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wandering
Nov 24, 2011, 11:52 PM
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So imagine you have a year off what would you climb / see in North America? We're Australian and have chosen North America for many reasons. We won't be doing Asia or Europe this trip. We're both in our early thirties and cash is not a big concern (since we're getting paid out from our jobs). We climb both trad and sport and don't mind bouldering though the preference is trad. I lead 5.12, she leads 5.11.
Very rough plan is to climb four to five days a week, three out of every four weeks. The fourth week is to rest, recharge, relocate and sight see (we will probably spend this week in motels rather than camping).
We intend to buy a used SUV when we arrive and sell it when we leave, so weight of gear isn't a big issue. We'll have double and single 60 m ropes, trad racks and we're borrowing some extra cams for the long splitter cracks, should have at least four from #0.75 to #3 BD cams, will have doubles of the rest.
Starting April where would you go to climb? My rough intent is three weeks in each place, following the weather, i.e. Texas / South in winter, Canada in Summer, East and West Coasts during Spring and Autumn. I'm looking at roughly twelve areas dotted around North America. Our only three must dos right now are Yosemite, Utah and Hueco.
Thanks.
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bearbreeder
Nov 25, 2011, 12:00 AM
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squamish, canadian rockies in summer ... itll be fairly cool compared to other places
plenty of aussies up here ... they seem to come here and breed like rabbits with the local wildlife 
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gblauer
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Nov 25, 2011, 4:37 AM
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El Potrero Chico (Hidalgo, Nuevo Leon, Mexico) for the winter.
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JAB
Nov 25, 2011, 9:24 AM
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Devil's Tower is pretty spectacular, I would definitely go there as well.
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Rufsen
Nov 25, 2011, 9:50 AM
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wandering wrote: We intend to buy a used SUV when we arrive and sell it when we leave, so weight of gear isn't a big issue. Thanks.
Not really what you asked for, but this is not recommended. We bought a car last year when we went there, but if im doing it again I would just rent.
You either need to spend quite a bit, or accept that the chances of the car breaking down is significant. Getting insurance if you're not living in the states is surprisingly difficult. And looking for the right car for 3-4 days when you could have been outside climbing is really annoying.
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rtwilli4
Nov 25, 2011, 11:28 AM
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You absolutely must climb at the Needles. I've climbed all over and it is probably my favorite. There are stellar pitches in Yosemite but sometimes you have to climb not so good pitches to get to them. At the Needles every pitch is stellar. And you'll never wait for a route, ever. It's a half days drive south of Yosemite.
You also must make it into the High Sierra. You guys are climbing strong enough for the hard routes on The Incredible Hulk and on Mt. Russell, Mt. Conness, etc. You must get do something on the Hulk. Positive Vibrations, Venturi Effect, Sunspot Dihedral...
You'll be around Moab already, so make sure not to miss Mill Creek. There is no published info so you'll need to ask around but it's probably the best sport climbing in the west and might remind you of the Grampians.
If you end up in the east, the New River Gorge is the best hard sandstone in the country and North Carolina has amazing Climbing with a sort of old school wilderness feel.
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Rudmin
Nov 25, 2011, 2:48 PM
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rtwilli4 wrote: You absolutely must climb at the Needles. I've climbed all over and it is probably my favorite. There are stellar pitches in Yosemite but sometimes you have to climb not so good pitches to get to them. At the Needles every pitch is stellar. And you'll never wait for a route, ever. It's a half days drive south of Yosemite. You also must make it into the High Sierra. You guys are climbing strong enough for the hard routes on The Incredible Hulk and on Mt. Russell, Mt. Conness, etc. You must get do something on the Hulk. Positive Vibrations, Venturi Effect, Sunspot Dihedral... You'll be around Moab already, so make sure not to miss Mill Creek. There is no published info so you'll need to ask around but it's probably the best sport climbing in the west and might remind you of the Grampians. If you end up in the east, the New River Gorge is the best hard sandstone in the country and North Carolina has amazing Climbing with a sort of old school wilderness feel.
If you're in Canada at the end of the summer, make sure to get a week or so in the Bugaboos.
