Big Walls on the East Coast

Looking for a moderately easy big wall to tackle on the east coast, preferably the northeast or central areas.

Maybe a 1-2 night, 5.7 / C1 deal.

Ideas?

If you are willing to drive up a bit past Quebec City Cap Trinite is an amazing location and great climbing.

Cap Trinite Mp Page

We did Les Grands Galets in 2 nights but just for the experience. I think we slept at the top of pitch 1 and pitch 6. Such a great area and waking up over the fjord is an experience not to be missed.

Wallface in the adirondaks has Mental Blocks (and probably others) that are straightforward aid, not sure where on the route you would sleep though. I think we free climbed the first pitch (5.7) and the crack after the pendulum up top (5.8)

Cannon in NH might do, though I think you would likely find mandatory free climbing harder than 5.7 on either something like The Ghost or VMC Direct Direct.

Or if you want to drive down to NC the north face of Looking Glass has the closest feeling to being in Yosemite. Glass Menagerie (now free at 13 ish) is a great clean aid line that you can sleep on if you so desire.

In desperation I have often climbed with the ledge and made a night out of 2-3 pitch climbs in the Gunks or at Seneca.

Tons of great stuff on the east coast, just not particularly concentrated.

Dominic Albanese wrote: In desperation I have often climbed with the ledge and made a night out of 2-3 pitch climbs in the Gunks or at Seneca. Tons of great stuff on the east coast, just not particularly concentrated.

DOOOD! You hit on a question i've been thinking about.

I'm quite familiar with the gunks. I was trying to figure out the acceptance of this idea, basically practicing and perfecting my big wall technique on a lesser traveling gunks route.

Ever have an issue with people or rangers? Any routes you recommend for an overnighter?

Mental Blocks on Wallface?

something on Cannon?

Not in the northeast, but the glass menagerie at looking glass can go at 5.8 C2 if you drive down to North Carolina. The north side is home to a few IV and III grades.

Invisible airwaves at the northside of looking glass goes at A2 and it has a huge ledge to sleep on as well. No portaledge needed

I could be wrong but I think Wallface is the tallest sheer cliff in the Northeast. Obviously Whitehorse Slab is longer but I don't think it could really be made into a "big wall" experience the way Wallface could.

I think that technically the Mohonk Preserve closes one hour after sunset. But I have climbed a few times at night and been on the ledge (far away from the any road) a few times too. I wouldn't for example set up a ledge on Shockely's Ceiling right at the hairpin.

Adirondacks - Poke-O, Moss Cliff?

in Quebec:
Hautes-Gorges-de-la-Rivière-Malbaie
Cap Trinité
I'd love it if people could actually enter the routes they've done there...

It has been 8 years since I did Les Grand Galets, and we got stormed off 2 pitches from the top, but it is a worthwhile add for sure. Let me see if I can drum up some old pictures and sift through the cobwebs for beta on the pitches and I'll add it to the db.

Oh and I'll add another (self promoting) "big wall" in MD no less. I helped put up Spectacular Spectacle a few years ago. It is 4 pitches, but only 270 feet or so. So not really big. The first pitch seems quite a bit of action as an aid climb (maybe A2 as it requires some birdbeaks) but I think the whole thing hasn't seen a second yet. Enjoy!

Harder than C1 and may or may not have to sleep on the wall, but there classics non the less.
mountainproject.com/v/mines…
mountainproject.com/v/the-m…

How far afield do you want to go? Cap Trinite in Quebec, Corner Brook & Devil's Bay on the west & south coasts of Newfoundland. Some fairly untraveled stuff on MDI in Maine, medium length steep routes on good granite. Some more remote, rarely traveled stuff there. Cannon Cliff & Cathedral in NH.

youtube.com/watch?v=hagDv6T…

The biggest, baddest wall on the East Coast has got to be the North Side of Table Rock Mountain, SC.... Sadly, it is off limits to all but distant observation.

You'll have to go South, but Looking Glass in NC had a few nice aid routes.

Damn.. I just looked at a picture of the north side of table rock.. I had no ideas that was there. I've only seen the south side when I drive by. Why is it closed? It's definitely one beautiful chunk of granite.

Yep. Pretty piece of granite.

aerial view of Table Rock

Chase Bowman wrote:Damn.. I just looked at a picture of the north side of table rock.. I had no ideas that was there. I've only seen the south side when I drive by. Why is it closed? It's definitely one beautiful chunk of granite.

Yosemite-esque, even.

As I understand it, the North side slope is part of the drainage for the water reservoir below... South Carolina, being a particularly pruddish place concerning law making and enforcement, has seen fit to disallow climbing "for ecological reasons".

Mind you, the base of the cliff is at least two miles away and 1,000 feet above the lake.

UncleBen wrote:The biggest, baddest wall on the East Coast has got to be the North Side of Table Rock Mountain, SC

It's definitely a nicer looking piece of rock but it's nowhere near as tall as Wallface or Cannon.

Wallface is around 700 feet, Cannon almost 1,000 while the TRM routes I've looked at all top out at 5/6 pitches and 400ish feet.

i've never seen Table Rock in SC, but as far as size goes, Laurel Knob is pretty impressive. Several routes up to 1000ft and 8 pitches (and don't even go to the top). There are a few routes with aid, but it would not be a good bigwall IMO,because in general, the routes are pretty slabby.

I believe Whitehorse Nh is the biggest at 1100 ft of climbing followed be Cannon and the cathedral, the gunks might have something but after that it would be Seneca around 500. There is quite a few 400 and less ft crags in the northeast but those are your bigger ones