North Carolina around March 12

I'll be in the area, just curious how the weather will be and if there's anything that's a must-climb (I do a bit of everything. Sport, trad, etc)

.Alex. wrote:

I'll be in the area, just curious how the weather will be

Your guess is as good as ours.

^The sad, sad truth.

.Alex. wrote:

I'll be in the area, just curious how the weather will be and if there's anything that's a must-climb (I do a bit of everything. Sport, trad, etc)

As far as weather, it changes hourly around WNC, we don’t even know what it will be like tomorrow. But if you’re looking for must do climbs, depending on the grade you climb Looking Glass (trad) and Rumbling Bald (sport, Trad)  have everything you could ask for. At rumbling bald I would suggest the Cereal Wall, (not surreal buttress). Everything you could ask for between 5.5-5.13 with an abundance of 5.9-5.11. At looking glass Southside is your best option because access rd 475b is closed. But from the Brevard side you can walk from the gate to the trail head and it only adds about 20 minutes to your hike. Tons of great trad routes at southside. Some classics are Bloody Crack, Unfinished Concerto, sundial, the glass menagerie etc. Good Luck!

There's no sport, and as far as the rest of it, there's so many good areas and killer routes it's hard to recommend based on how little you are saying,  The list is long

there is an approach trail from sliding rock to the north side of looking glass, a way to get around the 475 rd. closure.  I think there are quite a few must dos in linville gorge if I only had one day in the area I would head there and tick off as many as possible.  The amp would be a good area for easy moderates, shortoff for more difficult moderates and 5.9+ things.  Sport? whats that? we don't have that in NC.

Just in case you can’t see through their sarcasm, we have plenty of sport in NC. But if you’re looking to make the most of your time, bring your rack.

Hopefully the Looking Glass road will be open by then, but the Table Rock gate will be closed until April 2nd, so factor a bit of an additional hike into any climbing at the end of the gorge (table rock, amphitheater). You also didn’t say what part of NC. Stone, Pilot, Sauratown and Moore’s would be good options as well that time of year if you will be in the Piedmont. Rumbling Bald will still be good as well and Whitesides, Laurel Knob. Lots of choices here!

Hawksbill and Ship Rock are primo this time of year. Ship may take some sleuthing to find out when certain sections of the BRP are open.

So the weather is looking phenomenal and it looks like we'll be in the Asheville area, a bit to the west. I'm personally in love with long moderate trad multipitch lines no higher than 5.9 or 5.10. Thanks for all the replies! 

.Alex. wrote:

So the weather is looking phenomenal and it looks like we'll be in the Asheville area. I'm personally in love with long moderate trad multipitch lines no higher than 5.9 or 5.10. Thanks for all the replies! 

Go to Shortoff. Just a little over an hour east of Asheville with some of the best multipitch climbing around, especially in your desired range. Dopey Duck, Built to Tilt, Construction Job, Straight and Narrow...you really can’t go wrong!

There’s also some amazing routes in the 5.6-5.8 range...Little Corner, Maginot Line, Paradise Alley.

Brian Payst wrote:

Hopefully the Looking Glass road will be open by then, but the Table Rock gate will be closed until April 2nd, so factor a bit of an additional hike into any climbing at the end of the gorge (table rock, amphitheater). You also didn’t say what part of NC. Stone, Pilot, Sauratown and Moore’s would be good options as well that time of year if you will be in the Piedmont. Rumbling Bald will still be good as well and Whitesides, Laurel Knob. Lots of choices here!

Hey looking to take my wife on the hiking trail up Looking Glass rock in the next couple of days - any advice on where to park/begin?

If you’re looking to just hike to the top, just park at the looking glass trail head. It can fill up quick so get there early.

The trailhead parking is before you get to the closed gate so the road closure won’t impact your hike. Enjoy. 

Anyone know which gate is closed at Table? How far the hike is from where you have to park...

Russ Keane wrote:

Anyone know which gate is closed at Table? How far the hike is from where you have to park...

The gate at the bottom of the paved road to the parking lot. It adds about a mile to the approach. 

Thanks for replying, Brian.

Couldn't remember the alternate route off the top of my head, but this forum link describes a slightly better approach when the gate is closed mountainproject.com/forum/t…

^^ Hmm, that's interesting!  Sounds more scenic, in addition to shaving some minutes.  I went yesterday (great day, had the place to ourselves), but the road hike was kinda crappy.   Mostly the way down, oddly.   Just sorta mundane.   So I like the idea of that "secret back way".   Thanks again.

Meant to post a follow up earlier.

The long approach times plus our location (we were in Bryson City, so adding an hour on to everything) meant we didn't hit up as much as I wanted to. We ended up at Rumbling Bald for two days, which I honestly really enjoyed. It's hard to get lost when the entire wall is directly uphill from you, and it was a bit chilly so they enjoyed some bouldering. Also getting four climbers up Fruit Loops was a good multi-pitch intro for them. 

The next day we went to T-Wall before headin back home. 

Definitely want to hit up the long fun stuff when I'm back in the area though.