A Few Words on High Country Climbing—World-Class!

Rock & Ice magazine named Boone one of the United States’ top ten climbing towns. The NC High Country includes “some of the East Coast’s best climbing,” wrote Rock & Ice. And every October, the High Country is home to an event in the Triple Crown, the country’s biggest bouldering competition.

Whether you’re after multi-pitch ascents of awe-inspiring cliffs, or easy-access bouldering, climbing’s close-to-the-ground cousin, the Boone area has a range of topnotch climbing experiences. On cliff or crag, the High Country boasts a long list of classic East Coast climbs.

The Boone Area is a magnet for accomplished climbers and would-be rock jocks because it’s also easy to learn or improve in the Boone area. Artificial climbing walls have cropped up in many urban areas, and families and teens are adopting the sport. Tackle a Boone area climbing tower—take a lesson, plan a group learning event—call it a climbing party. Then follow a trained and certified guide outside (see below)—Eastern America’s highest mountains ripple away in all directions.

Climbing puts you right in the middle of the High Country’s most expansive views. On Grandfather Mountain’s Rough Ridge, Ship Rock towers 4,000 feet above the Piedmont. The scenery is nowhere wilder than on the cracks and crags of the Linville Gorge Wilderness. The climbs at all these sites are as different from one another as the diverse routes climbers find at the many area bouldering sites, many reached by easy, woodsy walks.

The professional outfitters below have all the gear, guided trips, instruction, and information you'll need to clip into high adventure in the High Country.