Top Roping In NC

Hey, my girlfriend and I have been climbing in the gym for a couple months now. We're looking for a spot in NC, GA, or AL with routes that you can top rope. Any suggestions?

Pilot Mountain, NC is top rope accessible. Make sure you bring a lot of cordalette, slings, and lockers to building anchor.

If you are new to outside and setting up anchors I would suggest checking out Rocky Face. It has a really high concentration of routes with easy walk up access to the anchors and you park literally next to the climbing wall. Of course depending on where you are at in NC there might be better spots closer to your location.

In NC, Pilot is hard to beat for top rope options. I'm personally not a fan of Rocky Face...despite the ease of access.

Crowder's Mountain, west of Charlotte, is also very top rope friendly.

Cory F wrote:Pilot Mountain, NC is top rope accessible. Make sure you bring a lot of cordalette, slings, and lockers to building anchor.

You don't need any of that. All you need is 2 quick draws and your good on anything a beginner is likely going to climb.

ViperScale wrote: You don't need any of that. All you need is 2 quick draws and your good on anything a beginner is likely going to climb.

I think this is quite incorrect. A lot of the beginner friendly routes around the three bears gully have bolted anchors on the top of the rock that need to be extended a little to get over the edge. A few need to be extended a lot. The "lots of" (cordalette, slings) in the comment this was in reply to is an exaggeration, but do you do need some.

One cordalette, four lockers, and now you've got something to get on many (still not all) beginner friendly routes.

+1 for Rocky Face. It's basically an outdoor gym - a great first-time-climbing-outside venue. There's even little placards with photos showing each route as you look at the wall. If you want to maximize your time climbing it's tough to beat.

ViperScale wrote: You don't need any of that.

Viper.... have you been there?

There are very few routes that only quick draws work effectively on. As Dave said, many routes need an extension for the anchor.

Also, even for the routes that have the bolts on the face and not the top you still need an extension. All too often the quick draws are not free hanging.

Shane, nearly all of the climbers at Pilot use a quad anchor (see below):

seekingexposure.com/meet-th…

I recommend having that in your back pocket and some slings. Even the quad needs to get extended. If you are unfamiliar with building anchors, research the SERENE acronym for anchor building and/or pick up a copy of "Freedom of the Hills".

Have fun!

Climbed almost every route at pilot and take new climbers out there at least a few times a year and it really isn't necessary on most, there are a handful that could use more like papa bear but I don't really see beginners climbing that to often.

Have you been to pilot since they redid anchors and made them perfectly fine for just 2 quick draws?

Little amp are all perfectly fine with 2 draws, all the parking lot stuff is perfectly fine with 2 draws, few other new anchors along the wall that are perfectly fine with 2 draws, at least half of 3 bears are perfectly fine with 2 draws, pool hall is fine with 2 draws... why bother with more than 2 draws considering you have a ton of routes right there.

And in case you are still sitting there scratching your head almost all the bolts on the top have chains running over the ledge aka you don't need anything else anymore for almost everything there.

Looks like things might have changed at pilot (which is awesome!).

The "lots of" comment was an accidental exaggeration. I'm usually going with a group and setting up 2-3 ropes. I'm the one with the gear and when packing I bring "lots of".

It has changed

Old Anchor

New Anchor (not from pilot but same kinda setup that is in this picture for them)


They have also bolted some new routes since than as well that 5.7 dihedral between black rain and main amp is bolted, another easy 5.11 bolted between them, 5.11 at the little amp that got bolted. I don't normally go down past bears but I seem to remember all the anchors down there being replaced as well. New lines on main amp next to cracking up and cracking up has it's own anchor now as well.

If you're looking for a place in North Georgia, check out Yonah Mountain. The main face contains dozens of low/medium angle slab routes that can easily be top roped with only 2 draws. It is a scaled down version of the larger granite monoliths neighboring in NC and it is much less intimating than something like looking glass. A lot of people have their the first outdoor climbing experiencing/leads here.

If you're looking for southern style sandstone, swing by the Lost wall in Lafayette. Like Yonah, it is the little brother of larger and well known areas such as the Tennessee wall in nearby Chattanooga. The routes range from 40-120 feet in length and you can put up top ropes relatively easily, however it can be annoying in spots due to thickets and overgrown vegetation. Bring a full anchor set up, two draws will not cut it here.

Currahee Mountain located closer to the South Carolina border may also be worth checking out. When you arrive here you start the top of the cliff and have to rap/hike down. Never Top roped here, but seems like it would be easy. I believe most of the routes here are harder and unless you live close, make the drive to Yonah.

Georgia has a lot of awesome stuff for beginners.

ViperScale wrote:It has changed Old Anchor New Anchor (not from pilot but same kinda setup that is in this picture for them) They have also bolted some new routes since than as well that 5.7 dihedral between black rain and main amp is bolted, another easy 5.11 bolted between them, 5.11 at the little amp that got bolted. I don't normally go down past bears but I seem to remember all the anchors down there being replaced as well. New lines on main amp next to cracking up and cracking up has it's own anchor now as well.

Do you have the rope going directly through the rings for a top rope set up in the second picture?

Jon Powell wrote: Do you have the rope going directly through the rings for a top rope set up in the second picture?

Random picture off the internet and isn't even pilot. I couldn't find a picture of the chains at pilot but they use the same type of setup now. Assuming the person in the picture is rappelling and isn't top roping using that but didn't really look for details on what they were doing.

ViperScale wrote: Random picture off the internet and isn't even pilot. I couldn't find a picture of the chains at pilot but they use the same type of setup now. Assuming the person in the picture is rappelling and isn't top roping using that but didn't really look for details on what they were doing.

Makes sense.