if you could climb a different place each month

Someone threw the idea to me of trying to do a different climbing trip each month for an entire year so i'm trying to put together a list of places to go if this idea becomes reality.

Fine with sport or trad and maybe even beginner alpine climbs

trad hoping to be around 5.6 level climbing mainly at devils lake.
sport hoping to red-point first 11 by June.

Would like to do owens-spaulding or the 5.5 exum route in July.

Assuming ice climbing is on. My list in my perfect world, within the US and Canada.

January: Hyalite Canyon, Bozeman Montana. Lots of ice from WI2 to WI7

February: South Fork Shoshone River, Cody Wyoming. Lots of big (for the lower 48) ice from WI4 to WI7 -not the best "beginner area" (I am not making reference to the Taquitz thread)...

March: Moab, Utah. Anywhere from the creek to the Fishers. Trad of about any grade.

April: Taquitz. Trad, never been here before, but it is on the list, perhaps a day a J tree to see what they hype is about.

May: Yosemite Valley or Tuolumne, or perhaps some other more obscure granite paradise in California. Trad.

June: Sierras. Perhaps full Palisade traverse or one of a long list of alpine climbs. A more moderate option would be Whitney's East Face. Alpine trad.

July: North Cascades, maybe Torment-Forbidden or Liberty Crack is next on my list??? Alpine.

August: Canadian Rockies (Robson, Alberta, Stephen, or Temple) (full-on alpine) or Bugaboos (B-C on South Howser Tower). A moderate option is Northeast Bugaboo Spire or more moderate would be Pigeon Spire. Alpine trad.

September: Tetons or Wind Rivers. Best time of year for Wyoming alpine, IMO.

October: Smith Rock. Trad, and apparently sport as well. Unless I were to be distracted by some early season alpine ice that could be anywhere in the north.

November: Depends on weather. Canadian Rockies or Glacier National Park (US) for ice climbing if weather is good, or Zion or Red Rocks if weather is bad.

December: Canadian Rockies (ice)

Maybe some of this is pertinent. It was fun to think about anyway.

To be honest, it would be better to progress to .9 or .10 ish trad and .11 ish sport at your local crags before investing all the time and money in travel, unless you got lots of both to burn. Not to say you shouldn't explore some, but 12 road trips in 12 months hunting for 5.6 crack climbs is time spent driving to a lot of places that cannot really be enjoyed at those grades, instead of time spent getting stronger. At least that's the case west of the Rockies. Take the creek or the forks- start at about .10. Or the voo or jtree, where the 7's and 8's can be shit your pants scary and/or downright brutal... I guess there's always Cat in the Hat?

January - Joshua Tree. Endless rock.

February - Somewhere thats not stupidly cold. Maybe Red Rocks or Hueco.

March - Indian Creek. Nuff said.

April - Red River Gorge. Dont have to worry about rain cuz you can always just climb something overhanging.

May - Yosemite. Before school gets out and the place is crawling with summer tourists.

June - Ten Sleep. Nothing like waking up at noon to go climb on east facing cliffs that are almost chilly in the afternoon shade. Adding in Wild Iris, Vedauwoo, and Devils Tower make for a great June road trip.

July - Opposite of February. Head north or up to find something thats not stupidly hot. Maybe RMNP or Sierras or just say screw it and go up to Canada.

August - Tuolumne Meadows (assuming that camping is guaranteed). Just make sure your back on the ground when the afternoon storms roll in.

September - Lake Tahoe. Sun, altitude, beaches, casinos, and tons of free gear at Lovers Leap if you go the day after a storm (just kidding...but not really).

October - Southern Illinois. Cant beat fall in the midwest.

November - Chattanooga. South facing T-wall feels like 75 degrees on Thanksgiving. Get there early cuz that approach is brutal when its hot out. Theres a smattering of other stuff around Chatty too thats great that time of year.

December - El Potrero Chico. Grab some tequila and head south of the border. Trying not to get robbed, kidnapped, or murdered adds an extra element to the inherent danger/fun of climbing.

I agree with JMO. While I would personally love to put together a list of dream places to visit for the next 12 months, you should really work on getting better and working up to the 5.10 level in trad and 5.11 in sport before starting globe trotting. You really won't get quite the same enjoyment out of it if you're limited to the easy routes. AS JMO said, there are a lot of places that don't have any easy routes, and some other crags may have easy routes, but they all suck. Therefore, you'll spend a lot of time traveling and won't get to climb very many routes. If you're in it for the traveling experience, then dive in! If you decide to do it now, I think a couple of good places for you to explore that I know have good easy climbing are Seneca (practice building anchors first) and the Frankenjura. The Red River Gorge also has some decent easy routes, but it also is much better at the harder grades. Maybe try the Gunks.
For winter, Arizona has this guide book you could check out: amazon.de/Weekend-Rock-Ariz…

All Killer No Filler wrote: (other than Old Rag; amazing climbing but it's the ninth circle of hell in the summer)

Haha. So, so true.

JMo wrote:To be honest, it would be better to progress to .9 or .10 ish trad and .11 ish sport at your local crags before investing all the time and money in travel, unless you got lots of both to burn. Not to say you shouldn't explore some, but 12 road trips in 12 months hunting for 5.6 crack climbs is time spent driving to a lot of places that cannot really be enjoyed at those grades,

I agree... Perhaps JMo is setting the bar a bit high at .10 trad, but .6/.7 trad is extremely limiting.
Many places like Indian Creek don't offer much under 5.10 (although, it you can lead 5.9 trad elsewhere, you can lead 10 at the Creek... because the Creek is the Creek...)
I think several places start having a decent number of good routes starting in the 5.8 and above range. 5.7 could work at other areas, but few places have amazing lines 5.6 and below.

Instead of going on numerous road trips, I would go to the one or two places where you can practice at your current grade and get stronger. The Gunks, for example, has tons of lines 5.6 and below. Rather than going on 5 different trips, spend a month there, working through the 5.6 and 5.7 lines until maybe you get comfortable leading 5.8.
In the colder months, I would go to Joshua Tree... another great playground with a ton of easier lines (and hard scary lines too if you work up to that).

Find a good sport area that has lots of easier lines (5.10 and below) and work on becoming stronger until you can comfortably lead 5.10. Rumney and Shelf Road come to mind (Smith rocks is fun, but I think it might be scary/limiting at the lower grades).

Red Rocks might also be a good destination, due to its large number of easier trad lines and soft sport lines.

Your list should include: Devils Lake, Petenwell, the Hollow, LaCrosse, Barn Bluff, Taylor's Falls, Jackson Falls, Tettegouche, and Pictured Rocks, and the Red. Tettegouche is a touch far, but worth it.

Three day weekend style trips once a month, and hit the lake every weekend you can. You don't need to drive around the country to climb, and all of these places are worth at least a couple stops.

Edit: I totally spaced on Gov Dodge. Go there as long as it hasn't rained recently.

For 5.6 and less trad the Gunks are great. There are a lifetime of amusing 5.3 and 5.4 multi-pitch routes to say the least. Gunks are good in spring and fall, too many people and humidity in the summer.