Intro to NC

Wanted to do some routes at LG/LK but not much experience on slab, where is a safe climbing area in NC where my partner and I could get comfortable in a well protected setting

Thanks
Matt

Hahaha
Don't fall.

But seriously most routes at lg will have at least 10-15 feet between placements.

Laurel knob is more committing.

There are tons of well-protected routes, but neither of those places are sport climbs with cams.

you can sew up a lot of the north side routes looking glass

Looking Glass is going to be safer than Laurel for learning NC slab. Worth noting - it's getting a little warm for Laurel Knob these days. The North Side of LG does protect well, but I wouldn't call it typical NC slab climbing. Routes in the Nose area, the South side will get you a feel for NC slabbing, but won't scare you to death.

Are you specifically wanting to get comfortable with slab or NC in general? The Nose and South Face of LG have moderate and well-protected options. The North Side has a few moderates. There are some really easy option for slab at Stone Depot. NC is quite varied. The Piedmont has a completely different nature of climbs and the Gneiss is different than granite at LG, Laurel, and others.

Don't go to Laurel Knob for a first time adventure on slab. I have climbed a lot at Looking Glass and took an adventure over to Laurel Knob to climb Fathom and Groover. Fathom scared the hell out of me. 40 ft runouts on slab are not exactly super fun. And no I couldn't find a placement anywhere in between no matter how much I wanted one. However, the Nose on Looking Glass is super fun as are most of the routes in that area.

Cedar Rock has some easy slab climbing, well protected with bolts. Check out Stone depot wall, specifically North by North west.

Mt. Yonah in north Ga has some great slab routes you can top rope. Climb dihedral route on gear. From the anchors traverse 30 feet right (if you are looking at the rock) amd set up a top rope for two hard 5.8 climbs that will give you a great taste of friction climbing. There are some harder friction climbs further right a couple hundred yards if you want to get a feel forbwhat 5.10 and 5.11 Slab climbing feels like.

The South Face of LG is full of awesome easy to protect moderate, slabby cracks. It's also probably starting to bake there. You may want to check out Linville Gorge as an area that better suits you for the summer, then come back to LG and LK when it cools back off.

Looking Glass makes a lot of sense for what you are looking for, but don't let LK intimidate.
Do one of the "cracks"....Groover or Fathom.
Groover has been tamed a bit with the big runout bolted.
Fathom sews up and affords quite a bit of slab climbing if you stay out of the crack/chimney/flare.
Also, routes to the far right of LK are usually lower angle and protect okay.

WTF, they added bolt(s) to Groover? Effing NC climbers, since Whitney (among others) moved, no climbers in NC are worthy of the rep.

Jim Corbett wrote:WTF, they added bolt(s) to Groover? Effing NC climbers, since Whitney (among others) moved, no climbers in NC are worthy of the rep.

Pretty sure it was Mike Fischesser (FA) that added the bolts. He drilled them on lead earlier this spring. Apparently he would have added them on the FA but he didn't have a bolt kit.

IMO it brings the route more in line w/ the rest of the routes in that grade range.

If you think that the current crop of NC climbers aren't "worthy of the rep," why don't you come down and repeat some of the routes that have gone up in Linville Gorge or at LK over the last few years. Then you could at least make an educated decision.

Jim, as a former NC climber, I am going to apologize for Ryan. I think he had a 'transplanted' brain fart.

Ryan, Jim could teach both of us quite a bit about slab climbing. In fact, he did.

I tried to tell mike a traverse of the face was a terrible idea when he was half way through it. I explained to him that there were still many lines to still be climbed and his bolts will mess many routes up. I guess since he had permission granted by the elite North Carolina Route Committee my pleas fell on deaf ears. It is so sad to see the stone we cherish so much ruled by a bunch of posers! How I miss the days when we sat around the fire and discussed how we treated our climbs and cliffs. More on topic, myself and a small band of brothers have been putting up many easy protected slab routes on various faces in Panthertown Valley. Drop me a line and I will take you on a tour of the highest hanging valley this side of the Mississippi.

boo wrote:Jim, as a former NC climber, I am going to apologize for Ryan. I think he had a 'transplanted' brain fart. Ryan, Jim could teach both of us quite a bit about slab climbing. In fact, he did.

