Great Stuff Everybody, keep it coming!!

Wouldn't it be easier just to buy a copy of Rock and Road?

Jay

Wouldn't it be easier just to buy a copy of Rock and Road?

Jay

North Carolina

I was going to do a list, but I couldn't stop and ended up with 6 areas. If I had to narrow it to two, I'd say Laurel Knob is the destination in NC with Linville Gorge a close second.

LK has been a secret for decades and it was actually illegal to climb there during most of it's early development. Recently the CCC made an unprecedented move and PURCHASED the cliff! Amazing work on the access front and a very cool history make this place intriguing.

Then there's the climbing. It's the biggest face (1000ft) east of the Mississippi and it has dozens and dozens of routes at all grades.

I think Linville Gorge is the centerpiece of the state for climbing and many activities. It is probably the wildest area of it's size in this part of the country and there is a lot of adventure to be had. Hundreds of climbs at all grades throughout the Gorge, mostly from the same access point. Loads of potential for new exploration as well. One of the most beautiful areas that I've ever climbed.

Nearly all of the climbing areas in NC could be on this list. Besides great climbing, the local communities and the ethics that are upheld make the areas all wonderful.

Mt. Rubidoux is the best bouldering, probably in the country.

I imagine that this is going to turn into another internet argumentfest soon....

Mt. Rubidoux is the best bouldering, probably in the country.

"Country" or "county"?

Never mind, it's not true either way.

Jay

You should check this one place out near El Paso Texas.

They call it Hueco Tanks and it is the best bouldering on the continent.

You should check this one place out near El Paso Texas.

They call it Hueco Tanks and it is the best bouldering on the continent.

I am working on a Geography Project and would appreciate your input. I am looking to map out the TOP climbing areas in all 50 states. I understand that with some states this will be harder than others. But please don't neglect to answer for some of the more obscure states like Florida, Nebraska, etc.

Please indulge me with your opinion on the following questions:

(1) US State you live in or climb in most often.

(2) Your Top 1 - 3 technical climbing areas (please indicate dominate style i.e. Trad, Sport, Boulder) Aid, Alpine, and Ice are not needed.

(3) Why you feel these are the top areas of the state.

Thank you for your time and input

New Hampshire:

Trad: Cathedral/Whitehorse. (Close enough together to be included as one)

Sport: Rumney.

Bouldering: Pawtuckaway.

Texas:

Enchanted Rock (trad)
Hueco Tanks (bouldering)

Erock is the center of Texas climbing
Hueco Tanks is pretty self-explanatory

I personally would skip Rumney and go to Cannon.

New York:

Gunks and Adirondacks

The best sport climbing in NY? There is a climb called Sente with three bolts on it. Pretty nice thin face climb, if short.

Oregon
1. Smith-Sport
2. Carver-Bouldering
3. Broughton-Trad/Sport/Mixed

I am not arguing about the awesomeness of carver or broughton, both are fun places to climb, but not must climb destinations.

There is more trad at smith (and in my opinion better trad). There is more bouldering at Sisters or smith for that matter, or even at widgi/meadowcamp/the depot/bach boulders (all along the deschutes in bend with in a few miles) than at carver.

I'd say if there is one destination in oregon that is a "must climb" area it is smith and smith alone.

I do climb all over oregon though. But for an out of stater there's not much else thats worth the trip.

If we are adding alpine rock to the mix my fav's are 3FJ and washington (they have actual 5th class pitches with decent rock and great exposure)

I don't think the OP asked for a destination for each type of style (trad, sport, boulder), just 1-3 areas and the dominant style of each area. Still, I see nobody is attempting the list for CA, UT, CO, WY or one of the other states with a lot of climbing areas.

dude, theres no worthwhile climbing in any of those states. might as well leave them off the list altogether.

So I'm quoting myself here 'cuz I came back and read and realized that there must be a bouldering destination. I don't do much of it but bouldering has become HUGE in NC. The Boone area is the center of bouldering, but Rumbling Bald is said to be one of the classic bouldering areas of the east. The CCC has also stepped up to keep access open, and there is excellent trad climbing there as well, with some of the best cracks in the east.

