The Rumble at Rumbling Bald

OVERVIEW

Hey y’all!

Get excited to Rumble!!!!! Not to be confused with Rocky Top’s Rumble though. Every year the Carolina Climbers Association throws the Rumble, which is a competition they use as a fundraising event to continue to provide access and stewardship to climbing areas in the Carolinas each year. The Rumble is very similar to Hound Ears and Stone Fort. There is a $65 fee because of the registration cost which covers camping costs, dinner on Saturday night, and a sick afterparty.

The way the Rumble works is you try and complete as many climbs as possible in a category, with the highest 10 counting for points. These are beginner/novice from V0-V2, intermediate from V3-V5, advanced from V6-V8, and open is V9+. For ropes you can do up to 5.10a or have any climb count. This means that you can compete no matter what level you climb! And, if you don’t want to even bother with the format of the competition, that’s totally ok! You can just enjoy a fun day of climbing at Rumbling Bald, not a problem. Please note though that if you cannot climb at least V2 at Slaughter or have never climbed outside before, this might not be the trip for you simply because Slaughter grades don’t translate to outdoor grades until V6/V7. That means a V2/V3 indoors is more like a V0 outside. That being said I want to take a range of all climbing abilities.

My hope is that we can take 2-3 cars full of people. We will bring pads which means we need drivers with big cars! I put the time of departure at 3 pm because it’s a ~6-hour drive and from previous experience, you don’t want to roll up to the campground at 11 pm because the event starts early the next morning. That being said, if you have a class conflict, we could definitely arrange to have some people leave later in the day.

Please note that if you do make this trip, you will need to register ASAP and everyone does need to register! That means Monday, 2/7 because I want to make sure everyone can get registered as there may be registration caps. Priority will be given for drivers and also probably for people with crash pads as well as we will want to bring as many as we can fit and I think the ODC only has a few.

Looking forward to rumbling! Link is here: https://carolinaclimbers.org/civicrm/event/info%3Fid%3D270%26reset%3D1

PACKING LIST
What you need to bring:
– Climbing Shoes
– Chalk Bags
– Hand Warmers (optional but you won’t regret it trust me)
– Hat(s)
– Gloves
– WARM CLOTHING (I repeat, DO bring multiple layers that you can shed while climbing and clothing for 2-3 days…I like wearing two layers on the bottom and three on top on cold days)
– Rain Jacket (in the event it rains)
– Sneakers/Hiking Shoes
– Sleeping Bags (warm ones too people)
– Sleeping Bag Liner (if you have it)
– Sleeping Bag Pad
– Toiletries (tbh not sure if they will have showers running but maybe)
– Headlight
– Food (think food for Saturday & Sunday morning breakfast and lunch on Saturday…probably will stop for food on Friday evening and Sunday at lunch but pack extra stuff in case or if you don’t want to pay for food on the road)
– Refillable Water Bottle
– Crash Pads (if you have them)

What I will bring/coordinate:
– Tents
– Cooking stove and things to heat water
– Crash Pads from the ODC
– Brownies from scratch if I have time the week leading up to the trip