5.10 trad routes in the southeast

What are your favorite 5.10 trad routes in the southeastern states? Obscure routes welcome. 5.9+ and easy 11s welcome too.

Wow, where to even begin?

Jamestown, AL has a bunch of fun stuff in the 5.10 range. My latest favorite is Autumn Sonata.

When you get tired of that place, T-Wall has like 10 times as many classic 5.10 lines. This list barely scratches the surface.

Where Lizards Go to Die
Love Handle
Super Slide
Points O' Contact
Precious Orr
Stepping Stone
Crackattack

The north side of Looking Glass has some great stuff in the 5.10 range. My favorites are probably The Seal and Creatures of Waste. Then there's all the good stuff in Linville Gorge. And Ship Rock. Man, the list goes on and on and on!

GPS crack at Suck Creek
Pancake flake at Sunset

Two good, stout 9's

Alright, I'll play. Varies in grade, location, and obscurity.

Dopey Duck 5.9 Shortoff, NC
Built To Tilt 5.10 Shortoff, NC
Straight and Narrow 5.10 Shortoff, NC

Waste A Bit 5.10+ Table Rock, NC
What's Up Doc? 5.10+ Table Rock, NC

Dinkus Dog 5.10 Looking Glass NC
Dum Dee Dum Dum 5.10 Looking Glass, NC
Hyperbola Direct 5.11- Looking Glass, NC
Creatures of the Waste 5.10 Looking Glass, NC
Invisible Airwaves 5.10 Looking Glass, NC
The Seal 5.10 Looking Glass, NC
Out to Lunch 5.10+ Looking Glass, NC
Cornflake Crack Looking Glass, NC

Apricot Jam 5.9+ NC Wall, NC

Lost In Space 5.10 Hawksbill, NC
Star Trekkin' 5.10 Hawksbill, NC
Eros 5.10+ Hawksbill, NC

Golden Gloves 5.10 Tennessee Wall, TN
Precious Orr 5.10 Tennessee Wall, TN
Hungry For Heaven 5.10+ Tennessee Wall, TN
Cake Walk 5.10- Tennesee Wall, TN
Finger Lockin' Good 5.10 Tennessee Wall, TN

Cornerstone 5.11a Sunset, TN

Cinco De Mayo 5.10+ Sand Rock, AL
A Little Help From My Friends 5.10+ Sand Rock, AL
They Call Me Cruiser 5.10 Sand Rock, AL
Wall of Horns 5.10 Sand Rock, AL

Black Magic 5.10 Steele, AL

Booze and Broads 5.9+ Lost Wall, GA

Rock Wars 5.10 Red River Gorge, KY

Maranatha 5.10 New River Gorge, WV

Lots of good ones here.

I personally think that the best pitch of 5.10 east of the Mississippi, and a great intro to harder face climbing at the NRG, is Endless Wall's "Party in My Mind."

Others:
Burning Calves, NRG
Brontosaurus at the RRG
Pitch One of Invisible Airwaves at Looking Glass
Hungry for Heaven at T-Wall

Flying Frog and Punk Wave --- Tallulah.
Rusty's and Pigs in Space --- Sunset.
Stepping Stone and Hidden Assets --- The TWall.
Steggasaurus Slab and Book of Wee ---- Jamestown.
Squabbler and Squaw ---- Steele.
Misty and Sandburger Platter --- Sandrock.
Paralleling and Joke the Chicken ---- Big Green.
Hypocrite's Corner and Fathom Direct --- Laurel Knob.
The OR and Batshit Crazy ---- Whitesides.

+1 for Party in my Mind - that thing is amazing.

My other favorites at 5.10:

Middle Hawksbill - No Free Lunch (even better than Lost in Space)
Looking Glass Rock - The Seal, Creatures of Waste, Invisible Airwaves
Shortoff Mountain - Construction Job, Dopey Duck (both 5.9+, but close enough)

Surprised no one has mentioned anything at Moores Wall yet.

Do or Dive 5.10a
Break on Through 5.10a
Nutsweat 5.9+
Shadowdance (1st pitch) 5.10c
Blue Chock 5.10b

Sauratown is mostly sport but has a few choice trad lines
Orange Dihedral 5.10+

And Fantastic at Stone Mountain 5.9+++

Extra points for unheralded classics at lesser known crags.

UncleBen wrote:Flying Frog and Punk Wave --- Tallulah. Rusty's and Pigs in Space --- Sunset. Stepping Stone and Hidden Assets --- The TWall. Steggasaurus Slab and Book of Wee ---- Jamestown. Squabbler and Squaw ---- Steele. Misty and Sandburger Platter --- Sandrock. Paralleling and Joke the Chicken ---- Big Green. Hypocrite's Corner and Fathom Direct --- Laurel Knob. The OR and Batshit Crazy ---- Whitesides.

