Mt. Yonah Dihedral Rock climbing route in North Georgia mountains

Kimber and I have been Rock Climbing several times since my previous blog on Rock Climbing in North Georgia at Mt. Yonah.  Mt. Yonah is a great venue for introductory rock climbing but also for extremely challenging and scenic climbing routes. We decided to travel to the North Georgia mountains from our Atlanta bed and breakfast this Sunday morning bright and early. Temps were cool, 21′ in Cleveland, GA., probably several degrees cooler high on the mountain. Following the 3 mile hike from the trail head parking lot to the upper head-wall, we were greeted with the unwelcome sight of Ice. Ouch!

Ice! Ice! Ice!

We scoped out the Dihedral Route at Mt. Yonah to rock climb and since you can’t see much of the route beyond the Dihedral portion, we decided to continue on to the Balance Climb area. Well, no surprise here, it too was iced across most of the routes. Undaunted, I climbed up the cables and set a top rope anchor and thus, let the fun begin! Let’s see…temp about 22 degrees, wind about 10 mph and waiting for the sun to make an appearance (the upper head-wall on Mt. Yonah faces SW…great in Winter..an absolute torture chamber in Summer). Well, after doing a “shall I trust the rubber soles of my climbing shoes” on the cold stone and “where are the small nubbins and tiny ledges” to place her feet, Kimber warmed up to the icy and cold rock and found her rhythm and scampered to the top anchor as hawks circled above the North Georgia rock catching the rising thermals. Yes…it was going to be a great day rock climbing in north Georgia at Mt. Yonah.  All of a sudden, herds of climbers descended all around us and the party was on. As the sun slowly cast its shadows on the valley floor below and the rock warmed from solar radiation, the yells of ICE! ICE! became more prevalent. Oh, the joy of dodging falling ice. Luckily, most projectiles were of the pea to marble size variety…only occasionally would a stalactite missile by our shivering bodies. After doing our Balance Climb route numerous times, we stopped for lunch to view the sideshow in progress immediately to our right. A group of young climbers were getting their first taste of top rope climbing on the Mt. Yonah face. Crawl up, grab any hold with a death grip and glue yourself to the rock. Lowering was even more fun…did I mention the 30 minutes we stood in awe waiting to see if she would ever lean far enough back to put enough weight on the rope to be able to lower her. After much coaxing by her fellow companion on another rope adjacent to her, she succumbed to her inhibitions and finally reached the deck. Whew…now we can eat our thawing lunches.

The Dihedral, Mt. Yonah

All the time, I was watching two climbers to my left on the Dihedral Route on Mt. Yonah.  Although I have climbed this route several times to the top with a walk-off to the start, I have never lead this route. It is a great route, fun and exciting with a reward of a fantastic view! After the initial Dihedral climb portion, you arrive at a wide and lengthy belay ledge with absolute perfect protection opportunities. I placed a #3 BD Camelot and two large hexes, rigged a cordelette and belayed Kimber on up. A nice, by now, watery climb (no ice, thankfully) brought me to two bolts at the base of the exit gully. Unfortunately, the gully is somewhat deep and shaded and, thus, was still icy. I decided it was too risky to attempt to lead climb, so I tied in and belayed Kimber on up. We enjoyed the North Georgia views and some welcome sunshine although the wind had picked up. I lowered Kimber and then cleaned the anchors and rapelled on down. FYI- a 60 meter rope will get you down with about 5 feet to spare from the bolts at the base of the gully.

All in all, a great climb on a great day with a great climbing partner. What more could you ask for???  So, if you’re looking for that next exciting thrill of Rock Climbing in North Georgia at Mt. Yonah, don’t pass up the Mt. Yonah Dihedral Route rated 5.6. It’s fun, guaranteed!

