Rock Climbing Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland

by Eric Horst, Stewart M. Green

Overview

This revised and updated guidebook--now in full color--provides rock climbers with information on the best climbs in Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland, accompanied with color action photographs, climbing history for each area, route ratings and trip planning information, pitch-by-pitch written descriptions, detailed color topos and clear overview photos, descent information and gear recommendations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780762795864
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	06/04/2013
Series:	State Rock Climbing Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	384
File size:	49 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Eric Horst has been a cutting edge climber for the past 30 years while pursuing his vertical passion in relative seclusion in southeastern Pennsylvania, hardly a hot-bed of American climbing. Eric helped develop the New River Gorge in West Virginia in the 1980s and 1990s into a premier world-class climbing area. He started climbing at age 13 and by 1981 was regularly cranking 5.12 routes and in the mid-1980s did the first 5.13 climbs in West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Eric has put up over 400 first ascents to date.

Besides his impressive rock resume, Eric is also a training for climbing guru. He’s written several best-selling books on climbing, including Training for Climbing, How to Climb 5.12, Learning to Climb Indoors, and the new Conditioningfor Climbing. For more about Eric and his cool training tips, check out his website Trainingforclimbing.com.

Eric will guide one of our Climb With The Pros winners around the Shawangunks in New York for a day of climbing a lot of the classic routes that Layton Kor climbed back in the sixties on his trips back East. Routes include the great Gunks classics that Layton climbed back in the 1960s.