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sungam
Nov 25, 2011, 3:37 PM
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bearbreeder wrote: squamish, canadian rockies in summer ... itll be fairly cool compared to other places plenty of aussies up here ... they seem to come here and breed like rabbits with the local wildlife
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USnavy
Nov 25, 2011, 4:36 PM
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I just finished a year long climbing trip. Going with an SUV probably isint the most economical option. Granted everyone is different, but I found most crags started to get boring after a month, so I traveled around a lot. My objective for the trip was to pretty much hit up every major destination in North America, get a lot of variety, see a lot of new places, climb on all types of rock, go everywhere, do everything. In the year I was on my trip I put on over 30,000 miles on my car. Thats a lot of driving and a lot of fuel if you have an SUV. My car gets 40 MPG and I still bought some 750 gallons of diesel to drive throughout the year. If I would have had an SUV I would have needed 2,500+ gallons of gasoline.
But having a large vehicle is indeed nice for sleeping in. Sleeping in a midsize car for a year sucks. I just suggest you try to find the most fuel efficient vehicle that will fit your budget and purpose as you may be driving more than you think. You may want to look a minivan, they generally get better fuel economy than SUVs.
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eric_k
Nov 25, 2011, 9:48 PM
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Most of the suggestions offered are all ready covering a lot of the good stuff. Here are my humble suggestions...
In my opinion the best sport climbing in the west has to in Lander WY, sinks canyon is great, and just a few miles hiking will get you to some great trad climbing in the wind river range.
The alpine lakes region around Leavenworth has some Excellent alpine granite climbs, and the North Cascades has a lot to offer.
Like others have said, don't stay in one place too long.
Eric
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guangzhou
Nov 26, 2011, 4:48 AM
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Some great advice so far, especially the one year rental vehicle suggestion. You could also try out some rv by owner websites. (rent a RV directly from the owner.
Eman
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USnavy
Nov 26, 2011, 8:38 AM
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guangzhou wrote: especially the one year rental vehicle suggestion.
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guangzhou
Nov 26, 2011, 1:13 PM
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USnavy wrote: guangzhou wrote: especially the one year rental vehicle suggestion. I dident see the post about that one, but it should be noted that most vehicle leases have mileage restrictions. Normally 14,000 miles per year. One could easily exceed that on an international climbing trip through North America.
The last few summer, I did rental cars for 8 weeks at a time. Last summer, 8 weeks cost me $675.00
Leased vehicles do have mileage issue.
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coastal_climber
Nov 26, 2011, 1:21 PM
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sungam wrote: bearbreeder wrote: squamish, canadian rockies in summer ... itll be fairly cool compared to other places plenty of aussies up here ... they seem to come here and breed like rabbits with the local wildlife I still think Sqaumish is way over rated. The rockies are sick though.
Yep, totally over-rated. Please don't come climb here. I hate line-ups. Thanks!
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USnavy
Nov 26, 2011, 6:40 PM
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guangzhou wrote: USnavy wrote: guangzhou wrote: especially the one year rental vehicle suggestion. I dident see the post about that one, but it should be noted that most vehicle leases have mileage restrictions. Normally 14,000 miles per year. One could easily exceed that on an international climbing trip through North America. The last few summer, I did rental cars for 8 weeks at a time. Last summer, 8 weeks cost me $675.00 Leased vehicles do have mileage issue.
He also said he wanted an SUV and they will really stuck it to you for renting an SUV. It could be as much as $100 a day in some places, SUVs, trucks, hybrid cars and vans are normally extremely expensive to rent from a rental car agency. Also an economy car would likely be too expensive, you would want a midsize at the minimal and that could easily run over $1k per two months.
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rtwilli4
Nov 26, 2011, 8:53 PM
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Aussies are making boat loads right now. He said they were set with cash. But for maintenance and insurance reasons I agree that buying a cheap car may or may not be the best idea.
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granite_grrl
Nov 27, 2011, 3:30 AM
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It is my understanding that in Austrailia that it's a pretty common thing for visitors to come in, buy a super cheap vehicle for use while they're there and then sell it again when they're leaving. If I've never been there, but have still heard about it I assume it happens quite often and is easy to do.
This is not part of tourism culture in North America and I don't know how hard it would be to do this here, but it seems like a good idea if you're traveling across seas longerish term.
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happiegrrrl
Nov 27, 2011, 6:40 PM
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Plenty of people do the "buy/sell" when coming for extended periods. Depending on the type of person you are, this works well or isn't right for you. Everybody is different. Some people come from other continents for long trips and have their rig shipped over and back(I believe it is about $2K per crossing). Seen a lot of excellent ones out here that make me wish US auto makers were a bit more flexible in their offerings!
