Before we bought hundreds of climbing DVDs,
Before we hoarded and then rented out a plethora of crash pads,
Before we published snarky “editorials” to the internet and begged you to read all 500 words,
Crank Climbing made a guidebook.
It was a labor of love for our local park, Rocks State, where all of us learned to boulder, got out first sends, and twisted our first ankles. To say Rocks shaped us as climbers is an understatement. We learned what a Bad Landing really was, how to go ground up into the unknown (we’ve rapped maybe 1-2 lines there ever), and the value of a competent spotter. Justin even bought a house nearby for a few years. The guidebook itself was assembled over lunch breaks and late nights, and to make sure it was packed to the brim we hiked all of the park, on trail and off, and listed all sorts of lines lost to history.
The PDF guide was a quiet success – We’d see printed copies perched on dashboards at the local gym, and see people flip through the digital version on smartphones as we were out for hikes, even close to a decade after we put it out in the world. Fast forward to Winter 2021 – I’d started using the Gunks+ app for trips out of state, first snagging the McKenzie Pond “book”, then the Governor Stables, then Pawtuckaway, Gunks, and Northwest Branch Creek modules. At some point, when the idea to put together a guide for Rocks came up, NWBC and Fredrick area authors Dana Miller and Robin Close pointed the Gunks+ development team to Crank, and it’s been our honor digitizing old work to help share the park with the community in frankly a better format than our old PDF.
Click the links below to get the app and access to the guide and make sure to check their lists for other great guidebooks. I’ll admit the interface took me a hot minute to figure out, but I also still don’t understand how all the buttons on Instagram or Kaya work so that’s not saying much. The GPS tagging alone has saved my bacon at multiple crags, helping me find classics I’d otherwise have bushwhacked past.
We’re going to try and answer some questions below ahead of time, and read to the end for a special offer.
Q: $5.99, what gives?
A: That works out to less than 10 cents per boulder, and hosting this site ain’t free!
Q: Hey, where’s Boom City/Roadside Attraction/etc?
A: As part of the transfer, we made the decision to cull a few boulders from the guide. Some were taken out because they’re far off-trail, or constantly overgrown, or just straight choss. If there’s a boulder you think we missed, let us know – in writing the guide we spotted a few more potential moderates that’ll have to wait for a future revision.
Q: You got the grade wrong on Skyriders in the Ghost!
A: We tried our best to be fair with the grades based on history, other crags, and a number of voices. If you think we’re wildly off-base, reach out, but there are an equal number of soft and sandbag grades as best we can tell, and if you want to log it as something higher or lower than we listed, we’re not gonna be offended.
Q: I did that boulder in 1998 and we called it Onion-on-my-Belt, not whatever you renamed it!
A: Ok seriously this bit is important to us. Float us any historic info you have and we’ll try and get it fixed on the next revision. Likewise, if we listed something as a project that you’ve totally done we want to hear about it.
Q: Hey your description of OndraAteMyBaby sucks!
A: We deliberately tried to walk a line on descriptions – give the reader enough info to find and divine the line intended, but stop short of over-prescribing beta. There are a few lines *cough*Moby*cough* where variations have emerged over the years and some of us have strong opinions on those variations. We do want to apologize for our description of Moby Sit in the PDF, it was ambiguous.
SPECIAL OFFER: If you’re a member of MAC and buy the Rocks guide on Gunks+, Crank will give one free crashpad rental this season. Pickup from the Perry Hall residence preferred, but we’re regulars at the local gyms too.
We are so excited for this version of the Rocks State Park Guide and we appreciate all of your support over the years. Comment below with your new favorite project!
-Sincerely, Crank Climbing
