Description:
The New River Gorge is a mecca for sport climbers in the eastern US and maybe the whole country. Around 2000 (yes that’s thousand) high quality steep climbs exist.
Most of the climbing is hard. It is not as common to find climbs in the 5.5 to 5.9 range, but if you are wanting to train on the hard stuff, there are plenty of 5.12- 5.13 climbs. Although sport climbing is the king here, there is also some traditional climbing as well as top rope climbing. Bouldering is becoming very popular in the gorge with many problems in the New River Dries area. There are a number of outfitters that offer guided climbing at the New River. Check out the web and book resources below for more detail.
New River Gorge Climbing Guides:
- ACE Adventure Center 304 469-2651
- River Expeditions 800-463-9873
- New River Climbing School 877-696-6809
- New River Mountain Guides 304-574-3872
- The Rivermen 304-574-0515
Stories:
Directions:
The New River Gorge is located in southern WV, near Fayetteville and Beckley, WV. Access to the climbing is on both sides of the highway from Ames Height rd (Google directions below) and Lansing rd (south side of highway 19).
Activities Nearby:
Bicycling, Camping, Fishing, Hiking (NRG/ Fayetteville), Mountain Biking, Rock Climbing (Meadow River), Rock Climbing (Summersville), Sight Seeing, Whitewater (Lower Gauley), Whitewater (Upper Gauley), Whitewater (New River)
Address:
Administrative: PO Box 246, 104 Main Street, Glen Jean, WV 25846
Phone/Email:
304-456-0508 Contact NRG
Web resources:
- Waterstoneoutdoors.com
- National Park Service -- New River Gorge Rock Climbing
- Rockclimbing.com -- New River Gorge
- Mountain Project - New River Gorge
Resources:
Books:
- "New River Gorge Bouldering" - Micah Klinger & Stella Mascari
- “New River Gorge, Meadow River and Summersville Lake” – Steve Cater
- “New River Rock” – Rick Tompson
- “Rock Climbing Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland”- Eric J. Horst