Stone Fort Bouldering Review

I don't know about you guys, but every time I get a new guidebook I get new motivation and new excitement for bouldering...especially if its a good guidebook! This guidebook is no exception. Its been a couple of years since I've been able to make it to Little Rock City, but for several years while I lived part time in Knoxville, LRC was one of my home crags. Even though I've spent more time at other bouldering areas since then, there is still a little piece of me that considers LRC to be some of my home boulders. The sandstone is impeccable and possibly the best in the Southeast. The boulders are perfect in size and shape with plenty of variety to suit any boulderer. The current access situation is great...only a few bucks a day gets you in to one of the best "outdoor gyms" on the planet. And when you're done with your day, there's nothing like kicking back a beer in the clubhouse to celebrate your sends!

The history of the Stone Fort/Little Rock City/LRC is muddy and pieced together in the guidebook by snap shots of the boulderfield from different climber's perspectives, over different times.

Even the name has some confused...I've always called it Little Rock City or LRC for short, but the developer, when the Triple Crown Bouldering Series approached about using the boulders for the comp, decided he wanted to distinguish the area from the big Chatty attraction Rock City...and the name Stone Fort was born.

Most local boulderers know the area by both different names and you can even tell who-climbed-when by the name they prefer to refer to the area by.

Marvin Webb (Thanks for your Southeast bouldering influence...I'm a fan of the Marvin Webb Slab at Boat Rock!) may have been one of the first real climbers to investigate the area back in the early '80's, and from there the legend began to grow. More and more people found out about the area through different means and eventually it became a popular bouldering crag. Eventually though, its popularity and the constraints of the Montlake golf course shut the place down for many years. The SCC and Triple Crown organizers finally cracked the nut in 2003 and LRC was open to the public on a sustainable management plan. This plan has changed a few times since then, but what hasn't changed is the incredible access and opportunity that any climber has to enjoy this world class destination! The patchwork history is presented in a series of 13 essays, contributed by different authors from different generations of LRC climbing, and is a great read in itself. The first time I read through the book, I actually found myself thumbing past all of the classic problems to get to the next essay, and next chunk of history...very unlike me.



The guidebook itself doesn't disappoint! As I mentioned in my review of the Horse Pens 40 Bouldering Guide, I've travelled to several different world class boulderfields in several different states and countries...and I've seen/used the gamut of guidebooks. Greener Grass's format is one of the easiest to understand and use. Its very simple to compare the topo to the pictures of the routes drawn on the boulders and know exactly where you're at...especially compared to the old Triple Crown guide. I haven't been able to make it to the Triple Crown comp at LRC, but I was fortunate to get a copy of the comp guide...so I have always had to stumble around the boulders, using the comp guide, looking clueless and trying to find a boulder and route that should be right in front of me. Now, finding routes and boulders in the boulderfield is easier than ever!



Besides the easy to use format and design that was made popular in the HP40 Bouldering Guide, there are also some incredible photos to glare at too. The same high quality, vivid images take you there and help you soak in the beauty and excellence of this boulderfield. The action shots are incredible and help with a little beta, while the topo photos are clear and easy to use and understand. The problems are color coded on the map to help you find the grade range that best suits your ability. The problem descriptions are concise and help bring many of the routes to life with the occasional history reference or anecdote. The introduction for each area has a small reference picture of the whole boulderfield, along with a close up overview of that specific area, which points out all of the boulders in that area. A brief description, ticklist of the classics, and grade distribution chart are also included in each intro to help you get a feel for the area and zero in on what's best for you to send. As you thumb through to each boulder in each area, more detailed topo's of each boulder are presented to get you to the right route...and the photo topo's make it fool proof to find what you're looking for. This may be the best thing about this guidebook...in the past, the travelling boulderer just wandered around aimlessly, relying on the kindness of a local to point out where the "good stuff" was. Now the secrets to each area have been unlocked and presented in an easy to understand format. If you haven't clicked over to Greener Grass's website and checked out the sample pages for this guide, go over there now and see the details, incredible topo's and photos I'm talking about. I'm so glad that this perfect boulderfield finally got the perfect presentation it deserves!


