It’s easy to get down on winter. The fourth season brings short, cold, and damp days, which drives rock climbers to the gym. But here’s the good part: All those laps you ticked and workouts you completed should have you in the best shape of the year—just in time for snowmelt. Test yourself at one of these go-before-you-die areas famous for the endurance their routes require.
You know that cliff you’ve driven by countless times, scanning it for features, eyeballing the approach, and wondering if it’s climbable? Other climbers have probably seen it, too. And at some point, someone will bushwhack up and tug on some lichen-covered holds. That’s how development starts. Climbers pull out brushes and drills, scrub handholds, and put up a handful of routes. Then a handful more get developed, and soon approach trails begin to form. Before you know it, a new crag or boulderfield is born.
Here are seven must-do pillar ice climbs, from New York to British Columbia, including the uber-classics The Rigid Designator in Vail, Colorado, and Dropline in Frankenstein, New Hampshire.
Ice climbers, like alpinists, have short memories. Come fall, the wet ropes, overburdened packs, and screaming barfies of the previous winter are long forgotten. As the Internet lights up with rumors of fresh ice, climbers start yearning for those first swings—or perhaps delicate taps—into glassy smears and dripping pillars. Early season ice climbing has its issues, though.
Somewhere between the Red River Gorge, New River Gorge, and Tennessee Wall is the center of the Sandstone Universe. Unassuming road-trippers that happen upon this epicenter might suddenly stop and idle their rig on the shoulder, overwhelmed by a powerful vortex of Deep South climbing styles. For trad climbers, a full-blown fit ensues as they fumble for their racks, ready to throw jams into the original and most powerful force of them all: the Southern Hand Crack.
Take a look at some of the best hand-sized crack climbs across the country, from Nevada to West Virginia.
Climbers love to travel, but it can be annoying to visit a distant city solely for work or other reasons, thus interrupting your dedicated training schedule or weekend cragging plans. But don’t let non-climbing travel stop your fun. We tracked down 21 bouldering destinations within two hours of eight major cities—there’s no need to train inside an unfamiliar gym.
In recent years, bouldering has generated the most news on Mt. Evans. The striking granite blocs along the six-mile Chicago Creek basin and the jumbled apron of boulders above Lincoln Lake have seen an explosion of new routes. Roped climbers also have begun exploring Evans again after nearly two decades of relative stagnation. Two entirely new areas have been developed—the Tan Buttresses and Possibility Wall—at both ends of the difficulty spectrum.
Today, with countless steep sport climbing crags across the country, the art of delicate slab climbing on sweeping faces, with its emphasis on balance, smearing, and precise footwork, has somewhat lost its allure with the mainstream. So why risk a severe road rash by climbing slabs? Simple: it will make you a better climber.
Some climbers wait to attempt America’s greatest free routes until they’re good enough to do them in perfect style. But what if you are never that good? Purists would say you should stay off the climb—leave it for those who have the necessary strength and talent. I say go for it: Do your best to free climb, but don’t hang your head in shame if you pull on a piece or stand on a bolt.
Nine Gallon Buckets (5.10c), Smith Rock, Oregon: Choose your finish with three sets of anchors on this long sport pitch at the Morning Glory Wall. The first anchor finishes at 5.9, the second at 5.10c, and the third after more 5.9 climbing you can just lower off from the top with a 60-meter rope. The best part of the route is the upper third, which has a water streak with holds ranging from two- to four-finger pockets to large huecos you can sit in, says Smith local Ian Caldwell.
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