Two great climbs that climb great together

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North Conway, tucked beneath the Moat Mountains of northern New Hampshire, is a climbers’ utopia. It’s a small town (pop. 2,000) bustling with climbing life: everywhere, climbers bike to morning guiding gigs, and then take coffee fuel-ups at The Frontside Grind before reeling off a half-dozen afternoon pitches on the nearby “ledges” — Whitehorse, Humphrey’s, Sundown, or Woodchuck.

The jewel of the area, the 500-foot granite scarp of Cathedral Ledge, lies across the Saco River, just at town’s edge. The prolific Robert Underhill (et al.) made the first ascent of Cathedral, in 1931, via the Standard Route (5.6). The cliff has since been the tooth-cutting crag of choice for a bevy of American greats: Henry Barber, Joe Cote, Jim Dunn, Hugh Herr, Jim Surette, and Ed Webster, etc. But it wasn’t until 1977 that Recom-Beast — a rare splicing of clean cracks and hairy exposure that goes at 5.9 — came to exist.

Recom-Beast links the best pitches on two excellent climbs — Recompense and The Beast 666 — both on the Lower Left Wall. John Turner FA’ed the former in 1959, at the then cutting-edge grade of 5.9; he yielded a near-perfect line ascending clean splitters and corners, with, however, one small blemish: a slightly grovelly, chimney-ish corner on the third pitch. The Beast 666 is a Paul Ross and George Meyers creation with two crusher starts, the harder an aid line (The Cerberus) freed at 5.12+ by Jim Surette in 1985

Mike Heinz was the first, in 1977, to have the great idea of weaving slightly left at the third pitch of Recompense, avoiding the unwelcoming grovel by taking a dicey undercling traverse above a dizzying void — what’s become Recom-Beast’s signature section. Brave those moves and you’ll be rewarded with two of the splitter-est crack stretches in the Northeast: the detached, 60-foot hand-and-fist flake of The Beast 666, and the clean, 60-foot P4 dihedral of Recompense. Heinz’ partner on Recom-Beast, Bob Palais, was so enamored with the climb he repeated it weekly for several months after their FA. Today, the route might see three to five parties on a busy weekend.