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101 areas in the US to climb at before you die

Original Post
Tristan Higbee · · Pocatello, ID · Joined Mar 2008 · Points: 2,970

If you were to make a list of 101 areas to climb at in the US before you die, what areas would be on the list? Here are the rules:

1. In the United States.
2. Any type of rock climbing. No ice, mountain (e.g., Mt. Rainier), or mixed climbing. Rock climbing on mountains is fine.
3. This isn't necessarily the 101 best climbing areas. Other things to consider are the history, relative geographic quality, uniqueness of the area or routes, etc.

And what constitutes an "area" is up for debate.

The list had 48 areas when I started. Post up and I'll update the list. I don't know much about the climbing in the east or south, and the starting list reflected that.

The number of an area within a state has no meaning. They're in no order.

EDIT: I've been pretty liberal with adding areas to the list at any suggestion, and now I've been demoting areas to contenders if people take issue with including an area on the list. Keep posting up.

--------------

ALABAMA
1. Jamestown
2. Little River Canyon
3. Horse Pens 40
Contender: Sandrock

ALASKA
1. Ruth Gorge
2. Hatcher Pass

ARIZONA
1. Grand Canyon (just for the experience?)
2. Mt. Lemmon
3. Cochise Stronghold
4. Sedona area (too broad?)
5. Virgin River Gorge
6. Paradise Forks

ARKANSAS
1. Horseshoe Canyon
2. Sam's Throne

CALIFORNIA
1. Yosemite Valley
2. Tuolumne Meadows
3. Joshua Tree
4. Bishop bouldering (Buttermilks, etc.)
5. High Sierra rock routes, like the Incredible Hulk, etc. (too broad; need better name)
6. Tahquitz
7. Lovers Leap
8. The Needles
9. El Cajon Mountain
10. Castle Crags
11. Courtright Reservoir
12. Owens River Gorge
Contenders: Shuteye Ridge

COLORADO
1. Black Canyon
2. Rocky Mountain National Park
3. Eldorado Canyon
4. Flatirons
5. Rifle
6. Colorado National Monument
7. Penitente Canyon
8. Lumpy Ridge
9. South Platte
Contenders: Shelf Road

GEORGIA
1. Rock Town
Contender: Tallulah Gorge

IDAHO
1. Sawtooths
2. City of Rocks

ILLINOIS
1. Jackson Falls

KENTUCKY
1. Red River Gorge

MAINE
1. Acadia National Park

MASSACHUSETTS
Contenders: Crow Hill, Mormon Hollow

MINNESOTA
1. Palisade Head

MONTANA
1. Gallatin Canyon
2. Blodgett Canyon

NEVADA
1. Red Rock
2. Mt. Charlston

NEW HAMPSHIRE
1. Rumney
2. Cannon Cliff
3. Cathedral/Whitehorse
4. Pawtuckaway

NEW MEXICO
1. Sandias Mountains
2. Enchanted Tower
3. Organ Mountains
4. City of Rocks

NEW YORK
1. Gunks
2. Adirondaks

NORTH CAROLINA
1. Laurel Knob
2. Linville Gorge
3. Looking Glass Rock
4. Stone Mountain
5. Moore's Wall
6. Whitesides

OKLAHOMA
1. Wichita Wildlife Refuge
2. Quartz Mountain

OREGON
1. Smith Rock
2. Trout Creek

SOUTH DAKOTA
1. Custer State Park (aka the Needles)
2. Spearfish Canyon
3. Mount Rushmore National Memorial

TENNESSEE
1. The Tennessee Wall
2. Obed/Clear Creek
3. Foster Falls
4. Stone Fort (Little Rock City)
5. Deep Creek
Contenders: Sunset Park (lump together with T-Wall?)

