SANDBAGHEAVEN STORY BY MATT SHOVE


As I refl ect on my many days spent cragging at Ragged Mountain, I often remember the comments I have heard about climbing in Connecticut. On top of Intersection Rock in Joshua Tree it was ‘where?’ On Crimson Chrysalis they said ‘there’s climbing in Connecti- cut?’ On Dinner Ledge on Washington Column, it was ‘why would anyone climb there when you could climb here?’ At the base of the Nose, I saw some rolled eyes. But best of all I was pulling out of the Devil’s Tower climber’s park- ing lot, on our way to the Tetons’ when


18 climber MAGAZINEism |


a car pulled up next to my wife and me. They saw our Connecticut plates and said ‘so, you’re from Connecticut’ “Yes!’ I replied...” Do you know that asshole bolt chopper guy?’


Ragged Mountain is part of central Con- necticut’s Traprock region. The dark brown gritty stone is usually blasted into ¾ inch gravel for use in road beds and placed under sidewalks to prevent heav- ing. I could go on about the Mesozoic Era, and the Triassic period, sea fl oors, mechanisms, and mid ocean ridges but


I won’t. Here’s the quick and dirty. The Traprock crags are ancient lava beds. Many moons ago, a long central rift valley was formed by an under-sea volcano. The lava cooled, hardend, and then withstood the erosive quality of time. The hard, dense metamorphic lava beds were then exposed to what we now see as north-south ridges and craggy outcroppings, sometimes referred


Above: Stacy Kellogg-Shove on Broadway (5.8) Photo by Matt Shove


MAY JUNE 2011 |


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