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.