I'm not sure what a transplanted brain fart is, but I don't think I've had one. If you're alluding to the fact that I don't live in NC then you're a bit misguided.

I have no doubt that Jim could teach ALL of us a few things. Fact is, he has no presence on Mountain Project (that was his first and only post) and I thought it was a bit strange for him to curse the NC climbing community. I won't get into an argument about what bolts should be where, but I thought it was important to add that the bolts weren't just slammed in by some new generation climber.

boo, you seem to be the only one who'd be offended by what I said, but if anyone else was, I'm sorry.

How's that guidebook coming Shannon?

If you agree with the FA's ability to put up routes with a lack of bolts, then the FA has the same ability to add bolts to their route. It is their route after all. At least that is what all you old-school (aka old farts) keep talking about when ever someone complains about not enough bolts on a route.

I don't agree with the bolt addition to Groover, even if it makes it similar safety:grade ratio to other climbs at LK. Having done the Fish finish, I felt there was nothing wrong with the route or that it was even remotely scary. Although, at the time I did the route I was climbing several grades harder on slab.

There does seem to be a correlation of old age to making routes safer. I can think of several recent FA retros or new routes that have had more safety margin than they would have years ago by the old-timers. So don't point the finger at the younger generation boo or Jim. The geezers are getting soft, especially in the middle.

Just be proud that the subject of the running post with NC in the title is something like this. After reading many of the other from around the country I will take our problems (and ethics) any day.

Touchy. There used to be a tradition that we(GA types) would tweak you (NC climbers) and generally get you outraged about something or other, but everyone knew it was all just funnin'. Hardly amounts to cursing.
It had just never occurred to me before that MP would have a forum I was interested in. I was immediately startled to read that a 'runout' that I actually thought was pretty mellow had been retroed, and more to the point that the retros were known and had survived for more than a day. Certainly Doc would be appalled.
And as a personal opinion, I don't think retros should ever be added, even by the FA, except in dire emergencies, or when the previous natural 'pro' falls off, as it did on Wavetech! Not that I would do anything more than grumble if it was done by the FA or with his/her explicit permission. But I would think less highly of him.

Jim Corbett wrote:

i think there is a realization by some that if they want their legacy to not be one of forgotten routes then going back and adding protection to their routes is merit worthy. We're all glad there are bad ass routes that we can size our dicks on, but for the most part we are out there to enjoy ourselves.

On the positive side: Adding of bolts is far from the norm and i can think of only two people who have done this in the last five years - both being from the older generation of climbers. And frankly it opens high quality routes to more people. If the only thing good about a route is how scary it is - its probably not a very good route.

All that being said - i'm equally shocked that groover had bolts to it considering entry level climbers have been at it for a few years now without major incident that i know of.

rock_fencer wrote: i think there is a realization by some that if they want their legacy to not be one of forgotten routes then going back and adding protection to their routes is merit worthy. We're all glad there are bad ass routes that we can size our dicks on, but for the most part we are out there to enjoy ourselves. On the positive side: Adding of bolts is far from the norm and i can think of only two people who have done this in the last five years - both being from the older generation of climbers. And frankly it opens high quality routes to more people. If the only thing good about a route is how scary it is - its probably not a very good route. All that being said - i'm equally shocked that groover had bolts to it considering entry level climbers have been at it for a few years now without major incident that i know of.

Edit: At least the nose isn't bolted yet...

Ryan, you didn't offend me. Hardly. (You know me well, in fact.) But, you are typing high and mighty to someone who has contributed a lot to our region. The man can climb slabs!

Not like you to be quite that disrespectful of the cuff, hence the brain fart comment.

I wish Jim would post more on here, truthfully.