvin Toffle Seldom taught are quality methods for lowering a climber from above. Yet this skillset, which often gets lumped in with other multi-pitch processes like rappelling, anchor building, and transitions, is…
Read more...Cathedral Ledge’s New Masterpiece
Life, The Universe and Everything: Jay Conway on the spectacular and difficult 5.13c fourth pitch of his new line on Cathedral Ledge. Photo: Brent Doscher. ANNALS OF TRY HARD Jay Conway isn’t normally one for tantrums, but there he was, hanging from a rope three quarters of the way up Cathedral Ledge at 5 p.m.…
Read more...The Book Wall Part II: The Book Wall Returns
From The Ministry of Routesetting It’s getting into winter now, which means it’s time to forget about those cold, snow-covered rocks, and start training for the Spring! To help you with this, we’ve reinstalled The Book Wall on the 50º board. This will stay up for at least two months. The Basics Make up your…
Read more...Salt Pump Circuits!
The Salt Pump bouldering area is about to get more colorful by circuit grading. This system will give a more intuitive feel to your bouldering sessions and workouts. Currently all of the problems are marked with a white SP logo tag with the grade written on the back. These tags will be replaced with colored…
Read more...Journeying into the Great Outdoors
By Zack Sawyer Climbing long existed on the outskirts of society and sport. Climbing gyms, especially today’s modern and inclusive ones, have dramatically changed this. At Salt Pump, we feel privileged for the daily opportunity to introduce people to the sport and enrich the lives of new and old climbers alike. We are also aware…
Read more...Member Spotlight: The Climbing Art Teacher
Meet Alison Crofton-MacDonald “The nice thing about teaching art is you always have something in your hands,” says Alison Crofton-MacDonald. Alison is a twenty-seven year old middle school art teacher in the Saco school system. When she discovered climbing four and a half years ago, she was immediately hooked, and in short order her passion…
Read more...Inside Game no. 7: Mike Morin
Our Man in the Trenches “It’s funny, people’s idea about what a bolt or fixed protection is,” says Mike Morin, the Access Fund’s Northeast Regional Director. “If you’re not a climber, ‘bolting’ can sound so ominous. A big part of my job is to explain and break down those barriers.” A self-described access “nerd”, Morin…
Read more...New Climbing Art
Welcome, Rumney! In honor of the autumnal equinox, we’re excited to introduce a new climbing art design – in honor of our favorite sport-climbing venue. The photo was taken by local Jay Conway, and design was by Scott Whitehouse. Members are welcome to a 11×17 collectable print beginning this Thursday (9/20) at our Quarterly Party…
Read more...From Gym to Crag: Salt Pump Kids’ Outdoor Climbing Day
Young climbers in our after-school programs have been spending time at Salt Pump learning the skills they need to get outside, including how to belay, manage ropes, read routes, and rappel. This spring, they got the chance to try their stuff on some of New Hampshire’s finest rock when the visited the “Lost Horizons” crag…
Read more...Community Lead Route Grading Project
Community Grading Project Thank you to everyone who has participated in the Community Grading Project. Our goal was to take the grades proposed by climbers that have sent the routes,share them with the community, and use the data to improve future lead sets. It is always interesting to see how different people feel about the…
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