Rock Adventures - The Bullet Crag, Part 1

This past Saturday my partner John and I decided to take a chance on a little-known and probably long-forgotten crag.  Just under a 1 hour drive followed by a 20 minute moderate trail hike and a 10 minute uphill bushwhack led us to a series of large boulder-like outcrops with some truly fantastic climbing. 

The rock is a bullet-hard gray “conglomerate”.  The climbing is certainly unique and the rock is good quality although there is a possibility of some of the blocks being loose.  

 

The climbing felt a lot like “top-rope bouldering”.  The starting moves were usually very difficult with the feet hidden by an overhang followed by 2-3 pumpy moves before gaining purchase and balancing out.  But it’s good to rope up since beyond the V starts there’s at least another 15-20 feet of climbing.  If the ground was more level this would probably make for a fantastic high-ball crag. 

 

Our day was a mixed bag climbing on slabs, splitter cracks, or on what I can only describe as stacked flakes.  All of the terrains perfectly complemented style as most of the slab is low-angle, the splitters are steep, and the blocky “stacked flake” climbing is on bulging or overhanging rock with a lot odd vertical pinches.  Unique to this rock formation are the many arêtes which call for side pulls as well as razor sharp flake edges which were brutal on our hands on that frigid winter morning.  On account of the cold we finished early but plan on returning as soon as the weather is a little more accommodating to continue exploring and climbing these rock formations.  

 

The pictures I shared are the left and right sides of the main outcrops that we climbed.  The routes we climbed are the 5.5 Inside Corner with V-1 Face Start, the 5.7+Splitter Crack, and the 5.9 Right Side of Right Arête.  The routes marked with an asterisk are not listed or graded in the guidebook and contain my own opinion of their grade. Along with some scattered boulders there was another large outcrop to our left as well as a smaller one to our right that both have established routes but we didn’t climb either of them.

 

Left Side of Main Outcrops



Right Side of Right Side Block of Main Outcrops

Alcove "Middle" of Right Side Block

 

 

Far Right of Right Side Block



 

 

I’m not aware of any access issues at this location.  In the interest of not stirring up a hornets nest I will withhold publishing the name and location of this area.  However, this area listed in the Rock Climbing New Jersey Guidebook (and contains the same disclaimer regarding unknown access).  My personal guideline is to go quietly, climb quietly, depart quietly, and most certainly not leave a trace.