Seneca Rocks and North Carolina trip April 3-8

Hello,

Two of my friends and I are planning to take a trip down south for some early spring climbing. The plan is to start at Seneca, then meander our way down south and check out some climbing in North Carolina.

A couple of questions about this trip:

1. Is April to early? I'm assuming the snow and such should be gone. We, being from the north, do fine in cold temps but we just want dry climbable rock.

2. We are planning to camp. Anyone have a favorite place near Seneca? I was thinking maybe the National Forest Campground.

3. Any route suggestions?
A little about our group. We are a party of three, though we may be able to scrounge up a fourth partner for a day or two. We are all relatively new leaders and are looking to stick to moderate multipitch trad routes. For now I want to focus our routes on up to 5.7 but we may consider 5.8 if we find that we can climb safely and efficiently on 7's.

I know Seneca has a lot of options for moderates (hence why we are going) so pointing us towards some well protected and fun routes would be cool.

4. Last questions. We are planning to head to North Carolina if time and motivations warrant. The climbing in NC looks awesome but our timeframe is short so looking for suggestions for our parties ability.

Areas on my radar for NC:
Stone Mountain - in particular the Great Arch looks like a must climb. Anything else pretty well protected there or is everything runout as heck? I feel pretty comfortable leading slab so may be willing to stick my neck out on a more runout climb if it's pretty easy.

Linville Gorge: looks like a mecca for moderates

Looking Glass: less options for moderates but could be really cool. Any thoughts on a party like us at looking glass? Sounds like it may be a bit out of our leauge but the climbs look amazing.

Any areas I'm missing? I know it's a short trip so I'm overplanning but would love to have options/ and opinions. Especially good to know would be if any of these areas arelikely to be to wet/snowy/cold or whatever in early april. Sort of doubt it as it's the south but what do I know.

Thanks for any advice!

1. Seneca in April will be fine as long as it's dry. There's not a whole lot in the area that stays dry in the rain so if we do get a weeklong rain system you'd be screwed, but you'll probably be fine.

2. I prefer Princess Snowbird Campground but the National Forest site is fine too. Both are super close to the rocks.

3. 5.7 is a great grade at Seneca. Ecstasy, Green Wall, Soler, and West Pole are all amazing routes, and if West Pole goes well you know you're ready for 5.8.

4. I can't help much with NC.

April is fine for Seneca. I've stayed at SRMG, Princess Snowbird and National Forest. I really liked National Forest.

I second the recommendation for Ecstasy. Such a great route. On the south east side I like Bee Sting corner a lot. If you decide to do 8's don't miss Triple S. It's tough for an 8 but it protects really well.

Unless it's on your way, I'd skip Stone Mountain. There is really only one route for you there. It's a good route but still...

Linville is great bushwacking/adventure climbing.

I haven't been to Looking Glass. Hoping to get out there this spring though.

Have fun!

We went down to NC in early march and had two perfect days at Whitesides and Laural Knob before getting rained out and going to TN. You can camp for free basically anywhere in the Pisgah National Forest that's 1000ft from a road, and both the gorge and the glass are in Pisgah. The Ampitheater and Tabel Rock both have good long moderates, and there's easy camping off the Table Rock parkinglot. If you go to Looking Glass, there's good camping close to most of the trailheads. If go to the glass, you have to climb the nose, and there's some other moderates on that wall, as well as a bunch on the south side. In the summer those walls are swarmed by camp groups

Let the weather guide you. Linville Gorge is amazing.

Cedar is only a couple miles from Looking Glass and has tons of easy/well protected routes. Plus if you mountain bike then DuPont and Pisgah offer 100+ mi of trails. Follow the weather

Seneca should be fine in April. Ecstasy is great. There are also some fun climbs on the right hand side of the approach-- I think this is maybe on the east side? The approach to the main wall turns left and goes up huge stone stairs. Candy Corner and a few others to the right are good warmups. And a good view of Ecstasy.

Seneca Shadows campground is good-- heated, public restrooms and a short cut to Yokums and the Front Porch Pizza place. Stop in to the Gendarme climbing shop/school behind Yokums and they will give you any local beta.

Linville Gorge is also great. Both in the Gorge and Table Rock are plenty of multipitch moderates. The Mummy and The DAddy are excellent. And Crackerjack on Table Rock is ummm... exciting? And free camping around the parking lot.

Have fun! Great choices!