Mountain Project Logo

NC CLIMBERS: Best Guidebook for Stone Mountain?

Original Post
Bob Ewing · · Arlington · Joined Nov 2013 · Points: 145

I'm from DC and plan to make my first trip to Stone Mountain this spring. I'd like to get a good guidebook if possible. I've found two on amazon. The best seems to be Lambert's Selected Climbs of North Carolina (2002). amazon.com/Selected-Climbs-…

There's also a guidebook by Thomas Kelley for NC, but it's from 1995 and costs $50 compared to Lambert's $20. Is the Lambert book the best guide available for Stone Mountain? And is there anything you'd recommend for a first timer? We plan to camp Friday night and Saturday night, and climb all day Saturday and half day Sunday.

Any help would be most appreciated, thanks!
Bob

bobewing@gmail.com

cfuttner · · Chicago, IL · Joined Apr 2012 · Points: 5

Selected Climbs is pretty much it for Stone. Some of the less traveled routes are not in it. The old Kelly book has some additional routes but if your only there for the weekend Selected Climbs will be fine. I have an old photo copied version of parts of Climbers Guide to NC.It's been out of print for some time.

Brendan Blanchard · · Boulder, CO · Joined Oct 2010 · Points: 590

Bob, the Lambert guide should do the trick for a few days. I swung through last month and found the guidebook to work well for the day we were there. The descriptions are pretty spot on, and things on the South Face aren't hard to find in any case. The one thing we didn't find was the walk-off it suggested, so we ended up taking the tourist trail down which was longer than we were hoping for.

Come ready to get scared and you'll have a great time, enjoy!

Jonathan Dull · · Boone, NC · Joined Mar 2012 · Points: 415

I'm not aware of a guidebook specific to Stone Mountain. The Select Climbs guide book would be a great purchase. It will have all the beta you'll need for Stone Mtn., plus it has great information for all the other destinations in NC.

Bob Ewing · · Arlington · Joined Nov 2013 · Points: 145

Wow, three great comments in 10 minutes! Thank you guys so much for the feedback and insights, I really appreciate it. I'll order the Lambert book now.

Thanks!
Bob

cfuttner · · Chicago, IL · Joined Apr 2012 · Points: 5

Walk off = tourist trail to climbers left. It is long. Rap off from the anchors at the top of Great Arch. 3 (or 2? it's been a while) 60m double rope raps get you back to the tree ledge via Storm in a Tea Cup which usually isn't busy.

Adam Paashaus · · Greensboro, NC · Joined May 2007 · Points: 791

Got kicked off mid reply...since they seem to have it covered I wont elaborate. I will give a couple great recommendations however. If you are up for some runout (which im sure you are if this is a destination for you) I would highly recommend Grand Funk Railrad as one of the best full length routes at stone and Electric Boobs just to its left. Both lots of fun. Also Fantastic and Fleet Feet are great and offer some rare (to stone) crack climbing (I just do the 1st pitch of both). As far as accessing the tree ledge I prefer Block Route as it feels the safest and is fun. I did dirty crack a month ago or so because I heard it wasn't dirty anymore... mistake... seeping and muddy. If you are feeling brave ive also really enjoyed the great white way on a couple occasions but the 2nd pitch off the ledge is heady to say the least. Stone is quite a gem so come ready and have fun!

csproul · · Pittsboro...sort of, NC · Joined Dec 2009 · Points: 330
cfuttner wrote:Walk off = tourist trail to climbers left. It is long. Rap off from the anchors at the top of Great Arch. 3 (or 2? it's been a while) 60m double rope raps get you back to the tree ledge via Storm in a Tea Cup which usually isn't busy.
If you're going to the bottom, most people can walk down faster than they can make the raps.
cfuttner · · Chicago, IL · Joined Apr 2012 · Points: 5

Not sure I agree with the walk vs. rap being faster, but maybe we are just quick with our raps. If the tree ledge is a cluster f--k with people coming up than I agree with getting to the bottom although you can usually get down from the Capt. Crunch anchors pretty quick. Little harder to find though. Adam just named off all the routes I would suggest except one. Bombay Groove. Climbs along the top of the Great arch. Also The Purring if you can find it.

csproul · · Pittsboro...sort of, NC · Joined Dec 2009 · Points: 330
cfuttner wrote:Not sure I agree with the walk vs. rap being faster, but maybe we are just quick with our raps. If the tree ledge is a cluster f--k with people coming up than I agree with getting to the bottom although you can usually get down from the Capt. Crunch anchors pretty quick. Little harder to find though. Adam just named off all the routes I would suggest except one. Bombay Groove. Climbs along the top of the Great arch. Also The Purring if you can find it.
It's 4 raps from the top to the bottom. It can't be more than about a 30 minute walk down. Most parties of 2 probably can't average 7-8 minutes per rappel (I'm sure some can, but not many), especially if you encounter any traffic on the way down or on the Tree Ledge. It's been a while since I compared head to head, but i've timed both ways and raced my partners back down and the walk off has always been faster. That said, I do rap more often since I'm usually doing multiple routes off the ledge and will often finish up by doing laps of the first pitch of a route off the ledge. And I'm lazy and walking is work.
Bob Ewing · · Arlington · Joined Nov 2013 · Points: 145

