Route Report: Linn Cove Lullaby, Ship Rock 5.10a
Ship Rock is the crown jewel of rock climbing in the North Carolina’s High Country. No other crag boasts the same concentration of quality routes with easy access and jaw dropping views of the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Ship Rock has a colorful history and climbers are lucky to have access to this crag as its the only area on Grandfather Mountain where climbing is still allowed. That’s a story for another time.
The Linn Cove Lullaby is probably the best climb of the grade at Ship Rock, but its a competitive race with other classics like Harpoon, KB Capers, The Balti Porter, et. al.
The route starts at a small clearing in the bushes and climbs through some steep opening moves to get established. The holds are all good and the difficulty through this section are probably in the 5.7 or 5.8 range. The protection is all natural and mainly consists of small camming units. The placements are straightforward but not plentiful, passing any available placement is not advised.
After this initial opening you encounter a slab of sorts that has to be crossed going to the left. You’ll be aiming for the base of a roof with a distinctive “V” shaped crack. This section is easy enough to cross but the protection is lacking so be sure of your movement in this section. I prefer to keep my hands at the top of the slab and my feet smearing across the footholds lower. Once you gain the base of the “V” shaped roof you’ll be able to get protection again. This is where the climbing gets interesting.
Make moves to step up into the roof getting established in the corner. Once under the roof start moving to the right (going left is the Airlie Gardens, 5.9). As you move to the right the exposure of the route starts to take hold. The slab and the ground below you feels expansive as you are holding on to the smallest holds encountered so far. There are lots of opportunity for small to medium cam placements in this zone and you should be able to find quality protection around every bodylength. Your partner will thank you for remembering them in this traverse.
Sun faded tri-cam that protects the move getting into the P1 belay.
After the traverse the climb goes vertical again. Currently there is a fixed pink tri-cam that protects the final moves of the pitch. Hopefully you remembered to add enough long runners in crucial turns to keep the rope drag down as you pull onto the belay ledge. You’ll be relieved to find a bolted anchor as you relax and take in the spectacular views of the Parkway and namesake Linn Cove Viaduct.
The crux of the route looms above the belay.
Stepping into the second pitch initiates the sequence protected by a new glue-in bolt. The moves are sloped as you reach out towards the holds that give the route its grade. I reach out with my right hand to begin and grab a terrible hold that is kind of a pinch and really has no good way to gain a very secure grip on it. I tension my core and try and keep as much weight on my feet as possible as I wind my left hand around and stretch for the good float hand ledge above my right hand. This hold is very secure but to execute the move you have to fully support your weight with that one hand while the other hand come in to match on the hold. Your feet have to leave the off balance perch where they were positioned and swing to the right, sliding across nothing but a flat wall with no real purchase for them. The matched hands give you enough to pull on that you can smear your feet on the flat wall and pull into a mantle in order to stand up and get through the crux.
The rest of this pitch while steep is likely only in the 5.7 to 5.8 range and deposits you quickly at a pair of bolts at the top of the wall.
This route was completed originally by the dream team of Tommy Howard, Dan Perry , and Lee Carter in the early 80’s. Talking with Tommy about the route he feels very lucky to have been involved on the first ascent. If you want a tick list of classic routes to climb in North Carolina or West Virginia then look up any Tommy Howard first ascent.
I first remember this route flipping through the pages of Climbers Guide to North Carolina. There’s a photo of Thomas Kelly on the sloping holds that mark the crux.
For this route I recommend a 70 meter rope that allows you to rappel from the top anchor all the way to the base of the wall. Watch your ends!! For the rack I would recommend a single rack from TCU’s to 2 Camalot with doubles in the 0.4 to 0.75 camalot size, stoppers and tri-cams.
