New River Gorge Info

Hi.

After venturing and doing a lot of moderate climbing in NC, I have decided it is finally time to head up to the New River Gorge!  I have done a fair bit or research on here looking at good areas to climb and which routes are "classic" but figured I would post in here to get some final advice.

I am looking to climb 5.7-5.9 maybe a 5.10 or two sport and some 5.7-5.8 trad.  

My consensus from research is that Sandstonia is a solid place to climb with a fair bit of sport routes available... but I have seen mixed reviews about the quality of routes and rock there.

Other areas that seem to be a possibility:

Orange Oswald Wall - few harder sport routes, most likely going to be crowded
Whipporwhil - trad and sport routes 5.8-5.9
Kaymoor Slabs - long hard 5.9's commiting maybe have to rappell in

Questions:

What is the deal with the lake?  Are summersville lake climbing areas dws right now, or can you still access them and climb with rope.

Is my research accurate?  Any advice on good areas to check out would be gladly appreciated, I have learned over the past few years that local knowledge is key and saves a lot of time digging around on here.

Thanks,
Garrett Logan

Change the title if your post to NEW river gorge.

You have a reasonable list there. Maybe add Beer Wall and Butchers Branch to your list.

Sandstonia cleaned up quite well. I wouldn’t hesitate to climb there. 

And yes, Whippoorwill is Not a place to go sport climbing right now. When the water is low in winter, it would suit your purpose very well.

You don't have to rappel in to the Kaymoor Slabs, they can be easily accessed from the fern point ladders by walking upstream. Fool Effect and The Upheavel are good long routes, I would not call them particularly hard, but you would want to be solid at 5.9 for Fool Effect in particular. Nearby are Totally-Clipse and Rat's Alley. Star Trek Wall also has a host of moderate trad routes, Hysteria at the Orchard Wall area is a really nice 5.8 trad climb. Sandstonia tends to be a zoo, but if you are there during the week it's not too bad, definitely not my favorite cliff at the New, but it has lots of stuff in the range you are looking for.

Kaymoor is the place to go this time of year for the kind of climbing you've got in mind.

The Lower Meadow now has about 10 more bolted routes ranging from 5.0 to 5.9 on the first bit of cliff you encounter on your right as you approach (not on Mtn Project or in guidebook). Many of them stay dry in light rain. Add those to the several mixed 5.7-5.9 routes to the right of Toxic Hueco, and an intriguing 5.10 a/b sport route on Tan Wall (Campground Sluts), and you have one of the best, and definitely overlooked, areas for easy climbing in the region.

You can also experience many of the truly classic moderate routes by dropping topropes at Junkyard and Bridge Buttress, which have easy access to top anchors. Many of those 5.8 - 10- cracks are well worth your time even if you don't feel comfortable leading them (and they tend to be stiff for the grades). 

Thanks guys for all the wonderful info!  I did some more looking and the bridge buttress looks pretty sweet with easily flakey and zag.  Any beta on how true they are to the grade?  I have done climbing pretty much everywhere in NC and found it to be consistent throughout apart from Moore's Wall, which almost all the routes are sandbagged.  

Also there is extensive info about camping, but just to be clear the only free camping is by the dam?  There are no forest roads near by that have roadside designated camping?

Thanks,
Garrett Logan

Just did Easily Flakey and Zag for the first time this past weekend. I’m not much of a crack climber, so can’t be a good judge, but both felt hard for the grade, if not sandbagged. My son climbs very hard cracks and thought Zag was pretty tricky for 5.8.  I started to go up EF in my approach shoes with a light rack of passive gear and ended up backing down to get some big cams and put on my climbing shoes! Both are genuine four-star routes. 

Great routes, Zag can be tricky for folks, not sure how it compares to NC grading.

Grades at the New are similar to Moore’s and NC in general. You should be solid at the grade when leading, particularly for trad routes. Neither place is sandbagged, it’s just that the Red is so grade inflated everyone has forgotten what the actual numbers mean :-)

Brian Payst wrote: Grades at the New are similar to Moore’s and NC in general. You should be solid at the grade when leading, particularly for trad routes. Neither place is sandbagged, it’s just that the Red is so grade inflated everyone has forgotten what the actual numbers mean :-)

Brian have you ever climbed trad at the Red? Most of it was put up in the 70's and the first ascentionists like Larry Day and Martin Hackworth had only climbed in Seneca Rocks and the Gunks so grading was generally consistent with these places. 

DrRockso wrote: Great routes, Zag can be tricky for folks, not sure how it compares to NC grading.

Zag is great, but not super secure for a 5.8 leader.  How often do you get off-fingers/ringlocks on a 5.8, though?

DrRockso wrote:

Brian have you ever climbed trad at the Red? Most of it was put up in the 70's and the first ascentionists like Larry Day and Martin Hackworth had only climbed in Seneca Rocks and the Gunks so grading was generally consistent with these places. 

Cause everyone goes to the Red for trad...

Andy Thorsell wrote:

Cause everyone goes to the Red for trad...

If you wanted to compare apples and oranges we could also compare chalk to cheese.