Tough slab areas in North America

To bolt or not to be 

Hall of mirrors - Yosemite
Someone your not - sucide rock

Little Cottonwood Canyon in sweaty July temps might give you a thrill. Dorsal Fin in a rain storm maybe. 

bus driver wrote: Little Cottonwood Canyon in sweaty July temps might give you a thrill. Dorsal Fin in a rain storm maybe. 

+1 Little Cottonwood. 

sourisse wrote:

Thanks. I know NC routes have a reputation for being sandbagged, but even factoring in a grade or two, it doesn't seem like these are within the difficulty range I'm asking for in constraint #1. I'll check out the area if I'm ever there though, sometimes some stuff isn't on Mountain Project...

This may be what you're looking for. IN NC. https://www.mountainproject.com/route/106957494/live-at-leads

If thats not what youre trying to find then also look at cedar rock in NC.

Cochise Stronghold in Arizona has plenty of slab. There's a handful of 12/+ slab pitches and surely potential for many more. 

You could go here in winter and spring when it is not raining.  There is some tough slab here as hard as 11 (old school).  You could add a 13 w/o crowding.

https://www.mountainproject.com/area/106775078/dry-falls
.

is a serious 5.12 multipitch slab climb. Some other climbs on that formation probably include hard slabs as well. South Platte in general probably has some other hard slabs, I know there is at least one or two 5.12 slabs at Turkey Rocks in the South Platte of Colorado.

https://www.mountainproject.com/route/106908345/interrogator

Probably most are cracks or overhung but there may be something there for you. I for one would love to hear of your exploits in the area. There’s probably 100 13+ slab routes waiting to be equipped in the area.

​https://youtu.be/D1JSX79xq6Q​​​

You may try contacting this guy via YouTube. He's one of the best slab climbers in the world, from what I've gathered. He may know about some hidden gems.

There's a ton of 5.13 granite slab in California waiting for FA. Most people can't climb slab that difficult so lots of potential. Not just
Yosemite either. So many granite domes here, but you might have to do a little searching to find that perfect one, but like I said, there are a lot of them and many with immaculately smooth slab sections. You could spend the rest of your life putting up 5.13 slab FA on Sierra Nevada granite domes

KyleSmith wrote:
Childhood's End at Big Rock Candy Mountain is a serious 5.12 multipitch slab climb. Some other climbs on that formation probably include hard slabs as well. South Platte in general probably has some other hard slabs, I know there is at least one or two 5.12 slabs at Turkey Rocks in the South Platte of Colorado.

The harder climbing on this route doesn't qualify as slab climbing.  The .12a crux pitch 7 is vertical.  The next pitch 8 (.10d) is near vertical & pretty featured with holds.  Most of the rock is not slick.  The only section that qualifies is the .11a traverse on pitch 3.  The Apron in Yosemite is slick, especially the Hall Of Mirrors.  I don't think I would want to climb there now after the big rock slides.  I did climb there a fair bit in the late 70s & early 80s.  Hall Of Mirrors is so slick that you don't dare use chalk, because your feet won't stick to chalked spots.  

There are numerous slabs in the South Platte Region & Mueller State Park (West Rock & Four Mile Dome) with friction moves or tiny dime edges.  Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah  has a lot of slab climbing. Get on "Razor Hein Stick" (.12c) or Sick Puppy in Boulder Canyon for hard slabs.   

This is something where you are just going to have to put up your own routes

Squamish has a good concentration of hard slab climbs - the free variation to the grand wall has a 5.13 slab crux. A lot of the hard slab routes aren't on mountain project.

https://gripped.com/news/jacob-cook-sends-new-5-13d-slab-squamish/

Stan McKnight wrote: To bolt or not to be 

Is this really a slab? I've only seen pictures of it face-on, so it's hard to tell the angle. Regardless, it would certainly be neat to try someday.

sourisse wrote:

Is this really a slab? I've only seen pictures of it face-on, so it's hard to tell the angle. Regardless, it would certainly be neat to try someday.

I haven’t been there myself but I saw a video where some professional climber described it as a slightly less than vertical blank slab that looks like if you turned an asphalt parking lot on its side 

sourisse wrote:

Is this really a slab? I've only seen pictures of it face-on, so it's hard to tell the angle. Regardless, it would certainly be neat to try someday.

To Bolt is as vertical as vertical gets. Like looking up at the side of a building, a perfect wall. So, it's "slabby" relative to modern standards.

Darrington, Washington

Boundless amounts of slab in Darrington but no known routes at that grade. Im sure one could FA tons of routes if dedicated to the pursuit.

Happy to provide belay anytime! Love to see something like that.

Cheers!
M. Hanna