In reply to MarcusP:
I live in western Massachusetts about 2 hours from Providence, so can hopefully offer some advice. The most useful information depends on your specific interests and the time of year that you will be in the area. You mention "mountaineering" and Scottish winter, so if those are your primary interests, then you will want to look into northern New England--most specifically the White Mountains of New Hampshire which are roughly 3 1/2-5 hours drive from Providence depending on the specific area to visit and the traffic (always an issue in this populous part of the world). There is plenty of climbing in southern New England (Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts) but it is all bouldering or single pitch (with some very short 2-pitch) outcrop style crags, There is a very good bouldering area (Lincoln Woods) in the outskirts of Providence--well pretty much everything in Rhode Island can be considered the outskirts of Providence and a selection of other bouldering areas and outcrops within reasonable day trip distance.
The White Mountains have a number of different areas. North Conway in the eastern part of the region (just over the border from Maine) is the most important center with several good sized granite crags right outside of town--most notably Cathedral (steep, 450 feet high) and Whitehorse (600-800 feet both slabby and steep) Ledges. Nearby, Mount Washington, the tallest mountain in the northeast US, has some mountaineering style routes in Huntington Ravine. About an hour to the west, Franconia Notch is the location of Cannon Cliff--at 1100 feet, the areas 'big wall', with a good variety of routes from severe/hard severe on up. There are also some good smaller crags in the Notch. A bit south of Franconia is the regions main sport climbing destination--Rumney. The other 2 states in northern New England--Vermont and Maine, also have a number of crags and 'mountaineering' options, but are harder to reach from Providence. A bit further, but still very worthwhile, are the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York--a vast area with a great deal of climbing of all styles yet still relatively unvisited except for a few crags. In southern New York--still well within reasonable--and popular--weekend range of Providence are the Shawangunks--the major cragging destination in the entire region.
The above are all 'warm weather'--March/April thru November--options, in winter all of northern New England and New York offer many options for ice climbing and winter mountaineering. The climbing isn't exactly "Scottish-style"--too cold, etc.--but still plenty challenging. The weather up on Mount Washington has long been called "the most severe in the world"--probably a bit of hyperbole but still can be pretty severe.
Hope this helps. You can contact me for more detailed info and, once you arrive, I can show you around the very good crags in western Mass. if you are interested. Alan Rubin