Thanks for all the advice! We were looking at The Pulpit too, are there any thoughts or recommendations on climbing The Pulpit?

csproul · · Pittsboro...sort of, NC · Joined Dec 2009 · Points: 330
Bob Ewing wrote:Thanks for all the advice! We were looking at The Pulpit too, are there any thoughts or recommendations on climbing The Pulpit?
Yes! Do it. The Pulpit is one of the best introductions to SM slab climbing. It is one of the easier routes and is relatively well bolted (by SM standards). And if the water streak is too hard to cross getting to the Pulpit (the feature, not the route) on the ?3rd? pitch, you can continue up/left to the rest of No Alternative or head straight up instead of going right into the pulpit.
Northwest Corner · · Bend · Joined Feb 2006 · Points: 1,505

Just for historical sake, there used to be a devoted guidebook to Stone Mtn by Roid Waddle. It was pretty basic but it was a huge improvement over the Southern Rock guidebook at the time. It came out about the same time as Fires, both of which made Stone a much friendlier place. Who the heck was Roid Waddle? Was that a pen name for Thomas Kelly?

Dixie Crystals

Scott Phil · · NC · Joined May 2010 · Points: 258

Dixie Crystals was great for its time and still fun to dip into. I personally doubt that Roid Waddle is the same person as Thomas Kelly. In fact Kelly thanks Waddle in his acknowledgments--but that could be part of the subterfuge.

Edit: I had always assumed that R. Waddle was an alias for one (or more) of the early Stone Mountain masters.

csproul · · Pittsboro...sort of, NC · Joined Dec 2009 · Points: 330
Scott Phil wrote:Dixie Crystals was great for its time and still fun to dip into. I personally doubt that Roid Waddle is the same person as Thomas Kelly. In fact Kelly thanks Waddle in his acknowledgments--but that could be part of the subterfuge. Edit: I had always assumed that R. Waddle was an alias for one (or more) of the early Stone Mountain masters.
I think it's Bill Webster (the publisher), but I could be wrong.
saxfiend · · Decatur, GA · Joined Nov 2006 · Points: 4,221
csproul wrote:It is one of the easier routes and is relatively well bolted (by SM standards).
I know what csproul means here and while it's technically correct, I think it's misleading, especially for someone making their first trip to Stone Mountain. The Pulpit has six or seven bolts in its five pitches, and four of those are on P1, so you definitely need a light rack. Also, as csproul hinted, the P3 traverse to the Oasis has no bolts and marginal opportunities for pro, though it's pretty easy ground as long as it isn't wet.

That having been said, I agree that the Pulpit is an excellent full-length line and highly recommended.

JL
nbrown · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Nov 2007 · Points: 7,718
Keen Butterworth wrote:Just for historical sake, there used to be a devoted guidebook to Stone Mtn by Roid Waddle. It was pretty basic but it was a huge improvement over the Southern Rock guidebook at the time. It came out about the same time as Fires, both of which made Stone a much friendlier place. Who the heck was Roid Waddle? Was that a pen name for Thomas Kelly?
Funny, I was gonna suggest the same book.
Mark Byers · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Sep 2011 · Points: 50

Stay away from Entrance Crack.

Bob Ewing · · Arlington · Joined Nov 2013 · Points: 145

Thanks for all the excellent advice! If we stay away from Entrance Crack, how should we access the tree ledge?

Bob Ewing · · Arlington · Joined Nov 2013 · Points: 145

Does anyone know how to get a copy of the old Dixie Crystals guidebook? I can't find anything for sale online.

csproul · · Pittsboro...sort of, NC · Joined Dec 2009 · Points: 330
Bob Ewing wrote:Does anyone know how to get a copy of the old Dixie Crystals guidebook? I can't find anything for sale online.
It's going to be hard to find a copy. Unless you go there a lot and don't intend on going anywhere else in NC, I don't see any reason to buy anything other than the H&S Select guidebook.

As a side note, I knew a person (Erica) who was working on a Piedmont guidebook that was to include Stone. I haven't heard much about it in the last year, so I do not know the status of the book.
Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

Southern States
Post a Reply to "NC CLIMBERS: Best Guidebook for Stone Mountain?"

Log In to Reply

Join the Community

Create your FREE account today!
Already have an account? Login to close this notice.

Get Started.