Welcome! Please respect and preserve the wildness of the climbing areas you are about to visit! Thanks!
ELK RIDGE
Maryland
Traditional
– Top Rope – Bouldering
The Land of First Light
Photo looks to the north. The
Shenandoah River (left of Harpers Ferry, WV) joins the Potomac River (right of
Harpers Ferry, WV) and heads east to Washington DC and the Chesapeake Bay.
Elk Ridge is
the main “area” at Harpers Ferry. The rock quality is excellent and the scenery
is magnificent. The main face known as Maryland Heights gets most of the
attention because it’s highly visible and is the only area covered by previous
climbing guidebooks. The rock of the Maryland Heights cliff is different than
the rock found at Balcony Rock, Balcony JR., and the surrounding boulders. On
these smaller cliffs you’ll find a hard, bomber, glass like quartzite that
comes from clean beach sand-sandstone that has undergone geologic
metamorphosis. The Potomac River cut through the gap exposing giant
“Anticlinoriums” in this rock, which are features made of folds on the limbs of
bigger scale folds in the rock. When the
river is low you can peer down from Balcony Jr. or Loudon Heights and see the
axis of these folds exposed in the river bed. You can do some really cool 3-D
geologic visualization here in this gorge with exposed rock in the river and on
both ridges. This ridge trends N/S and is home to some really cool creatures.
Fence lizards and skinks, both of which are native reptile inhabitants of the
Appalachians, scurry around the boulders and scamper up climbs with such ease
you might begin to rethink who the real First
Ascent credit should go to. There
are five lined skinks (five different colors!), blue throated fence lizards,
and the most amazing skink of all… the Broad Head skink. You may also see black
snakes mating at Balcony Jr. They sit upright in front of each other and
intertwine their necks as they heatedly tumble down the mountainside oblivious
to your stares. Though I have never personally seen one on the ridge it is
possible that black bears or cougars (not likely the human kind) could be
roaming these forests. You can climb on this south facing ridge all year
including the winter time. If the weather is sunny and it’s warmer than 35
degrees with light wind then you can climb. I have climbed too many days to
count in the middle of winter with the temperature at 40 degrees, the sun
blasting, very little wind and only a t-shirt and a pair of pants.
SEASON: Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter
(clear & sunny, 35+, no wind) ASPECT: South, sun from sunrise to
sunset
BOULDERING
+The Underground Railroad Overhang
+Land of First Light Bouldering
+Maryland Heights bouldering cove
ROPE CLIMBING
+The Cave