Sport Climbing near D.C

Jeremy Hand wrote:

do you guys think that the only reason the sport is so limited here is because of lack of development

?

It's the lack of rock

I'm about to move back to DC and it looks like the main options are still very much Elizabeth Furnace (for Sport), and Carderock and Great Falls (TR). I did find the Potomac Alpine Club's website which has some good info on other routes/areas (http://www.patcms.org/) but it looks like you kind of have to drive 5+ hours to New River for other options.

Are there any other good options in northern NC that are in the more gentle 5.6-5.8 range? Ideally would want to drive down and make a longer trip of it with a mix of people who aren't going to want to watch me on 5.10+ the whole trip :)

Jeremy, on some level I totally agree with you. There is a serious lack of development in the area, but I wonder if the reasons for that stem mostly from access issues. The drive to Seneca has so much rock that looks like it is waiting for some brave adventurers to commit to cleaning lines into classic beauties. Granted that isn't sport climbing, but it is the sport of climbing! 

Hidden Valley in SW VA has a wealth of sport routes. It’s a few hours from DC. In Northen NC you can sport climb at Pilot Mt and Sauratown (dec-March only for Sauratown). Both of those are near Winston Salem. Info on all 3 is on the Carolina Climbers Coalition website under climbing areas. http://carolinaclimbers.org 

Brian Payst wrote:

Hidden Valley in SW VA has a wealth of sport routes. It’s a few hours from DC. In Northen NC you can sport climb at Pilot Mt and Sauratown (dec-March only for Sauratown). Both of those are near Winston Salem. Info on all 3 is on the Carolina Climbers Coalition website under climbing areas. http://carolinaclimbers.org 

Hidden Valley is  5+ hrs from DC, a little more than a few. The NRG is a bit closer actually.

Since no one has mentioned it yet, Sugarloaf Mountain has some decent TR/trad, and Annapolis Rocks also has pretty good TR/trad. Annapolis Rocks is known for having some pretty good size roofs (nothing in comparison to the Obed but still pretty good). Both are about 1 hr from DC and have pretty easy access to the top rope anchors. I'd recommend learning trad (SRMG at Seneca Rocks is great) since most of the best rock around DC is all trad (Old Rag, Seneca Rocks, Sugarloaf, North Fork, Harper's Ferry etc). The Climb Maryland guidebook has a bunch of local crags around Maryland. I think there's some sport in a quarry somewhere by Baltimore... If you really want to stick to sport, New River Gorge, Obed, and Red River Gorge are your best bets. 

Jeremy Hand wrote:

do you guys think that the only reason the sport is so limited here is because of lack of development

?

You can generally climb most of the rock around DC via trad or TR so there is no need to bolt things. Anything that would need bolts is normally pretty damn blank and hard. I can't think of a crag around DC that has undeveloped rock that needs some bolts. 

Appreciate the responses. Guess I'll have to move out of the area next season lol. Be easy and Happy New Year everybody

Rearviewmirror wrote:

I'm about to move back to DC and it looks like the main options are still very much Elizabeth Furnace (for Sport), and Carderock and Great Falls (TR). I did find the Potomac Alpine Club's website which has some good info on other routes/areas (http://www.patcms.org/) but it looks like you kind of have to drive 5+ hours to New River for other options.

Are there any other good options in northern NC that are in the more gentle 5.6-5.8 range? Ideally would want to drive down and make a longer trip of it with a mix of people who aren't going to want to watch me on 5.10+ the whole trip :)

Go on Rakkup App and look at Reeds Creek and Smoke Hole.  They are good Sport Crags 3 hours away. 

Around three hours away from the DC suburbs.  Some fun climbing, best to get there early to get good parking and avoid the crowds.

Never the less, this thread acts as a reminder why I shouldn't return to my home town.

