Problems at Yonah

Mt Yonah is a jewel that does not get much respect. Maybe it is due to the long approach who knows. But it has great slab climbing, well (over) bolted routes and pretty awesome exposure. I know tons of climbers who have learned to climb on Yonah. I did my first multi pitch there, placed my first gear there and have taken a lot of folks there for their first climb. But I have seen a lot of negative impact over the last year. Some from climbers some from hikers. This past weekend topped the list. We headed up Saturday with plans to camp off from the parking lot. The campsite was littered with burnt beer cans, broken glass bottles, trash and someone had taken a big one 5 ft from the little creek which is one of the only water sources on Yonah. We hiked up to the lowers and was surprised at all the trash along the trail. Water bottles and trash all over the place. The next morning we headed to the main face and decided to take the parking lot boulder trail to intersect with the main trail by the lowers. Right before the lowers we saw that someone had spray painted some sort of love note all over one of the boulder problems. As we continued to the main face we noticed a lot of new trails cut through the woods. With all the rain this year erosion was already starting to show. We made it to the main face and started climbing on the numbered trad routes. We decided to do both pitches and top out. Several times through out the day things would get thrown down the side of the face. While belaying below the cable a water bottle came flying down landing not to far from another group of climbers. I shouted out that there where climbers on the wall. I heard laughing and then a chunk of granite the size of a basketball comes flying from the top hitting the wall about mid way and exploding into pieces. My partner tops out, I follow up and we head over to a group of teenagers setting up for a rappel. Of course they know nothing about it. Route hogging has never been an issue for me but they had set up a 190 ft rappel on one of the classics The Dihedral. My issue was not that they where on the route but the fact that the good old boys had spit tobacco all over the route and had most likely been the folks throwing stuff of the top. Trash I can deal with I just pack it out, graffiti is an eye sore and can be cleaned, erosion can be dealt with my big issue was the trash and rocks being thrown off the top. Even with a helmet on a 30 lb chunk of granite coming down from 180-200 ft would kill you. Anyone else ever had issues like this at Yonah? Any suggestions on how to deal with it?

Welcome to White County Georgia.

They have an especially active crop of teens up there this season. A couple of em just got killed in a wreck and they had some sort of social media presence indicating that they were going to spray paint a tribute on the main face to be seen from the road between Cleveland and Helen. They may, or may not, have been talked out of this. I'm sure that's where some of the recent graffiti is coming from. Kids that grow up up there pretty much consider the place theirs and they're gonna do what they want. There's really not much you can do about it.

These two teens and their families are well known and well liked. The Dad was just on the news getting arrested for trying to do improvements to the accident scene...you may have seen it. Sooo...a lot, but certainly not all, of the recent activities could be part of the redneck grieving process.

I was just there a few weeks ago and we packed out as much trash as we could. The "love letter" with which you are referring to looked pretty fresh. Heartbreaking. Had some sport rappers rappelling with boomboxes attached to their harnesses. Frustrating.

As far as the life-threatening problems, when climbing at a local crag in Tennessee, locals would throw beer bottles off the top of the cliff. I finally gave in and called the cops. I'm not sure if that's a valid option at Yonah but it is an option.

This is not new. We were up there last weekend and had people throwing shit down on us. I'm waiting for some kid to throw something off, slip, and fall to the base. Natural selection. Maybe then they'll learn.. But prolly not. Welcome to the fuckin' South.

mt yonah is a dome with a shitty hike. I'd rather go somewhere else after about 2 days the place can be climbed out. The fact that it is not a destination crag still does not excuse the fact that some idiot teenagers were endangering your life. My encounter at the top would not have been a pretty one with those kids, Ii have been to seneca and other crags where there were teens throwing shit off the top and many times it was adults throwing shit too. It's gonna happen, especially in Helen Georgia. It's up to you to set the fuckers straight. Davis, why didn't you and Rhett karate chop those shitheads, you guys were there weren't you?

I know it is not a solution but usually it's what I do if I am gonna go to Yonah: Go during a weekday. Climb during school hours. Even then, there is no guarantee.

Jgrote wrote: Davis, why didn't you and Rhett karate chop those shitheads, you guys were there weren't you?

Cause Rhett would get his ass whooped by a 17 yr old tobacco spittin, shit kickin White County High School linebacker....and he knows it...;)

Hahaha.. We prolly both would :) But on a real note, we are usually mid route when they look down and start throwing shit. Not much we can do except yell and hope they're still there when we top out. I'll second what Grote said, go somewhere else man - it's not that great of a crag..

DavisMeschke wrote:Welcome to the fuckin' South.

Love it or leave it.

....including Yonah.

Factually....those kids have just as much right to be up there, rapping, throwing things, spitting tobacco (biodegradable, I believe) as any of us do.

This climber/self-righteous/entitled bullshit is really making this user group look like a bunch of soft, "Tradster", sissies.
I, for one, am distancing myself from "the community" in the SE for that very reason.
It's as if y'all believe that you are entitled to bitch about the way said teens conduct themselves up there.
Given their proximity, location, consistent access...mmmmmmnaw.
Handle this like grown ups...either do something about it....or leave...you'll feel better about yourself the next day.

