Anyone familiar with Virginia?

Hey! You may have seen my post from yesterday in this forum seeking advice for North Carolina. I'm looking for a little more help with Virginia. We are going to be passing through the state this weekend on the way to North Carolina. Our buddy from back home is currently in Virginia on a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. Specifically at the moment he is in Glasgow Virginia and making his way to Waynesboro.

We would love to scoop him up off the trail for a day and go climbing. As I am not familiar with Virginia at all and I'm hoping that there's some climbing in the area that he is in. There's so much listed on the Virginia MP page but it's hard to tell what's specifically close to that area. Anybody have any ideas?

Thanks so much,

Matt

I'm still new to climbing and haven't found a lot of places to climb yet. The closest one to Waynesboro that I know of is Goshen Pass. Only been there once top ropping but it was decent. The Maury River Wall and Chambers Ridge are very easy to get to but we couldn't tell when the river wall ended and chambers ridge began. We didn't pay much attention to the MP routes and just climbed whatever looked good. Some short routes at the very beginning of the river wall had ancors at the top to setup a top rope from. They are over the edge but easily reachable which made them good warm up climbs (though very short climbs). It doesn't seem to get much traffic so a lot of holds were pretty dirty. Castle Rock is another crag located a little further down river but you need to go through the river to get there (no foot bridge like the others). The MP listings make it sound like a much better crag but the water was to high to cross while we were there.

If you don't mind driving further look into Elizabeth Furnice. Two crags in the area, talking headwall is right off the road while buzzard rock has a 4 mile hike in. Talking headwall is tiny but always empty on a weekday. The easier climbs are mostly easy 5.4 until the top where the cliff turns slightly inverted. Pure Energy is a fantastic sport climb here thats fun right from the start but its not to tall. Buzzard Rocks is a nice exposed slab. Good mix of sport and trad routes. The sport routes have no bolted ancors so you'll need to make one when you top out. Trail takes you to the top of this place but there is a down climb before you actually get to the crag. Its on the right shortly after the overlook when the trail turns left to go up the ridge line. Its a narrow trail and easy to miss. You could just rap off the top but theres no easy way to tell where the climbs are if you haven't been there before.

If you have a trad rack and don't mind some difficult hiking Old Rag will probably be the place to go. I have no trad experience yet but have hiked it quite a few times. Very high quality granite and a beautiful area. You could check out White Oak Canyon as well, both are in SNP fairly near eachother.

If you're ok with bouldering its pretty much everywhere in Shenandoah National Park.

Check out the Blue Ridge Parkway bouldering areas if you are interested in bouldering. The Forest is probably your best bet for your first time in the area, especially since there is a reasonably helpful topo. These areas are quite near where the parkway hits 64 at exit 99.

For roped climbing in the area, some people climb at Love Gap or top rope the Raven's Roost overlook on the parkway. Again, most of the info that you want is in the Blue Ridge Parkway section.

To the west of Waynesboro, you could try some of the Harrisonburg areas, namely Hidden Rocks and Second Mountain, although these are sort of small and meh. Honestly, if you really really like sport climbing, you should just drive to Franklin, WV or the New.

If you are trying to shadow an AT hiker, then the McAfee's Knob bouldering in Roanoke should go without saying.

If you pick him up near Rockfish Gap outfitters (if they are still there) in Waynesboro, you'll be close to the Parkway. The best day outing near there is Ravens Roost but watch out for the tourists. Rockfish Gap may have the VA guide for climbing too. Hidden Rocks is great, but an hour + from the Waynesboro AT exit point. I grew up there, but live in WY now....otherwise I'd meet you and show you the climbs. The Roost has everything from 5.5 to 5.11. Iron gate is closish as well.....good sport climbing.

+1 for McAffee's Knob. Just bouldering, but combined with that overlook, it's a pretty stellar place. And it's right on the AT, soooo...

Grayson Highlands SP is on the AT and has decent bouldering surrounded by wild ponies in a pretty area.

Fajita Dave wrote:If you have a trad rack and don't mind some difficult hiking Old Rag will probably be the place to go. I have no trad experience yet but have hiked it quite a few times. Very high quality granite and a beautiful area.

Old rag

I'm pretty sure Old Rag is closer to Waynesboro than Raven's Roost as well. Raven's roost is an easy 1 mile hike to the bottom though compared to Old Rag's 5 mile hike up to the mountain top crag.

Only thing thats kept me from climbing Raven's yet is the stories of anchors mysteriously coming undone. The most common top rope anchors are at the top of an overlook for skyline drive so you have no idea if tourists might be screwing around with your anchor.

Fajita Dave wrote:I'm pretty sure Old Rag is closer to Waynesboro than Raven's Roost as well. Raven's roost is an easy 1 mile hike to the bottom though compared to Old Rag's 5 mile hike up to the mountain top crag. Only thing thats kept me from climbing Raven's yet is the stories of anchors mysteriously coming undone. The most common top rope anchors are at the top of an overlook for skyline drive so you have no idea if tourists might be screwing around with your anchor.

Sorry WyomingSummits you're correct! I thought it was much further north but like I said I've never been there.