Rapelling the Mt. Yonah Dihedral route

Kimber rock climbing at Mt. Yonah

A few weeks ago, Kimber, a friend and one of our Landscape Designers at the Inn, casually mentioned that she once went rock climbing in North Georgia when she was in her teens and enjoyed it immensely. She indicated that she enjoyed heights and would like to try her hand at rock climbing again. Well, as anyone who has followed our Inn blog before knows from viewing the posts titled “Innkeeper Adventures“, that comment was all it took for me to pop the question, Hey, let’s go climbing on Mt. Yonah soon…shall we?

I armed Kimber with a copy of “Freedom of the Hills” by The Mountaineer’s and marked the appropriate chapters she should become acquainted with prior to our excursion with special emphasis on the chapter dealing with belaying techniques. She did her homework dutifully and stopped by our Atlanta bed and breakfast one day for some low angle belaying and rapelling practice. A trip later to REI produced some rock climbing shoes which she indicated were snug but comfortable. Good sign!

So, recently we left Atlanta at sunrise heading towards Cleveland, in north ga for the 90 mile trip to the trailhead. A pleasant but muggy one hour walk on the trail to the cliff face was a precusor to the hot, humid June summer weather Georgia is renowned for. We found a semi-shaded slab toward the middle of the face where she could practice low angle climbing and footwork as well as my last opportunity to observe her belaying skills. After awhile, she got the knack of the technique of belaying down-pat and I felt more reassured. Later, during my leads, I would look down to see her belay hand held in a death grip on the rope. She obviously took her book reading and instructions seriously!!

Anyway, when it came time for Kimber to climb, I was amazed at her dexterity and natural affinity on the rock. The initial move on one of the first routes normally requires a stemming move with the left foot which I suggested but she just planted the left, smeared, and went on up towards the second bolt. Wow..I was impressed. I have now nicknamed Kimber “The Rock Monkey” as I see many future trips to rock climbing destinations in her future. In fact, just yesterday, she inquired “When are we heading back to Yonah?” My response, as usual, is today if only my boss would let me off work to go rock climbing!!!

Kimber spies a hawk at Mt. Yonah

Starshine route summit, WI4, Whiteside Mountain, Cashiers, NC

Starshine route, WI4, Lower pitch

Starshine route, WI4, Whiteside Mountain

Intermediate pitch, Sam's Knob route, Pisgah National Forest

If you’ve read some of my previous blogs then you know I’m really into alpine climbing and mountaineering in general. Since I’ve gained some experience over the last six years, I decided to up the ante, so to speak, and venture into the realm of more difficult routes. One of my goals for this year is to climb one of the following routes, all of which are in Washington state: Mount Baker North Ridge; Mount Rainier Kautz Glacier or Forbidden Peak West Ridge. All involve some degree of vertical or near vertical ice climbing. Sometimes retreat on mountains is not an option, thus you must fail upwards and achieve the summit. I did not want to find myself stymied on a hard route staring at a vertical pitch asking myself, “so now what do I do?”

I recently bought a matched pair of Black Diamond Venom ice axes from REI Atlanta Georgia. Chomping at the bits and following the rainy and extra cold winter here in the Southeast, I knew the ice in North Carolina would be fat. All I needed to do next was find a good ice climbing instructor near Brevard and the Pisgah National Forest which was my climbing destination. Well, I really lucked out and found Applachian Mountain Institute located in the Pisgah National Forest. After talking several times with the owner, Patrick Weaver, I decided to sign up for a full day of private climbing instruction. We drove deep into the Pisgah Forest to a highway cut on Hwy. 215. What an exciting day…so much to learn. Well, Patrick is a stellar climbing instructor, so much so that several weeks later I decided to treat my best friend, Stefan, for his birthday,  to a climb of Sam’s Knob, a long ice gully route, also located in the Pisgah Forest. This climb was very enjoyable, rated WI3 and had a definite alpine feel to it. Multi-pitched, snow and ice intermixed with ice bulges and near vertical short pitches. We had a blast! As we topped out on the route, Patrick pointed out that we could see the appalachian mountain Blue Ridge Parkway nearby as well as Tennessee and Georgia farther out. As he said that, a falcon flew closely overhead with its’ characteristic schrill screech.