SO, Rumbling Bald has to be #3 on the list.

Is there even any good sport in MA, short of... Farley?

Or best bouldering spot?

Although I have not been personally, I hear that Lynn Woods and Gloucester may rival or exceed Farley for bouldering.

AZ has many areas but one in particular is a must do for trad: Cochise.

Sport climbng is very popular in Jacks Canyon but other areas abound. It is very easy to get to if driving tween Cali/Nev and the east along I-40.

Although mired in controversy, Queen Creek has a wealth of trad, sport and bouldering all within an hour or so of Phoenix.

While Farley is really good for boulder (not a lot, but really high quality), the North Shore can be just as good and there is a lot more of it.

I personally would skip Rumney and go to Cannon.

New York:

Gunks and Adirondacks

Wyoming! --Generally the climbing is very bad and your time would be better spent climbing in CO or CA or even MD. But if you had to climb something I've found these to be better-than-shitty:

Sport: Ten Sleep
800+ sport routes with room for thousands more on beautiful limestone. Get the guidebook in Ten Sleep, WY at Dirty Sally's Ice Cream Shop

Bouldering: Cedar Mountain
800 (seems to be the magic number around here, eh?) boulder problems on sandstone. Get the guidebook at the Beta Coffee House in Cody, WY (across the street from the Irma Hotel patio, adjacent to Main St.). Get some beta from the owner and guidebook writer, Mike Snyder, while you're there.

Trad: Terrible everywhere.

enjoi!

Links? Photos, guides, vids - anything to stoke the stoke.

Although I have not been there yet, I have heard that Nine Corners is the NY destination for bouldering...

AZ has many areas but one in particular is a must do for trad: Cochise.

Sport climbng is very popular in Jacks Canyon but other areas abound. It is very easy to get to if driving tween Cali/Nev and the east along I-40.

Although mired in controversy, Queen Creek has a wealth of trad, sport and bouldering all within an hour or so of Phoenix.

http://newenglandbouldering.com/...lawiki&Itemid=65

Lots of pics here. Search the forum for additional beta.
http://newenglandbouldering.com/...c.php?f=1&t=4750

I'm trying to find out if theres any decent bolted routes in MA, short of 2 routes @ Quincy Quarry and I heard a couple at Farley. Any ideas?

Jbone, he did say "must climb" and I took it to mean a combination of convenience and quality routes. The Forks and Jacks do have a connection: I-40.

Jacks unfortunately has a stigma attached, as you pointed out, but it is more popular than the numerous quality limestone crags in the central and southern part of AZ. In part because of its easy accessibility and it has more routes in the moderate grades than the other limestone crags.

Cochise is near the border, hot now for sure so that would give the Forks and all that basalt up there the edge during the summer. I still think the number of routes and size of the crags gives Cochise an edge for trad over all areas in the state, IMHO.

Maybe you say it is shitty so no-one will come to Wyoming??

JB

WV probably has two worth noting here: Seneca Rock and the New River Gorge, which includes the Meadow and Gauley Gorges. Seneca is mostly a trad destination. I include it because it's where a lot of regional folks really learned to climb in an adventurous environment. It has a long, storied history and a reputation that intimidates, and yet still draws people in droves from the surrounding major metro areas. The New is tops for single-pitch trad and sport, which you can often find living together side by side on the same crag in perfect harmony. The outstanding rock quality, variety and technical nature of much of the climbing here don't hurt either. The shear quantity of starred classics is almost overwhelming and there's still plenty of high-quality potential for those who want to explore off the beaten path.

I've often said that the NRG is also the top bouldering area in the region... if people only realized it. (I'll reluctantly stop shy of calling it potentially the best on the entire east coast.) Some folks consider the high-gorge boulders to be too featured to support mass hard bouldering, but the river-side boulders are another story entirely. Sorry NC boulderers, but if the area ever sees the development it's capable of sustaining, it may rival or even beat Boone for both quality and quantity.

Here's a sample:
http://www.louderthan11.com/?p=925

Rumbling Bald is great, and I'd agree that you could probably put all NC climbing areas on the list, with Crowder's Mtn and Pilot Mtn being at the bottom, of course.

