Tennessee Climbing

There's probably no place in the southeast that has such a high concentration of great climbing destinations as has Tennessee. Within an hour's drive of Chattanooga alone are eight crags with enough routes to last you a lifetime. And if you ever get tired of Chattanooga, there's plenty of other climbing areas to keep you busy, from Nashville to the west to Knoxville in the east.

Much of the climbing in Tennessee is on the Cumberland Plateau, a 300-mile ridge that stretches into Alabama and Kentucky. The rock is hard, high-quality sandstone, and the terrain can include long crack climbs and overhanging jugfests. The variety is incredible.

Tennessee boasts climbing year-round. In the dead of winter, you'll see climbers on the rock in their t-shirts at such south-facing crags as Tennessee Wall. When summer's at its hottest, Sunset Park is a great destination: its west-facing cliff stays shady until well into the afternoon.

There's plenty to do no matter what your climbing style. For trad leaders, T-Wall and Sunset are the top choices; other trad destinations include Suck Creek Canyon and Prentice Cooper. Sport climbers can clip bolts at Foster Falls and Obed. And there's a little of both at Leda. For the truly adventurous who want to carve out their own routes, there's Big South Fork, a real climbing frontier.