This book was a winner and the 2 Southern Bouldering books combined, set the new standard for what all bouldering guidebooks should live up to. Andy Wellman's calm and cool demeanor was apparent while reading the book, making it more enjoyable to read. His friendly attitude may upset locals that feel he's moved in on their turf and demystified this once hush-hush crag. I'm personally glad to see this style of information becoming more popular and more areas are being recorded and made available to everybody. I've been to plenty of places that locals covet their boulders to the point that they have actually ruined it for much of the rest of the bouldering community (sometimes Boone has this "locals only" attitude to a fault), and I'm glad to see the South slowly loosen its prudence belt and embrace others/outsiders enjoying its areas. I mean it cant be world class if the rest of the world cant enjoy it too!

Jimmy Webb's closing essay echoes my exact sentiments about LRC...respect and gratitude for those that have come before me, and excitement and anticipation for the excellent resource future generations of climbers will be able to enjoy. Thanks to the SCC and the Tripe Crown for working so hard with Montlake and the entire community and getting this place open on a sustainable management plan! Click here for more information on LRC access and a great photo gallery of this amazing boulderfield. Don't forget that 5% of the proceeds from this book will be given back to the SCC to help out with their ongoing diligence in saving our southern crags!

The book is available for preorder at a discounted rate...I advise picking one up on this sale and you'll receive it the same day as the stores do. You'll have a slight jump on the rest of the crowd that is sure to ensue:)

Next weekend I'll be taking the guidebook for a 3 day test drive, and I plan on posting an update to this review as soon as I get back. I always like to use the guide in the field before I give my absolute final opinion...so stay tuned!

LRC, Hound Ears & an Old School Secret Spot

So I received my advance copy of the new Stone Fort Bouldering guide late last week and was super stoked to see how impressive the guide is. If you liked the new HP40 Bouldering guide, then you'll be very pleased with the Stone Fort Guide. I'm in the process of writing the review, which will hopefully be posted in the next couple of days...keep an eye out for it. I'm also going to write a follow up when I get back from my LRC bouldering weekend on the 17-19th...I don't feel comfortable giving a whole review without using the book in the field and assessing its user friendliness. Don't forget that the best deal on the guide is going on right now during Greener Grasses Pre-Order Sale...save $6 off the cover price (that's like 25% off!). I can guarantee that if you plan on going to LRC, this guide will make your trip worthwhile and keep you from wandering around aimlessly asking everybody where Super Mario is:)


Also towards the end of last week, I signed up for Hound Ears, the first comp of the Triple Crown Bouldering comp. My wife and I are both competing/attending...I'm so psyched to finally get to take part in one of the Triple Crown comps! Its been my goal each of the last 5 years to compete, but something always comes up that prevents me from going. One of the benefits to these comps are the comp guides you get while competing (this used to be the only way to get a topo of LRC or HP40)...but since Greener Grass has published new guidebooks to the last 2 stops of the Crown, I don't feel the urgency to attend these 2 comps as much (and especially since I'm visiting LRC in 2 weekends).

