Carderock Recreation Area is a 100-acre park in
Carderock, Maryland, part of the
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park.
The area is well known as a destination for its outdoor activities of
rock climbing
Rock climbing is a sport in which participants climb up, across, or down natural rock formations. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a usually pre-defined route without falling. Rock climbing is a physically and ...
,
hiking and
biking
Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...
. It is bounded by the
Potomac River on the south and the
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal on the north, and it is accessed from
Clara Barton Parkway from the same exit as
Carderock Division of the Naval Surface Warfare Center.
The Recreation Area includes a picnic shelter, section C of the
Billy Goat Trail, convenient access to the
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, and popular rock cliffs.
The area has a long history of climbing and is notable for being the closest significant climbing area to
Washington, D.C. As such, it is one of the most climbed cliffs in the eastern United States.
[ There is no fee to enter the park.
]
Origins
left, 200px, Pavilion at Carderock for picnics
Carderock's name is first recorded as a 1,705-acre tract registered in 1802 with state of Maryland by Robert Peter of Georgetown.
Rock climbing
The rock cliffs are made of Wissahikon Mica
Micas ( ) are a group of silicate minerals whose outstanding physical characteristic is that individual mica crystals can easily be split into extremely thin elastic plates. This characteristic is described as perfect basal cleavage. Mica is ...
- schist and range from , with the majority of the climbs about .top-rope
Top rope climbing (or top roping) is a style in climbing in which the climber is securely attached to a rope which then passes up, through an anchor system at the top of the climb, and down to a belayer at the foot of the climb. The belayer takes ...
routes, with a few harder climbs as well as numerous eliminate routes and boulder problems. Traditional climbing is not recommended since protection is often difficult to place and the schist has a reputation for being friable and breakable if a piece of gear is subjected to a leader fall.
History
Carderock is one of the oldest established climbing areas in the eastern United States, with roots reaching back to 1920s when Gustave Gambs, Don Hubbard, and Paul Bradt
Paul Jay Bradt (1904–1978) has been called the father of rock climbing in the Washington, D.C., area. See also the sound tracks of the archival videos on this website. He was instrumental in developing interest in the sport, was a founding membe ...
began practicing here. The area's first climbing guide, ''Rock Climbs Near Washington'', was written by Don Hubbard and published in the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (PATC) Bulletin in July 1943. In 1942, Herb and Jan Conn began climbing at Carderock. They climbed and named many of the routes at Carderock, including ''Herbie’s Horror'', ''Jan’s Face'' and ''Ronnie’s Leap'', which was named after their dog. ''Herbie’s Horror'', first climbed by Herb Conn, was one of the first 5.9 routes in the eastern United States.[
]
References
External links
Rock Climbing at Carderock, Maryland (www.rockclimbing.com)
Rock Climbing at Carderock, Maryland (www.mountainproject.com)
YouTube video
of Chris Sharma at Carderock
* {{cite web, last=Prothro, first=Hunt, title=Climbing Friend Accused of Killing Geoff Farrar at Carderock, url=http://www.rockandice.com/lates-news/carderock-geoff-farrar-killed-by-climbing-friend, accessdate=16 January 2014, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116192721/http://www.rockandice.com/lates-news/carderock-geoff-farrar-killed-by-climbing-friend, archive-date=16 January 2014, url-status=dead
Climbing areas of the United States
Parks in Montgomery County, Maryland
