I'm hoping to get out to Linville this weekend for the first time. I'm wondering what the best areas are after rain, since it looks like it will rain all day Friday and possibly some on Saturday as well. I was hoping to hit one of the amphitheater classics (mummy, daddy, or prow), and to spend another day at table rock - white lightning perhaps. Is the prow easy enough to climb if it's wet (for a 5.9-10a leader)? Is any of this good after rain? Are other areas in linville better? I read somewhere that shortoff is good after rain, but I don't have a high clearance vehicle, so I'm thinking that might not go. Thanks for any help/info!
The first pitch of the Mummy will be wet (but doable). Other than that, you should be ok with the climbing in the Amphitheater. The approach gully will be... moist. If you climb out on the Prow at the end of the day you'll save yourself a lot of misery getting out of there.
White Lightning will probably be wet. There's a bunch of stuff above it that will hold water and seep. The offwidth on Cracker Jack will probably be wet too. Some of the stuff on the east face will dry out pretty quick, and North Ridge should be bearable.
Unless you take the Ferrari, you shouldn't have any problems driving into Shortoff with a normal street car. I was there a couple of weekends ago and most of the road is in really good shape. The approach gully will probably be running with water, but it's surprisingly passable when it's in that state.
It is not the seepage, but the dewpoint that is the problem in Linville after a rain. Most of Linville dries quickly. Shortoff, Ship Rock, Hawksbill, and Sunken Treasure are good options. There is a rappel tree at Shortoff that allows you to skip the wet rope decent. When you exit the gully, don't curl left to go to the shimmy tree, but keep going straight and decend a boulder and walk to the cliff edge. There is a nice tree there to do a single rope rap to the base.
stolo
·
May 10, 2017
·
Lake Norman, NC
· Joined Sep 2016
· Points: 214
I've climbed at Table Rock about 1 day after rain, twice, water seems to seep out of nowhere! Fun climbing though, did Jim Dandy, Cave Route, My Route and The Trundler.
Found another MP thread that said the weather forecast for April -September usually has rain, but it s hit or miss weather it happens or not. This weekend had 60% chance of rain Friday and 50% on Saturday. Almost bailed but decided to drive up. Glad we did, not a cloud in the sky on Saturday and only saw one other party. Just a thought if the forecast shows rain every weekend.
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