Little Stony Man

Overview

 
Do not confuse Little Stony Man with Stony Man Mountain or the Little Stony Man route to the summit of Stony Man. Although that route passes over the top of the cliffs on its way to the summit, the Little Stony Man Cliffs are a climbing destination unto themselves. Many people who climb the cliffs also hike to Stony Man’s summit before or after their climbs, but no one climbs these technical cliffs as a way of reaching Stony Man; it just wouldn’t make sense. Little Stony Man is a named feature found on USGS and Shenandoah National Park maps, and, to repeat, it is a climbing object, which is why I have made a separate page for it. If your interest is in hiking Stony Man, please visit the page for that peak. If, however, you’re more interested in the climbing opportunities at the cliffs, stay on this page.

Shenandoah National Park lacks truly challenging mountaintop routes if one is into scrambling or climbing (yet there’s a ton of bushwhacking if that’s your thing), but it has an abundance of sheer cliffs both right off Skyline Drive and deep in the backcountry. It’s no Yosemite Valley or Zion Canyon, but Little Stony Man is one of the most spectacular crags in the park, and the views from the top and, even more so, from the cliffs themselves, are staggering on a clear day. The cliffs are located a short walk from the parking lot and along one of the park’s most popular trails, but a few minutes into climbing them, you will forget the nearby crowds and become totally focused on the task at hand. You will suddenly be worlds away from that crowded parking area and the busy slice of the Appalachian Trail just above you.

From the large parking area at Hughes River Gap and the Stony Man Overlook on Skyline Drive, the cliffs of Little Stony Man are plainly visible. Rising about 100’ from their base, the cliffs offer challenging technical climbs on wonderfully solid rock with a generally good supply of holds, and only Old Rag Mountain has longer routes and better climbing in the park. Both lead climbing and toproping are popular here, but toproping can be a little tricky (see below for more about this). The cliffs offer numerous routes: gullies, chimneys, cracks, buttresses, and overhangs. Just study them from above and below and then decide what you want to attempt.

Currently, there is no comprehensive published guide to the routes at Little Stony Man. However, the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (PATC) offers this excellent guide that you can download. It has extensive information on routes, including photos of them, plus information on history, local ethics, red tape, and issues currently affecting climbing in the park.

Note 1: The authors of the above source have broken the cliffs into separate areas and have named them and the routes. Additionally, they and fellow climbers have rated the routes. Each area now has its own mountain/rock page, and those pages are attached to this one. Because SP arranges attached mountain/rock pages in descending order by elevation, I adjusted the elevation for each crag so that they would list as one sees them from left to right.

Note 2: A book by Jeff Watson called Virginia Climbers Guide does exist and lists dozens of routes in Shenandoah National Park, but due to the facts that I have not read the book and that it has received mostly negative user reviews on Amazon, I have not provided a link for it and cannot credibly recommend it as a useful resource.

Some other things to note:

• Although the rock is a very solid, ancient greenstone and offers plentiful holds and opportunities to place protection, it is in places covered with lichens or moss, making it slippery and, consequently, treacherous. Be forewarned.
• The cliffs face west. A warm afternoon makes for beautiful climbing.
• Strong winds often pummel this spot, and they usually come from the west.
• Timber rattlesnakes live in the park. It’s highly unlikely that they’ll be hanging out in such a heavily used area, but you never know.
• The park is open all year, but winter days can be bitterly cold. There could be unseen icy spots as well, especially in the dark, inset gully described briefly in the next section and in more detail on the attached route page.

Climbing Ethics and Issues Here

The reason toproping can be tricky here is that the best natural anchors, the abundant trees nearby, are on the other side of the trail from the clifftops. Instead of letting webbing, rope, and other gear cross the trail (which would be rude to hikers and dangerous to climbers), you will have to sling boulders and utilize rock protection if you are going to toprope here. There is a plan to install fixed anchors for toproping and rappelling, but it is unclear when that will occur (my most recent visit was in November 2015, and there were not yet any anchors installed).

In recent years, the Park Service has stepped up efforts to protect open rock outcrops and the delicate vegetation there from human-caused degradation. This is likely to result in some area closures around Little Stony Man if those closures have not already gone into effect. See Getting There and Red Tape for more details.

Images

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