So with 2 big bouldering trips coming up in the next month, I felt the need to stop goofing off as much when I boulder and focus a little more on projecting and sending harder stuff. I went to the gym last week, for the first time in like a year or so, and sent a bunch of V0-V2's and then I roped up and shocked myself by sending a 5.11a/b. I havent sent a roped route that hard in the gym in a long time, so I was pretty excited (and sore the next day too). Also, I've been doing a lot of bouldering lately at one of my old school secret spots and started to tick off some of the old projects I had, and hadn't visited for like 5-10 years. Yesterday I was working on a sweet route I call Hades, in a bouldering area I've been calling Asgard. I had a freak send of this route Sunday but couldn't repeat it afterwards...making me feel that the route is about a V4. I went back yesterday to celebrate Labor Day off, and worked out better beta and sent the route differently and felt it was around a hard V3...either way, the route was awesome. The route starts with a left hand undercling on a 2 finger crimp and right hand on a sloping arete...next you get some thin crappy feet under you and bump the right hand up to a big overhanging pinch, the crux. Once on the pinch, you have to bring your whole body up to some higher, crappier feet and throw for the sloping edge at the top. Hades V3/4 became an instant classic in my book! The only bad thing was that while I was working the route, I felt my pinky on my right hand pop...I assumed it was the knuckle popping, but I think I've sprained or pulled one of the pulley tendons in that finger (medial compression hurts more than any other movement). I ended up sending the route after the pop, and even though it hurt a little, I could still produce enough force to grip the critical undercling without too big of a problem. Today the tendon is tight and odd feeling, but I am not limited in my motion or grip...so I hope it is just a temporary sprain and it'll be good as new by the time LRC and Hound Ears comes around. If anybody has any tips on my finger or might have experienced the same thing before, post a response to help me better understand it. I've been climbing for what seems like forever and never had a single pulley or tendon problem, so this is all new to me. After Hades, I ventured a little deeper in the woods to a few other established problems. I ended up sending a fun V4 slab route, along with another V3 slab route right beside it...I love slabs more than anything (good thing because that's the usual for SC bouldering). After the slabs I hit an old school classic called Cookie Monster V3...a great SDS that follows a series of slopey bulging shelves to a slap happy top out. I feel stronger than I have in the past month, since my kidney stones, and hope to build on this to have a good time on my upcoming trips!

I hope everybody else is getting ramped up for bouldering season and has some fun road trips planned too! If not, consider signing up for the Triple Crown, or one of the comps, and hang out with hundreds of climbing buddies you never knew you had!

Lee Means Needs All of Our Help!

I've been following this for the last week and some change over on Ben Henson's Blog...and if you havent heard about the situation, I recommend you click over and read about what has been happening lately with Lee Means, a Southeastern bouldering legend/activist/comp organizer/overall cool dude.


I had the pleasure of meeting him at the Chalky Dreams bouldering comp in 2009, and was impressed with how laid back but on the ball he was. He was a great comp organizer and host and made sure everybody had a great time. And he was also mentioned as being one tough cookie in the Chattanooga article, in the most recent issue of Climbing Magazine. I hate to hear that he has gone through so much problems with his heart lately, but the most recent post mentions that he's doing better and has been moved out of ICU. I'd like to encourage everybody to try to give a little donation to help out with the incredibly massive doctor's bills he will be dealing with when he hopefully makes his full recovery...like too many Americans, he was in between jobs and did NOT have health insurance when this condition hit. Take one day off from the gym and throw those bucks his way...your climbing wont suffer and you'll be doing a very noble deed! If the Paypal contribution widget in this post isnt working correctly, head over the Ben's Website and donate by using the contribution box to the right of the screen.


Good Luck Lee, everybody wishes you the best!

Pisgah Bouldering Weekend And An Upcoming Review Of The New Stone Fort/LRC Guidebook

What a great weekend to be in the shadows of Looking Glass! The temps were more than bearable and the rock was freshly cleaned by recent rains. We got up to the forest around noon on Saturday, set camp quickly and hurried out to The North Face boulders for a long session. After spending about an hour working all of the Warm Up Wall problems (V0-V3) and every silly variation I could think of, I headed down to the lower area of boulders to work on some problem I had only messed around with a few times. I ended up sending a few new (for myself) routes...a fun V2 slab problem on some razor sharp crimps, and one that starts on these big sidepulls and goes up to a blank slopey/slabby top section...felt like about a V3. Then I worked a problem that has obsessed me in the past, and has shut me down everytime before...I have always called it "Big Jug". Just left of the sidepull problem is a giant flat jug half way up the face...I started doubled there and got my feet high on the face and threw a left hand deadpoint for the small thin sloping rail about 12 feet up, the real crux of the route. After a few misses and a couple of craters on the pad, I stuck the skinny rail and brought my feet up underneath me to be able to reach towards the top for another thin sloper and finally top it out...finally, after like 5 or so years it went! I thought the route was much tougher than most of the V3's around, so I feel comfortable calling it a solid, fun, V4. After this, I sent another V3, a route I've called Pyramids, that starts low on an angled sloping arete and follows it up to the apex and tops out...along with Giza V2, the other sloping arete on the Egypt boulder. Both of these routes are a little tricky and a little powerful, but overall a bunch of fun. After finally wearing myself out, we packed our stuff up and headed back to camp for the rest of the day. Sunday, we got up after a perfect Pisgah night and headed out to the Roadside and Nowhere boulders. We were pretty worn out from the previous days climbs, but I was still able to send Nowhere V3 and goof around with a few other routes. There was a lot of moisture on the boulders, so many of the routes weren't climbable...cutting this session pretty short. No matter, it was still a great hike out to the boulders and its always relaxing in the middle of Nowhere:)

