Rumbling Bald Locals?

Hey everyone, shot in the dark but I'm headed down to Lake Lure for the weekend, and probably gonna try to make it out Saturday morning (8/18/18) to Rumbling Bald to check out the rock. If anyone would be willing to show me around some of the classics, I'd love to hop on anything up to V6.

Got a couple pads that I'll be tagging along with me. Feel free to text me at (703) 627-2752 if you're interested! 

Holy crap dude, it's so hot down there this time of year nobody climbs. You'll cook like a scrambled egg and be bitten by snakes and get poison ivy. Honestly.

Russ Keane wrote: Holy crap dude, it's so hot down there this time of year nobody climbs. You'll cook like a scrambled egg and be bitten by snakes and get poison ivy. Honestly.

Do you ever actually make it out to climb?  I feel like every time I see you post it is about how the weather is terrible and that nobody would go climbing.   

While I agree this is not an ideal time to be climbing at rumbling bald I would also not avoid going if I was going to be in the area. Poison ivy and snakes are a concern there, but if you are mindful to keep an eye out for both you should be fine. If you have the MP app and download the area you shouldn't have too much of a problem to find enough to keep you busy for a day.

I can tell you, people are climbing every day, weather permitting, in Pisgah NF. Just start early and knock off in the afternoon, if it gets too hot. If you live in the flatlands, every day in WNC is cooler than a day at home.

If you go then definitely bring the tick spray, watch for snakes/poison ivy as mentioned, and be ready to be soaked in sweat by 10am. RB is a classic bouldering and route climbing destination in NC, but it is definitely a late fall/winter crag. You can climb in a t-shirt on sunny January days.  

On the plus side, you probably won’t see a soul there in mid-August.

The word that comes to mind is sweltering.  Its absolutely horrible for bouldering there.  Forget I mentioned snakes and poison ivy; that made me sound like a whining baby.  It's about climbing conditions.   The dude is going to lug bouldering pads down from DC and it's going to be a waste of time. Jumping on a V6?   Hah, sure,.yeah go for it.  

 I do get out a bit in the summer but the options are extremely limited. "Climbing in Pisgah" is misleading because you make it sound like all the places are OK.  Totally not true.   It's hot and wet and miserable here. 

I was just there for the first time last month (my wife and I were in town for a wedding) and the temperatures were in the upper 80s. We got to the parking lot just after 8am or so on a Saturday and climbed until noon or so. At that point it got pretty hot, but if you love climbing and it's your first time to RB....who cares. I understand conditions for sending are best when cold, that being said, I've had plenty of enjoyable climbing days in the southeast during the Summer. I'm getting a little tired of the "you can't climb because it's summer and it's hot" narrative. The friction on Dime Crack was fine, very cool problem. It would be tough to send a 6 but there were super fun moderates all around.

The high country near Boone is an excellent alternative, it’s about 1.5 hours from lake lure. If you’re looking for bouldering, grandmother mountain stays cool and has plenty of awesome problems, though it’s not well documented, so local beta is helpful. I bouldered there this week and it never felt warmer than 70

Russ Keane wrote: The word that comes to mind is sweltering.  Its absolutely horrible for bouldering there.  Forget I mentioned snakes and poison ivy; that made me sound like a whining baby.  It's about climbing conditions.   The dude is going to lug bouldering pads down from DC and it's going to be a waste of time. Jumping on a V6?   Hah, sure,.yeah go for it.  

 I do get out a bit in the summer but the options are extremely limited. "Climbing in Pisgah" is misleading because you make it sound like all the places are OK.  Totally not true.   It's hot and wet and miserable here. 

Hmm. It really wasn't that bad. Out from 8am-12pm, and it even rained the day previous. The rock was nasty slick in some parts, but the trails certainly weren't that bad in the west area. Routes with incuts were just fine, besides the millipedes that found a home in all of them :) Easy to find everything with just MP! Shade cover created fine standing temps.

I mean it was definitely worth the trip out. Our AirBnB was less than 1 mile from the lot! Maybe it's different cause I'm not some hardcore boulderer chasing conditions, but it was a nice addition to a lake trip, for sure.  

Hillbill wrote: I was just there for the first time last month (my wife and I were in town for a wedding) and the temperatures were in the upper 80s. We got to the parking lot just after 8am or so on a Saturday and climbed until noon or so. At that point it got pretty hot, but if you love climbing and it's your first time to RB....who cares. I understand conditions for sending are best when cold, that being said, I've had plenty of enjoyable climbing days in the southeast during the Summer. I'm getting a little tired of the "you can't climb because it's summer and it's hot" narrative. The friction on Dime Crack was fine, very cool problem. It would be tough to send a 6 but there were super fun moderates all around.

This was pretty much exactly my experience this weekend. It was certainly a good morning!