world's best sport climbing areas

I can't say for certain if it's destination worthy....But, Owens River Gorge near Bishop, CA has a pretty high concentration of bolt lines to keep you busy for a long time.  

ColinW wrote: I can't say for certain if it's destination worthy....But, Owens River Gorge near Bishop, CA has a pretty high concentration of bolt lines to keep you busy for a long time.  

It is sometimes funny how blissfully ignorant we American sport climbers can be about how our western US choss crags line up against the world's best areas.

The Owens River Gorge is great fun. It has nice climbing, a long season, and reliable weather. It is a worthwhile place to visit as a sport climber in the western US, and should keep most climbers interested for a few weeks. Especially if combined with nearby Pine Creek.  But in absolutely no way is it one of the world's best sport climbing areas.

JCM wrote:

It is sometimes funny how blissfully ignorant we American sport climbers sometimes are about how our western US choss crags line up against the world's best areas.

The Owens River Gorge is great fun. It has nice climbing, a long season, and reliable weather. It is a worthwhile place to visit as a sport climber in the western US, and should keep most climbers interested for a few weeks. Especially if combined with nearby Pine Creek.  But in absolutely no way is it one of the world's best sport climbing areas.

Which is why I precluded it by saying it's probably not destination worthy. ;) I'm not much of a sport climber anyway. But, I drove through there on the drive north to Alaska and was pleasantly surprised by it. It wasn't disappointing and thought it was worth mentioning. 

From my personal and limited experience this is my top 10:
1. Kalymnos
2. Osp (as good as Kalymnos if you start at 7a)
3. Verdon
4. Mallorca
5. Arco
6. Frankenjura

7. Smith 
8. Lander area 
9. Ten Sleep 
10. Rifle or Maple (tie)
Honorable mention: Portrero, Piedra Parada, El Chorro, Lake Louise

The Riverside Quarry should be up there.

Lots of good stuff on the coast/Norcal.

Robert Hernandez wrote: There’s  like 25 no name crags in Spain that beat every North American destination for sport climbing, it’s pretty sad. 

Yeah, I was in Chulilla last year and asked a local why there weren't many Spaniards at the crags. He said something like, "This is the crag for the tourists, we've got out own places that are just as good that aren't on the international radar." Damn.

That said, I love the ORG. And the small amount of granite sport climbing that there is in California is some of the funnest fun I've funned.

JCM wrote:

It is sometimes funny how blissfully ignorant we American sport climbers sometimes are about how our western US choss crags line up against the world's best areas.

The Owens River Gorge is great fun. It has nice climbing, a long season, and reliable weather. It is a worthwhile place to visit as a sport climber in the western US, and should keep most climbers interested for a few weeks. Especially if combined with nearby Pine Creek.  But in absolutely no way is it one of the world's best sport climbing areas.

This, I was almost laughing out loud when I saw AF on the list!  Many completely unknown European limestone crags are much better than several crags on the OPs list.

Can't believe Jack's Canyon hasn't been mentioned?!?  

Seriously tho:
+1 for Leonidio (amazing spot!)
+1 for Arco
Also I think the Grail at Lime Kiln Canyon has some of the best limestone I've climbed on in the US but its lack of concentration unfortunately disqualifies it from this list.
Conversely, Mt. Lemmon certainly has world class concentration but unfortunately lacks world class climbing...

RRG, NRG, and Smith are the only sport climbing areas in the USA that are remotely close to being an international destination and therefore "world class", and realistically I would probably only consider the RRG actually world class with climbers from all over the world. The NRG is too finicky with weather to bring in international crowd, and smith doesn't attract to many foreigners for whatever reason.

Someone for real said american fork and RR for sport climbing   

J T wrote: RRG, NRG, and Smith are the only sport climbing areas in the USA that are remotely close to being an international destination and therefore "world class", and realistically I would probably only consider the RRG actually world class with climbers from all over the world. The NRG is too finicky with weather to bring in international crowd, and smith doesn't attract to many foreigners for whatever reason.

Someone for real said american fork and RR for sport climbing   

AF belongs on that list as an historical milestone but not much else...

I haven't sport climbed much outside of the US (a bit in Thailand, a bit in Cuba), but I have heard that most tiny forgotten crags in Spain and France would be the best climbing ever in the US. Do you think it would be fair to say that the US has more world class bouldering than it does sport climbing?

you could pick small sectors of any of the big spanish climbing destinations and they would be better than the best states in the US for sport climbing.   It's not even close. 

Suicide Rock California

Artem Vasilyev wrote: Rifle needs some love. It makes you try hard, and the setting is very convenient. 

Dude! Sshhhh! Rifle sucks! BoCan is the shit! No reason to bother going to Rifle! I don't know why the Front Range ever leaves there, you guys have the best climbing on Earth!

Boissal . wrote:

AF belongs on that list as an historical milestone but not much else...

American sport climbing history doesn't warrant international appeal. Smith Rock has just much history and more quality routes in most climbers opinion

J T wrote:

American sport climbing history doesn't warrant international appeal. Smith Rock has just much history and more quality routes in most climbers opinion

Calm down buddy. No one is saying AF is better than Smith. 

I climb in AF 30+ times a year and I think Smith > AF. 

grog m wrote:

Calm down buddy. No one is saying AF is better than Smith. 

I climb in AF 30+ times a year and I think Smith > AF. 

Nope. I’m pissed. 

The answer is.... Well it depends on who is climbing there. Most areas have a sweet spot for grades. Smith isn’t that good til 12a. I thought Ceuse got good 11+ but better as the grades got higher. Verdon isn’t really really sport climbing. For 5.7-11c Owens is the best on the planet. I haven’t climbed in Spain. I need to go to Kalymnos.  

In the end RRG, NRG has great routes for most everyone. Personally I think sandstone is just more fun to climb on. Even the crappy sport routes at RR fun.

Kevin Mokracek wrote: Suicide Rock California

caliente, Hades, someone you are not, untickable and valhalla might just be the best sport climbs in all of California!