A few years ago my friend bought a minivan from someone in Yosemite who was returning to Europe. He bought the thing for like $600 and has been from West to East coast and back 2 or 3 times since. The van did have the tranny go, but he'd already put many, many miles on it since buying before that happened. He's still got the van now.
Someone who can gauge a vehicle's condition(or bring a mechanic as consultant) can do well with the buy now/sell later. Of course they would assume there will be some issues along the way - what car doesn't have them! I can tell you, from my own bit of travel, I see a LOT more VERY new cars standing alongside the highway than I do older ones....
On a rental note: I had a friend rent a van for a summer, and he had them remove/store the seats. I suppose you can't count on a rental car doing that, but it worked for this couple.
Of course, with a rental, you have to be very careful about things which you wouldn't in your own vehicle(namely, dings and scratches, and heaven knows that sometimes those big rocks just seem to emerge from the ground when you least expect it on logging and other back roads when you are tired and looking for a bivy....).
Have a fun trip! Definitely get to the Gunks for s time. Our peak season is late September to mid-October(fall foliage, low humidity, and cooler but still nice temps), but you can get good climbing any time from mid April through November. Late July and August do tend to be high humidity and temps, so not the optimal time to visit. But days are long, so you can get an early bit of climbing in, then go swimming/siesta mid day and come back again for late afternoon/evening climbing.
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wandering
Nov 27, 2011, 9:13 PM
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Wow guys thanks for all the replies, I posted this on our Friday, went climbing in the Grampians for the weekend and am back today, didn't expect so many good responses. Most of the replies on our Aussie equivalent would have been piss takes or sandbags.
How's this for a rough itinerary? I'm open to switch around dates and locs, I'm very sketchy about the Canadian leg since I don't know anything about the east coast. Keep in mind we're driving from place to place so each location has to be a reasonable driving distance from the last.
01 Apr - 21 Apr Red River Gorge
29 Apr - 19 May Gunks
27 May - 16 Jun Val David
24 Jun - 14 Jul Canmore
22 Jul - 11 Aug Squamish
19 Aug - 08 Sep Sinks Canyon
16 Sep - 06 Oct Yosemite
14 Oct - 03 Nov Utah
11 Nov - 01 Dec Red Rocks
09 Dec - 29 Dec Arizona (Open for suggestions where)
06 Jan - 02 Mar Hueco Tanks (the last month of so we can really go hard at bouldering since we'll be at the end)
About the car thing, the reason we're looking at an SUV is because we're unsure what access is like. In Oz there's quite a few places it's definitely preferable to have a car with AWD and a little extra clearance for climbing trips. I'm happy to take advice that in North America it's a little more tamed and I can get away with a smaller hatch type vehicle.
Thanks.
I'm quite mechanically minded. We were looking at spending $10-12k on a car and happy to lose $2k on the sale given that'd be heaps cheaper and less inconvenient than multiple rentals, lease arrangements, etc. If ground clearance isn't a factor, maybe something like a Subaru Impreza Hatch.
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eric_k
Nov 27, 2011, 9:46 PM
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Your itinerary looks sick! If you have time I want to re-plug climbing in the Enchantments around Leavenworth Washington, it will be on your way to Sinks.
For Arizona, you should check out Cochise Stronghold. Great old school runout climbs in a beautiful setting.
You are going to have a GREAT trip!
Eric
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happiegrrrl
Nov 27, 2011, 9:55 PM
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I have gotten my low clearance behemoth van all the way back of Cochise Stronghold(west) and driven him through the gravel road connecting west to east Stronghold without any difficulty. But I don't think I would take it down something where it is any worse(at least not without a few people to help push/pull if I got stuck)
Here's Swanky:
Most of the places you mentioned won't be any issue, but I don't know all of them - surely others will have be able to advise.
When you are in Red Rock, if you have rain(sandstone too fragile after rain), you can go to JTree(and as an international visitor, I think JT is a place you may find worth going to).
Arizona - Sedona has very cool sandstone towers, and the region has a HUGE variety of climbing because there is a wide range of elevations/types of rock. Cochise was fun, but pretty isolated.
