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Rat Rock (Central Park)

Rock formation in Manhattan, New York

Field	Value
name	Rat Rock
other_name	Umpire Rock
photo	Rat rock east face Feb jeh.jpg
photo_caption	East side of the rock
map	Manhattan#New York City#New York#USA
map_caption	Location of Rat Rock
location	Central Park, Manhattan,
New York City, New York, U.S.
coordinates
climbing_type	Bouldering
height	25 ft
rock_type	Schist
ownership	Department of Parks and Recreation
access	Public

New York City, New York, U.S. Rat Rock, also known as Umpire Rock, is an outcrop of Manhattan schist which protrudes from the bedrock in Central Park, Manhattan, New York City.

Description

The outcrop is located near the southwest corner of Central Park, south of the Heckscher Ballfields near the alignments of 62nd Street and Seventh Avenue. It is officially named Umpire Rock, due to its proximity to the ballfields, but is commonly known as Rat Rock after the rats that used to swarm there at night.

It measures about 150 ft wide and is 25 ft tall at its highest point. The outcrop has different east, west, and north faces, each of which presents a differing climbing challenge. The rock has striations caused by glaciation.

Climbing usage

Boulderers congregate at the outcrop, sometimes as many as 50 per day.{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B02E3D61230F932A25750C0A96E958260

While the outcrop has been included in a list of the "top 5 urban bouldering crags", more experienced outsiders may be disappointed as the quality of the stone is poor, the setting is gloomy, and the climbs present so little challenge that it has been called "one of America's most pathetic boulders".

The park police formerly ticketed climbers who climbed more than a few feet up the rock. The City Climbers Club approached the park authorities and, by working to provide safety features such as wood chips around the base, they were able to legalize climbing there.

References

Bleyer, Jennifer. (October 7, 2007). "The Zen of the Rock".
Sherman, John. (1994). "Stone crusade: a historical guide to bouldering in America". The Mountaineers Books.
Hand, Carol. (2009). "The Creation of Glaciers". Rosen.
Roy, Adam. (September 10, 2010). "The Top 5 Urban Bouldering Crags".

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

central-park climbing-areas-of-new-york-(state) stones bouldering schist-formations

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