Fifty Places to Rock Climb Before You Die: Climbing Experts Share the World’s Greatest Destinations

Images — *Antonio Carion works Chicks on Horse Pens’ Millipede boulder*.

Alabama

HORSE PENS 40

The mountains of Alabama may not find themselves on too many must-visit lists for sport or trad climbing enthusiasts (though the Appalachians begin in the state’s northeast corner). But its bouldering potential—in the shape of Horse Pens 40—draws die-hard enthusiasts from far and wide.

“I went to Horse Pens the first time in 2005,” Dylan Reingold began. “I heard about the Triple Crown Bouldering Series [which is comprised of three Southern venues known as Horse Pens 40, Hound Ears, and Stone Fort] when I moved up to Jacksonville from Miami; Jacksonville was much closer to climbing venues in the Southeast, so I signed up for the series. I missed the first event at Hound Ears in Boone, North Carolina, but was able to make it to Horse Pens. After visiting a friend in Birmingham, I drove up to Steele, Alabama, with no knowledge about what I was getting into. It was a fantastic day. Much of my bouldering at that point had been indoors, so I struggled at first in the outdoor setting. But I was quickly befriended by some other competitors and climbed with them all day; one of those climbers became one of my best friends. I must have climbed—or attempted to climb—twenty-five problems. I was struggling with V0 problems at first, but eventually finished with several V2s. I loved the crowd, the energy, and the amazing rocks. And to top it all off, I came in second place in the beginner category! Since that visit, I’ve only missed one Triple Crown competition at Horse Pens.”

Horse Pens 40 sits roughly an hour east of Birmingham, atop Chandler Mountain near the town of Steele. The rocks here date back as far as 1.3 billion years ago. Horse Pens takes its curious name from the property’s official filing by its homesteader, John Hyatt, who referenced “the home 40, the farming 40, and the horse pens 40, each tract containing 40 acres of land.” Though Hyatt was the first official homesteader, the sandstone rock formations here have attracted humans for thousands of years. Some Native American peoples—including the Creeks and Cherokees—used the rocks around Horse Pens 40 for ceremonies. In more recent times, the dense array of boulders here has served as a hiding place for Cherokees (during the Trail of Tears forced relocation), Confederate soldiers, moonshiners, and outlaws. These days, Horse Pens primarily draws bluegrass fans for several annual festivals, and boulderers, who flock here during the cooler months to do battle with hundreds of problems, all linked by six miles of trails.

The explosion of interest in bouldering over the past twenty-five years would suggest that it’s a fairly recent discipline, though in truth, it dates back to the late 1800s, when alpine rock climbing emerged as a sport. In its early days, bouldering was considered a way to stay in shape for more “serious” mountain adventures. It gained credibility as a sport unto itself as climbers in France in the 1930s—particularly around Fontainebleau—began tackling harder problems with innovative climbing techniques. Bouldering was further legitimized in the 1950s and ’60s when John Gill began applying the skills he’d learned as a gymnast to increasingly difficult problems. In the early 1990s, when John Sherman developed the “V-scale” for his guidebook on Hueco Tanks in Texas, bouldering began gaining more popularity—and continues to, as evidenced by the many gyms springing up around the world that are devoted solely to bouldering.

There are many qualities that make Horse Pens 40 special—a great number of problems ranging from V0 to V12 to satisfy boulderers of all abilities, a pleasing rural setting, and great camaraderie, especially during the Triple Crown event. For many, it’s Horse Pens’ slopers that make it stand out. “It’s squeeze compression climbing at its best,” Dylan continued. “Take one of the great classics there, Bumboy. It’s about slapping the rock. You can’t dig your hands in. You slap, squeeze, move your body up. Slap, squeeze, and move your body up. There’s a point when you get your hands slapped high enough on the rock that you know you’re going to finish the climb; before that, you don’t feel like you’ve got enough weight over the top. It’s my understanding that Bumboy was once a V5, but since people have done it so much, it’s been downgraded to a V3. There are other classics in the V2 to V4 range. Another that stands out for me is Earth, Wind & Fire. It’s almost a crack climb. There’s one really cool move you need to complete—you need to get your left hand in a feature horizontally so you can do a hand-foot match. That’s the picture most people take. It gets really tall, and you’re never completely comfortable up there. It’s a very exciting finish when you catch the horn.”

Horse Pens 40 is especially well suited to hosting a leg of the Triple Crown of Bouldering, a series of events that was created to raise funds for the Southeastern Climbers Coalition and the Carolina Climbers Coalition, and to provide a showcase for vendors serving the bouldering community. “There’s a camping area where many climbers will pitch their tents, a restaurant, and a pavilion where vendors set up, and they hold the awards ceremony,” Dylan described. “The competitive environment pushes you to climb a bit harder than you might otherwise.”

It must work. In 2018, Dylan Reingold came in second place overall in the “Stonemaster” (age forty-five and over) category.

DYLAN REINGOLD is county attorney for Indian River County in Florida. His climbing adventures have taken him throughout the United States, including Devils Tower, Joshua Tree, Mount Rainier, Yosemite, the Red River Gorge, and the Shawangunks. When he’s not climbing or helping to guide his county forward, Dylan enjoys running, reading, and going on cruises with his wife.

If You Go

▶ Getting There: Steele is about an hour northeast of Birmingham, which is served by most major carriers.

▶ Best Time to Visit: Fall through early spring provides the best climbing conditions; according to Dylan, “the slap and squeeze works best when it’s cooler.” There’s a modest fee for park access (detailed at www.hp40.com).

▶ Level of Difficulty: There’s everything from V0 to V12 here, with a great assemblage of intermediate problems. Pads and shoes are available for rent for beginners.

▶ Guides: No guide services are available in Steele, though Adam Henry’s guidebook Horse Pens 40 Bouldering will point you in the right direction.

▶ Accommodations: Camping is available at Horse Pens 40 (www.hp40.com), and there are several rustic cabins on the property. There are several chain motels in nearby Gadsden.