I won’t go into all the gritty details of sandstone flakes, slopers, and pockets, but I will say this: there is real bouldering in Athens, Ohio. Some of it is sandychoss. I wasn’t lichen all of it (if you get my meaning). And some of it was lowball and contrived. But some of it was good, a small percentage of it was very good, and likely much more goodness has yet to be found/developed. The jewel of the climbing I witnessed on my tour was undoubtedly Big Mamma, a 20+ foot superthin arête with a full-on, barn-dooring leap to a sloping top. The fall would send an unfortunate climber pin wheeling down an away-sloping hill in a manner too unpredictable to spot.

I was unable to muster the courage to make the final move, despite staring at the leafy, rounded top over and over again. I swore I would send, but one of the more seasoned locals stood back knowingly, arms crossed, until dusk sent me packing. There was a reason no one had yet done Big Mamma. As far as I know it’s still open, so check it out if your passing through.

Big props to the Athens crew, who I met at the local gear shop, Wild Mercantile (wildmercantile.com; the site seems to be having some technical difficulties at the moment). And much respect to the little college town of Athens, home to Ohio University, one of the nation’s top “party schools,” and to a rich community of students, artists, hipsters, and organic farmers.