Pennsylvania-
uhhhhhh...
Haycock for bouldering. Some very awesome climbs on rock that isnt found everywhere. Diabase (which is what your climbing on) can only be found in PA and South Africa. like, what?

WY is easy. 1.) Sinks - Sport, 2.) The Winds - Trad, 3.) Devil's Tower - Trad.

Depending on who you ask and personal style you could flip 1 and 2. Devil's Tower is only 3 cause it's not open year round.

As for the other 3 I'm not sure you could narrow it down to just 3 places.

And there in lies why people were hesitant to speak up about wyoming. It's all a matter of opinion I guess.

We've got world class ice in Cody.

yeah man, wy has to be the best state to climb in the summer. I haven't even been to devil's tower, freemont caynon, wild iris or ten sleep, or the winds. The best trad routes i've done has been in the tetons and sinks caynon is a great sport place. Even the sport crags outside of jackson are pretty sweet.

Indian creek - trad

I'm surprised no one has mentioned utah yet since it has such an abundance of climbing. I'm just throwing out a few I believe are good spots.
Utah:
American Fork canyon - sport
Indian creek - trad
little cottonwood - bouldering

Not all that diverse

AZ has many areas but one in particular is a must do for trad: Cochise.

Sport climbng is very popular in Jacks Canyon but other areas abound. It is very easy to get to if driving tween Cali/Nev and the east along I-40.

Although mired in controversy, Queen Creek has a wealth of trad, sport and bouldering all within an hour or so of Phoenix.

And there in lies why people were hesitant to speak up about wyoming. It's all a matter of opinion I guess.

I can understand Ten sleep as your top choice. It's great climbing. I prefer Sinks personally though cause I've always had a better time there. I've only been to Ten Sleep two or three times though so maybe if I was there more it'd be different. Lander is a cool town, Wild Iris is just next door with amazing bouldering and Sinks has steep, fun climbs.

I've always had a great time in the winds and would recommend it to anybody. The majority of the times I've been out there I didn't see a soul other than my partner. I haven't been out there in 2 years so maybe it's changed.

And the tower is closed a month out of an already short season. Come down south and climb in June then tell me Eastern Wyoming is too hot to climb. Granted, I'm a pussy on the flip side of that in the winter

We've already said it's not a mandatory closure. It's a recommended closure out of respect for the cultures that the month of June and the tower itself are religously significant. Climbing the tower this month could be compared to spitting on the holy cross. I'm sure your GOD you're thanking would appreciate that.

Basically, you're a dick.

Ashboro NC is also a diabase area.

This is a difficult choice as the bouldering areas in PA are amazing. While haycock may have the most problems - it also has the most problems (not a summer area, bad landings, difficult navigation).

So I'd have to vote Ghost town over Haycock as a bouldering area - for the superior asthetics and amazing quality of the problems.

However.....

My vote for what is the best climbing area in PA and the one that people would have a reason to visit the state for - would be Hunter Rocks for the amazing rock quality and features. Perhaps the stickiest, coolest featured sandstone in the world.

And Hunters has something no other climbing area in the country has - quality Font Circuits (minus the red and blue paint). Because of the Dresden-like mini-towers and convoluted nature of the sandstone formation you can literally climb for hours without ever touching the ground - only stopping every once in a while on top of a tower to admire the view.

So if you are climbing addict and are comfortable soloing at around 5.8 - the hunter rock circuits have the longest continuous "fix" of fun moves on amazing rock anywhere.

Bowers

... (which is one of the ways they proved the continents were once attached to each other)

We've already said it's not a mandatory closure. It's a recommended closure out of respect for the cultures that the month of June and the tower itself are religously significant. Climbing the tower this month could be compared to spitting on the holy cross. I'm sure your GOD you're thanking would appreciate that.

Basically, you're a dick.

We've already said it's not a mandatory closure. It's a recommended closure out of respect for the cultures that the month of June and the tower itself are religously significant. Climbing the tower this month could be compared to spitting on the holy cross. I'm sure your GOD you're thanking would appreciate that.

Basically, you're a dick.