In that lower picture it looks like my feet are on a large horizontal feature, however as you can see from the rope length running over it I'm 5 feet above it standing on small half-inch edges. The route name is "whiskey for breakfast" and can be found at the cereal buttress of rumbling bald. 5.10d R.
The upper route is at big green mountain in panthertown valley. Crazy f*****g run-outs there, 25 feet between bolts is common... bigger run-outs (up to 60 feet between pro!) over "easier terrain"
Routes in North Carolina are proud and committing. You can fall and hangdog all day in "sport" friendly craigs... but those don't exist here in NC. You better be confident at the grade you're climbing because the falls here are long and the rock is less than vertical, so you'd better watch where you're going on the way down. At the base of the Appalachians lie long eroded granite exfoliations that form steep slabs of blank rock with rounded peaks and minimal features. That means very scary. Couple that with a ground up local ethic, a respect for the rock and you have lines that span hundreds of feet with only a handful of bolts, maybe some gear in between if you're lucky.
Don't f**k up.
18 Oct 2012, 3:04 am
