Little Rock City Video

Another little video from my time in the States.  This one has a bunch of classic in Little Rock City (aka Stone Fort).  Hope you enjoy.



Little Rock City Bouldering from Walker Kearney on Vimeo.

Little Chris in the Dirty South

While in the South I had the pleasure of having one of my best friend along for most of the trip.  Chris Schaefer (aka Little Chris or Dreamboat) is not only a fantastic friend and climbing partner but is also godfather to Nalani.  Chris is also coming back from injury and it was nice to see his shoulder holding out.  If I have one criticism of Chris it's that he has a poor choice of clothes when it comes to taking climbing pictures.

Chris, like it says on the jacket

The Godfather giving Hammie a ride 

Chris on one of Rocktown's best, Golden Shower

Chris blending in with the rock on Blue in Rocktown

Milking the slopers of Little Bad in Rocktown

Chris finds his own beta 

Who's the man?

Little Rock City

Chattanooga is one of those cities climbers flock to as there is endless rock scattered around.  There is still tons of potential and while most of the areas are small there are a couple that are more substantial, with Little Rock City (aka Stone Fort) being the largest and most popular.

Little Rock City in some ways is a model for access as the boulders are located on a privately owned golf course.  Yes, you have to pay $5 to climb but it beats having the place shutdown and as a added bonus the folks at the club-house (where you park and pay the fee) are super nice.  And of course the climbing is good enough that you'd gladly pay to sample some of the sweet sandstone.

The rock in LRC is generally bullet and the climbing offers something for everyone from beginners to hard-men.   While it is perhaps Chattanooga's largest area it is still pretty small and you could easily see everything in a day (though it will probably take more that a few days to climb everything).  The approach is short and everything is pretty easy to find which is why there was always people climbing there.  Pretty much everything is fun to climb on as the stone has awesome shapes and is skin friendly.  Fortunately for those driven by aesthetics there are also several amazing lines to get worked up about.

We spent 4 of our 8 climbing days in LRC and every day I climbed on awesome problems and met good people.  I just wish the area was a bit larger.  Here are a few pictures and Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

Celestial Mechanics was one of my favorite problems from 10 years ago.  It was as good as I remembered.

Super Mario is one of those popular climbs that seems to always have pads under it.  Fun steep climbing with a slew of "choose you own adventure" variations.

Bedwetters is a long steep climb with the crux coming at the end.  This wasn't a problem a was initially drawn to but when you find pads under a problem it can be hard not to partake and I was glad I did.  Here Niko eyeballs the crux hold toward the end of the climb.

Cheech fingering the "good" hold on The White Face.  This rig is a crimp fest and one of the few problems in LRC that will wreck your skin.  After a couple good attempts I decided to save skin for other climbs but I'd like to come back for this one.

Walter gets oh so close on Shiver Me Timbers Direct.  This one is also a little sharp and but is a great line.

This was one of the most beautiful pieces of stone I saw in TN.  Deception is the awesome climb that climbs right up the middle.

The Wave, LRC

The Wave is one of the many classics at Little Rock City and this one certainly deserves a climber's attention.  Aptly named, the sloping arete is pleasing in terms of both movement and aesthetics.

The Wave.  Love those slopers

Katie working The Wave.

Max on the subtle crux at the end of the Wave

Not all sunshine and unicorns

My primary concern when planning a trip to TN was the weather.  This place is known for getting some moisture so it came as no surprise that we got rained out Friday.  Fortunately the forecast only had rain in our future for 3 days and while I wasn't looking forward to so much time off it could be worse.  The good news is Nalani and I had a place to stay as we bombed up to Nashville to crash in a hotel with Lina and  picked up my good friend Chris to join our adventures.  The only major bump of these forced off days was a night hovering over the toilet ejecting a giant hamburger from earlier in the day.  But now that is over and we can look forward to getting back at it as the forecast is looking up and I'll be lugging a few less pounds up the rock.

I'll spare you more details of projectile vomiting a post a few pictures from Stone Fort (aka Little Rock City).

 Two patties, 4 slices of bacon, 4 slices of cheese and all the fixings.  GBA.  

Max fires the classic Genghis Khan, one of the first problems you encounter at LRC

Niko on his nemesis, Cleopatra  

 Jackie (sp?) feeling out the slopers on Spanky

Max on an awesome highball

The Pinch is one of those problems that might not look like much but the 

features are so cool you want to climb it.