A granite dome in north Georgia, Mount Yonah could fairly be called the state's climbing school. It's a long-time training site for Army Rangers and the scene of many first climbs by beginners.
The history of climbing at Mount Yonah goes back to around 1960, when the Army began using it for basic mountaineering training. A legacy of that period is numbers and colors spray-painted on the Main Face rock to identify routes, along with lots of bolts. The Army still trains at Mount Yonah, but the days of paint and indiscriminate bolting are gone.
In the 70s, non-Army climbers like Chris Hall and Dave Fortner put up harder routes in areas that didn't interest the military. Later FAs were made by Michael Crowder, Jody Jacobs and others in the 90s, not only on the Main Face, but at the White Wall and Middle Wall as well. Crowder has also been instrumental more recently in working with the Army to replace many of the older unsafe bolts at Mount Yonah.
It's hard to categorize Yonah in terms of being a trad or sport area, especially with some of its unique features. For example, the Army Balance Climb area has a cable bolted to the face, starting at the trail and going up and across the tops of the climbs; you can set up topropes simply by climbing the cable (most of these can be led as well). The color-coded Main Face routes are heavily bolted. On the other hand, the "civilian" routes at the right end of the Main Face are either straight trad or mixed, similar to Stone Mountain, NC.
Though it's primarily a single-pitch area, Mount Yonah has a fair assortment of multi-pitch routes. For most routes, a 60-meter rope is plenty, but some of the Balance Climb routes are very long, so you might need two ropes in places. The Main Face is southwest facing, making it unpleasantly hot in the summertime, but other areas such as the Lowers can be shady enough to be tolerable in hot weather. The approach is long and fairly strenuous (an hour or so of uphill hiking), so pack light (a full rack is unnecessary).
Camping is permitted in certain areas; check the parking lot kiosk for details. At the end of the day, the big buffet at West Family Restaurant on Tom Bell Road hits the spot, or you can drive into Helen for more choices.
Don't forget to bring your
Dixie Cragger's Atlas, the only known guidebook for the area. Also, some handy topos and a trail map can be found at
Michael Crowder's website.Mount Yonah is located about 1.5 hours north of Atlanta near the town of Cleveland. From Cleveland, drive north on GA 75 2-3 miles and turn right on Tom Bell Road for a short distance, then left on Chambers Road. Take a left onto a gravel road which will lead to a parking lot at the trailhead. Hike the trail to the first Army LZ, then follow signs to the different areas (Main Face, Lowers, etc.).
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Colorado Springs, CO
travelers rest sc
Mobile, AL
Marietta, GA
Chickens roost, Hobbits Perch are found working up the mountain from this area and then the Gumby Slab is about a hundred yards below the Main Face. There are other areas such as the Saddle Club and several nice routes Jody Jacops and I put up on The Pin Wall which is around from the right end of the Main Face after crossing the saddle between Yonah and Pink Mountain. Will probably trip across the Saddle Club finding it which has a line of short wicked hard overhanging routes jutting out from a short slab. I need to sit down with some aerials and topo maps and help folks find all these routes. There are probably well over 100 routes on Yonah that are not well documented. Much of the bouldering near the parking lot, along the ne4w trail to the Lowers was done long before the land was purchased for the new parking lot along with. Back in the Late 1970s and through the late 1980s States Wing and myself spent a lot of time with topo maps and compasses exploring and sent up hundreds of boulder problems on that side of the mountain. Unless its been done lately there is a boulder problem on "The Boulder' where the Army Rangers rappel on opposite side that only has two ascents. There are also some routes on the tall side of The Boulder that are very strenuous with two unrepeated to my knowledge since their FA. I have a Yonah guidebook roughed out but after doing the ice guide realized the cost and effort for a guide without major interest is a money losing adventure. Eventually hope to at least update this information to my website.
My wife and I flagged and cleared a trail that traversed the mountain from "the Boulder" that hit several boulder fields as it passed The Gumby Slab then continued winding down and across to the Super Crack area passing most of the crags asked about. This was before the residents closed the road that the Army uses. Do not know if any of the flags are still there but we were using the trail fairly regularly for a couple years. Walking up the road to the summit there are a few places you can break left toward the north face of the mountain for some moderate ice climbing in the winter then there is a beautiful ice area just off public land that the residents will call the cops if you try to use their neighborhood to access. There is one area on the north face with three nice rock routes done in two short pitches and one of the three has an "eco-anchor" to belay off of as we didn't have enough big cams to build the belay and protect the second pitch back in the mid 1980s when we were working the area. I have lived about thirty minutes from Yonah entire adult life and before they closed the old road to non residents could run up after work most days and work routes. With the new access its just not as appealing to me but do have a few projects to finish and need to take a GPS up and provide locations for the minor crags. Have literally thousands of images on slides need to scan some day from N.E. GA and Western NC that seems overwhelming. Sep 3, 2022
Sautee Nacoochee, GA
tempestwx.com/station/96169/ Feb 3, 2023