Top 10 Best Climbing States

Tim Lutz wrote:

exactly.  Roy is the new Hueco, made for Greenies

but no more guidebooks sayz guidebook author, too many Greenies now!

Roy was great until that stupid guidebook came out.

bruno-cx wrote:

Pick one Money, Power, Fame.   We already know why guide book authors do what they do.  What's your vice? 

Guitars are my vice, so I guess money.

But I also enjoy powerful compression moves. So maybe power.

https://stepoutside.org/article/5-cool-rock-climbing-spots-in-florida/

Colorado shouldn't even be on the list.  Climbing sucks there.

Phil Lauffen wrote:

There's plenty of adventure to be had in the Black, both trad and aid. 

Nothing is going to match Yosemite (obviously) but I agree the Black, Longs peak, Big Rock Candy Mountain have quality long routes 

I'm going to choose to ignore Alaska as it's in a hard to compare world away from the lower 48 (and if we were talking Alaska I feel it'd make sense to consider British Columbia, Alberta, and I guess Yukon, since we're getting more full on alpine in the mix and BC/AB are easier to get to than Alaska for most of us)

Most all of us agree on the top 4 (even if disagree on order):

• California
• Utah
• Wyoming
• Colorado

Picking the remaining 6 is hard, it seems that in contention would be:

• From the south: North Carolina, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee
• From the northeast: New York, New Hampshire
• From the deserts: Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada
• From the PNW: Washington, Oregon
• From the Rockies: South Dakota, Idaho, Montana 

When listing this many states, I feel bad for Wisconsin for not making that generous cutoff listed.  It definitely gets very strong regional importance, but being the king of climbing in the midwest is still a pretty sad title.

I would agree though with various people up thread that grouping regions not strictly on state lines makes more sense, since say Devils Tower is much closer to any SD climbing than anything else in WY (but this generally gets a lot fuzzier and more to argue with).  JCM does a good job with that back on pg 2.

Edit:  For full completeness, the following states have 1000+ routes on MP and an area listed on the home page

• From the south: Alabama, Arkansas, Virginia, Illinois (I know Illinois isn't a southern state but SoIL climbing is sandstone and is closer to Memphis than Chicago)
• From the northeast: Connecticut, Pennsylvania
• From the desert: Texas (alt: arguably south but I'm pretending Hueco Tanks is the only thing in this stupidly large state)
• From the midwest (new category!): Wisconsin, Minnesota

I'm really bored right now, so dividing everything into tiers, since exact rank is hard.  Pretty rough (especially #4/5), since well I don't know the whole country and this is biased towards what MP has documented.   I'm confident that every state is within one tier of where they belong, however.

1. The Best (diverse and with world class climbing):  CA, UT, WY, CO
2. Great (either has a world class destination or solid collection of crags): WA, OR, ID, MT, NV, AZ, NM, SD, KY, TN, NC, WV, NY, NH, AK
3. Good (have respectable places to climb in reasonable quantity, or at least one pretty notable/historic area): TX, AR, AL, IL, WI, MN, VA, PA, CT, ME (promoted from 4 based on Brian reminding me Acadia exists)
   (some might get bumped down/swapped with 4, I dunno)
4. Could be worse (there is climbing): OK, MO, GA, MI, VT, RI, MA, MD, HI, SC (tentatively promoted from 6 based on Brian's comment)
   (some of these could bump up probably, especially if giving ice more credit)
5. Sad (some local areas I guess):  NJ, OH, IA, KS
6. Depressing (maybe a few boulders): ND, IN, FL, DE
7. Barren (there might actually be not a single documented climb or exposed rock in the state): NE, LA, MS

Particular uncertainties/difficulties: 

• Deciphering the non-NH part of New England/generally the mid-Atlantic and Northeast
• How much weight to give to places mostly good for ice climbing (VT, MI)
• Montana and it's lack of documentation means it's either great or good but either way they don't want you to know about it
• Hawaii just in general
• Alaska having tons of rock but not lots of people & mostly mountaineering/alpine focus
• Separating out tier 3/4
• Avoiding the temptation to also throw Canadian provinces into these tiers

Daniel James wrote: I'm really bored right now, so dividing everything into tiers, since exact rank is hard.  Pretty rough (especially #4/5), since well I don't know the whole country and this is biased towards what MP has documented.   I'm confident that every state is within one tier of where they belong, however.

1. The Best (diverse and with world class climbing):  CA, UT, WY, CO
2. Great (either has a world class destination or solid collection of crags): WA, OR, ID, MT, NV, AZ, NM, SD, KY, TN, NC, WV, NY, NH, AK
3. Good (have respectable places to climb in reasonable quantity, or at least one pretty notable/historic area): TX, AR, AL, IL, WI, MN, VA, PA, CT
   (some might get bumped down/swapped with 4, I dunno)
4. Could be worse (there is climbing): OK, MO, GA, MI, VT, ME, RI, MA, MD, HI
   (some of these could bump up probably, especially if giving ice more credit)
5. Sad (some local areas I guess):  NJ, OH, IA, KS
6. Depressing (maybe a few boulders): ND, IN, SC, FL, DE
7. Barren (there might actually be not a single documented climb): NE, LA, MS

I would move Maine up one slot due to one notable area: Acadia NP
I would move SC up one or probably two slots to “could be worse” for both Big Rock and Table Rock. I mean Table Rock has 500’ routes. Here’s Will Stanhope on Vomitus Maximus (5.12, 500’, photo by Brian Miller):

https://www.mountainproject.com/area/113573351/big-rock-mountain
https://www.mountainproject.com/area/108510391/table-rock

Brian Abram wrote: I would move Maine up one slot due to one notable area: Acadia NP
I would move SC up one or probably two slots to “could be worse” for both Big Rock and Table Rock. I mean Table Rock has 500’ routes. Here’s Will Stanhope on Vomitus Maximus (5.12, 500’, photo by Brian Miller):

Oh right, yeah good shout w/ Acadia.  I didn't realize SC had those, I suppose in brief looks at maps I just thought those spots were in NC (well and they are a lot closer in to NC that if it weren't for arbitrary state lines they'd be grouped in).  SC still only has 94 lines on MP, but then again those crags look legitimately pretty dope.