I don't think I've ever heard of those routes at Steele and Jamestown.

They are on the obscure list, for sure.

The first two brought to you by none other than Shannon Stegg back in the 80s. Both are in the DCA, I believe. Both are 5.10 R/X.
NOTE: Stegg-Slab is off of SCC land, by about 200', so don't go traipsing about for it.
---- Book of Wee is a thin, steep dihedral, capped by a roof....through which there is no more gear. It's the rightmost feature where the wall picks back up again after the first major break in consistency, when walking from the access trail.
---- Steggasaurus Slab is a mangy, slightly less than vertical "sport slab" with no bolts. Thusly, one piece of pro, forty feet up....a #2 ballnut....then some gear right before the top. Again....not legal to access.

The other two are new routes at Steele. Both are very steep, prominent, and quite good. Both are on SCC property and have fixed anchors.
---- Squaw is broken by a 10' A0 roof that may go free much hard than 5.10...the "5.10" is before and after the roof. The second section is some of the coolest, most exposed, and unique rock at Steele.
---- Squabbler has two distinct options, but offers "off the ground" 5.10 to more cruiser climbing...then, to the best perch at the crag, atop The Fin.

Have you tried using MP's search function? It will give you a great list that can be sorted in many ways, quite useful.

5.10 is beyond my trad leading ability right now, but I love The Tree Route at Bridge Buttress in the NRG: 10a, requires nearly every kind of climbing technique.

Double Dihedrals. heh.

Open Casket. Intruders in the Dust. Maybe 40 more good ones at the T-Wall, some mentioned.

Help Me Mr. Wizard, Supercrack. Linville Gorge.

Most of my knowledge limited to NC. Usually climbing sport when we go to TN, KY, or WV since we have so little of it here. I agree with many of the NC recommendations already listed. A couple of areas and climbs not already mentioned probably worthy of the list:

Ship Rock: Airlie Gardens, Linn Cove Lullaby, Welcome to Watauga (P1)

Rumbling Bald: Frosted Flake, Captain Crunch, Flappin in the Breeze

And if aiding though cruxes is okay with you to keep it in the 10-range, The Womb (LG) and the Original Route (Whitesides).

Chris Whisenhunt wrote:Have you tried using MP's search function? It will give you a great list that can be sorted in many ways, quite useful.

I'm just looking for personal recommendations. Hoping to get on some over looked routes/ check out some areas I've never been too.

UncleBen wrote:Misty and Sandburger Platter --- Sandrock.

So -- Misty has been chopped?

JL

What a great thread.

If I had to pick one and only one...I'd have to flip a coin between Flying Frog and Stepping Stone.

Edited to add

SILENT RUNNER!!!

Paul Barnes wrote:What a great thread. If I had to pick one and only one...I'd have to flip a coin between Flying Frog and Stepping Stone. Edited to add SILENT RUNNER!!!

^this guy knows how to have a good time. Flying frog is probably the best single pitch in the SE from what has already been listed. Dinkus and choas are great as well. Cedar pie, paralleling, and pooter the poacher are a few less traveled climbs.

For a really obscure classic, Peelin feelin at Table Rock could be the best. A little taste of Tuolumne knobs on the best granite anywhere. Probably less than a dozen ascents.

i'd add Carboman at Hidden Wall at LGR, anything at whitesides , andromeda strain @roadside and rock wars at RRG. a bunch more. honestly if your trying to form a tick list i'd try to focus on some crags with high concentration and just start working your way through. there are so many good routes in that grade

Just get the Dixie Cragger's Atlas and a couple NC guidebooks and systematically climb out every area. This is what I did with my main partners, virtually every weekend, during the 2005 through 2009ish timeframe. You have time. The rock ain't going nowhere.

If you are smart about it, you can tailor the crag to the season. Spend winter at Jamestown, Steele, The Tennessee Wall, etc. Spring and Summer at Sunset, Laurel Knob, Little River Canyon, Whitesides, etc. Fall is for granite domes and Linville...more LK, Looking Glass, etc. Linville has a lifetime of climbing and every aspect you could want...I.E. year round climbing if you are hardy. A long drive from Alabama, though.

saxfiend wrote: So -- Misty has been chopped? JL

Not yet.

The Rose 10a at Suck Creek Canyon
Crash Position at T Wall 9+ R- If you like aretes, this beautiful arete will likely call you when you see it
Cracked actor 10a at Leda- This is great if you don't mind some awful width