The Rumbling Bald season is in full swing right now with perfect temperatures, lots of friction and good friends. We caught up with a group out at Rumbling Bald this past weekend enjoying the incredible rock and even better scenery. Enjoy this clip of Chelsea Christiani on “peasoup” and check back later as we move our focus to the Chattanooga area for our next release.
Rumbling Bald Climbing Pea Soup from lvmrock on Vimeo.
The CLuster Area has it all: warm ups, moderates, hard, and some projects. With over 70 problems offering a wide variety of style of moves, LVM Rock gives this area an A+. The French Maid(7), known as “the must do classic line” by many locals, is situated at the south edge of the area.
Starting on the same holds, The Butler(V7), stays true to the arete.
Also starting on the same holds, Tastie Freeze Girl(V8) follows a long, thin flake out left and over the lip. The last move is quite a long one.
Just around the corner is Crowbar(V6) that you can add a sit for a higher degree of difficulty.
Classic Overhang (V3) is excellent as well with solid holds right up to its high topout. Spotters be ready on this one. There are also delicate slabs that require precision foot work and good crimping ability scattered through out The Cluster Area.
Click the play icon to see some classic Cluster Area climbing.
The Hull Area lies just to the west of the Trailside Area. There are around 80 problems and 9 projects here. Some of the most high quality filming of this project has been shot on these magnificent boulders. The climbing difficulty ranges from beginner to expert. There are high and lowballs with the majority of problems having clean landings. The boulders are all very close to each other, making this area an ideal circuit choice.
The Shady Grove boulder is good starting point. There are 9 problems ranging from V0 to V8. The basketball mantle is a must try V3 for everyone. Just to the left of that is Propeller Head, a very difficult V4. Shady Lady is a super classic traverse rated V8 that Robert Holcombe sends with ease in the film.
Just to the west of the Shady Grove there are 2 fun boulders named Deron’s Slab and the Run and Jump boulder. There are 13 problems and a project between the 2 of them. The difficulty range is V1 to V8. There are many fun short problems here. Bring your slab skills and spend some time with these granite gifts.
Moving over a little further to the west is the Loaf. Here you will find 12 problems from V0 to V10 with 2 projects waiting. This boulder is highball with 2 excellent lines right beside each other. Karma Police, which you can watch Lesch-Huie cruise in the trailer, is rated V8 and is action packed all the way through the mantle. Just to the left is Reservoir Dogs (V10), where Dave Sharratt looks cooler than Mr.Blonde as he cranks through the sequence in the film.
Click here to watch Zachary Lesch-Huie on Karma Police.
Local climbers Katrin Lau, Luke and Joe Brady can often be seen crushing problems at Rumbling Bald. LVM Rock spotted them at The Pit, which lies in the Middle East. There are 9 problems at this phenomenal granite highball boulder. The range of difficulty is V1 to V8. Bring multiple crash pads, spotters, and guts.
Katrin started things off on the left side, which is named Grease Pit. She stuck the dyno to the ledge and climbed through the problem. In the video, you can see the sequence.
Joe Brady was working Pit BBQ (V6). This problem is just to the right of Grease Pit. It is overhanging and spotters need to be ready.
To the right of Pit BBQ is Panhandler. This problem is hard right from the start. It is a steep highball that is currently rated V8. Luke opted to exclude the big right side pull near the bottom, and go for a tiny sloping hold instead. With out the side pull the problem is much harder.
Moving on over to the West side of the boulder, Luke on sighted The North Carolinian. This is another super classic highball that requires good pad placement and ready spotters. This problem is rated V5 and has business high off the deck.
There are 10 more boulders in this area. The Middle East holds over 50 established problems and over 10 current projects. Click here to see Katrin Lau sending a classic crimping V7 that is to the right of The North Carolinian.
On Monday, April 7 lvm rock climbed with locals Mike Davis and Josh Odom. After a pumping trailside circuit, we went over to the central boulders. Here you will find low to highball, easy to very difficult, and mostly clean landings. To get to the central boulders, walk past the gateway boulders on the main trail. After the dogleg, catch a right. As you approach the wishing well, the biggest of the central boulders, you will see the slash and burn boulder to your right.Here are 6 problems ranging from v1 to v8 with a project waiting to be sent. Walk a little further and head left toward the wishing well. This giant boulder has some really fun lines ranging from v3 to v7. It holds semi-high top outs and and a good low traverse that will pump you up.
Just over from there is Ned’s arête and the tilt boulder. In all there are around 30 problems (v0 – v8 ) at the central boulders.
Click here to see Mike Davis and Josh Odom doing what they do at the wishing well.