A Few More from the Southeast

Well, I’ve been back in MT for over a week now and per usual I’ve been slacking on the blog. Made it out to Whiskey yesterday and did a nice circuit at the End of the Road. For anyone thinking of heading out next weekend be warned, there is lots of snow. Pretty much all of the boulders are dry, but there’s a foot or two on the ground everywhere that doesn’t get baked with sun. I normally bring gaiters but spaced it yesterday and my socks were soaked after just a bit of hiking.

Anyways, last I left off I was midway through my trip and had visited all the big three in the SE (HP 40, Stone Fort and Rocktown). I finished up the trip by heading to 6 different areas in 7 days – the Lilly Boulders (Obed), TN, Stone Fort, TN, HP 40, AL, Rocktown, GA, Blowing Rock, NC and Rumbling Bald, NC.

As a quick summary, Stone Fort, Rocktown and HP 40 are all world class areas. Any of the three are amazing destinations that shouldn’t be missed. I wasn’t super impressed with the Lilly Boulders. They seemed like a fun local area. Probably wouldn’t go back for the bouldering, but the sport climbing looked stellar. Although I didn’t spend much time, I was pleasantly surprised by the North Carolina areas and Rumbling Bald in particular. The polished gneiss was a bit of a shock to the fingers after a couple weeks of perfect sandstone, but there were tons of classics in an amazing location. Combine that with all the stuff around Boone and I think North Carolina could be a potential destination again in the future.

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