BrianWS wrote: Welcome to the neighborhood, and my condolences... the DC area is pretty barren in terms of climbing, particularly leading on either bolts or gear. There are a good number of quality gyms in the Northern Virginia area, and even more if you venture into MD. Sport Rock has a metro-accessible location in Alexandria, and one in Sterling. The biggest (and best, IMHO) gym in the area is accessible from the red line in Rockville, MD (Earth Treks). Sweet lead terrain and hands-down the best setting in the region helps to ease the sting of not having any nearby, high quality climbing. Here's what we DO have: The closest crags to Alexandria would be in the Elizabeth Furnace area, about 1 hour west on 66. A 5.11 climber can blow through all of the area's offerings in a few weekends, although there is a worthy line here and there. Old Rag (1.5 hours + burly approach) has excellent granite and tall routes, some in the 2-3 pitch range. There are fantastic climbs here, although very few casual clip-'n-go affairs. Most "sport" routes here need a bit of gear or are fairly serious leads. Around 3 hours west will get you to Franklin and Seneca. Franklin is the best 'nearby' sport crag -- tons of routes, most within the 5.9 to 5.12- range, and a very short approach. A crag across the river has a fair number of hard climbs, though access can be tricky depending on the season. The 4.5 hour drive to the New River Gorge is well worth the trip every weekend possible. It's certainly outside of your requested 2hr radius, but it unquestionably offers the best sport climbing in the mid-atlantic region.

This is the best response, but misses Smoke Hole Canyon, which is at least as close as Seneca. This is a newly developed, and still developing, limestone sport area. There are sport routes on walls that are not on MP or in the Rakkup guide that reportedly offer hard 12-13-14 tufa climbing up to 150' in length. Just recently heard about this. For details, you would want to contact the locals at Seneca. 

Sport climbing new smoke hole?

The area would be called long branch on Rakkup app. 

Nick Haha wrote: Sport climbing new smoke hole?

Jeremy Hand wrote:

do you guys think that the only reason the sport is so limited here is because of lack of development

?

The local ethic has long been against bolting, though you will find a few old, rusty bolts at Carderock and Great Falls. Also, most of the rock in the area is on federal land where new bolts are illegal and you can only replace existing hardware.

By the way, there are supposed to be some sport routes on one of the islands across from Carderock, but I never got the chance to check it out and have no idea of the conditions of the bolts or if they are still there at all. There is info on them at rc. com.

jg fox wrote:
Franklin Gorge, home of the moderate, slightly overhanging jug hauls.

Around three hours away from the DC suburbs.  Some fun climbing, best to get there early to get good parking and avoid the crowds.

Never the less, this thread acts as a reminder why I shouldn't return to my home town.

I saw on the franklin gorge page a comment from a week ago that the new owners aren't open to climbers. Anyone have any updated info on that? mountainproject.com/area/11…

Alyssa Devlin wrote:
I saw on the franklin gorge page a comment from a week ago that the new owners aren't open to climbers. Anyone have any updated info on that? mountainproject.com/area/11…

Damn shame right there - used to hit Franklin back in the day and it was always a nice crag.  Fingers crossed that access will get resolved favorably...

Hamish Malin wrote:

Damn shame right there - used to hit Franklin back in the day and it was always a nice crag.  Fingers crossed that access will get resolved favorably...

Sadly, I wasn't surprised to hear that.  Franklin on the weekend was developing a gym scene, at least back in 2015 it was.  If the new land owners had an idea of what was going on they probably don't want anyone on their land.

jg fox wrote:

Sadly, I wasn't surprised to hear that.  Franklin on the weekend was developing a gym scene, at least back in 2015 it was.  If the new land owners had an idea of what was going on they probably don't want anyone on their land.

That’s unfortunate.  I haven’t been out that way for ~10-15 years; back then it was more of a sleepy little crag, at least when I was there.  Nelson Rocks was open for business too... R.I.P. Nelson :(.

Alex James wrote:

You can generally climb most of the rock around DC via trad or TR so there is no need to bolt things. Anything that would need bolts is normally pretty damn blank and hard. I can't think of a crag around DC that has undeveloped rock that needs some bolts. 

There is a face on stoney man that won't take gear because it's blank and hard, it's 110ish foot tall and has overhangs. I believe people have been trying to get bolt permits for over a decade but no dice.