On Saturday, March 21, Lookout Mountain Conservancy hosts its seventh-annual Boulderfest: a three-hour enduro-style climbing competition for pros, amateurs and beginners.
Visit lookoutmountainconservancy.org to resister, or use the QR code at right. Boulderfest is held at Rockmont Park on Old Wauhatchie Pike in St. Elmo. Several years ago, interns from The Howard School uncovered 27 boulders - really big boulders - from decades of kudzu. Then, they built a true bouldering park: crashpads, articulated climbing routes, a trail system and maps linking the boulders and nearly 100s of problems, or routes, together.
It’s a really special place.
Maybe we don’t even realize how special.
Our LMC Bouldering Park is one of the largest urban natural bouldering parks in the U.S.
But just how large is large?
Are we actually the biggest urban natural bouldering park in the South?
Or the nation?
We went looking for the answer.
More than 200 bouldering gyms exist in the U.S., according to Climbing Business Journal.
Some, like Vital Climbing Gym in Brooklyn, are large and urban, but not natural. Their boulders weren’t leftover from the Ice Age, but are human-made, designed and artificially created.
Others, like San Fran’s Dogpatch Boulders, are enormously large and urban - covering 20,000 square feet - in the heart of the city. But, it’s not outdoors. It’s indoors.
Our boulders? Natural like a birthday suit. These boulders have been here since the dawn of time, situated and resting exactly where God, and geological time, placed them.
Our bouldering park is large. Fifty acres, 27 boulders. All outside in the freshest air.
The boulders in Buttermilk, California, are a world-class, top-notch climbing destination. But, getting there can be rough, with four-wheel drive often needed.
For LMC’s boulders? You can walk, hike, skip, Uber, drive or run there. Take a moped. Unicycle from Goodman’s. Publix, St. Elmo, the Riverwalk - they’re all outside our door.
We’re definitely urban.
But, are we the largest?
Minutes north of Washington, DC, the Northwest Branch boasts more than 200 bouldering problems. Urban? Mostly. Natural? Yep. Large? Heck, yes. To borrow from MC Hammer: we can’t touch that.
Across the country, in LA, the famous Stoney Point also holds more than 200 routes. Urban? Big? Natural? Yes, yes and yes.
So, maybe we aren’t the largest urban natural bouldering park in the U.S.
But definitely in the South.
Regardless, we are 100% certain of this:
Here in your backyard, Chattanooga, there’s a bouldering park among the nation’s very best.
It’s urban. It’s natural. It’s free. These are private lands stewarded for public use. All the year-round work we do? It’s for you. (See an intern from The Howard School? Say hi. Thank them.) This spring, come visit us and climb. We have a new parking lot and plenty of trail access.
We may not be the largest, but we’re close.
Even better than that?
We’re yours.
David Cook is the Director of Communications and Storytelling for Lookout Mountain Conservancy.
Visit lookoutmountainconservancy.org to resister, or use the QR code at right. Boulderfest is held at Rockmont Park on Old Wauhatchie Pike in St. Elmo. Several years ago, interns from The Howard School uncovered 27 boulders - really big boulders - from decades of kudzu. Then, they built a true bouldering park: crashpads, articulated climbing routes, a trail system and maps linking the boulders and nearly 100s of problems, or routes, together.
It’s a really special place.
Maybe we don’t even realize how special.
Our LMC Bouldering Park is one of the largest urban natural bouldering parks in the U.S.
But just how large is large?
Are we actually the biggest urban natural bouldering park in the South?
Or the nation?
We went looking for the answer.
More than 200 bouldering gyms exist in the U.S., according to Climbing Business Journal.
Some, like Vital Climbing Gym in Brooklyn, are large and urban, but not natural. Their boulders weren’t leftover from the Ice Age, but are human-made, designed and artificially created.
Others, like San Fran’s Dogpatch Boulders, are enormously large and urban - covering 20,000 square feet - in the heart of the city. But, it’s not outdoors. It’s indoors.
Our boulders? Natural like a birthday suit. These boulders have been here since the dawn of time, situated and resting exactly where God, and geological time, placed them.
Our bouldering park is large. Fifty acres, 27 boulders. All outside in the freshest air.
The boulders in Buttermilk, California, are a world-class, top-notch climbing destination. But, getting there can be rough, with four-wheel drive often needed.
For LMC’s boulders? You can walk, hike, skip, Uber, drive or run there. Take a moped. Unicycle from Goodman’s. Publix, St. Elmo, the Riverwalk - they’re all outside our door.
We’re definitely urban.
But, are we the largest?
Minutes north of Washington, DC, the Northwest Branch boasts more than 200 bouldering problems. Urban? Mostly. Natural? Yep. Large? Heck, yes. To borrow from MC Hammer: we can’t touch that.
Across the country, in LA, the famous Stoney Point also holds more than 200 routes. Urban? Big? Natural? Yes, yes and yes.
So, maybe we aren’t the largest urban natural bouldering park in the U.S.
But definitely in the South.
Regardless, we are 100% certain of this:
Here in your backyard, Chattanooga, there’s a bouldering park among the nation’s very best.
It’s urban. It’s natural. It’s free. These are private lands stewarded for public use. All the year-round work we do? It’s for you. (See an intern from The Howard School? Say hi. Thank them.) This spring, come visit us and climb. We have a new parking lot and plenty of trail access.
We may not be the largest, but we’re close.
Even better than that?
We’re yours.
David Cook is the Director of Communications and Storytelling for Lookout Mountain Conservancy.
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