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Get a grip! America's 10 best rock climbs
From Yosemite to Sawtooth, the pros pick their top challenging ascents
 | Otherworldly rock formations flank Smith Rock State Park in Smith Rock, Oregon — including the Monkey Face, a 400-foot-tall spire that includes several world-famous routes. Pro climber Sonnie Trotter recommends the East Face route, an extreme 5.13d R—read: expert-level and dangerous—that features a desperate overhanging crack. "The line is flawless," Trotter said. "It's also cool because it continues to get steeper and steeper as you climb." |
Ben Parmeter |
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Hanging by her fingertips, feet splayed on slick stone, Lynn Hill reached high to feel the small holds above her head. Her calves were tight. Forearms arched. A rope trailed from her harness, arcing out over thousands of feet of air below.
It was 1994, and Hill, a legend in her sport, was maxed out high on El Capitan in California's Yosemite Valley, where a sheer 3,000-foot route known as The Nose is widely considered the archetype of all rock climbs on the planet.
Hill clung nearly upside down, gravity's tug taking firm hold on a difficult section dubbed The Great Roof. "It was touch and go there," she said of the overhanging pitch, which juts out from El Capitan's precipitous face. "The holds were very small and insecure."
After a 23-hour push, Hill completed her climb of The Nose that day, becoming the first person—male or female—ever to free climb the route.
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Climbers like Hill—now 46 years old and a resident of Boulder, Colo.—live for harrowing moments on vertical stone, fingers wrenched in a crack, feet oozing off polished walls, mind and body pushed to the limit. Indeed, in the outdoors few activities rival the sheer adventure quotient of a great rock route.
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Take the Casual Route, a climb in Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park, recommended by pro climber Will Gadd of Canmore, Alberta. This 1,000-foot-long rock climb—which took spot No. 3 on our list—follows a series of vertical cracks up 14,259-foot Longs Peak. "It's remote and beautiful, just a stunning line up an impossible-looking face with a fantastic position the whole way," Gadd said.
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Bull's-eye Arts / Shutterstock The Flatirons—the archetypal conglomerate sandstone cliffs that tower over Boulder, Colo.—feature dozens of renowned routes, including the East Face Direct Route. Heading up for nearly 1,000 feet, but rated a moderate 5.6 on the difficulty scale, the East Face Direct Route follows a low-angle line perfect for beginner and intermediate climbers wanting their first taste of multi-pitch, Rocky Mountain High. |
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Sean O.s. Barley / Shutterstock This moderate climb—rated 5.7—has about 15 pitches (rope-lengths) of high-quality climbing on clean, compact granite (Royal Arches is pictured at left; Half Dome is on the right). It reaches 1,500 feet above the valley floor, though its hold-ridden faces and intermediate-level cracks make the route approachable even for newbies. "The terrain is low angle and the rock quality sound," said pro climber Timmy O'Neill. "It is a cardiovascular workout as much as an arm and leg burner, like vertical calisthenics." |
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Trotter's favorite route, an expert's-only crack called East Face of Monkey Face, heads skyward through 140 feet of overhanging terrain.
Its rating—5.13d R—qualifies it not only as extremely difficult, but also extremely dangerous. "I took a monster 60-foot fall during my attempts," said Trotter, whose rope caught him several feet above the ground, escaping unharmed.
Other climbers surveyed—including Jack Tackle, a guide from Victor, Idaho; Timmy O'Neill, a pro climber from Boulder, Colo.; expedition climber Jared Ogden of Durango, Colo.; pro climber Kevin Thaw of Joshua Tree, Calif.; and climbing legend Michael Kennedy of Carbondale, Colo.—picked routes in Oregon, California, Colorado, and Idaho.
The routes, which range from classic beginner climbs to experts-only epics, represent some of the best vertical lines this country has to offer.
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