Laurel Knob with Derek

 June 20, 2025

I drove up to Highlands, picked up Derek from his hotel, and we made our way to Laurel Knob. We were a bit concerned that it might be too wet to climb, so we were pleased when we arrived to find that most of the climbs were dry. This was only my second time making the hike out to this incredible cliff, and the first one had been a (soggy) bust. We were surprised on the hike out there at the condition of the trail - it doesn't seem like that many people are traveling on this trail these days, and we found ourselves nearly bushwacking on a few occasions.

Our plan was to climb the original Groover line. Derek had been trying to talk me into climbing this for years, and the day had finally arrived when his schedule, mine, and the weather all came together at the same time to make it a possibility.

Groover (5.8+) - We swung leads. I led the first pitch, stopping at the tree at the top. This gave me an opportunity to get my lead-head dialed in for slab climbing, not a style I get to explore very often nor one with which I feel entirely comfortable. I looked around for a set of bolts that Derek told me should be just a bit higher, but I couldn't find them. So, I anchored to the tree and brought him up. My biggest issue here was the ants which kept trying to crawl onto my legs - they have taken up residence in the tree roots. Derek led P2, moving right of the tree into a left-facing corner/crack and up to the main Groover feature. I led P3, following the crack/corner on my left as it arched gradually up and to the right. Over the bulge, I climbed a few more feet before building an anchor under the shadow of the wall on the left. Derek came up, we swapped gear, and he moved up another 20-30 feet to place a high (#4?) piece, clipping it into one of the two (double) ropes we were climbing with. This enabled him to be on toprope for beginning of P4, a downclimb and traverse over the to right, a somewhat dicey sequence following a quartz dike around the corner, down a slope, across one water groove, and up into another water groove before finally finding some decent gear. I led P5 and it sure did push me. There was water running down the groove between my legs the entire time, which meant that no matter how much I wanted to get my legs directly beneath my center of gravity, instead they were always stemming out on tenuous smears and vertical edges at the mouth of the water groove. I was very pleased to find three bolts on this pitch, because it would have felt nearly suicidal without them. Gradually making my way up, making small, careful movements with only friction to hold my feet on the wall in many places, I passed all three bolts and made the crux move. I had reached the thank-God finger pockets and was preparing to readjust my stance and just a bit higher when my foot slipped and I took a tumble. What a disappointment! No clean send today. But at least I wasn't hurt. I got back up, placed two cams in a shallow horizontal crack on the right, and continued on to the tree at the top. Derek led the final pitch and pulled me up to a pair of bolts.

Kenton negotiating P5

We spent a good bit of time trying to decide where we were supposed to descend from here. We thought maybe we were supposed to hike out right to find a different set of bolts, but we were unable to find them. So, Derek made a rappel with a large pendulum to the right to the Forbidden Fruit anchors/belay. I had thought it would be relatively straightforward to continue the rappel from here, but I was mistaken. I made the rap and found the next station relatively easily on the right. Derek went next. But on the fourth rappel I was supposed to bypass the first set of anchors I saw (Forbidden Fruit P4 anchors) and stop at the second set. Well, I only saw one set of anchors. After messing around for a while trying to get back up to these anchors on rappel (and worrying about all the scraping of the rap ropes against the rocks while I was doing this), I ended up tying myself into a single bolt below, and Derek came down. He rigged the rappel 30 feet above me and went down, thinking he would make it to the tree ledge. Well, he passed by the next set of anchors (only about 120 feet below) but didn't make it to the tree ledge. So, we were in reversed roles - he anchored himself to some cams on a ledge, I rappelled down to the rings he had skipped and rigged another rappel there. After a few more shenanigans, we realized that the ropes from here were finally reaching all the way to the base of the climb, and we made it down.

Then there was the final hike out. I had not realized how much downhill we had done on the way in, so I was not so happy to find myself hiking back up again with tired, sore, legs nearly to the top of the Knob. I was seriously dehydrated at this point and losing energy. Getting back to the car, we started driving to Derek's hotel when my entire body cramped up from exercise and dehydration! I found myself pulling over in a parking lot, jumping out of the car, and writhing on the ground while Derek went looking for salt tabs for me to chew on. With the cramps subsiding, I was able to drive back to Atlanta, but I ended up drinking almost a gallon of Gatorade on the drive before my system felt it had enough fluid and electrolytes. Lesson learned: even in the shade, I need more than 2 L of water on a hotter day, and even when the humidity is high. 

Eating salt tabs and waiting for full-body cramps to subside