ross rocks -- Killingly, CT

these are the tallest cliffs i know of within 45 minutes of providence. there's a variety of climbs here. if you park at the boat ramp, there's a cliff immediately above the lot that has a couple of short cracks and a difficult face. As you head in to the right, north, you come to an interesting face that has a route with a mantel onto to a ledge 30' or so off the ground. A nice exposed move. the next cliff in has a short steep route similiar to friction pitch at the quincy quarries, only steeper. to the right of this is a route that goes up under a roof, and then to the right of this is two cracks. if you walk further in, you'll come to the longest pitch, an easy 5.5 to 5.7 face that has a detached flake to the left and a gulley to the right that you can come down from. past this section are some additional cliffs that have some impossible looking roof problems. If you like doing finger cracks out 10 to 15 ft roofs this is the place to be. most of these cliffs get very little traffic, lots of moss and lichen and no chal

Directions:

From Providence you take route 6 west. After crossing the CT bourder, stay right on Route 6 instead of getting on the Davis Lodge Turnpike. Continue west for almost 4 miles. Take a left onto East Frankin Street, there's a boat ramp sign. If you go too far you'll come to I-395. Turn around and it's the first road on your right. On East Frankin Street, go past the Furnace Brook State Park entrance and take a right onto Ross Road then a right onto a dirt road which ends at the boat ramp parking lot. Park on your right, the cliffs are on the west side

Face: Parking lot cliff

Above the parking lot there's a short cliff with couple of short cracks and a difficult face. Follow the trail to the left to reach the top. The trail to the right follows the base of the cliff to the other faces.

Left Crack, 5.4, Just like the name, it's the first crack on the left,
Height: 25, Bolted:N, Type: crack

unnamed, 5.?, Face climb between the two cracks,
Height: 25, Bolted:N, Type: face

Right Crack, 5.7, ,
Height: 25, Bolted:N, Type: crack

unnamed, 5.?, Face climb to the right of the last crack.,
Height: , Bolted:N, Type: face

Face: Towering Blocks

Continue to the right and you'll come to a face that looks like a stack of overhanging blocks.

Unknown, 5.?, This is actually the face before the blocks and I've heard that there's a lead climb that's been done on this face.,
Height: 35?, Bolted:N, Type: face

Unknown, 5.8, At the left edge of the blocks you'll see a dead tree sticking straight out of the cliff. This route tops out just to the right of the tree, the tree is suposed to be off route as you do the final mantel.,
Height: 35, Bolted:N, Type: face

Unknown, 5.?, Climb the inside corners of the blocks.,
Height: 35, Bolted:N, Type: face

Face: The Roof

the next cliff in has a short steep route similiar to friction pitch at the quincy quarries, only steeper. to the right of this is a route that goes up under a roof, and then to the right of this is two cracks.

Friction Wall, 5.4, Left face consists of row after row of 1/4 to 1/2 inch ledges. The crack along the right edge where it joins the right wall is off route.,
Height: 40', Bolted:N, Type: face

Roof Problem, 5.7?, There's at least two variations that climb up under the roof then top out to the right.,
Height: 80, Bolted:N, Type: face

Pumped out, 5.7, There's actually two routes here depending on which crack you climb. They tend to be wet at the bottom with a slightly overhanging start. Pick one and climb away!,
Height: 60, Bolted:N, Type: crack

Unknown, 5.?, Climb the face left of the cracks,
Height: 60, Bolted:N, Type: face

Face: Finger Cliff

if you walk further in, you'll come to the longest pitch, an easy 5.5 to 5.7 face that has a detached flake to the left and a gulley to the right that you can come down from. the finger is our current project, the block on the top is just balanced so we'll probably top out to the tree on the right.

The Finger, 5.8, Climb the detached finger, top out at the tree on the right before you get to the top blocks. The top blocks are balanced and you can see light underneath them,
Height: 40, Bolted:N, Type: face

Unnamed, NEI 3, I-3, The inner corner behind the finger ices up in the winter. There were three line's there when we climbed it in March. The inner corner was fat at the base but was no linger climbable to the top, same for the next line over. There was also a line on the right side, which was too thin to bother dropping a rope on.,
Height: 30' - 70', Bolted:N, Type: Ice

Main Wall, 5.5-5.8, A large, less than vertical, face with multiple routes. Can just barely be belayed from the bottom with a 50m rope. The center route goes at around 5.6 with a couple of mantles thrown in for good measure.,
Height: 80', Bolted:N, Type: face

The Gulley, NEI2(?), I-3, Another ice climb at Ross. This gulley is usually ascended in the summer, but fills with ice in the winter. By March the only ice left was up the left wall of the gulley, the gulley itself had not filled in.,
Height: 100', Bolted:N, Type: Ice

Face: Multiple unclimbed faces

If you continue past the gulley, you'll come to even more cliffs. I don't know of anyone who has climbed these. They tend to be overgrown with lots of large blocks at the base, but there are some impossible looking roof problems...

References:

Beta provided by Randy Hill

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