General

Summersville Lake is twenty minutes drive north of the New River Gorge and offers  around 150 single pitch sport routes (5.7 to 5.15).  In addition to Summersville, there are another 80 routes of similar climbing at Whippoorwill, although that can only be accessed from October – March when the lake levels are low.

During the summer months, swimming and deep water soloing opportunities exist as well…but don’t fall or jump because cliff jumping is worth a $5000.00 fine

Directions and Parking

Summersville is around 5 Hours from Washington DC.  See these directions.

If you are coming from the New River Gorge things are much easier.  Take US-19 N roughly 20 miles from Fayetteville, WV.  After crossing the obvious bridge over the lake – with views of the cliff line on both sides – turn into the parking lot for “Summersville State Park”. Follow the dirt and gravel road up the hill to the new state park parking lot.

According to Mountainproject:

“As of 2024, there are now signs for Pirate’s Cove Trail from the new parking lot. Follow those signs until you get to a fork – straight is the Pirate’s Cove trail and left is the Climbers Trail to the rest of the crag. Following the Climbers Trail signs will take you down some new stone steps and to the metal staircase.

From the parking lot, follow a wide gravel trail past the gate for 1-2 minutes, when the trail splits at the base of a hill, trend right and up to the top of the hill on a dirt road. Continue along this rocky dirt road down the hill, keeping an eye out for a narrow left exit that descends down over a small creek. If you continue straight instead of left, the trail eventually ends up at Pirate’s Cove, At the left exit, the creek crossing should be nearly visible from the dirt road. Cross the creek and follow the blue flagging tape, trending right at a hairpin turn, and continue along the most beaten footpath.

After following this mostly straight path through the forest for another 5-10 minutes, look for a downhill path on your right at the very end of the obvious sign of foot traffic, dropping through a thicket of rhododendrons. This path leads down new stone steps to another creek crossing and the new metal staircase at the downstream end next to the waterfall. The staircase put you near the DC Memorial Boulder.”

Crag Logistics

There are a number of different cliffs beside Summersville Lake, including the Coliseum (all 5.12m and harder) and the very popular Orange Oswald Wall (5.10s). The majority of the routes are fully bolted but there are a few mixed and trad routes. A stick clip is useful

Guidebooks

Mountainproject has good coverage of the climbing at Summersville.

The most recent guide is New River Rock Vol 2 (2021) by Mike Williams..

Older guides include Steve Cater’s New River Gorge, Meadow River and Summersville Lake Rock Climbers’ Guidebook and Eric Horst’s  Rock Climbing Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland

Shops and Guide Services

Water Stone Outdoors : Excellent shop in Fayetteville, WV.  Quality website with a bunch of local info and many YouTube videos… 

New River Mountain Guides : HQ in Water Stone Outdoors.