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Tell me about your favorite North Carolina multipitch

Original Post
Thomas Chapman · · Telluride, CO · Joined Oct 2016 · Points: 93

I'm planning a weekend trip over to NC in a few weeks and wanted to hear y'alls thoughts. Where is the best tall moderate climbing (<5.10) in NC? Is it stone depot? Looking glass? Linville Gorge? some secret crag no ones ever heard of? I wanna hear what you think

Mike Nevko · · Currently Charlotte · Joined Feb 2011 · Points: 1,626

Pretty much any route at Shortoff (Linville) will put a big smile on your face. Construction Job, Straight and Narrow, Built to Tilt and Dopey Duck.

Alexander K · · The road · Joined Oct 2014 · Points: 130

For density of great moderates probably Looking Glass or Linville Gorge. The amphitheater at Linville has four 3 star 4-6 pitch routes from 5.4 to 5.7. Short off has some awesome stuff with Dopey Duck being fantastic (note that it is a long drive between these areas).

Looking Glass is more slabby with a ton of 5.7-5.9 routes in the South Side area. The Nose is a 4 pitch 5.8 classic near the tallest part of the glass. And if you really want the full NC experience, Titties and Beer is definitely full value. I think Looking Glass is a little more unique than Linville with the eyebrows, but they are different and both awesome.

Ezra Ellis · · Hotlanta · Joined Dec 2007 · Points: 0

Straight and Narrow 5.10- , more like 5.9, at short off,
Stellar Climb!

Joshua Upchurch · · Winston-Salem, NC · Joined Apr 2014 · Points: 0

+1 for Straight and Narrow and Dopey. Spend 1 day at Shortoff and then hit the Ampitheater circuit the other day. Full value weekend.

Alexander Blum · · Livermore, CA · Joined Mar 2009 · Points: 143

Another vote for Shortoff and the classic 5.8 to 5.10- routes there.

Paradise Alley
Dopey Duck
Construction Job
Straight and Narrow

Looking Glass is cool too, but Shortoff has kind of a wild feel that I don't think the glass has. The good moderates at LG are generally shorter (with a few exceptions), and not particularly steep.

Russ Keane · · Salt Lake · Joined Feb 2013 · Points: 392

There's a ton of climbing, but tall moderates of more than 3 pitches is not overly abundant.

My personal favorite is Moore's Wall, near Winston-Salem. The rock quality, and style of climbing, is so great. Only one and two pitches though. Shortoff is also great, as suggested already. I thought The Nose was a little boring (although incredibly gorgeous). The tallest cliffs tend to be slab style, so if it's your thing you could hit Stone Mountain.

I dunno. I am sure plenty of people will chime in. So much good fun climbing in WNC.

Chris Massey · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Oct 2012 · Points: 5

Shortoff - something it seems we can all agree upon. Great weekend would be:

- Manginot Line
- Paradise Alley
- Dopey Duck
- Construction Job
- Straight and Narrow
- Built to Tilt

LG is fine too, but the South Side and Nose Area routes all seem to run together there for me. If I were to make LG a weekend I would probably make one day at the North Side to get some steepness and cracks, and one day at the Nose area for slabby eyebrows.

Ernest W · · Asheville, NC · Joined Aug 2009 · Points: 25

Laurel Knob - tallest multi-pitch east of the Mississippi. Groover and Seconds are both terrific. A great combo is one day at Laurel Knob, then drive down to Looking Glass that night and do a second day there. The other great option has already been mentioned - Shortoff & Amphitheater.

Ti ck · · souf yeast · Joined Jun 2014 · Points: 1,760

I second the amphitheater stuff in linville, love that area you could knock out a bunch of different climbs there in a day, great camping too.

laurel knob routes are fantastic too but the 3mi hike in/out has to be factored into the equation, doing one of those routes +rap + hiking = 1 full day. Groover is better than seconds IMO

I really liked save the shrimp 5.9+ on whiteside mountain, approach is easy, last two pitches are borderline 5.10 climbing.

if you are up for a bit of a shwack check out Appalachian alpineism on the south end of the gold coast cliffs in linville(directly opposite of the amp). definitely up there on the scale of fav adventure multi pitch stuff.
mountainproject.com/v/south…

Rick Carpenter · · Marion, NC · Joined Aug 2010 · Points: 1,315

Laurel knob and the glass are rad for multi-pitch, but the style of climbing in the Amp and at shortoff are far superior

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

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