Stone Depot (NC)

Stone Depot was our first multipitch climbing trip. We went there in May of 2023. We had intended to also have a day of guided trad climbing at Table Rock, but it rained that day so we were unable to go (we still had a nice hike around Table Rock). 

We used mountain project exclusively for this trip, which worked out for the most part. The mountain project page for stone depot is well detailed in terms of the approach beta, but does not include all the actual climbs in the area and the route specific information is quite lacking in some areas. The guide book which includes this area is much better detailed for routes, and I'd definitely pick it up if/when we return. 

The approach was a little confusing, but the approach beta on mountain project was pretty good. Nothing too spectacular about the approach other than this little scrambly bit maybe 80% towards the wall. Physically very easy. 

We climbed three routes that day, which we believe were: Turn the Other Cheek, Dave's Delight, and Ruthie's Commitment. Unsure due to the lack of detail on the mountain project route descriptions, and as I am writing this trip report 2 years after the trip. They all climbed basically the same:

The area is "technically sport," in that there are bolts, and luckily all the anchors are bolted. However, the runouts get pretty insane at some points, as in, at least 20 feet or more between bolts. Luckily all the climbing was nice easy slab, and the rock was mostly dry from the rain the day before (although there were some water still running down, of which Colton sat in one at a belay station). 

Mistake 1: because of the less detailed route descriptions, we first got on a route and quickly realized it was definitely not the 5.6 we thought it was (it was one of the unlisted on mountain project but listed in the guide book 5.10 climbs). I quickly realized that this was definitely way to hard to be the 5.6, and decided to bail. That was the first bail-biner I ever left! I hope someone took it as booty and put it to better use than I could have. 

Mistake two: on one of the routes, which I believe was Ruthies Commitment, when I led up the last pitch, I either: got lost and couldn't find the last set of anchors; or couldn't reach the tree anchor because it was too wet. Regardless, it meant I had to downclimb the entire ~60 foot pitch. Of which there were two bolts. Fun! Luckily the downclimbing was not harder than the initial climb, just slightly more terrifying when I cleaned my gear going down. 

There are some gorgeous views of Looking Glass and the Appalachians at the top of all these climbs. Great place to eat a sandwhich as well!

Mistake 3: leaving too late. We had said "we should be starting the hike out no later than 730pm." Here is a picture of us rappelling down from our last climb, at 752pm. Oops. We did get to catch some of the sunset which was nice I guess.

These pictures are from the first half of the hike back. For the second half it was getting pretty dark and we had to use our phone flashlights at points. We were complete fools to not bring any actual sources of light. We also got hung up a tad as we decided to rappel off a tree down the little scramble part of the approach, as none of us really trusted ourselves to downclimb it. Overall though, we didn't die, learned our lesson about lighting for next time, and got to enjoy some nice room temperature leftover pizza in the car.