Last weekend I was able to spend a day climbing back in my home state of Pennsylvania. Most climbers living outside of Pennsylvania aren’t aware of the phenomenal climbing that exists in that state! I thought I’d take a moment to write a bit about climbing in PA and highlight some of the locations. Hopefully every climber who reads this will take a trip there some day and check it out!

Mocanaqua

Located in between Bloomsburg PA and Wilkes-Barre PA, along US-11, the small town of Mocanaqua is surrounded by excellent climbing areas. I went to college at Bloomsburg PA, and scheduled all my classes on Tuesday and Thursdays so I could climb ALOT at these spots, since they were only 30 minutes away or less. Most of the cliffs in this area were rebolted as part of the ARI (Anchor Replacement Initiative). If you look at the ARI ads in Climbing Magazine, you will see Mocanaqua listed. You could spend a long weekend in Bloomsburg PA, and climb here all day all weekend long and not even come close to running out of climbs. A great trip would be to drive to PA, climb 2 days in Mocanaqua, and then drive to the Gunks, which is only 2.5 hours away. Some of the areas in Mocanaqua are listed below, with pictures following the posts.

Main Wall

The highest point on Main Wall is just shy of 100 feet. The rock is fairly simliar to the Gunks (course conglomerate). The easiest route up the wall is 5.5 trad, with the hardest being 12a sport. The cliff is 100% vertical, offering a unique challenge to climbers. Easy access to a cliff-top trail makes top roping here easy as well. The approach is only about 5 minutes from the road!

Library

The Library was my favorite spot. It is formed by a 50 foot block that is detached from the cliff, creating a large hallway of rock. This cliff, while only about 100 yards long, is actually 300 yards long because of the detached block creating 3 cliffs in one. There are excellent sport routes and trad routes here. This is one of the longest approaches in PA, having to hike through a coal field. But the hike is well worth it. It is a great summer spot, as it is shaded all day long.

Paradise

The Paradise cliffs can be seen while driving into Mocanaqua, and are on your left while hiking to The Library cliffs. Paradise is known for hard sport routes, often very run out. Definitely a quality place if you are up for a bold lead!

Squirrel Rock

Squirrel Rock is the PA boulderers paradise. There are boulder problems galore, as well as a few short top roping options. Squirrel rocks is very near Main Wall.

Tilbury

Tilbury is about 10 minutes north of Mocanaqua. It is marked by a HUGE 30 foot roof with a flake, crack out the middle, providing a hard 5.11a trad lead, and a “Big-Swing” top rope. There are many excellent climbs on this cliff, most notably the large 5.7 hand/finger crack on the left side of the cliff.