News
System of the Down – Closing the Lowering System
Close the system A common and preventable cause of climbing accidents is being lowered or rappelling off the end of a rope. As experience, studies, and anecdotes (#FreeSolo) attest, it’s not just new climbers having these accidents. The fix is a tight, well-dressed, double overhand knot with a 12 inch…
Member Spotlight: Cole Kohei Corbin
Cole Kohei Corbin found climbing only a little over a year ago, but he’s already going places. After quickly progressing through Salt Pump’s Lead Class and Skills Seminars, Cole graduated to outdoor climbing – managing his first sport and trad leads before the New England winter forced confined him to…
Winter Solistice 2018 Recap!
Thanks to your generous donations and raffle ticket purchases, we raised $379 for Scarborough Land Trust! Another Winter Solstice Success! A few weeks ago, we had our fourth Winter Solstice member appreciation event, featuring the Feats of Strength competition! Over 30 competitors tackled our head routesetter Tino’s four maniacal challenges:…
Conquering Cathedral Ledge
THE THRILL OF STARTING FROM THE BOTTOM By Trisha Cloutier If you have ever been to North Conway, you have seen Cathedral Ledge. Although it doesn’t dominate the landscape like Mount Washington, it holds its own. Just beyond the village to the Northwest, you will see it – standing 500…
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…
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…
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.…
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…
Journeying into the Great Outdoors
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…
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…
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.”…
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…
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…
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…
Rest your paws!
Climbing is 90 precent resting. We are psyched to introduce this new climbing cartoon from Kerry Bernard. Kerry’s a seasoned A.T. through-hiker and commercial designer who sells her own White Mountain inspired artwork on Etsy under the trail name Sherpa Ant. Follow her on Instagram, and stay-tuned for more Salt…
Maine Breaks
Maine Breaks It’s no secret that climbing and surfing go together like peanut butter and jelly. In fact, on certain fall days when the swell is up, it would not be a surprising sight to see a plurality of the Salt Pump management team spending elongated lunch breaks down at…
Inside Game No. 6: Ethan Pringle
“Failures are always interesting,” Ethan Pringle muses. “That’s where you probably try your hardest, because you didn’t actually do it, so you didn’t have to give it just 80 percent, you had to give it 100 percent… and still not do it.” Ethan was eight years old when his father…
Taking Flight, or, How to Dyno
By Henry Fitts Hips swinging, legs kicking, and bodies flying. “Dynos” have always been dramatic eye-catchers. Dyno as in dynamic. Dynamic motion is the only option for bridging the gap between holds when a static motion is not possible or in some cases just not favorable. Regardless of climbing experience…
Setters’ Favorite New Lead Wall Routes
By Tino Fiumara We just finished the new Lead Wall reset, resulting in 37 routes from 5.9 to 5.13b, with the majority of climbing in the 5.10 and 5.11 range. We’ve introduced colored volumes for Yellow and Blue – meaning that a Yellow volume is only for Yellow routes, etc.…
