By Stuart Cowles
Looking around the Asheville area, one can take in a wide spectrum of distinctly unique features in every direction. To the north, one can see the wide spans of the Appalachian ridgeline. Looking east, in the Black Mountains, you’ll find the highest peaks on the east coast. To the west, we are shadowed during the evenings by the Appalachian Mountain Range with Mt. Pisgah imprinting our sunsets.
At first glance, the southern vista seems less impressive. If one looks a bit harder, however, it is possible to see some unique features that in many ways add to the grandeur of this region. Peppered within the ridgelines are a plethora of impressive rock outcroppings and rock faces. This diversity of spectacular rock—and the climbing opportunities it offers—was one of the features that first drew me to this region and it has been the magnet that has kept me here for the last 23 years. These cliff lines—such as Rumbling Bald, Looking Glass Rock, Cedar Rock and so many more—have drawn climbers here from all over the world for more than 50 years.
Having exploded in popularity over the past couple of decades, rock climbing is now a mainstream sport. The introduction of rock climbing gyms in the 1990s and 2000s (Asheville’s own Climbmax Climbing opened in 1994) have helped make this sport accessible in every state and in just about every midsized town in America. Kids as young as three can don a pair of climbing shoes and begin what may grow into a lifelong passion for this adventurous sport.
What’s so fun about rock climbing? Perhaps it is the life-entrusting partnerships that develop when two people are tied to one another on a rock face 400 feet off of the ground. Maybe it is because rock climbing requires body movements that are delicate, cognitive, and powerful. It could be the required trust in one’s equipment—and ultimately in one’s personal abilities.
Climbing equipment has been improving and refined over the years, allowing a more manageable way to protect the ascending climber. Ropes are engineered to be stronger, lighter, and easier to manage, instilling in climbers high confidence and trust. With the introduction and continual improvement of “sticky rubber” several years ago, rock climbing shoes now perform at a level that is mind-boggling, allowing one to stand up on a feature of rock no larger than the size of a dime.
There are as many styles of climbing as there are different types of rocks to climb. One can simply boulder, a sport of powerful, unroped climbing traditionally performed not far off the ground. There is also roped climbing, where a climber connects the rope to protective gear placed either as one advances (traditional climbing), or to gear previously affixed to the rock (sport climbing). Both methods provide a means of protection in the event of a fall from greater heights.
The movements one must make while climbing—the body tensioning and positioning, the spreading out of one’s weight for balance, the dead hangs one does to conserve energy—are all learned and practiced skills. The skills required to actually “lead-climb” (that’s the person who goes up first and places gear on the rock face) are more delicately learned and take time … sometimes a lifetime to hone and master.
If you want to prepare for what might be your next big outside adventure, indoor climbing gyms make it easy to try this sport on for size. This environment allows you to practice movement, take some basic instruction, and become familiar with the gear. This may be as far as you’ll want to venture into the vertical world. For some of us, however, the temptations of having the wind blow through our hair, garnering a bird’s-eye view of the world, and slowly and steadily creeping up a vertical wall like a gecko, are just too much to pass up.
Even if you’re a beginner, it’s easy to try climbing outdoors this spring thanks to several guide services that operate in Western North Carolina, including Climbmax Mountain Guides (climbmaxnc.com) and Fox Mountain Guides (foxmountainguides.com). Each offers full-service guiding programs where anyone interested in taking a step into the vertical world can do so with little or no experience. Stuart Cowles is the owner of ClimbMax and is an Appalachian Trail thru-hiker. (Photos courtesy of Stuart Cowles)