Table of Contents

	Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland Climbing Areas Overview	viii
	Map and Topo Legends	x
	Introduction	1
	Climbing History	2
	Geology and Geography	5
	Climbing Dangers and Safety	7
	Objective Dangers	9
	Access and Environmental Considerations	11
	Using This Guide	15
	Rating System	17
Section I	Virginia	19
Chapter 1	Old Rag Mountain	19
	Overview	19
	Sunset Walls	26
	Summit Area Crags--West Face	31
	Skyline Wall	32
	Reflector Oven	37
	God's Area Crags	40
	Wall That Dreams Are Made Of	47
	Whale's Lip	48
	Eagle's Gift Area	51
	Ridge Trail Area	52
Chapter 2	Great Falls	54
	Overview	54
	Microdome	58
	Dihedrals	60
	Juliet's Balcony	62
	Seclusion and Romeo's Ladder	65
	Aid Box	68
	Bird's Nest and Canal Cut (Left)	70
	Cornice	74
	Dr. Needlepoint	76
	Boucher Rocks	79
Chapter 3	Harrisonburg Area Crags	81
	Overview	81
	Hidden Rocks	85
	Lower Hidden Rocks	87
	Hidden Cracks	88
	Hone Quarry	90
	Lovers' Leap	92
	Rawley Springs	93
	Rubble Rock	93
	Lovers' Wall	93
	Ice Cube	95
	Juliet's Tower	95
Chapter 4	Other Virginia Areas	96
	Crescent Rock	96
	Washington Wall	98
	Main Wall	100
	Right Sector	103
	Iron Gate	105
	Fetish Wall	108
	Gotham Wall	110
	Skyline Drive	113
	Compton Peak and Windham Rocks	117
	Mount Marshall	117
	Big Devil's Stairs and Little Devil's Stairs	117
	Mary's Rock	117
	Little Stoney Man Cliffs	118
	White Oak Canyon	118
	Hawksbill Mountain	119
	Blackrock and Split Rock	119
	Bearfence Mountain	119
	Other Crags	120
	McAfee's Knob	120
	Lynchburg Area Crags	120
	Hidden Valley	122
Section II	Maryland	123
Chapter 5	Carderock and Great Falls	123
	Overview	123
	Carderock	126
	Jungle Cliff	126
	Hades Heights	134
	Great Falls	143
	Angler's Inn Rock	143
	Crag X	143
	Purple Horse	144
	Spitzbergen	145
	The Bulges	146
Chapter 6	Baltimore Area State Parks	150
	Overview	150
	Rocks State Park	153
	Biceps Wall	155
	Breakaway Wall	157
	Epitaph Wall	161
	Strawberry Jam Pillar	162
	Stripes Wall	165
	King's and Queen's Seat Area	165
	Smoke 'N' Ash Buttress	168
	Patapsco Valley State Park	168
	Ilchester Area	168
	Friction Wall	172
	Woodstock Wall	173
Chapter 7	Frederick Area Crags	176
	Overview	176
	Annapolis Rock	179
	Argo Rock	181
	Faint's Roof Area	182
	Fin Rock	184
	South End	185
	Sugarloaf Mountain	186
	Middle Earth	188
	The Pillar	191
	Boy Scout Ledges	192
	White Rocks	193
	Maryland Heights	196
	Main Wall	196
	Guess Wall	200
	Frenzy Wall	201
Section III	West Virginia	202
Chapter 8	Coopers Rock	202
	Overview	202
	Haystack Block	206
	Roadside Rocks	209
	Jimi Cliff (a.k.a. Sunset Wall)	209
	The Big Blocks	214
	The Good Block	216
Chapter 9	Seneca Rocks	219
	Overview	219
	Southern Pillar	224
	Seneca South End	227
	Southeast Corner	233
	South Peak--East Face	234
	North Peak--East Face	242
	Southwest Corner	244
	Cockscomb, Humphrey's Head, and The Face of a Thousand Pitons	247
	South Peak--West Face	251
	North Peak--West Face (The Bell Wall)	258
Chapter 10	Nelson Rocks	262
	Overview	262
	West Fin, West Face	268
	Nelson Rockafella Wall	268
	Area 51 Wall	269
	Pillar Notch Area and Lower West Face	269
	The Pillar--South Face	272
	West Fin--East Face	272
	007 Wall	272
	The Future Wall	275
	Upper Corridor West	277
	East Fin, West Face	277
	Upper Corridor East	277
	Stone Gallows Wall	278
	The Sport Wall	281
	Crescendo Wall Area	283
	Lower Crescendo Wall	283
	Upper Crescendo Wall	283
	34D Wall	288
Chapter 11	Summersville Lake	289
	Overview	289
	The Coliseum	296
	The Gun Wall	300
	The Mega Boulder	302
	Excellent Buttress	307
	Satisfaction Area	309
	Narcissus Cave	309
	Orange Oswald Wall	311
Chapter 12	New River Gorge	313
	Overview	313
	Bubba City	320
	Bubba Buttress	320
	Central Bubba	323
	Ames Wall	327
	Head Wall	328
	Junkyard	329
	Bridge Buttress	331
	Endless Wall	334
	Fern Buttress	334
	Arm Forces Area	337
	Monolith Buttress Area	337
	Bosnian Buttress	338
	Conditioning Wall	338
	Gonad Wall	338
	Fern Point	340
	Exoduster Area	344
	Idol Point and Kaymoor Slab Areas	344
	Diamond Point and Honeymooners' Ladder Area	346
	Snake Buttress	352
	The Cirque	353
	Beauty Mountain	359
	The Brain Wall	362
	Burning Buttress Area	363
	Thunder Buttress Area	363
	Kaymoor	365
	The Hole	368
	First Buttress	368
	Rico Suave Buttress	370
	Fire and Ice Buttress	371
	White Wall	371
	Butcher Branch	371
	7-11 Wall	375
Chapter 13	Other West Virginia Areas	378
	Overview	378
	Bozoo	378
	White Wall	383
	Iceberg Area	383
	Necro Wall	384
	Bond Wall	384
	Bovine Wall	386
	Simpson's Wall	386
	Franklin	387
	Parking Area Wall	389
	Contact Zone	390
	Impact Zone	390
	The Meadow	394
	Seneca Rocks/North Fork Valley Region	396
Appendix A	Further Reading	397
Appendix B	Route Rating Comparison Chart	398
Appendix C	Mountain Shops, Climbing Gyms, and Guide Services	399
Appendix D	Climbing Organizations	402
	Route Name Index	403
	Rated Route Index	412
	About the Author	421