2 days in RRG Some Advice?

Just found out my partner and I will be within driving distance from the Red in April. However, we will only have 2 full days out there to sample what appears to be some of the coolest looking rock I've ever seen. Trying to sort through the routes there appears to be so many classics I don't know where to begin!

Question, 2 days, first timers to the Red we lead 11d/12a sport and 10 trad. Where should we go? Any advice is greatly appreciated!

David

Roadside Crag has a great selection of climbs, some of the classics are Greg Smith lines such as Synchronicity, Harder than your Husband and Pulling Pockets. I don't climb that hard but cutting my teeth in the Gorge I always aspired to climb any of Greg's climbs.

2nd Roadside, and Military Wall would be great for your other day. Don;t go to either on the weekend if you can help it. Roadside will probably be a zoo even on a weekday.

Drive By has a very nice mix of sport routes in the grades you're looking for. Good routes start at 10- and go up with several good 11 and 12- routes. Not much worth doing there for trad though.

Funk Rock City has a good mix of sport and trad climbing although (imo) the sub 5.12 sport routes there aren't as good as Drive By (There Goes the Neighborhood is great though).

A while back, the RRG website had a thread on the "Top Ten Sport Climbs" at the Red. I did some analysis of the responses to generate a list of the best routes, based on the number of times each route appeared on somebody's top ten list. Not the most scientific, but IME, its a pretty good list. Here are all the routes that got 3 or more votes (sorry about the formatting, all my spaces were ignored):

Route Name Grade # of Votes Crag
Mercy the Huff 5.12b 17 Left Flank
Orange Juice 5.12c 14 Funk Rock City
8 Ball 5.12d 10 Motherlode
Creep Show 5.10d 9 Phantasia
Table of Colors 5.13a 9 Left Flank
Fuzzy Undercling 5.11b 8 Military Wall
King Me 5.11b 8 Eastern Sky Ridge
Stunning the Hog 5.12d 8 Left Flank
whip stocking 5.11a 8 Drive By
Bare Metal Teen 5.12a 7 Torrent Falls
Breakfast Burrito 5.10d 7 Drive By
Steel Worker 5.12c 7 Torrent Falls
Buff the Wood 5.12b 6 Motherlode
Return of Chris Snyder 5.11d 6 Roadside Crag
Wild Gift 5.12c 6 Roadside Crag
appalachain spring 5.13a 5 Funk Rock City
Bandolier 5.11a 5 Torrent Falls
Convicted 5.13a 5 Motherlode
Creature Feature below 5.10 5 Phantasia
Dracula 04 5.13b 5 Purgatory
Prime Directive 5.11b 5 Funk Rock City
Seek the Truth 5.11d 5 Torrent Falls
Sex Farm 5.12b 5 Left Flank
Shanghai 5.12d 5 The Dark Side
Soul Ram 5.12c 5 Eastern Sky Ridge
Stain 5.12c 5 Motherlode
Swahili Slang 5.12c 5 Motherlode
To Defy the Laws... 5.10a 5 Left Flank
Too Many Puppies 5.12a 5 Left Flank
yellow birck road 5.11b 5 Lady Slipper
All things concidered 5.11d 4 Military Wall
Cell Block Six 5.12c 4 Midnight Surf
Centerfire 5.11c 4 Torrent Falls
Cut Throat 5.13b 4 Motherlode
Dave the Dude 5.11d 4 Eastern Sky Ridge
Edge of Your Seat 5.10a 4 The Arena
Electric Cowboy 5.11b 4 Purple Valley
Gung Ho 5.12b 4 Military Wall
jesus wept 5.12d 4 The Sanctuary
Paradise Lost 5.13a 4 Purgatory
Ro Shampo 5.12a 4 Roadside Crag
Team Wilson 5.12d 4 Motherlode
The Gift 5.12a 4 Long Wall
Thirsting Skull 5.12c 4 Military Wall
Tourist Trap below 5.10 4 Torrent Falls
Twinkie 5.12a 4 Phantasia
BBBB 5.11c 3 Military Wall
budda hole 5.11d 3 Solar Collector/Gold Coast
fire and brimstone 5.10d 3 Drive By
Hemisfear 5.11d 3 Roadside Crag
Hippocrite 5.12a 3 The Zoo
Infectious 5.12b 3 Left Flank
Jack in the Pulpit 5.10d 3 Eastern Sky Ridge
Manic Impression 5.10a 3 Funk Rock City
Mind Meld 5.12d 3 The Dark Side
Plate Tectonics 5.10a 3 Tectonic Wall
Skin Flute (closed) 5.12a 3 Oil Crack Rock
Snooker 5.13a 3 Motherlode
Technical Foul (closed) 5.12b 3 The Arena
There Goes..Neighborhood5.11c 3 Funk Rock City
Toxic Avenger 5.10d 3 Wall of Denial
Tuna Town 5.12d 3 Motherlode

Thanks Everyone, appears Roadside is a consensus. I would be there on a Friday so hopefully it won't be too much of a zoo but I'm used to dealing with the masses.

ROCK WARS Is a must do Awesome 5.10 Trad

Just look in the book and look for any FA by Porter Jarrard. You will not be disappointed. Most of the routes listed by Monomaniac are all Porter's routes.

Is it worth going thru the trouble to try and climb at Torrent Falls? Place just looks great from the pics just curious?

Not for a two day trip. There are plenty of awesome crags, and they're all good in their own way.

Been climbing in the Red about 8 years, both sport and gear routes. Since you want to do both types, you could either do a trad day, and a sport day, or a litle of each both days.

Here's my list for you for a little of each both days:

Solar Collector / Gold Coast
Rebar (11a trad)
Smoothie Nut(10a trad)
Rip Tide Ride (10a trad)
Budda Hole (11d sport)
Blue Eyed Honkey Jesus (12b sport)

Torrent Falls (you need to have a pass for the gate. They are free at torrentfallsclimbing.com), but climbing is only allowed Sat/Sun.

Windy Corner (11b trad)
Bandolier (11a sport)
Centerfire (11c sport)
Bare Metal Teen (12a sport) - haven't been on it, but a classic
Seek The Truth (11d sport)

And my list for 1 sport/ 1 trad day.

Drive By
Breakfast Burrito (10c sport)
Fire and Brimstone (10d sport)
Spirit Fingers (11c sport)
Whipstalking (11a sport)
Check Your Grip (12a sport)
Primus Nocturm (12a sport) - haven't been on it, but a classic

Eastern Sky Bridge
The Inhibitor (11a trad)
No Return (9+ trad)
The Underling (9+ trad)
Doppler Effect (10b trad)
Good Times (8+ trad)
and then head over to Western Sky Bridge
Return of Geoff Beene (10d) - haven't been on it, but a classic

Saw the post on Torrent whilst drafting my first reply:

Climbing at torrent isn't difficult. Wake up ~8 on Saturday, log into the internet, print out a pass. If they're all taken, wait for the next day. Miguel has WiFi for $2 and a computer if you don't have your own. You could even register via iPhone or whatever widgit you happen to use. If you really want to climb there, you could rent a room. It's owned by a climber, and run by some great people, and the food alone is worth the stay.

And it is very worth it. Easy approach, no crowds, beautiful horseshoe canyon, and Windy Corner!

sunder wrote:ROCK WARS Is a must do Awesome 5.10 Trad

One last question is the wolverine guidebook the one to get?

DavidH wrote:One last question is the wolverine guidebook the one to get?