TEXAS
1. Hueco Tanks
2. Enchanted Rock
Contenders: Reimer's Ranch

UTAH
1. Zion National Park
2. Joe’s Valley
3. Maple Canyon
4. Indian Creek
5. Moab area towers (Fisher Towers, Castle Valley, etc.; too broad?)
6. Ibex
7. The Jungle
8. Little Cottonwood Canyon
9. San Rafael Swell
10. St. George area limestone (Utah Hills, etc.)
Contenders: Triassic, Lone Peak Cirque, Mill Creek (the Moab one)

VIRGINIA
1. Old Rag Mountain

WASHINGTON
1. Index
2. The Enchantments
3. Washington Pass
4. Leavenworth

WEST VIRGINIA
1. Seneca
2. New River Gorge
Contenders: Nelson Rocks

WISCONSIN
1. Devil’s Lake

WYOMING
1. Devil’s Tower
2. Wind Rivers (too broad? Maybe Cirque of the Towers instead?)
3. Grand Teton National Park
4. Vedauwoo
5. Wild Iris Canyon
6. Sinks Canyon
7. Ten Sleep Canyon
8. Fremont Canyon

CURRENT TOTAL: 101 (not including the contenders listed above)

-----

OK, the list is at 101. To add any, some are going to have to come off.

Doug Lintz · · Kearney, NE · Joined Apr 2004 · Points: 1,196

Jackson Falls, Illinois would be worthy of a 101 list. Not the greatest but pretty great.

Sinks and Wild Iris should definitely be on that list.

Max Tepfer · · Bend, OR · Joined Oct 2007 · Points: 2,513

I'd agree that in CA 'High Sierra Rock Routes' is too broad. Narrow it to the Incredible Hulk and likely a couple of other choice venues that I'm not privy to. Add Trout Creek to Oregon. For Washington, Add Index and break up Cascade Alpine Rock into Washington Pass and the Enchantments. Lastly, no ice climbing?

+1 for both Wild Iris and Sinks. Tensleep too? (you've only got 48 right now...) IMO Wild Iris>Sinks if you're picking just one.

Austin Baird · · SLC, Utah · Joined Apr 2009 · Points: 95

Add Ibex and the Jungle to Utah.

Tristan Higbee · · Pocatello, ID · Joined Mar 2008 · Points: 2,970

Updated to reflect suggestions.

EricF · · San Francisco · Joined May 2012 · Points: 120

Just wondering how "no mountains" includes the winds river mountains, tetons, high sierra, rocky MOUNTAIN national park, the sawtooths? Can't this just be a list of great climbing anywhere, ice, mountains, snow included? The Adirondacks are also a mountain range.

Lover's Leap, Tahqauitz and the needles should definitely be on the list. Nelson Rocks WVA maybe for history and access issues. Maybe Jailhouse crag and stoney point in CA.

Tristan Higbee · · Pocatello, ID · Joined Mar 2008 · Points: 2,970
Winston O'Boogie wrote:Just wondering how "no mountains" includes the winds, tetons, high sierra? Lover's Leap, Tahqauitz and the needles should definitely be on the list. Nelson Rocks WVA should make the list.
I meant no mountain climbing in the vein of Mt. Hood or Rainier. Should have phrased it better. Mountains are fine as long as we're talking rock routes up them.

List updated.
CraigS. · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Apr 2012 · Points: 10

Tennessee:

Foster Falls
Stone Fort (Little Rock City)
Deep Creek
Sunset

Georgia:

Rock Town

North Carolina:

Laurel
Linville
Looking Glass

Creed Archibald · · Salt Lake City, UT · Joined Apr 2012 · Points: 1,016

Oklahoma-

Quartz Mountain - scary old school slab. Many routes by Duane Raleigh

Arkansas -

Sam's Throne - HCR is fun. Sam's is awesome. Huge ground up trad area with really crazy featured sandstone cliffs.

Utah-

Maybe Lone Peak Cirque? Hike is brutal. Walls are only about 500 ft, but it's one of the most amazing places I've ever camped. Classic lines too.