I have also got some good news from Greener Grass Publishing...I'm getting an advance copy of the new Stone Fort/Little Rock City Guidebook (hopefully it'll be in my mailbox when I get home today) and plan on putting up a review here in a couple of weeks. We have planned a trip over to Chatty for the 17-19th of September so I can use the guidebook first hand and see how user friendly it really is. As soon as we get back, I'll post the review and share the experience with everyone...I'm really looking forward to getting back to one of my old stomping grounds!!!

Rumbling Bald Season Is Approaching...

Here is a repost from Anthony Love, the CCC president, about the parking situation at the Bald. Please take a look at the link to the pdf file which shows where parking is and isn't allowed. Please follow these guidelines and recommendations when visiting the Bald, so we can avoid a possible problem with the park...Thanks!!!

"Fall will be coming to a boulderfield near YOU soon. This year, we would like to help spread the word amongst climbers that we ALL need to make the effort to carpool to Rumbling Bald on the weekends. The parking issue at the bald will be more of an issue this year as the Town of Lake Lure WILL tow cars parked outside of the State Park Gates.

We have devised a flyer to help spell out the availability of parking at Rumbling Bald. If you can please help us spread the word about parking. Feel free to send this flyer to your friends, hang it up at the gym at your colleges outdoor programs office. Please help us get the word out.

Thanks, look forward to seeing you all out there."

Here is a link to the pdf file with a map of the parking situation...
Rumbling Bald Parking Announcement

Here's the link to the forum post also...I think you have to have an account to see this post, but making an account is free and fast and gives you access to the most up to date Carolina climbing info.
http://carolinaclimbers.org/forums/rumbling-bald-season-approaching.html

Running From Yellow Jackets and Stone Summit

So, I finally got a chance to get out and do some climbing this past weekend. I ran out to Little Eastatoee Friday evening and realized exactly how weak and out of climbing shape I was! It took me forever to get my first route, and it was just a V0 I used to send in my sleep. After that I moved on to the V3, Outta Sight, right beside it. Outta Sight isn't an easy V3, and based on my performance on the V0, I thought I'd just flail on it...and I did...at least for the first few tries. After that, I was able to barely squeak out the send and surprise myself. From there I sent Sock Puppet Smile V1 and Ragdoll V2 and moved on to The Batman boulder. I flailed for a while on Bruce Wayne V3+ but finally sent, and then moved on to one of my favorite routes at LE, Two Face V3-. After feeling a little more comfortable on the rock, I loaded up on the SDS and threw big for the top edge, tossed my heel hook and then felt a series of pinches in my butt. For a second I thought someone was behind me, but I soon realized I was getting stung by yellow jackets. I hopped down from the route and immediately noticed that my pad was swarming with about 100-150 bees and they were all pissed off at me for padding over their nest. I got stung another 10 or so times while I was running away, cussing. After 10 minutes the bees calmed down enough that I could get all my gear except my pad, which I had to leave and come back later to get after the bees finally chilled out. Wow...what a price to pay just to climb a few routes! Here is a repeat post of the video I made earlier this year out at Little Eastatoee that has all of the routes I just mentioned...


