Climbing trip in the Southeast

when I lived in nc I climbed year round, but climbing in May/June in North Carolina can be perfectly miserable depending on weather. It gets hot. Not just hot, but really really hot, and humid enough that you can cut it with a butter knife. For grades that low, and ability to climb trad, I would say gunks/ADK

If the weather an issue (heat) head up to Shiprock. Awesome climbing at a pretty high elevation behind grandfather mountain right off the blue Ridge Parkway.

Medic741 wrote:.....RRG - is it worth going there? Or would you guys recommend heading to NC for Looking Glass and Laurel's Knob / Linville? Laurel's knob - Does the Gaskin finish variation have the 4 bolts that prevent the 100' runout??? Depending on what I read they're either there or not there. Would really appreciate knowing for sure haha. Of course if anyone in the area wants to climb beginning of June would love to meet some locals or other travelers. Looking Glass - this just looks cool. Like really cool. How hard is route finding? Worth the trip?...!

I would recommend LK/Linville over the Red. ...but I am quite biased with the NC climbing.

The Gaskin Finish is a variation that splits off above the pitch you are concerned about. If you are a solid 5.9 watergroove climber, and you protect it well enough, the runout is no big deal. There is a new, spicy alternative the heads up from the ledge below the runout. PM me if you get serious about it....Seconds and Fathom are both also good and a good intro to LK. Fathom is my recommendation.

Looking Glass is very cool and worth the trip, many would say. The Nose and Sundial Crack are must dos. South end offers easy climbing for the most part. The North face is where the big aid lines and the steep free lines reside. It's all quite good. Route finding is not too difficult at either place for routes first times would want to do.

Good luck.