Hi, everyone. A friend and I are interested in learning multipitch sport climbing by easing our way into it.

We're looking for an area in the USA with a nice amount of easy routes (5.8 MAX, though preferably 5.5-5.7 range) to learn the ropes.

Can anyone suggest an area with a variety of easy routes?

Thanks in advance,
J

use the route finder. Go to any climbing area, click on "Best routes for you in this area", change the location to "All Areas", check off sport, and min number of pitches, bam, a list of multipitch sport sorted by state.

Or just click this link:

Sport routes 5.6-5.8 in the MP database with more than 2 pitches

Castle Rock, Idaho has some easy 3-4 pitch sport routes with bolts ever 5'. I think Big Time is the most.popular.

You should also try doing your local one-pitch sport routes in a multi-pitch style. That is, the leader climbs, sets up the anchor. The second follows and cleans the route and then you both rap. You can even think through how you would transition to an imaginary second pitch. E.g., if you are swapping leads, think through how you would orient the rope. If you are leading in blocks, how would you manage that?

Once you have this down then take the road trip. I would guess that you would be much faster at transitions and get in a lot more climbing on your trip.

Another option, although less desirable, is to split a single pitch, bolted climb into multiple pitches. The problem here is that, unless you have trad gear, you will likely be building an anchor from a single bolt. I guess you could back that bolt up with the next higher bolt, though (just add a long runner).

Good luck!

Mt. Yonah in north Ga. is really close to you. The two-man climb's are really easy multi-pitch sport routes. You can do most of the climbs in a single rope, but it has anchors in the middle for a belay. A lot of the military uses this as a training area. The nice thing about Yonah is that you can get to the top of the cliff by simply walking around. This means if you can't finish and have to bail, you can go to the top and rap back in to retrieve gear or whatever it is you need to do. Also, know that on multi-pitch things get a lot more complicated for quick retreats and other emergencies. I would also suggest hiring a guide or getting a mentor that can show you some self-rescue basics that could save you and your partner's life. It is easy to put yourself into a bad situation without even realizing it because of inexperience, especially when pitches are longer than half a rope length.

City of Rocks would be perfect!

Awesome suggestions, everyone. Thanks.