On Sunday we ran down to Hotlanta and met up with some friends at Stone Summit, the nations largest climbing gym. After the customary belay test, we ran around like little kids on Christmas, gawking at all of the routes and cool features. I'm not one to get all excited by a gym, but this one has a lot to offer most any climber. The bouldering area was much larger than most gyms and had a lot of variety of routes in most grades. I was stoked to send a fun V4 and tons of V0-V2's. The roped walls were incredible, with a variety of features and more lead routes than I'd ever seen at any gym. This is the first time I've roped up, outside or inside in like a year...really, had it been that long? I was happy to send about 7 or so routes, from 5.7-5.9+. They even had an upstairs with cardio and weight machines and a small gym for the kiddies. I have to admit that I wanted to do the sit start under the T-rex slide/boulder, but my wife thought it would look too odd:) And probably their biggest attraction is the 70m roof that goes out over the main climbing area...it was truly impressive to see folks climbing the roof or the traverses and clip the chains at the end. If you're in the area or driving through Atlanta, I'd make plans to stop and climb for a few hours...you wont be disappointed!

Update...

So after having a hard time the last couple of weeks with some small kidney stones and a severe infection, I'm feeling better and trying to get ready for boulder season. We recently bought some gym equipment and I've been working out a few times a week to try to drop some pounds and up my strength/endurance. Besides a little training at home, I have been so busy getting ready for the new semester at work and dealing with all sorts of random acts that need to be dealt with, that I haven't had as much of a chance to get out and climb as usual. I have a great schedule this semester though and can hopefully get a few days of bouldering in each week after work. I have had a chance to hit a few boulders in the last week, but nothing much worth mentioning...especially in this stifling heat, in between the intermittent showers. It really makes good sends harder to come by! Hopefully this weekend I'll get a chance to head out and climb something somewhere fun.



I don't know if you have a regular list of websites that you check daily like me, but I noticed just the other day on Greener Grass Publishing's website that the new Little Rock City/Stone Fort guidebook is due out in October. If you've been reading this blog for a while, then you remember Greener Grass sponsoring the Horse Pens Bouldering guidebook giveaway contest I had back a few months ago. I've been in contact with them again and it looks like they are going to be able to give me a couple of these new guidebooks to giveaway too! So stay on the look out later this fall for a new contest for the latest installment in the Greener Grass collection. If you've never been to LRC...whats your problem? Get your road trip plans together for the first cool day of fall and hit this place up. The sandstone is impeccable and the routes are some of the most classic in the Southeast. I was lucky enough to have LRC as my "local" (2 hour drive is local enough) bouldering crag back when my wife was at the University of Tennessee (in Knoxville). I got to go down there almost every week and sample some of the best routes I've sent or seen in the sandstone belt. Dragonlady V4 is still one of my favorite routes and the Mystery Machine boulder has some of my favorite routes of anywhere...Incredarete V1 (V3 SDS) is a classic no matter where you'd find it. Another benefit to getting this guide is the fact that a portion of the proceeds will be given to the SCC to help fund other projects and purchases. Click on over and get a copy on pre-order to save $5 and get it the same time the stores do in October.

Kidney Stones

So I have had this uncomfortable pain in my back for a couple of weeks, but I just thought it was a results of me getting old and my body just crapping out finally...even though I'm just about to turn the ripe old age of 35:) Yesterday I woke up and noticed a lot of pain and problems with my urine...after a visit to the "doc-in-a-box", as the Nurses I teach with like to call Urgent Care, the thought is that I'm struggling with kidney stones. What a bummer! I finally make it through the summer semester and right when I'm about to get a little break and possibly take some bouldering road trips...I'm laid up hurting. Oh well, hopefully this will pass really quickly and I'll have some new trip reports up soon!

I would like to mention that my homeboy George Evans is fighting a terrible injury also...he took a bad fall while bouldering at Stone Summit in Atlanta and did some major damage to his ankle. I hate to hear this from George, especially seeing as how he was gearing up his training for Hound Ears and now the comp is an after thought. My biggest get wells go out to him and his ankle...if surgery is needed, or even if it isn't, I wish you the fastest recovery possible and hope you can still make it out to Hound Ears in October!