I definitely agree with bumping both states up a notch, and yeah maybe SC gets to be in 'could be worse'

Daniel James wrote: Oh right, yeah good shout w/ Acadia.  I didn't realize SC had those, I suppose in brief looks at maps I just thought those spots were in NC (well and they are a lot closer in to NC that if it weren't for arbitrary state lines they'd be grouped in).  SC still only has 94 lines on MP, but then again those crags look legitimately pretty dope.

I definitely agree with bumping both states up a notch, and yeah maybe SC gets to be in 'could be worse'

We in NC pretty much claim them as our own just as we claim Hidden Valley and Grayson Highlands in Virginia. Big Rock has a few hundred boulder problems not on MP

Daniel James wrote: Oh right, yeah good shout w/ Acadia.  I didn't realize SC had those

Table Rock, SC is pretty badass.

http://www.daveallenphotography.com/table_rock_sunrise.php

null

As further avoidance of things I should be doing, I got us an MS paint level map, with partial Canadian coverage and more displayed uncertainty in categories (mostly for states really big on ice or bouldering, and the above SC consideration).  Intermediate colors are more for uncertain tier membership, rather than explicitly ranking it between two tiers.

And listed out, rounding MT and SC up for their uncertain status:

Rank    Category     #    States (in no particular order within categories)
#1-4      Best             4   CA, UT, WY, CO
#5-19    Great           15   WA, OR, ID, MT, NV, AZ, NM, SD, KY, TN, NC, WV, NY, NH, AK
#20-29  Good           10   MN, WI, IL, TX, AR, AL, PA, CT, ME, HI
#30-33  Ok or Good  4    VT, MI, VA, GA
#34-39  Ok                6    OK, MO, MD, MA, RI, SC
#40-43  Sad               4    KS, IO, OH, NJ
#44-47  Depressing   4    FL, DE, IN, ND    
#48-50  Barren           3    NE, MS, LA

Yeah I agree that OK is OK

Daniel James wrote: As further avoidance of things I should be doing, I got us an MS paint level map, with partial Canadian coverage and more displayed uncertainty in categories (mostly for states really big on ice or bouldering, and the above SC consideration).  Intermediate colors are more for uncertain tier membership, rather than explicitly ranking it between two tiers.

And listed out, rounding MT and SC up for their uncertain status:

Rank    Category     #    States (in no particular order within categories)
#1-4      Best             4   CA, UT, WY, CO
#5-19    Great           15   WA, OR, ID, MT, NV, AZ, NM, SD, KY, TN, NC, WV, NY, NH, AK
#20-29  Good           10   MN, WI, IL, TX, AR, AL, PA, CT, ME, HI
#30-33  Ok or Good  4    VT, MI, VA, GA
#34-39  Ok                6    OK, MO, MD, MA, RI, SC
#40-43  Sad               4    KS, IO, OH, NJ
#44-47  Depressing   4    FL, DE, IN, ND    
#48-50  Barren           3    NE, MS, LA

Quebec deserves a spot on your international map. The ice is world class, the rock is probably as good as NH only much more of it. MP has 1600 routes listed, which is more than alberta, and only 126 of them are ice.

The problem with California is...
Well, frankly, Colorado has quite precisely the same problem now.

​The trouble with California...​​​

Case Edmondson wrote: Yeah I agree that OK is OK

lol thanks Case, I also appreciated that.  Has Andrew ever been up that way?

(for real though I'm actually surprised by what's apparently in OK)

Bogdan P wrote:

Quebec deserves a spot on your international map. The ice is world class, the rock is probably as good as NH only much more of it. MP has 1600 routes listed, which is more than alberta, and only 126 of them are ice.

Got feelings on other Canadian provinces?  Or what specific tiers to throw them under? I only colored in BC, AB, and SK because I felt confident about those tiers.  It seems like Ontario has some solid spots (I heard Lion's Head is pretty good) and would probably hit 'good'.  Seems like you'd put Quebec at 'great' which I'd take your word for.

Jaren Watson wrote: Wyoming:

Forget cragging.

The Tetons

The Winds

Those two ranges alone are sufficient to position Wyoming right on the cusp of great and best.

I agree. From what I've seen of WY and ID, I'd definitely rank them both above CO.

Jaren Watson wrote: One last point about dear old Idaho. If alpine multi-pitch is your jam, consider what Jim Donini had to say about climbing on the Hulk.

The problem is that there are like 6 independent lines on the perch.

I agree though, world class rock and climbing.

Jaren Watson wrote: One last point about dear old Idaho. If alpine multi-pitch is your jam, consider what Jim Donini had to say about climbing on the Hulk.

FWIW, when discussing "the best rock in the country" if I only cold get to one more destination crag, Peter Croft suggested Elephant's Perch as the best.
But maybe he fails to appreciate the magnitude of what is in his own back yard, having done it so much.