Hard Northern Arkansas/Midwest Slabs

A couple weeks ago I went on a trip to Arkansas where I got to climb on Wizard and Glass. Described as a "rarity," it is supposedly one of a very small number of hard slabs in Northern Arkansas. Any other suggestions for hard slabs in Arkansas? Interested mostly in routes from 5.11-5.12(+?)

Also open to other regional suggestions. Based out of Kansas City.

Quartz Mountain, Oklahoma 

Enjoy. Every route put up on lead.

amigosandiego wrote:

Quartz Mountain, Oklahoma 

Enjoy. Every route put up on lead.

Hilarious, and totally true, statement. Doo-Ane Rally is the man! That place scared the crap out of me, I was only there for a weekend to boot.. I would suggest a few Enchanted Rock, TX classics but most have been retro-bolted for mass safety. Good luck man, scary slabs are great fun!

I would not count many of the routes on the Shield as super safe...you get a little bit of everything at ERock, if you count south Texas as the Midwest.

Quartz classics range 5.8-5.11 range. There is a special energy there and great history. You won’t be disappointed. I can’t wait for the trip report!

There are some harder slabs at valley of the blind.  one of the best looking slabs I've ever seen anywhere is down there next to the grand traverse, but ive never tried it nor heard of anyone doing it.  then there is a 12 at the painted wall. have you considered Jackson falls at all in soill? apparently sandstone slab city.

Jackson Falls has a LOT of good slab. Two harder ones that come to mind are Slab Stick Comedy (5.12a) and Split Decision (5.12d). You can easily set up a toprope on Split Decision from the awesome neighboring climb Fine Nine. It's a great place if you're looking to practice hard slab!

Thanks for all the responses y'all! Glad to have some generalized AND specific beta on this.

Paul R wrote:

Jackson Falls has a LOT of good slab. Two harder ones that come to mind are Slab Stick Comedy (5.12a) and Split Decision (5.12d). You can easily set up a toprope on Split Decision from the awesome neighboring climb Fine Nine. It's a great place if you're looking to practice hard slab!

I came to post pretty much the same thing.  Jackson Falls would be a good place to sniff out a few very hard slab routes.  There are some great ones in the 5.10 range as well like Venom and Spiders from Mars. 

JD Borgeson wrote:

There are some harder slabs at valley of the blind.  one of the best looking slabs I've ever seen anywhere is down there next to the grand traverse, but ive never tried it nor heard of anyone doing it.  then there is a 12 at the painted wall. have you considered Jackson falls at all in soill? apparently sandstone slab city.

I got on some of those. Flashed Insidious, but the other two were just kind of sharp and gross. 

super slab in the RRG if you call that midwest

Jon Frisby wrote:

super slab in the RRG if you call that midwest

Going to the Red in March. Sounds like a good tip!

I remembered what that one was called: heart of darkness, 12a.  book says it's the best slab in AR.

HCR: Door Prize, T-Slab, Balrog and a couple other hard slabs on the west side I can't remember the names of in the 5.12 range.

Sam's: White Lightning and Dry County are both super fun! I've never been on Heart of Darkness but have heard it is great! The slabs by painted wall are good as mentioned earlier.

Mt. Mag: There is a lot of lower angle rock there, but everything climbs more like vertical techy.

I'm sure there are more I'm forgetting but those are the ones that come to mind! Also, if you have a long weekend, I would highly suggest making a trip out to Quartz Mountain or the Wichitas for a western slab experience.

rain cloud wrote:

5.12 slab?

There's a lot of it If you know where to look, anything over about 10d at quartz will feel like 12a ....... ;)

John Barritt wrote:

There's a lot of it If you know where to look, anything over about 10d at quartz will feel like 12a ....... ;)

I have seen Quartz 5.10 turn 5.12 climbers respectfully into mush. Great stone to sharpen your head game and footwork.