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9.13.07
Climbers Kick-It
ClimbFest
— the premier climbing
festival in eastern Mass —
returns for the first time since 2005.
.jpg)
A climber scales a vertical rock face
at Massachusetts' Quincy Quarries during ClimbFest in 2005. (Photo
ClimbFest.com)
The Boston
area’s biggest climbing event is back. And if you’re crazy about
crags, you should get there this year, because you don’t know
when it will be back.
ClimbFest returns to
Quincy Quarries Reservation just south of Boston in Quincy,
Massachusetts, on Saturday, September 22. Featuring climbing
competitions, demonstrations such as aid and big wall climbing,
and workshops on such topics as knots, gear use, and kids
climbing, the event draws everyone from hardcore rock stars to
rookies nervously shuffling up their first rock face.
The event is not to miss —
partly because it kicks ass, and partly because you can’t be
sure when it’ll be held again.
The first ClimbFest was held in 1990, and it was held regularly
throughout most of the decade, drawing mostly experienced people
from the climbing and mountaineering community, says Julie
Perreault, one of the festival’s organizers. Then, the event was
halted for six years beginning in 1999 when the quarries were
closed —
first because of a missing-person’s investigation, and then
because the quarries were being filled with dirt from the Big
Dig. When ClimbFest was to make a comeback in 2004, Mother
Nature took her swipe at it, raining out the event.
[TALK CLIMBING IN THE SIX
STATES FORUM]
Finally, in 2005, ClimbFest was held again. And it was a huge
success. Roughly 500 people turned out. And it wasn’t just
hardcore climbers or mountaineers. Perreault says during
ClimbFest’s hiatus, climbing became a mainstream sport. People
turning out for the festival were now recreational climbers and
people who wanted to find out what climbing was about.
“A large portion of the people who came to [ClimbFest] were from
the general public,” Perreault says. “Many families brought
their children to try out the kids climbing clinic.”
Despite their success, organizers couldn’t get the event up and
running in 2006. ClimbFest is an all-volunteer event, says
Perreault, and it depends on volunteers being able to organize
their schedules and find time to plan it
—
hence last year’s hiatus.
Now, the event is back. And, with any luck, it will continue as
a regular festival —
an appropriate celebration of the area’s premier climbing spot.
-D.M.
ClimbFest will be held at Quincy Quarries Reservation in
Quincy, Massachusetts, on Saturday, September 22 from 9 a.m. to
4:30 p.m. The event’s rain date is Sunday, September 23. For
more information, visit
www.climbfest.com. |
