[TR] Mt Yonah, Georgia - Various Rock Routes 8/20/2011

[Dave7]

Trip: Mt Yonah, Georgia - Various Rock Routes

 

Date: 8/20/2011

 

Trip Report:

So after moving to Georgia from Washington I have been trying to get out and find the local spots. Unfortunately the the information on climbing in the Southeast is terribly outdated and super vague. Luckily a buddy of mine told me about Mt Yonah (which is only 3 hours away) which has a huge rock face and many beginner/ intermediate routes. We immediately started planning a trip up there.

 

After weeks of waiting out the oppressive heat, we finally got on the road up to Yonah. Following farmer john directions, we got lost trying to find the "parking lot" at 10 pm. No signs, poor directions...this is going to be a great climb. After searching for an hour we found the trailhead and bivy for the night.

 

Woke up at 7am and began the hike to the crag. The trail is straightforward, once you reach the clearing/ overlook spot continue the trail up the mountain. About 600 m we found a climbers trail to the right that brought us to the first wall.

 

 

Below is my climb at the second wall we encounters, I would say it was a 5.8+ / 5.9 ish? Anywho it was great to get outside and just climb. Not sure what the route is named..no guidebook for this guy.

 

There was a bunch of climbers out, we ran into a guy and his kids abseiling from the first wall. Come to find out he is an instructor at Ranger School where he teaches Army Rangers basic mountaineering skills. He pointed us in the direction of the main wall which is bolted. The main wall has some exposure and has some interesting lines. I would say most of the lines are 5.4-5.6 but offer quite a view

 

 

All in a all a great day of climbing.

 

Gear Notes:

Quickdraws, #1, #.5, #2 BD camalots, yellow and blue mastercams, stoppers, slings

 

Approach Notes:

Follow the trail from the parking lot, hike about .5 mile take the trail junction left (uphill section). Once at the next junction, take a left. Once you reach the overlook clearing, continue straight up the mountain 500-600m and you will find a little red cross sign marked B1 and there will be a climbers trail to the crags.

[Pete_H]

Some great climbing in the southeast. Hopefully you can get to some of the great sandstone in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia. I've heard of good granite in Georgia too. Good luck!

 

[ivan]

linville gorge up in n carolina ain't so far away and its tiiiits!

[AlpinWeiss]

When I lived in Georgia I always thought the Dixie Cragger was a pretty good guidebook. Perhaps a little outdated these days, but I recall it had plenty in it for Mt. Yonah.

[Dave7]

The dixie cragger is a pretty good guidebook, if you can find it...The author self publishes and many of the local climb shops are out. Plenty of guidebooks for the tennessee wall and carolina area...not so much for Georgia...

[sobo]

linville gorge up in n carolina ain't so far away and its tiiiits!

If'n y'all are plannin' a trip to NC, don' fergit Lookin' Glass 'n Whitesides. Them's good climbin' places. Also, there's a Stone Mountain in NC that y'all CAN climb on, not like that'n in Georgia... Dey don' letcha climb on that'n cuz it's kind'a like a Confed'rate mon'ment.

[scott_perkins]

The dixie cragger is a pretty good guidebook, if you can find it...The author self publishes and many of the local climb shops are out. Plenty of guidebooks for the tennessee wall and carolina area...not so much for Georgia...

 

I believe the new Dixie Cragger for GA & AL is going to the printer soon but I'll ask the author next time I see him and find out when it will be availble to purchase. In the meantime I have two copies of the original Dixie Cragger which contains GA & AL & TN. I'd be happy to loan you a copy until the new book is available, p.m. thru this site. I live in Alpharetta.

 

Scott

[sobo]

Wow! Two posts in 10+ years. I think that's a record here.

ivan, what do you say?

[willstrickland]

The original Dixie Cragger's Atlas (single vol) was the source of much frustration and cursing for me any my buddies as n00bs. The info is strangely vague and lacking for how verbose some of the descriptions were. A good example is Heaven and Hell at Tallulah, a 2 pitch line with a fairly serious "R" rated first pitch, but the guide doesn't give individual pitch ratings. The route is 12a, but with only the guide you'd have no idea if the R section was on 5.12 ground or 5.6 ground (p1 is 5.10R for the curious).

 

For Yonah, it is horrible outdated because at the time it came out, you could still drive the road to the top. At some point a gated community acquired some property and the road closed (I found this out the hard way many years ago on a brief visit back to GA to see the folks), no idea on current access.

 

The two-vol DCA seemed a bit better, but I don't have tons of hands-on use of it as I'd already moved west when it came out. I think Chris wrote that one solo, where the first edition was with Rob as co-author.

 

For the OP, Yonah is good stone, but not a particularly good climbing area unless you're into easy low angle slab. Tallulah Gorge is the premier climbing in North GA, multipitch trad lines on bullet quartzite. The main area bakes in the sun, and the quantity of routes isn't extensive, but the quality is pretty high.

 

The Lost Wall/Rocktown combo (along with several caves, if you're into caving) on Pigeon Mtn near Lafayette is pretty choice. Great bouldering, a good quantity of trad cragging at a wide range of difficulties (good spread between 5.6-5.12), free camping, ripe persimmons in early fall.

 

The real goods for a North GA climber through are in TN, AL, and NC. The T-Wall and HP40 are still two of my favorite areas. A little further afield, the NRG is as good as any cragging in North America in my book.

[chirp]

Wow! Two posts in 10+ years. I think that's a record here.

 

[Dave7]

Thanks Will for the great info, I think I am going to be headed to the Tennessee wall or Tallulah gorge this week.

[scott_perkins]

The original Dixie Cragger's Atlas (single vol) was the source of much frustration and cursing for me any my buddies as n00bs. The info is strangely vague and lacking for how verbose some of the descriptions were. A good example is Heaven and Hell at Tallulah, a 2 pitch line with a fairly serious "R" rated first pitch, but the guide doesn't give individual pitch ratings. The route is 12a, but with only the guide you'd have no idea if the R section was on 5.12 ground or 5.6 ground (p1 is 5.10R for the curious).

 

For Yonah, it is horrible outdated because at the time it came out, you could still drive the road to the top. At some point a gated community acquired some property and the road closed (I found this out the hard way many years ago on a brief visit back to GA to see the folks), no idea on current access.

 

 

The original Dixie Cragger(single Vol) was published a few years AFTER the road to Yonah was closed, and informs it's readers accordingly.

 

The book you may be referring to that Rob and Chris co-authored is a book titled The Deep South Climbers Companion.

 

Regardless, the OP already found Yonah and made his way to the cliff, as his TR indicates. My offer was simply so he'd have a guidebook with all the varoius Yonah routes described because he commented that he was having difficulty finding a guidebook with Georgia info in it. You know, trying to extend some "southern hospitality" and all that. No worries, plenty of Georgia climbing info available for free on mountain project.

 

Scott

[willstrickland]

Yep, Scott is right. I was talking about the Deep south Climbers Companion or whatever it was called(my copy is sitting in my dad's place in Athens,GA not exactly handy for reference here in SoCal). It was what then became the DCA, Watford was a coauthor of DSCC and sole author of DCA as I recall.

 

 

Edited September 27, 2011 by willstrickland