My birthday is in March, so Stefan decided to return the favor and so he contacted Applachian Mountain Institute to arrange a more challenging ice climb in NC. He and Patrick selected “Starshine” a/k/a  ”Sympathy for the Devil” located on Whiteside Mountain near Cashiers (Bottom photo,wider ice to right).  Easily viewable from Hwy. 64, Starshine is a NC favorite WI4 ice climb. Believe me it did not disappoint! At over 200′ height, the lower half is moderate angle while the upper half is near vertical to vertical. We were graced with a cool morning, warm afternoon and bluebird skies. We will return to NC many times next winter to sharpen our skills. Now, I’m not so worried the next time I’m on a big mountain climbing route and encounter vertical ice. Now I say, “GO for it!”

The video below is highly descriptive of the Starshine Route and the climbing philosophy is one with which I agree. Enjoy!

North Carolina Ice Climbing from greg berry on Vimeo.

Starshine route, WI4, Whiteside Mountain

Also, don’t miss visiting the National Elk Refuge just north of Jackson Hole. The arch in the town square is comprised of thousands of elk horns. There is one on each of the 4 corners. You can take a sleigh ride into the refuge and get inside the herd sometimes numbering in the hundreds. More info can be seen at Elk Refuge Sleigh Rides.

I suddenly think a return trip to this magical place is in order!!!

You love the ride to the Mountain…but you hate to leave and ride back!! Yesterday the weather was beautiful, in fact, when I crested the summit, to my suprize, a small wedding ceremony was taking place. Groom and best man in black & white tuxes and bride and attendants in black dresses, in heels, no less. Guess they took the tramn up!?!! But shortly thereafter, I observed them changing into sneakers…walking down, perhaps? Too bad I didn’t take my camera.
Hint: above photo taken last March. I wouldn’t be layered up in Sept.!! PS. The Yellow Daiseys are in full bloom and are everywhere on the Mountain.

Best in Class and Best in Show! That about sums up the photo above. The world’s best Innkeeper and Innkitty. Need I say more? Not!

Well, indeed, the time clock is ticking as indicated on the previous post titled “Second Chance”. Scroll down several posts to view the background info. For those guests following our blog and other interested viewers who have inquired, the mountain in question is Mt. Hood near Portland, OR. Yesterday, my gracious and understanding boss gave me the day off to go play with the boys. And play we did! About 13 miles on the AT in North Georgia from Unicoi Gap to Tray Mt. summit and back to Unicoi Gap. Great day, slightly humid but, thankfully, somewhat overcast so not so hot. Anyway, this was the last conditioning climb prior to attempting Hood again. Weather permitting, we hope to tag the summit so my friends Dad can check off one of three remaining high points left in his personal quest.
PS. The blooming flower is a rhododendron which is very common in North Georgia. As you can see, the blooms are just opening…a hundred feet or more below the summit they had already bloomed and fallen to the ground.

Well, the clock is ticking for a second attempt for the summit of this mountain. My friend, Stefan, (back row, second from right) is accompanying his Dad, (Back row,center) in attempting one of his final peaks of the State Highpoints. Quite an achievement! We were turned back in June several years ago due to high avalanche potential. In fact, a bad accident befell several rope teams which passed us while we took a break at the berschrund. So, we’ll try it again soon! Can you guess which mountain we are on?
Hint: Western US, second most climbed mountain in the world.

Following a long day on the AT, my friend, Lee, and I decided to hike up to Mt. Yonah and check out the climbing routes as he had passed the mountain many times and had always been curious. He was impressed and will return I’m sure.

So, Innkeepers do get out and have fun in the woods. It’s nice to have an understanding Boss!