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Arkansas Sandstone After Rain
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Hoping to stop by Horseshoe Canyon Ranch and Sam's Throne at the end of March. The weather forecast for the next 7 days is looking like rain. The sandstone out west needs at least a few days to dry before climbing, is that true of the sandstone in Arkansas? If not, are there steep enough routes that stay dry if it continues to rain? Thanks for any advice. -Dan |
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You can climb after rain, it’s not the same sandstone like Vegas where it needs days to dry. The ground however may be soaked/flooded and many routes could have waterfalls on them making them unclimbable. This is specifically HCR I’m talking about |
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places like horseshoe canyon, the red river gorge and new river gorge, the waiting for it to dry rule doesn’t apply. (If it did you only be able to climb like 10 days out of the year) it’s a lot stronger and better formed then western sandstone. (That crumbles if you look at it wrong.) |
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Any idea if this weekend will be climbable at HCR? Heading down for that climber's festival, but they are predicting heavy rain Thursday and Friday. |
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Something is always climbable there but might not be what you want to get on. I was there in May last year and probably 50% of the routes were soaked or the ground was too wet to even get to them. The most popular part of the north 40 by green goblin etc was waterfalls on every route. |
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Thanks for the responses! |
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The quality of sandstone in Arkansas varies a lot even within the same crags. The rock at Sam's is a lot softer than the rock at HCR, making it more prone to breaking when saturated. I don't agree with the blanket statements that the rock in Arkansas is fine to climb when it's wet, because it really just depends. |
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I’m going to agree with Chase here. I went to college in Arkansas and climbed a lot of different places and it was 21 years ago this week that I was rock climbing outside of Fayetteville after some rain and cold temps followed by a warm-up. I pulled a giant striation of sandstone down on top of myself, and saw my own intestines, shattered my pelvis, and my femoral artery was severed over my pelvis. This was a well-established bouldering problem but the wet/freeze/thaw/spring warm up and then my body weight caused some geologic activity. I’d say be smart and don’t assume it’s all good |
Jake Collinswrote: I'm also headed there this weekend. What climbers festival is going on? |
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Thanks guys <3 |
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I was there a couple weeks ago, and it rained a couple days. Magoo Rock seemed to dry pretty quickly, as we climbed there the day after a rain. Maximus was dripping, but strangely all the holds were totally dry. One day post rain we climbed at Cave Creek, and the overhang area of Brick Attack, Pac Man, etc was all dry and made for a great half day. |
