Best Linville First Multi Pitch?

I'm ready to move into multi-pitch. What is the best route(s) for first weekend at Linville Gorge?

I have a rack of single cams .3-#3 BD and set of nuts and tricams. 

Jim dandy to my route on table rock is a great starter

then do Peek-a-boo right next to it. stepping across the the void was a blast.  

N ridge was fun

Good suggestions above on Jim Dandy and Peek a boo.
If you can get down to the Amphitheater, would suggest The Daddy or The Mummy.  

Little corner is good at shortoff

https://www.mountainproject.com/route/106263454/little-corner

For your first multi pitch, I would suggest going to table rock. My vote is for North Ridge.

If you're comfortable with multi pitch, the Mummy/Daddy should be on your list. The climbing is easy but logistics and route finding are not.

I recommend sticking with Table Rock if you are still trying to dial in systems and route finding.  The gorge is an unforgiving place where the grade of the climb is just one of the factors to take into consideration.  TR has countless good choices to help hone your skills.  Jim Dandy, Peek-a-boo, My Route, Hidden Crack, Block Route, and North Ridge are all good ones to get on.  Just one guy‘s opinion though.

The North Ridge of Table Rock is one of my favorite climbs anywhere.

If you want to do something in the gorge. The Mummy, Daddy and the Prow are really good. If I remember right, I liked Daddy, Prow and Mummy in that order.

Peekaboo then from end of pitch 2, rap down to some jim dandy anchors off to your right (the ones you can see in that little bowl / less angled area). Do that last pitch to lunch ledge and do my route to the top!

How hard do you climb in general?   if you are proficient at rock climbing, there's no need to dial back to Jim Dandy which is a 5.4 and is actually mostly just bolts.   Table Rock is contrived multi-pitch anyway.  You'll get to belay your partner up, but often it's on a 2-bolt anchor and the routes are not clean/committing lines.   Get rolling at Shortoff, whether it be Little Corner, Maginot, or False Paradise.   Your single rack will make things a little tricky because of anchor building, but being judicious with each piece of gear is a good mindset.  You may have to pitch the routes out differently than you might otherwise do, if you had abundant gear, but again doing this is also skill-building.  

Climbing multi-pitch is more about your ability to think on your toes and make adaptive choices, rather than just merely the fact that you went up again after going up.

The Prowl, 5.3.  Much easier than Mummy or Daddy.  Very good belay ledges.  Route finding can be tricky at the top.  

I spent the first few years of my climbing career usually failing to climb on the first day at a new area due to trouble finding the starts of routes or the proper descent trail or whatever. If you go anywhere other than Table Rock without someone to show you the way, prepare to get lost. It builds character. I strongly recommend Jim Dandy, Cave Route, My Route, or some combo of those for your first multipitch. Or go over to Looking Glass and do Second Coming. Cave Route was the first route I ever led/climbed outside, and I don't regret it.

First route ever for me: Cave Route. Second day: got lost trying to find The Daddy. Third day outside: got lost on the first pitch of New Diversions at Whiteside and came close to getting hurt.

If you want non-bolted routes go with Northridge. If you want an over all easy with placing a small amount of gear go with cave route or Jim Dandy.... I personally enjoyed cave better than Jim.

Thanks guys for the awesome suggestions. Gonna get out there and crush some of the more suggested routes this spring.

Jay Dee wrote: If you want non-bolted routes go with Northridge. If you want an over all easy with placing a small amount of gear go with cave route or Jim Dandy.... I personally enjoyed cave better than Jim.

I agree with the above.  For overall ease and enjoyment, Cave Route is a little better than Jim Dandy.  The best east gear route is North Ridge.  Another nice "easy" gear route is Helmet Buttress 5.6 (it may have a little bit of a crux just off the P2 belay if I recall correctly, but nothing sketchy or difficult).

I personally would recommend looking Glass over Linville for your first multipitch. Linville is an astonishingly beautiful place and it is probably my favorite climbing destination but I spent my first couple trips there spending a lot of time bushwhacking and route finding. Especially after the various wildfires the guidebooks available to my knowledge are not super enlightening on the approach to individual climbs.

Gabe Parker wrote: I personally would recommend looking Glass over Linville for your first multipitch. Linville is an astonishingly beautiful place and it is probably my favorite climbing destination but I spent my first couple trips there spending a lot of time bushwhacking and route finding. Especially after the various wildfires the guidebooks available to my knowledge are not super enlightening on the approach to individual climbs.

I think the gorge proper ala the amphitheater etc that definitely applies especially just the effort of the approach to and then down to the base of something easy like the prow.  hardest part of table rock is finding the climber trail of main trail and then not 2nd guessing yourself as to how far to walk to base of jim dandy etc.  our first time there we walked past climber trail a couple times.  then once we found it we stashed everything off trail and just walked the trail to get our bearings... typical first hour onsite of new climbing area stuff.

we did the linville triple this past end of summer.  the guidebooks are still accurate as is info in MP

 

Jim Urbec wrote:

I think the gorge proper ala the amphitheater etc that definitely applies especially just the effort of the approach to and then down to the base of something easy like the prow.  hardest part of table rock is finding the climber trail of main trail and then not 2nd guessing yourself as to how far to walk to base of jim dandy etc.  our first time there we walked past climber trail a couple times.  then once we found it we stashed everything off trail and just walked the trail to get our bearings... typical first hour onsite of new climbing area stuff.

we did the linville triple this past end of summer.  the guidebooks are still accurate as is info in MP

 

Agree with the above...Table Rock (being part of Linville Gorge) would be a proper "first" multipitch area, and the approach and descent to routes on Table Rock aren't too convoluted.  I probably wouldn't recommend heading for the routes "in" the gorge right off the bat, from a logistics standpoint factoring in the remote nature of the routes and convoluted approaches.  But Table Rock should be good to go.

Looking Glass isn't a bad place to go for early multi-pitch leads either...but think about the routes there (I had to check the database to see if there were any routes <5.7/5.8) vs Table Rock.  The classic moderates at Looking Glass are all 5.7-5.9, think: South Side=Second Coming, Zodiac, Gemini Crack, First Return; The Nose Area=The Nose, Sundial Crack.

And while the South Side cracks aren't particularly hard (and protection is bountiful), one has to be comfortable crack climbing to feel solid on these climbs.  Whereas Table Rock is more variable and featured terrain.  The Nose Area of Looking Glass, with its unique "eyebrow" slab-face climbing isn't particularly strenuous but it is kind of an acquired movement.  And though protection is usually bomber when you get it, it can be a bit of a guessing game as you climb from eyebrow to eyebrow where you're going to get it.

Thanks Josh!

I second climbing at table rock. Some of my favorite climbs are there. One I haven't seen mentioned is Cornsnake Crack. It's a really fun 5.7+. The first pitch is bolted with a bolted anchor and the second pitch is a really fun crack climb up to a bolted anchor. Tricams and TCUs are bomber on this route.

Another good route is Slippin' Into Darkness towards the middle of TR. While it is a 5.9, the grade is pretty soft. The gear is super bomber the whole way with a fun crack move at the top.