The Climbers Map to The United States

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MattF

Trad climber
Bend, Or
Feb 18, 2014 - 01:50pm PT
Trout creek was on my maybe list. Do people frequent the area? It has always come across as an "in-the-know" type crag. Is that not the case?

I would say it used to be 100% an in-the-know crag - there didn't use to be any directions on how to get there posted anywhere online or even in the guidebook (although about 10 minutes of looking at google earth was all you needed to find it). Plus the fact that its a fairly burly approach for single-pitch trad cragging, and its pretty stout makes it not appeal to a lot of climbers.

The past maybe 3-4 years its become more well known, however there are some access issues and it is now closed entirely for usually about half the year due to raptor nesting. It is a sweet crag, but I don't know if it would qualify as a "destination".
HighTraverse

Trad climber
Bay Area
Feb 18, 2014 - 01:51pm PT
Phantom,
A good list

But how do you define "destination area"?
For some weird reason, I've pondered what that means for some time.
To me it's something like:
1 - climbers from some other part of the country/continent/world have heard of it
2 - An are that an out of area climber is likely to want to visit.
3 - The out of area climber is willing to make a special effort to go and climb there when he's in the neighborhood.

You've got a VERY long list. I've heard of probably 90% of them. There are probably 25% that meet my definition of destination. (No I haven't actually read your entire list
You could put them all together in an online poll (I can't remember the website where you can set up a free poll) with 3 or 4 appropriate checkboxes and publish it on this thread.
Would only take 5 minutes for each of us to fill in the boxes.

Edit: An example. A few years ago at Donner Summit (CA) in June I met a young couple from Germany with a child. They shared our fire and company for the evening. They were very specifically boulderers. No interest in roped climbing on this trip. They had flown to Salt Lake, rented a camper van and driven straight away to Joe's Valley to boulder. Their planned next stop was to be Tuolumne and Yosemite Valley for bouldering. Then to Buttermilks (not "Bishop")Then Red Rocks as last bouldering destination. Followed by a non-bouldering stop at Moab, back to Salt Lake and home to Germany. As I recall their trip was 2 weeks. They hadn't come to Donner to boulder, but to see Lake Tahoe.
Their bouldering "destination" areas were Joe's Valley, Buttermilks, Yosemite, Tuolumne and Red Rocks.
Obviously trad climbers would have a different set of destinations.

Good luck with your project. The result will be interesting.
Elcapinyoazz

Social climber
Joshua Tree
Feb 18, 2014 - 02:06pm PT
Boat Rock? Nah. Substitute Rocktown, which is a much, much better bouldering area with some world class problems, probably 50times as many, and has great single pitch trad climbing on the same mtn top at the Lost Wall area. It (the mtn) is the Pigeon Mtn in PMI, the climbing/caving gear manufacturer.

That said, best climbing in GA is Tallulah Gorge, with multipitch bullet quartzite. Just not many routes there, so Rocktown/Lostwall should get the nod.

Also agree on Joe's Valley vs. Ibex. You could probably do 30 areas a piece in UT/CO/CA.

noriko nakagawa

Trad climber
the bubble, co
Feb 18, 2014 - 03:12pm PT
Contact the admin of climbingweather.com (Jon St John). He may share his list of areas.
Phantom Fugitive

Social climber
Misery
Topic Author's Reply - Feb 18, 2014 - 03:21pm PT
DUDE! this is all SUPER helpful stuff.

Thank you thank you guys!
Really buttoning up the southeast well.

And redefining the other areas too.

Philo, hush now. I went looking for you to chat on fartbook and didnt find you.
Evel

Trad climber
Nedsterdam CO
Feb 18, 2014 - 05:25pm PT
DMT have you climbed at Suck Creek Canyon? Let's keep Bee Rocks on the hush-hush...;)


golsen

Social climber
kennewick, wa
Feb 18, 2014 - 05:53pm PT
Crunch- So many features in Estes, I just opted out with RMNP and Cochise is in there, as well as Paradise Forks, Mt Lemmon. Elephants, good call. Its on the stand by list.

Mojede- of your list would Gallatin be the most "destination" worthy?
As in, worth driving 1000 miles for.

jer, is Cliff Drive worth 1000 miles? lol just pokling at you surely misery needs something. Hows about WA climbing.
Fall Guy

Mountain climber
Feb 18, 2014 - 06:45pm PT
Why does everyone refer to the Teton range as the Grand Tetons? The highest peak in the range is the Grand Teton and it's in Grand Teton National Park but it's the Teton Range.
ekrum

Trad climber
Washington
Feb 18, 2014 - 07:48pm PT
Cool idea, looking forward to seeing the finished product. But you might as well leave out Washington. Nothing good there and it's too wet.

