Blue Hole Falls Climbing

Blue hole falls is a series of 4 waterfalls located in Cherokee National Forest, close to Elizabethton, Tennessee. Blue hole hosts a decent amount of boulders with a wide variety of climbing. Slopers, crimps, pockets, steep roofs, massive arêtes and highballs can all be found jam-packed within a relatively small area. The longest approach is around 5 minutes from the car. The upper Blue Hole and Highball areas have the most climbing to offer by far, with boulders ranging anywhere from 10-25 ft. There is also a small amount of roped climbing at the end of the highball trail with a couple of routes having double bolts for an anchor at the top. Go to the specific areas and boulders to find more detailed directions on how to get to these areas.

The waterfalls (and climbing) boast very easy access, which is probably the biggest problem for the area. A healthy amount of non-climbing traffic, especially in the summer, inevitably has led to a small amount of spray paint on the bigger walls as well as broken glass and other trash in certain areas. With that being said, solitude can be found within this climbing area if you look for it. Most of the rock here rarely receives sunlight, so if it has rained recently you can count on at least some of the rock being wet. If it has rained recently, the highball area is your best bet because it receives the most sunlight. This also means that climbing isn’t too bad here in the summer, but the friction is much better in the colder months.

Camping is permitted here, so this area can serve as an awesome weekend getaway where you can camp 5 seconds away from some nice climbing. I urge anyone coming here to climb to pick up and pack out as much trash as you can, especially in the “trash garden” area of the upper blue hole. Unfortunately, locals have dumped a huge amount of trash in this area and I’m hoping that having more climbers visit the area will have a positive impact on the land.

I am aware that climbing has happened here for quite a while but I am not sure of the history of climbing in the area. If someone has some info on that please feel free to let me know and I’ll gladly post it on here. Also, I know I didn’t FA most of these problems, so consider the names given on here as placeholders for now. If you think you had the first ascent and have a different name for the route, please let me know and I will change it.