UKC

Thinking of a trip to north america next year and wanting to narrow down the potential venues. Our preference is for multi pitch trad up to vs standard. Dont mind a bit of sport climbing up to f5c. Like granite but cant jam, so pure crack climbing out. Happy to do a bit of mountaineering/ scrambling but not keen on early starts so probably not alpine routes. Any suggestions welcome. Thanks

In reply to Removed UserGRUMPY MONKEY:
The weather is more reliable in the SW US and there are more routes in your category. Tuolumne and Red Rocks NV are up with the best anywhere, depending on what time of year you are going. As for routes go on mountain project and select and area and there is a tool which will list classic 5.7 and below (reject any R rated or X rated routes).

In reply to Removed UserGRUMPY MONKEY:

USA without doubt

In reply to Removed UserGRUMPY MONKEY:

I would go for the USA - there is some great climbing in Canada but the best bits are alpine (e.g. Bugaboos) or are vastly better at HVS upwards (e.g. Squamish).

Tuolumne is probably your best bet - a good range of routes up to VS, granite but not exclusively crack climbing, short walk-ins by US standards, good weather, great scenery...

In reply to Removed UserGRUMPY MONKEY:

If you find yourself at Squamish, Diedre is a classic. 7 pitches of easy angle laybacking. Awesome.

In reply to Removed UserGRUMPY MONKEY:


At the risk of sounding like a tool, why don't you just learn to jam? It's fairly straightforward to learn the basics - you'll put more effort into earning the money to fly all the way to North America than you will learning how to climb cracks at least a little before you go.

In reply to seankenny:

You are right i do need to learn to jam as its holding me back. But i dont want to financially commit to a trip where i will struggle to enjoy the climbing.

In reply to Removed UserGRUMPY MONKEY:

You can't be getting the most out of climbing in the UK if you can't jam, at least a little bit?

In reply to Pbob:

Hardly VS though is it?

In reply to GRUMPY MONKEY.

Learn out there. UK jamming classics tend to be a lot more knarly in my experience than the grade translation might lead you to expect. 5.8 on most styles is normally HVS on the big granite routes but 5.8 jamming tends to be VS 4c or VS 5a.

In reply to Offwidth:

I thought so. I've certainly done harder single pitches at VS in the Peak.

In reply to Removed UserGRUMPY MONKEY: Boulder and the rest of Colorado would be very straightforward if you can find reasonably priced accomodation

In reply to Removed UserGRUMPY MONKEY:

We've done exactly what you suggest (VS trad, multi-pitch, bit of sport) in the USA several of the last summers. Our favourite venues were City of Rocks in Idaho, Needles in South Dakota, Tuolomne and Lovers Leap in the Sierra Nevada.... though admittedly we didn't drive between them all in one trip!
All these venues have good cheap campsites to stay on.
We were stuck with holidays in July and August so didn't venture further south where it would probably have been too hot. No Alpine starts were necessary but a few hours siesta was sometimes useful in hotter weather!

In reply to planetmarshall:

Ones that you think are VS and if stacked end to end wouldn't make HVS?

In reply to Andes:

Tuolumne and high sierras was in my thoughts. Maybe have a look at Colorado too. Thanks