Eric
Splater

climber
Grey Matter
Feb 18, 2014 - 07:53pm PT
Beyond El Cajon Mtn, it would be accurate to just list San Diego + some Riverside as one of the best general winter overall destinations. But that won't really spiff up your map.
This winter is atypical, but the weather has been perfect almost every day for the last 100.
Not just one crag - it's the sum of many. Woodson, Riverside Quarry, Rubidoux, El Cajon, Eagle Pk, Corte Madera, Mission Gorge, Santee, Culp + lots of other small crags.

Not too far away are High Desert areas like New Jack, Apple Valley, JTree, Punchbowl; or the LA area - Echo, Malibu, Stony Pt, Texas Cyn, which are up to 3 hours from San Diego.
Phantom Fugitive

Social climber
Misery
Topic Author's Reply - Feb 18, 2014 - 08:38pm PT
Splater and lalamur-
I was at El Cajon a month ago. Its easily the best San Diego has to offer. You are right, its added.

Phantom Fugitive

Social climber
Misery
Topic Author's Reply - Feb 18, 2014 - 08:54pm PT
golsen- cliff drive isnt worth a 10 mile drive.
squishy

Mountain climber
Feb 18, 2014 - 09:07pm PT
Please leave all of the Lake Tahoe locations off the map. That place sucks now and it's overrun by bay area hippy's and some weird polish demographic from Texas that likes cocaine and jib... STEER CLEAR!!!
looks easy from here

climber
Ben Lomond, CA
Feb 18, 2014 - 09:46pm PT
1. is a classic american destination
2. unique by description or location
3. fills a gap so that the locations are well distributed across the country

Pinnacles National Monu...err, Park

1. 80+ years of technical climbing history, including the first bolted climb in the U.S. (general source of some disdain by some climbers, but few of those who have been to this particular location).
2. Google sez...yep, only one.
3. Hey, it's not my fault there's so much awesome climbing here on the Best Coast.
Scalparm

Trad climber
Berkeley
Feb 18, 2014 - 11:12pm PT
Lover's Leap, Needles(CA), The Incredible Hulk (or any number of classic High Sierra). There's plenty more, these are some pretty major ones.
Yoni

Trad climber
Mountain View, CA
Feb 19, 2014 - 03:48pm PT
There are a couple of other sites in New Mexico:
The biggest area is the Sandia Mountains near Albuquerque. There are several excellent granite climbs there.
Another is Los Brazos Cliffs in Rio Arriba County. I use to climb with the Los Alamos Mountain club on the private land. It is a big Quartzite climbing area. The rock is solid.
The last site is Questa Dome near Taos.
Gorgeous George

Trad climber
Los Angeles, California
Feb 19, 2014 - 04:30pm PT
Some of my favorites that I didn't see:

Alabama Hills, California

Courtright Reservoir, California

Turkey Rocks, Colorado

Lumpy Ridge, Colorado
Nate D

climber
San Francisco
Feb 20, 2014 - 01:54am PT
This is ambitious. Bold move to take this on and I really look forward to seeing the final product, no matter what you exclude, Jer!
The Leinosaur

Trad climber
Moyers, OK
Feb 20, 2014 - 06:14am PT
Sweet, Jer!
Having seen several of your excellent map-works, in magazine pieces and daily on my office wall (dreaming of Horseshoe), I imagine that within the larger-named areas (Sierras, Adirondacks) you might include a few noted peaks, walls or concentrations?

I especially appreciate your considering great-but-less-spectacular areas that are easy to fit into a road trip. I am proud to see Quartz Mt, OK on the list, and Mt Magazine; these are both great areas that would enrich a cross-country trip with both beauty and some old-school runout adrenaline!

That said, I would second the inclusion of Sedona towers, as, like those above, it is unique and easily accessed from I-40. My favorite trips have followed a drive-a-day, climb-a-day-or-two pattern.

I would also second Seneca Rocks, WV for its uniqueness, history and geography. Not so easy to get to but evena rock-starved visitor to DC could make a long day trip to the 'wall of a thousand pItons' and sandbagged trad fun on whIte rock lIke I haven't seen elsewheret. On the other hand Ragged Mountain CT would only belong if you felt compelled to include something from every state - it's about the size of Lower Mt Scott in the Wichitas, or maybe the Confederate Cracks at the 'Shoe. Fun but far from a destination for any but starved locals.

Assuming the '100' number is a general idea rather than hard and fast. Artistic License.

Look forward to it especially as I am about to move to NH and will be exploring that side of things. Hope never to miss a Hell, though, as the Creed always keeps me stoked for another year.
kaholatingtong

Trad climber
Nevada City
Feb 20, 2014 - 12:09pm PT
Let me first say I think this is a great idea, especially if it stays more on the art side. That being said having pertiment, accurate information is always good too. My only significant critique would be to make sure to add Lovers Leap for the lake Tahoe area, just too special of a place with too much history to be left out, in my opinion.
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