I think you have a lot of time in Canada.... I would never diss Canada but think I might think about Colorado/Wyoming in the summer months.
And I would suggest spending some time in Tuolumne and then to Yosemite.
10K on a car!? You'll have no problem. But selling afterward MIGHT be an issue since you will have a tight window, as you pretty much need the thing until the last minute. Someone might get a verrry good deal, if you get desperate.
One thing vehicle related. You want the clearance for driving, but you don't mention shelter. On a year, you are NOT going to want to be pitching a tent every night, and you are NOT going to want to be relocating car contents just to bed down.
What are you thinking for sleep/rest times?
As for me, I am living the winter in the van above and I gotta say - he ain't called Swanky just because he's got a blue velour interior!
I am a BIG proponent of the Conversion van, now that I have one - hahaha. Gas mileage - poor. I DID get two days crossing the country last month where Swanky sipped along at 19mpg but I have no idea how he did that. The overall average has been 15mpg, and on any kind of stop/go, it's 13.
But! He's a rolling hotel! Being converted to a quasi-RV, he has better insulation than passenger rigs, which is nice during winter months. Tinted windows make it cooler in the sun as well. I pulled out all but the front seats and had a platform bed put in. With the raised top, it has enough room to sit up in bed(reading, rainy daze, evening chats....other activities) on a real mattress and can fit 18 inch high bins beneath. Very good for 2 people, though for me it is me and a dog and the inventory for my chalkbags and hair goods businesses.
If you and partner are young, and/or heavy drunks, then you don't need any real comforts - hahah. But a year is a long time to be roughing it out of a small vehicle.
IF you can find a Sprinter van - GO! Supposedly they get 23mpg.... Tall enough to stand up in and.....if you cannot find anyone to take it off your hands when you leave, I'll happily give it a good home(just kidding - you WILL be able to sell the Sprinter to a climber, but I don't have any money).
(This post was edited by happiegrrrl on Nov 27, 2011, 9:57 PM)
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markcarlson
Nov 27, 2011, 10:43 PM
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Very nice itinerary.
The Canmore area can be a bit wet and cool in June / early July. If you keep an eye on the forecast before you get here, look for a pattern of no clouds for 3 or 4 days in a row. That normally indicates the start of a few weeks of excellent climbing weather! If the forecast shows clouds or light rain, expect afternoon thunder showers every day, which ruins any plans for trad climbing (since everything worth doing at this time is alpine rock.)
If you are a few weeks behind schedule, hit up the Bugaboos on the way to Squamish. August 1 to 14 gives you the best chance for actually climbing something, but this can extend a few weeks in either direction if you are lucky.
Sounds like an awesome trip. Have fun!
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guangzhou
Nov 28, 2011, 12:59 AM
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With that itinerary, buy a used van like Happy girl. You'll be fine.
Eman
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Rudmin
Nov 28, 2011, 1:20 AM
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The drive between Val David and Canmore looks pretty long and empty. There are a few spots on the way to visit if you will be passing through. First is Montagne D'argent right next to Val David, it's not really a destination, but a fun place to climb and camp if you will be there anyways.
The Eardley Escarpment in Gatineau Park, just outside of Ottawa is worth a day or so I think. The guidebook is available online if you search for RockClimbingAroundOttawa.pdf Some sections have been closed by the NCC and are posted with signs.
Bon Echo is a good place to visit on a weekend. It's the tallest rock I know of in Ontario, about 3 pitches straight up out of Mazinaw Lake. If you get there Friday night or Saturday morning, the ACC will pick you up and drive you around to the cliffs in their motorboat for a small fee. There is also a free pdf guide kicking around on the internet for it.
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mikebee
Nov 28, 2011, 3:44 AM
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I was planning to have a year doing the same thing this year, but had to come home after 6 weeks of Canmore Ice due to a family emergency.
This thread is making me insanely jealous.
One thing that struck me about your itinerary is you only have 3 weeks in Yosemite. I'd penciled in two months, and some of the people I spoke to in Canmore suggested that even then I'd feel like I had barely scratched the surface.
I'm sure some of these other lesser known crags are awesome, but for mine, spending two weeks at a relatively unknown sport climbing location would be wasted when I could have another two weeks and almost double my time at Yosemite.
Also, I keep hearing rave reviews about Tuolumne Meadows, even from Yosemite long termers. Might be worth adding that in.
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