East to West Climbing Road Trip

So my climbing partner and I have the month of November off to drive cross country for a climbing road trip. Looking to hit New River Gorge, Red River Gorge, possibly Tenn Wall, Hueco Tanks, Red Rocks, Bishop/Buttermilk, possibly J-Tree and then Horse tooth in Co on the way back. Mainly focusing on sport we do have a rack between us so we will do some trad along the way. We`re both mid 5.10 climbers.

So any routes upto 5.10b/c that we should look to get on or even just areas to look at within the climbing areas themselves. Maybe any recommended areas that we may have overlooked? We figured we had the opportunity to travel and climb so we had to take it.

New:
The Decameron (10b Sandstonia)

Have only made one trip out there so I can't give much beta on good climbs. I herd Tony The Tiger is fun as hell.

Red:
10a To Defy The Laws of Tradition (Left Flank)
While you are there look at Aquaduck Pocket 11a (Really sort bottom crux area with 5.9 climbing afterwards super fun climb).

10c In The Light 10c (Military Wall)
Super classic at military is Fuzzy Underclings 11b (so worth the amazing no hands rest right in the middle of the climb)

At Roadside crag hitup the 5.10 wall:
AWOL 10a
Pulling Pockets 10d
Crazy Fingers 10c
All three are 50ft fun little climbs and are just fun to jump on.

If you want trad at the Red, nothing is more classic than Autumn and Rock Wars at Long Wall, but you will need doubles in a lot of gear to do both. Autumn needs 2 #1, 2 #2 and one #3 with a .75 down low minimum. Rock Wars takes a lot of TCUs and nuts with one or two bigger pieces up top. There is a #3 low you can place but it isn't needed.

Have fun I envy you guys I wanna do something like this.

So eight destinations in thirty days? If my math is correct thats like 3.75 days at each destination and thats not including travel time. This seems like a wonderful idea in terms of getting out on the road and traveling the country but in my opinion doesn't allow enough time for climbing. It usually takes me a day or two just to get acquainted to the particular area and shake off the road legs. Many of the destinations you mentioned warrant at least a month long visit. I am not trying to hate on your idea. I am just trying to warm you that it is a very ambitious list and you might want to trim it down a bit if your looking to climb a lot. Like maybe sticking to the east coast and not trying to cross the continental divided during one of the most unstable months of the year. Or flying to LA and renting a car. You could hit up J-tree, Bishop, and Red rocks. For what it's worth...my two cents.

jason

JJNS wrote:So eight destinations in thirty days? If my math is correct thats like 3.75 days at each destination and thats not including travel time. This seems like a wonderful idea in terms of getting out on the road and traveling the country but in my opinion doesn't allow enough time for climbing. It usually takes me a day or two just to get acquainted to the particular area and shake off the road legs. Many of the destinations you mentioned warrant at least a month long visit. I am not trying to hate on your idea. I am just trying to warm you that it is a very ambitious list and you might want to trim it down a bit if your looking to climb a lot. Like maybe sticking to the east coast and not trying to cross the continental divided during one of the most unstable months of the year. Or flying to LA and renting a car. You could hit up J-tree, Bishop, and Red rocks. For what it's worth...my two cents. jason

The bouldering is only going to be for a day or so and T-Wall is up in the air. But thats also not taking into account weather...its got to rain sometime I`m guessing. Theres no set schedule we may end up coming back sometime in Dec or cutting out a crag possibly.

Thanks for the heads up so far guys

Or worst.....frozen rain. I was stranded at a Super Eight motel in Walkeeney Kansas for four days at the end of November a couple of years ago. I was moving from Boston to Vail. A huge storm was coming over the rockies and shut down I-70 for hundreds of miles. This was after crashing and almost totaling my truck on black ice in Ohio on thanksgiving day. Just saying....Shit happens.

When will you be in the Red River Gorge? I will be there in November. Maybe I could show you some of my favorite climbs. For 5.10 I would check out the tectonics wall in Muir valley. Also agree that Pulling pockets is really fun at the roadside crag.

Hueco is cool. No one here gets out alive and Ghetto Simulator are my suggestions.

Bishop- Green wall essential and Original Sin are cool problems.

Two areas to consider adding would be Ibex on your way back from Bishop and Eldo on your way up to Horse tooth.

Jason

If you are going to Bishop/Buttermilks, I suggest stopping by Owens River Gorge. This site actually has really good info on it and is only a few miles away from Bishop

"The Owens River Gorge is California's most concentrated sport-climbing area. It is really a year-round crag, although summers can be a bit hot. There are many moderate sport climbs in the sub 5.10 range, but the best gorge climbs seem to be in the 5.10-5.11 range. "

Thanks for the heads up guys. They dont all have to be in the 5.10 range. There`s no problem jumping on something "easy" if its a great climb or a classic. I`ll definitely be highlight all the suggestios in the guide book and look into the other areas. Keep `em coming

Red Rocks: Unimpeachable Groping is a quality, 5 pitch, mid 5.10 outing. Generously bolted. If you do it, go all the way to the top & descend off to the left.

So we've been chased west by mother nature...snow and rain in NRG and it was called for the same tonight and tomorrow in RRG. We did get some climbing in at both destinations just not as much as we had hoped. I'm typing this on my phone as my buddy is driving....we're passing by bowling green, Ky right now headed for Hueco Tanks. We really lucked our at RRG as it poured all day yesterday and we were able to find plenty of dry routes to keep us busy. We have a blog up if anyone is interested in tracking us cross country. Climbingbumlite.blogspot.com