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No 186, June 15, 1999
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Rock Craft | Trad Rock | Destinations | Training
Recommended Reading | Gear | Higher Education | Ratings

Hit America's finest trad-rock areas

Shawangunks, New York
The "Gunks" is the best beginner's area in North America, with 5.0 to 5.8 classics up to three pitches long. The ladder-like strata lets climbers of all abilities ascend the area's proudest features. Gelsa (5.4), Disneyland (5.6), and "CCK" (5.7) are among the best. At the high end, prepare for hard and often scary face and roof climbs.

Adirondacks, New York
"Upstate," in the area surrounding Lake Placid, you'll find a New York area with more of a sense of wilderness than the busy Gunks. The rock here is well-featured granite, with plenty of steep face climbing, plus the friction slabs and cracks you won't find in the Gunks. Routes go up to 600 feet.

Mount Washington Valley, New Hampshire
This region of the Granite State is New England's premiere trad area — Cathedral and Whitehorse ledges, Cannon Cliff, and a dozen or more smal-ler crags of excellent quality, some quite remote. Classics range from the long 5.5 and 5.6 slab routes on Whitehorse, to a full complement of gear routes in the 5.10 and harder grades.

Moore's Wall, North Carolina
Just north of the busy Piedmont cities lies this rough-and-tumble trad crag. The rock is a slick quartzite, often featuring large, incut holds. Zoo View (5.7+) is among the steepest climb of its grade anywhere, while Wild Kingdom (5.12-) is an intimidating, runout Eastern trad testpiece worthy of anyone's list.

Seneca Rocks, West Virginia
This area features similar quartzite rock to the Gunks, but the strata has been tilted to perpendicular, leaving soaring fins and ridges, and scores of vertical cracks. Rappel descents are typical, and many routes are hard to protect, so have your act together before venturing here. Still, there are many classic climbs 5.5 and easier at Seneca.

Tennessee Wall, Tennessee
This is the land of cracks. Thin ones, wide ones, splitters and corners, delicate, demonic, perfect hands, and perfectly heinous. Yet face holds abound. If the Gunks is Mecca of 5.6 face climbers, T-Wall is the place for the 5.8 crack, at least in the East. And as you get better, there are always those roof cracks and pumpy RP seams.

Devils Tower, Wyoming
This ancient volcanic plug is a national landmark — for crack climbers. Sustained difficulty is the rule here, as the basalt columns just go on and on. Once you've ticked the few easier classics on the more broken faces, you'll be forced out onto the smooth expanses. Stemming skills will help, and so will a good-sized rack, since you may need seven pieces or more of the same size. Please respect the voluntary closure in June.

Eldorado Canyon, Colorado
This is the showpiece of Boulder rock climbing, one of the country's very best trad areas. Variety is the word on these complex crags. A hanging slab, offwidth squeeze chimney, and body-length roof — these describe the third-pitch cruxes of three parallel routes in one 50-foot-square stretch of the 500-foot Redgarden Wall. Eldo face climbing is notoriously devious, with slippery, slanting holds and inobvious sequences. Don't miss Wind Ridge (mega-popular 5.6), the Bastille Crack (classic 5.7+), and Ruper (long and airy 5.8).

Vedauwoo, Wyoming
Of all the granite near the Colorado Front Range, the lumps and clumps of Vedauwoo rule. Why? Cracks — finger, hand, fist, offwidth, steep, gentle, parallel, flared, roofs, chimneys. ... This is where Boulder climbers go to learn jamming. The rock runs toward rough and crystalline; bring plenty of big cams and tape to protect your hands.

Paradise Forks, Arizona
Steep, smooth basalt, short but sweet. The 5.8 and under climbers may struggle here, but toproping is easy and popular. It's a good place to get the feel of pumpy cracks, especially thinner ones. If you've come to lead, have plenty of TCUs.

Red Rocks, Nevada
Want an all-day route, but you're not into leading anything harder than 5.7? This is your crag. In the sandstone canyons just outside Sin City you'll find 10-pitch classics on unbelievable holds, with excellent nut placements even on the faces. Just be careful after it rains, when the holds weaken.

Yosemite Valley, California
Of course. Every trad climber must serve an apprenticeship here. Forget the campus board and do your pull-ups. Get comfortable on your local 5.8s, at least, before you come, and then prepare to be schooled. Valley cracks are long and athletic, and have humbled expert climbers since the Golden Age of rock climbing. For your pains, you'll be rewarded with more 1500-foot-plus free climbs than anywhere in the country.

Joshua Tree, California
"Josh" is part of the original climbing road-tripper's circuit, from the days when "trad" was all there was. It's almost a lifestyle — the bizarre joshua trees scattered about, the sandy, sunny expanses and shady grottos, the jumbled boulders, the sandpaper stone and the pink of the fingertips that stroke it. Mostly one- and two-pitch climbs.

Lover's Leap, California
Granite, with a difference. Medium long, mid-grade — a great place for the aspiring trad leader to get out on a multi-pitch route, like Traveler's Buttress or The Line.

Squamish, British Columbia
Near Vancouver, which means avoid during the winter/spring monsoon.
When the sun shines, usually in late July and August, there's nowhere
better. Squamish a diverse area of Yosemite-like granite, where Peter Croft learned his craft. Need I say more? Try the Smoke Bluffs and the Malamute for short stuff, the Apron for airy friction slabs, and the Main Wall for longer and harder stuff.

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Rock Craft | Trad Rock | Destinations | Training
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