Built to Tilt

AMAZING EXPOSURE!! May 27, 2010

only three stars because of the approach pitches. Highly suggest to rappel in from the top. From the bottom Start on Serentripitous and climb the fun and mellow crack up to a vegetated ledge. Unrope and bushwack up the hill to a corner under a large notch. Rack up for some 5.8 bucket hauling up to the ledge. Pitch three takes at least three good pieces under the roof if you get nervous. Crank the boulder problem and bucket haul to the top. Oct 24, 2011

For harder approach pitches try Energizer, Turn & Burn, or either of the Appalachain runt/Chuffer routes. They all start in roughly the same spot as Serentripitous. Dec 26, 2011

hey rock_fencer, any details on the rap in. Tried to rap in cliff right of the climb this past weekend and ended up mid money pitch, and rappelling over some sharp edges. Can you simply set an anchor in the cave, rappel directly over the route, and make the ground in a rope length? I was worried about slope at the base putting the earth out of reach. Mar 27, 2012

Hey Robb,

Just rap out of the cave to the far climbers left. One single rope is plenty (only 70' or so), then do a short downclimb to the start of the 5.8 pitch in the gully/ledge. May 16, 2012

You can optionally build a belay on the platform just below the crux. Very solid gear here that allows your belayer to keep you nice and snug while you commit to the airy moves 200' off the deck. I found a decent green alien in a shallow pod about a foot past the keyholed nut placement. Mar 30, 2013

Climbed Built to Tilt this weekend. It took us awhile to find it, so I'll add a few comments on getting there.

From the parking lot, follow the trail as described. After 300 or 400 meters there is a right turn, marked with a trail marker sign that says Shortoff. Take that trail. Continue hiking (~45 minutes) until you get to a very clear sign where Mtn-to-Sea trail crosses your path. Two options from here. To rap down, backtrack a few hundred feet to the large clearing (we posted a photo of it). Walk to the edge and rap down here. GPS coordinates of the rap point are 35.830114,-81.902420.

If you want to do the first several pitches, continue on until you get to the spring (it has a PVC pipe coming out of the hillside; it's very obvious). This is the descent, as mentioned above. Consider stowing your bags here if you brought them; the climb ends a few hundred yards behind you were you would rap down. There is a fifth class section in the gully that has a few fixed ropes on it as of Sept 2016. The path will angle to the left after leaving the gully, and Built to Tilt comes up quickly in a few hundred yards. From the gully, if you keep looking to your left as you descend, you can see the top of second pitch and the roof that is the third pitch. Continue on the trail until you see this big flat rock in the trail. A huge square rock will be on your right.

At that rock, turn left and head up to the wall. You'll see the first pitch, a nice 5.7 crack immediately left of a large offwidth.

P1 - climb that crack. It's pretty fun, actually, though the top has a lot of lichen. It ends on a tree-filled ledge.

P2 - walk up the ledge a bit until you see a big hole in the rock (called a "notch" in another post, but more of a cave really - it's quite large). Climb up the corner under the cave and head up to the base of the pillar under the roof.

P3 - The crack in the obvious dihedral between the pillar and the face. It's off balance - hard for 5.9 I thought. We belayed from the top of the pillar under the roof.

P4 - There's ample protection for the roof moves. Make a few juggy moves out on the roof past the pillar, cut feet, throw a heel up by your ear, and get up there. Great exposure and lots of fun.

I thought the first few pitches were kind of fun. No reason to avoid them. Sep 11, 2016

This route was simply wonderful. The approach pitches aren't quite as bad as people make them out to be - I found them to be quite adventurous (the first pitch was drenched when I did it, so I ended up taking a licheny corner left and up at the end, was surpirisingly fun).

The money pitch is wonderful - going up the corner and then looking up at that roof you realize its way larger up than what it appeared to be. A fall pulling the roof would be bad, so just stay focused, use a heel hook or two and commit! The holds are all massive plate jugs. May 23, 2018

Amazing climb! Though the dihedral might look intimidating from up top, it's super fun and never felt harder than 5.10. The large, very intimidating roof that isn't as noticeable from the top is committing and not a good place to fall. So be sure that you're solid with 5.10 roofs. I thought that pulling the roof was super hard, but my partner (and almost everyone I've known to have climbed it) would say that the dihedral is harder than the roof. So it's probably a style thing. 3 days ago