The Fly (climb)


The Fly is a 25ft high sport route or boulder located in the Rumney Rocks climbing area Rumney, New Hampshire, USA. It is located at the Waimea Cliff.
The Fly was first envisioned and bolted by Mark Sprague in 1995 as an open project for all to try but did not see a free ascent until David Graham, an 18-year-old American climber from Maine, climbed it in April 2000. It was quickly repeated by his climbing partner, Luke Parady. These ascents were milestones for the young up and coming climbers and the Rumney area, as they were at the cutting edge grade of physical difficulty in North America.

Route Description

The Fly ascends a short, steep, lower portion of the Waimea wall, gaining a large ledge and a bolted anchor about 25 feet up. The climb is very fingery and powerful.
The route is quite short by sport climbing standards, essentially a rope protected boulder problem, with its two protection bolts being placed before the now common use of many stacked 'crash pads' to protect the dangerous landing. Most ascents make use of the protection offered by the bolts, usually preclipping the rope to them both, though after practicing the moves on a rope, the climb has been 'bouldered', first by Jason Kehl, on November 7, 2003.

First Ascent

made the first ascent on April 7, 2000. At the time, David Graham and Luke Parady proposed the tentative grade of. After further ascents and fine tuning of the beta needed to climb it, the consensus has settled to approximately using the Yosemite decimal system or 8B/+ in the Font bouldering grade.

Repetitions

Both Lamiche and Sharma pre-clipped the second bolt on their redpoints.
Kehl and Jorgeson, both known for highball bouldering, bouldered the route after practicing the moves on a rope. Although the route is not particularly high, the landing is dangerous with an uneven surface and the potential to fall off a larger ledge.