Opinions welcome, except if they're wrong

[Graham]

Alright, here's the question, where does everyone think is the best place for climbing in North America in the April/May time slot. Not just best climb, but best all-round climbing area. (i.e. cost, accesability, #routes, route quality and any others you can think of.) I'm trying to plan a 1-2 week climbing trip, as of right now Joshua Tree looks pretty good for weather and short approaches, (because it may only be a week, I don't want to have to do a 3 day hike for 1 day of climbing.) but I'd value any opinions that you guys would care to offer. Since I got home, I havn't had a single day of rock climbing and am going crazy, so I hope a decent trip will calm my itching climbing nerves.

[Fred]

Red River Gorge Kentucky hands down (24 hour drive)

J-tree is more for winter climbing.

[Mountain_Marc]

I've never been to the Red so I can't say much about it. But if you're going on an extended road trip you may want to hit up New River Gorge, it may be a 22 hour driver for you guys.

I go every Easter and always have a blast. Good routes, cheap eats and beer, easy approaches, etc.

[Fred]

New River Gorge (West Virgina) is only so so compared to the Red River Gorge (Kentucky). I've been to both and Red River beats it hands down. From Fredericton, it's about 19hours to New River and 24 hours to Red River. Worth every minute of the extra 5 hour drive. Camp out at Miguell's Pizza. That's where all the climbers stay.

If you do go to New River, I recommend camping at the Summersville Dam and also climbing most of the time at Summersville Lake. You will accomplish much more than checking out walls like "Endless Wall" so much, so big, and so little "do-able" routes.

let me know where you are thinking of going and I can give you more beta

I have photos on my website of both places
http://www.beta-source.com

cheers

[dcentral]

Skaha is pretty good that time of year. It's cheap to camp in the offseason. It's not super busy, the heat and the rattle snakes aren't really out yet, and the weahter is pretty consistent.

I don't know about the other areas mentioned but I'm making a trip there in may.

[mathieu]

I'd pick the road trip method over a fly and rental any day. If your going for 2 weeks, both destinations are good. RRG has lots to offer with a flair of exotic native inhabitants. Penticton on the other hand has a wicked night life at the old folks home, not much happening in that town. RRG has got it all sport, trad and a few 2 pitch routes and come to think of it so does RRG. The GUnks is also a destination in the mid to late may time frame, althought its all trad. You can always come to the ROckies where its like playing a slot machine, one day your sport climbing in the sun on some limestone multipitch (last saturday) then you spend the next day freezing your ass on an ice climb (the following sunday, no word of a lie).

[granite_grrl]

Apirl/May time frame....I don't think J-Tree would be great. I've been there in Feb and the temps were good then, would probably be pretty hot two months later.

The Red is freakn' awesome. I can't wait to head down there at Easter. You'll hear mostly about the sport climbing there, but the trad is fantastic too! Biggest problem going when you're talking about: rain!!! There can be a ton of freakn' rain, so make sure you have a backup plan!!!! Also, make sure you pitch your tent on high ground. But its cheep (free climbing, $2 a night at Miguels, the pizza at Miguels is amazing).

There area some other areas in the South West/West that would be nice that time of year (and much drier!), but I'm not sure if you're looking to drive or to fly. I'm thinking places like Joe's Valley Utah, maybe some places in Colorado.

[Fred]

If you leasd 5.11 sport or harder you can climb all day in the rain on the large overhanging routes in Kentucky

[Graham]

Man the choices, I feel like a kid in a candy store, but only the candy is made of rocks, and I'm a kid who is into that sort of thing, but not in a bad way.... Anyway, is Red River near any International Airport? I'm asking this because the likelyhood of this trip depends on some friends of mine who are coming over from Scotland. It looks a little like the routes there are mostly bolted, is there much in the way of low level trad?Maybe somewhere between 5.7and 5.10a. I've only climbed on bolts once and it scared the crap out of me, probably because I could nearly pull them out of the holes. So don't really know about how grade changes on bolts. Thanks for the advice though, Red River Gorge deffinitly sounds pretty sweet.

[Pierre]

I think Louisville, KY International airport is close to Red River, KY.

Believe it's about 50 miles from Louisville to Red River.

[granite_grrl]

Man the choices, I feel like a kid in a candy store, but only the candy is made of rocks, and I'm a kid who is into that sort of thing, but not in a bad way.... Anyway, is Red River near any International Airport? I'm asking this because the likelyhood of this trip depends on some friends of mine who are coming over from Scotland. It looks a little like the routes there are mostly bolted, is there much in the way of low level trad?Maybe somewhere between 5.7and 5.10a. I've only climbed on bolts once and it scared the crap out of me, probably because I could nearly pull them out of the holes. So don't really know about how grade changes on bolts. Thanks for the advice though, Red River Gorge deffinitly sounds pretty sweet.

Lots of trad, basically spent three days there last year doing little else. I think the hardest crack climb that I got on that weekend was 5.9, hardest I lead was 5.8, we mostly did 5.5 - 5.7 climbs. The cracks are beautiful, and I hope to try to get on some harder stuff this year. The rock is sandstone, so softer than what you're used to....but its pretty good quality (I've climbed on softer).

Like Fred said lots of overhangs, so there is actually a lot to do if its drizzling, or just a little rain (most climbs don't go to the top of the cliff, so there may be a top, overhanging band protecting the easier veritcal climb below). But even your most overhanging walls will get wet in a pouring rain. Not the end of the world, even if it rains frequently you'll still get some good days it, but I'd keep it in mind.

Lexington is the closest major city, and is maybe an hour away from the Red (correct me if I'm wrong). I'd check expedia to see what kind of flights your friends can get.

[granite_grrl]

You wanna see the route variety? Check this out:

http://www.redriverclimbing.com/RRCGuideV2/search.php

Found 42 trad routes between 5.1 and 5.10a that are supossed to stay fairly dry in a down pour. I've been on a few of those, and they do stay fairly dry.

542 trad routes total with grades between 5.1 and 5.10a. Cool.

[mike]

what about that spot in mexico.... el chico something or other- big horseshoe canyon with thousands of routes and a cool hostel at the mouth of the canyon?

I looked into it a bit a few years back- looks wicked.

Mike

[Fred]

Like Fred said lots of overhangs, so there is actually a lot to do if its drizzling, or just a little rain (most climbs don't go to the top of the cliff, so there may be a top, overhanging band protecting the easier veritcal climb below). But even your most overhanging walls will get wet in a pouring rain. Not the end of the world, even if it rains frequently you'll still get some good days it, but I'd keep it in mind.

You can climb the "RoShampo" overhang at "Roadside Crag" and numerous others at "Torrent Falls" even in downpoor when it's been coming down non stop for days. Some stuff just stays dry all the time. But these routes tend to be in the 5.11 and 5.12 ranges.

Graham, I've climbed at a lot of areas and seen tons of manky bolts but I don't recall seing 'any' at the Red. Overall it's pretty well bolted and quality hardware.

[Graham]

Well, you certainly sell it good enough for me. All I have to do is convince a couple of brits to get there there rear in gear and come over for some great climbing fun. Thanks for all the help, of course now I'm going to be ansy and unfocused in school for the next 2 month because of eager anticipation, but oh well what can you do.