Nick Wilder · · Boulder, CO · Joined Jan 2005 · Points: 4,098

Here's a semi-scientific answer:
mountainproject.com/scripts…

I never finished or made this feature live on the site, but it's kind of fun to look at.

jaredj · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jan 2013 · Points: 165

Calfornia - El Cajon Mountain is anice crag in San Diego with relatively long approach for the area. Fun variety of climbing on a big face, multiple pitches. Made the cover of Climbing magazine back in 2005 or 2006...

Mark NH · · 03053 · Joined Feb 2013 · Points: 0

Nick,

That map is a great visual - and with the ability to filter through "stars" is interesting to see. Great stuff!

Mark

BirminghamBen · · Birmingham, AL · Joined Jan 2007 · Points: 1,620
CraigS. wrote:Tennessee: Foster Falls Stone Fort (Little Rock City) Deep Creek Sunset Georgia: Rock Town North Carolina: Laurel Linville Looking Glass
Add to this....for the history....

TN: The Tennessee Wall
GA: Tallulah
AL: Jamestown, Little River Canyon
lucander · · Stone Ridge, NY · Joined Apr 2009 · Points: 260
Winston O'Boogie wrote:Lover's Leap, Tahqauitz and the needles should definitely be on the list.
+1

Also for California, add Castle Crags and Courtright Reservoir

In New Hampshire, modify Cathedral Ledge to Cathedral/Whitehorse - two destination worthy crags 20 minutes of a walk from one another.

The Virgin definitely needs to be in there for Arizona, it was once a cutting edge sport crag with a multi-page spread in a climbing mag devoted to one route (F-Dude).

In Washington, add "Leavenworth" to encompass all of the roadside cragging in the area.

In Tennessee, add Obed. There's a great crag called Sunset Park, maybe fold that under T-Wall with the header "Chattanooga Crags"?

In Georgia, add Tallulah Gorge.

I'm not going to chime in for New Mexico, and I think the climbers there would rather have it that way =)

In Wyoming, "Winds" is fine. A trip anywhere in that region will give you a taste of what it's all about. Fremont absolutely needs to be included.

In NY, "Adirondacks" is fine. The region is broad, but it's always been covered under a single guidebook. Going to just about any crag will encapsulate the experience.

North Carolina needs its own heading that includes: Stone Mountain, Looking Glass, Linville Gorge, Laurel Knob, and Moore's Wall. Many other areas there are arguably worth adding.
Bri Val · · Colorado · Joined May 2012 · Points: 0

New Mexico- Sandias

:)

Taylor J · · Taos NM · Joined Nov 2010 · Points: 390

new mexico-
enchanted tower
city of rocks (nm)

mass-
crow hill
mormon hollow

new hampshire-
pawtuckaway

JeffL · · Salt Lake City · Joined Jun 2012 · Points: 65

Here's a vote for Little Cottonwood to be placed into the list. Bold routes up outstanding quartzite monzite or w/e it's called.

gf9318 · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Sep 2013 · Points: 0

New Mexico- Enchanted Tower
The Sandias

And all though I'm not particularly fond of it, Penitente Canyon was fairly important in the development of sport climbing in CO.

Mickey Sensenbach · · San luis obispo CA · Joined Dec 2012 · Points: 140

owens river george is a must... best sport climben in CA...

how bout shutyee ridge? I have no idea how to spell it and have never been there butt, I have herd it is better then yosemite? somethen to look into!

Nathan D Johnson · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Mar 2013 · Points: 402

Colorado:
Lumpy Ridge

Sean Foster · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Sep 2010 · Points: 2,145
D.Buffum wrote: Palisade Head on the North Shore of Lake Superior (MN). It's not Yosemite, but the experience of leading right off the crashing waives of Superior is one of a kind. And it's a helluva lot more interesting than Jackson Falls, IL.
Logged in to make this very comment. Don't leave MN off the list, Palisade Head is worthy.
Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

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