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Rankin
climber
North Carolina
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Jan 12, 2010 - 02:08pm PT
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No, but I visited when is was about 16. What a bummer, right? I don't think you can climb there.
Edit: I didn't see your comment about a guidebook, cragman. I've never heard of people climbing there, but I could be wrong.
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Elcapinyoazz
Social climber
Redlands
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Jan 12, 2010 - 02:14pm PT
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I grew up and did my undergrad in the ATL. Poached many ascents of that pile (entire thing is closed to climbing except the hiking route up the shoulder, AFAIK) on the backside, mostly via 4th/low 5th friction. The steep side is hugely conspicuous, you couldn't really get away with anything on that side, but the flanks and backside...just be careful up top (you have to jump a security fence near the tram station to get back to the descent/hiking trail.
Real shame because it would be a tremendous climbing resource for the area.
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gonzo chemist
climber
the Twilight Zone of someone else's intentions
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Jan 12, 2010 - 02:20pm PT
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No climbing on it? What a bummer. Can you imagine doing a Stonewall Jackson nostril undercling? or doing a balancy cux mantle onto Robert E. Lee's head?
Although that would be nothing compared to Mt. Rushmore! That would give a whole new meaning to the term "face climbing."
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Edge
Trad climber
New Durham, NH
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Jan 12, 2010 - 02:32pm PT
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I guess I need a little background info here.
What (presumably) government entity has decided that sculptures of historic losing figures are more important than access that has been in place for millenia?
Seems like "Needles envy" to me, and a piss poor attempt at that.
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atchafalaya
climber
Babylon
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Jan 12, 2010 - 02:39pm PT
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Tried, but failed due to rain/humidity/access.
I think J. Gill had some early ascents?
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Spider Savage
Mountain climber
SoCal
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Jan 12, 2010 - 03:31pm PT
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I hiked round the entire base in 2003. I noticed some old rusty 1/4 bolts over on the left side where the wall starts to get steep and the on the right side (north) where the wall starts to get steep.
I notice the no rock climbing signs in the civilized area.
If you are an experienced climber on granite slabs there would be many exciting low-angle adventures (sans-gear). You can hike all over the thing.
This is an incredibly beautiful geologic formation. The forest that surrounds it is very nice.
What we have done to this place is an abomination. Go there and see so that we may protect other places. This is not a political statement. It's an artistic statement.
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Elcapinyoazz
Social climber
Redlands
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Jan 12, 2010 - 03:38pm PT
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You don't consider lazer light shows on a conferedate carving to be "art"?
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jogill
climber
Colorado
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Jan 12, 2010 - 04:05pm PT
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I began visiting Stone Mountain in the very early 1950s. After starting as a climber in 1953, I spent many happy hours wandering about on the giant monolith, chasing foxes, watching eagles, eating wild grapes, and climbing a bit as well. At that time the mountain was owned by the Venable family and was more or less open to anyone. On the night of my high school graduation we climbed to the top (hiked) and rolled barrels off over the unfinished carving. As for the climbing, see my website for a few details, but mostly it involved elementary bouldering on the back side around the quarries, simple friction on the edge of the steep side, and occasionally I would climb up under the unfinished carvings and do a pitch or two . . . with the old rusty steel scaffolds and ladders and cables swaying in the breeze around me, disturbing a lovely silence - light years from the bizarre disneyland it became after the state took it over. Keep in mind rock climbing as a sport didn't really exist in the deep south at that time, apart from a very few climbers stranded there who might scramble on the local rocks. I remember being shocked one time when I reached the ledge under the carvings to find a Holubar piton sitting on a ledge. I had never seen anyone climbing there or heard of anyone except a girl, Jeanne Bergen, and a couple of her boyfriends. They pleaded innocent. I would recruit fellow fraternity members or fellow students to accompany me, although I spent a lot of time there alone or with my father on a weekend ramble. Here are a few photos from that time period . . . my companion - on occasion - in the mid fifties was Gorden Sutton , a fellow student at UGA, seen here, along with me, and as he looks today: a county commissioner and well-known farmer and rancher in Georgia.
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Rhodo-Router
Gym climber
obsessively minitracking all winter at Knob Hill
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Jan 12, 2010 - 05:52pm PT
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To get the full Dixie Stalinist/Confederate Realism experience you need to see the laser light show in the summer: multicolored lights spinning over the carving whilst Charlie Daniels cranks on about how the devil went down to Georgia, etc. It's a bit frightening. Leni Riefenstahl woulda loved it.
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Gunkie
Trad climber
East Coast US
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Jan 12, 2010 - 08:21pm PT
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I hear you can climb right across the rock carving if you meet these requirements:
Wear a shirt with this silkscreen
Drive a General Lee
And own a moonshine still
That is your free pass to climbing at Stone Mountain GA.
--- OR
If you've been with either of these chicks...
I can never climb at Stone Mountain. Ever.
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jogill
climber
Colorado
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Jan 12, 2010 - 09:04pm PT
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According to leaflets handed out at the visitor center, climbers were hired as riggers for the carvers during the creation of the relief; perhaps the source of your Holubar pin.
Holubar came into existence in 1946, and the carving - when I was there - was at the stage left by carvers of the late 1920s, so it wasn't climbers working for the sculptors. There were so few climbers in America in the 20s and 30s, if some were hired for the project (I never heard that) they may have come from overseas.
It's hard to convey to later generations the very primitive notions of climbing that existed back then in America - especially the south. I looked for literature and was only able to find and read the entry for mountaineering in Encyclopedia Britanica. I used work boots at first and a natural fiber rope.
"The past is a foreign country. They do things differently there" (The Go-Between by Hartley)
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426
climber
Buzzard Point, TN
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Jan 13, 2010 - 07:04pm PT
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Interesting, history. Looks a bit like Looking Glass, eyebrows?
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Rhodo-Router
Gym climber
obsessively minitracking all winter at Knob Hill
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Jan 13, 2010 - 09:33pm PT
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Yeah, brows. The north face, under the carving, is like a little piece of North Carolina- mossy boulders, rhodos, much greenery and shade.
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Ezra
Social climber
WA, NC, Idaho Falls
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Jan 14, 2010 - 05:52pm PT
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Wrong Stone mountain, the TR on summit post is North carolina, not Georgia!
Thanks for the link though!
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Gene
Social climber
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Jan 14, 2010 - 05:57pm PT
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Oops! My bad.
gm
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F10
Trad climber
e350
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Jan 14, 2010 - 05:58pm PT
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There is some great face climbing,
Those people from Georgia have some super sticky shoes, could just walk up anything,
I could barely hang on
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Vic
climber
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Jan 14, 2010 - 10:07pm PT
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Skip Stone Mountain GA and head to Stone Mountain NC... that's some slab
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| Messages 1 - 18 of total 18 in this topic |
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