Southeastern climbing in the winter

I want to create a list of ACTUAL experiences climbing at locations that are reportedly good winter destinations. I think this will be useful to those travelling to our wonderful crags from afar and help us plan day trips from not so far.

2/20/2015 - Tennessee Wall-21 degrees, 10mph winds, and sunny. PERFECT CONDITIONS.

Rock was actually warm to the touch and a base layer and t shirt were comfortable while climbing. It snowed the night before and some of the cracks were seeping but most were 100% dry.

i second T-wall. some stuff is almost guaranteed to seep but there will still be more than enough to climb that is dry. also, if you want a sort of alpine feel, Bombs away at suck creek can be great.

Anywhere is good if you sack up ;)

But in all seriousness, twall at 20 is perfect

This is a good idea but isn't the info a bit subjective? For me climbing in the 20s with sun and no wind is great but for someone from farther south it might suck.

Winter in the SE....

TN: TWall...and parts of Suck Creek....a couple other spots. I have no experience with Obed.

AL: Steele, Jamestown, and a couple other small places....same sort of conditions as the TWall.

GA: Tallulah....if you can get a permit.

NC: Stone Mtn or Laurel Knob can both be manageable, if sunny. The SE Face of Whitesides isn't too bad in the right winter conditions. Shortoff is very sunny, as well. No experience with Rumbling Bald.

That's about it for the main stops. I have had great experiences at each place in the right winter conditions.

I have never enjoyed Sunset, Looking Glass, or very many other places in the winter, other than these listed, in my ten+ years bumbling about the crags - year round.

I've climbed at Tierrany at the Obed. 40ish degrees, sunny, slight breeze. I was in a T shirt and it was a little bit too hot. I need to get out there and see how cold is too cold.

I also climbed at LRC when the high was 30, and it was a bit cloudy and windy. It was definitely close to my limit for climbing and having lots of fun. The rock felt great, but handwarmers and warm clothes were required. My girlfriend didn't climb at all, she said the rock was too cold for her.

Br'er Rabbit wrote:Winter in the SE.... TN: TWall...and parts of Suck Creek....a couple other spots. I have no experience with Obed. AL: Steele, Jamestown, and a couple other small places....same sort of conditions as the TWall. GA: Tallulah....if you can get a permit. NC: Stone Mtn or Laurel Knob can both be manageable, if sunny. The SE Face of Whitesides isn't too bad in the right winter conditions. Shortoff is very sunny, as well. No experience with Rumbling Bald. That's about it for the main stops. I have had great experiences at each place in the right winter conditions. I have never enjoyed Sunset, Looking Glass, or very many other places in the winter, other than these listed, in my ten+ years bumbling about the crags - year round.

Rumbling Bald is a great winter destination. If it is sunny I dont worry too much about the air temperature. Shortoff is sunny as mentioned, but the decent gully can be an icy mess (I am sure that it is right now). South Side of Looking Glass. Climbed Whitesides a couple of weeks ago in shirt sleeves. Sauratown is great on a sunny day, but only open to climing in Jan/Feb. Stone and Laurel as mentioned above as well. To be honest, anywhere that gets all day sun is fine in the SE in the winter. The air temp rarely gets cold enough to be a problem. If the rocks warms up in the sun generally good to go. Conversely, you can freeze your but off on a 60 degree day in the shade at Moores.

If you consider the NRG south east then you have a ton of cliffs. Bridge, parts of Beauty, Long Point, Junkyard, Bubba City, Endless and specifically the Cirque. The Cirque "usually" stays dry no matter how much rain/snow we get and it gets all day sun. If it's had sun for a day or so then you can climb there in a t-shirt in the 20s.

NC can be great in the winter if it's cold enough! Great ice climbs if they come in!

NC can be great in the winter if it's cold enough! Great ice climbs if they come in!

climbing in the southeast is limited more by precipitation than by temperature. just about any south facing area will heat up enough for good climbing as long as the sun is out and it hasn't been raining or snowing. also, the temperatures fluctuate so wildly especially in the deep south it's going to be very difficult to get anything more than a very general idea of what the weather might be at any given time and destination. for example, it's about 28 degrees and snowing outside right now, last year it was sunny and 70 degrees.

The Red in late November. Just try to find a south facing wall and you're good

Almost everything, for some reason most of the rock in the South faces south, and is killer in the winter. At cold temps much of the sandstone is Velcro for the feet. It's the summers that suck and why I left. BITD the places we hit were Tallulah, Jamestown, T-Wall, Sandrock, any S facing dome. Over time we developed a lot of other things facing south that aren't in the books. The S face of W'sides is a freaking reflector oven. I remember one time when Sporty and I climbed Starshine and Mother Russia and it was so cold the beer froze in the car in the parking lot. But it was a sunny day, and while we were thawing those out Wolfgang and Fernando came romping down the trail, they had just been rock climbing on the South side in shirt sleeves. We were inspired. A couple of years later we knocked out Starshine, then ran around the mountain and went up the OR. We called it a southeast alpine day.
The one caveat on W'sides is that if it gets really cold the night before BIG icicles will form along the top of the face, and then when the sun hits the next day it is bombs away. Getting clocked with one of those after a few hundred feet of free fall will screw up your day.

So what's good tomorrow (2.26)? I'm a school teacher and I'd hate to waste this snow day!

T-wall is perfect in the 20s and sun?? Is that Celsius? I've never climbed there, but that seems crazy.

I have a few climbing days mid March. I'm in Tulsa, so we were gonna either haul west to Turkey Rocks or east to T-wall, weather dependent.

Chet Butterworth wrote:So what's good tomorrow (2.26)? I'm a school teacher and I'd hate to waste this snow day!

Your local gym...

It would seem that a place like the Stephen King Library in South Clear Creek would always be dry since it has a massive horizontal roof covering the climbs. There doesn't appear to be any water seepage there either. That's something to think about as well, water seepage. Climbs like Art and Nutrasweet at the TWall are wet all the time due to water seeping through the rock or from above. It all comes down to tolerance though. How much do you really want that pitch? I've led wet and icy 5.7s that felt like 5.10s. I've also backed off of wet 5.10 climbs because I knew it would feel like 5.12. Think of it is training for Patagonia. Aid through wet sections. Get out and climb!

C. Archibald wrote:T-wall is perfect in the 20s and sun?? Is that Celsius? I've never climbed there, but that seems crazy. I have a few climbing days mid March. I'm in Tulsa, so we were gonna either haul west to Turkey Rocks or east to T-wall, weather dependent.

T-Wall is up high above the river and faces due south. When the sun's shining it bakes, 20s(F) and no wind is perfect climbing weather, although if it has been cold for awhile the jam cracks can be a little frigid. Climbing there in the summer is the definition of stupid.

Thanks Jim. I see that the average March temps for that wall are in the 50s. Are we gonna be hot?

C. Archibald wrote:Thanks Jim. I see that the average March temps for that wall are in the 50s. Are we gonna be hot?

Absolutely. 50s at the twall is nuclear feeling.