Call the police?
Y'all should be ashamed.

BTW... What the heck is this?

I tend to agree. The lil bastards should know better than to be throwin shit off on top of folks....but they dont...'less you go up there and teach em a lesson. Then they're gonna text their daddy and he's gonna come up there on his four wheeler and errbody is gonna be on the news.

I, personally, have never had a problem. But it's probably because I speak pretty fluent Appalachian American myself. That is to say...I'm bout as redneck as they are. Only two kinds of beings in the world...Predators and Prey.

Don't be prey.

"either do something about it....or leave...you'll feel better about yourself the next day. "

To some extent I agree with you. But what is to be done? There is no silver bullet, I don't think. These kids have a right to be there but I don't think they have a right to endanger other human beings.

Maybe there should be more outreach to the locals to get them involved in climbing at their local dome. Unfortunately, I am a broke ass college student at the moment, but I think that would be a cool project. Just a thought.

Yonah is not the biggest, baddest, or even most aesthetic crag but it is a fantastic stepping stone for dumbass kids like me who have a hair up their ass to climb some rocks. It is worth preserving.

Clearly Ben did not read all of the original post. All the things done that day spitting, hogging routes, even the trash I said I could live with but saying they have the right to throw huge chunks of rock down where climbers are leading is their right is just plain dumb. Let me know where you climb and I'll come rock chucking. Remember I have the right. Not to mention I take kids up there and first timers. Being concerned about a 90 lb 10 year old getting hit with a 40 lb rock coming down 200 ft is clearly not being a softy. But on the other hand you can not post a MP post without one troll.

Ben's disdain for the entitlement mentality of the "climbing community" stems from being a landowner adjacent to land owned by the SCC who has seen first hand, and in his own back yard, the way the "climbing community" behaves...including trespassing, trash, dogs, music, and any other bunch of bullshit you can think of...and the irony in the fact that the same user group would be critical of another user group for it's practices. Nevermind the digital assault he's faced from the SCC and it's minions about what he should and should not allow on HIS property...

...but that needs a thread of it's own.

Its Ben's time of the month, please excuse him.

And Jason Grote! I didn't know you had a computer!

Yonah is a exotic locale, its pronounced Yon-ah. Its French.

I don't see how at least some muppet up there doesn't go in at least once a week.

I rarely ever climb at the Main face or the Lowers, hence my climbing experiences at other spots at Yonah are usually very nice. Just sayin'.....

Jon...
I read the entirety of the original post.
I understand your gripe completely.
Believe you me, I am not trolling you.

I probably have more granite slab mileage than anyone currently climbing in/out-of Alabama.
Slab is special to me.
Yonah is a cool spot and I have done everything there to do, and with both of the main FA'ers looking on.
I like the place.
Hopefully, this goes to credibility...

Problematically for you and everyone else who seem unable to avoid crowded, abused spots like Yonah, Curahee, Sandrock, Fosters, TWall, etc....
You get to deal with garbage, erosion, #2 in the woods (streams! yuck), etc.
I come across as terse because I am hailing a way to act that would diminish your problems, yet you don;t like it because it means less convenient access....dispersion.
Go find some wilderness slab.

Sadly, I think I and only a few others are interested in true preservation.
Dispersion....
LNT.....

And, yes, the little redneck boys are part of that problem....
But, what are you doing to fix it other than interrogating them about the threat to your safety?
Either shut them down...
Or move on....

Point is, you are complaining about a spot you cannot control.
What you can control is your destination.

"Point is, you are complaining about a spot you cannot control.
What you can control is your destination."

Couldn't agree more

I'm with Ben on that boulder you added Rhett. Looks like you were trying to fuck that thing from the pic. I thought this was a climbing site?

Whats up with the hate on the route that just got put up on the Boulder?? I was wondering when someone was going to put that route on MP.. Didn't mention those terrifying old mammut bolts that you have to clip though...

Pre-ordained redneck birthright? quote>

Pretty much.

We tend to think our user group posseses some sort of ethical high ground and thusly, entitlement. Why?...over locals and even at times landowners.

Trundling shit on top of folks is bad news, I'm not condoning that. But...I've seen some shit like "they can rappel anywhere but we only climb via certain routes" blah blah blah...ie; don't drop your inferior rappel rope in a place where I'm going to engage in MY selfish pursuit because I'm a CLIMBER. Um...so what?

Just think we take ourselves way too seriously. And yes....like Ben says....don't like what goes on there? Don't go. Tallulah is right up the road for goodness sake.

Chase Bowman wrote:Whats up with the hate on the route that just got put up on the Boulder?? I was wondering when someone was going to put that route on MP.. Didn't mention those terrifying old mammut bolts that you have to clip though...

It's less hate on the route than me given the Lords of South Georgia a hard time.
I like little boutique routes and Yonah has a couple.
Check out Think Pink for a boulderishly hairball experience.

mountainproject.com/v/think…