Every organization we link to: local tourism offices, the state and federal agencies that manage the land, the nonprofits and clubs that keep access open, and the universities doing the research.
Beauty Mountain
A long band of high-quality Nuttall sandstone on the gorge rim above Fayetteville, with a concentration of classic moderate trad and sport routes and one of the best views from any belay in the East. Historically significant to New River climbing development.
Know before you go
- Check the NRAC access database — ownership on the rim is a patchwork
- Approach is short from the parking area
- Autumn friction is dramatically better than summer
What you can do here
Sport lines share the same rim band of Nuttall sandstone as the trad routes, and the crag holds a concentration of classic moderates. Autumn friction is dramatically better than summer, which matters on rock this featured. The approach from the parking area is short. Ownership along the rim is a patchwork, so check the NRAC access database before you commit to a day here.
Local organizations
Much of New River climbing development ran through this band of rock, and the classic moderate trad here is part of why. Belays on the gorge rim give one of the best views in the East. Plan for fall if you want friction; summer is the weak season. Rim ownership is a patchwork, so the NRAC database is what to check first.
Local organizations
Belay ledges on the gorge rim above Fayetteville look straight out over the drainage, and that is the frame — climbers on sandstone with the gorge behind them. A short walk from the parking area means you can carry a real kit in. Autumn light and autumn color arrive together. Confirm access through the NRAC database, since rim ownership is a patchwork.
Local organizations
Outdoor Photography across West Virginia →Guides, gear and lodging near Beauty Mountain
Place-level placement for operators within range of this trailhead, put-in or crag.
List your business hereNearby in the New River Gorge
New River Gorge Bridge
A 3,030-foot steel arch carrying US 19 some 876 feet above the New River — for decades the longest single-span arch bridge in the world, and still the image most people carry of West Virginia.
Endless Wall Trail
A 2.4-mile point-to-point trail along the gorge rim through hemlock and rhododendron, crossing Fern Creek on a footbridge and reaching Diamond Point, an exposed rock outcrop with a view up the gorge to the bridge.
Long Point Trail
About 3.2 miles round trip on mostly level old roadbed to a rock promontory below the rim, which provides the most-photographed view of the New River Gorge Bridge.
Grandview
1,400 feet above a horseshoe bend in the New, with a seven-mile view up the gorge — the widest perspective anywhere in the park.
Sandstone Falls
The largest waterfall on the New River — not tall, but 1,500 feet wide, spilling across the full breadth of the river between islands at the point where the gorge begins to open.
Kaymoor Miners Trail
A steep descent from the gorge rim to the ruins of the Kaymoor One coal mine and processing plant, including 821 wooden steps down the former haulage incline.
West Virginia has roughly 1.5 million acres of public land and a handful of places that carry almost all of the attention. The consequence is that a great deal of very good ground sits nearly empty, usually for one of three reasons: nobody has heard of it, the road in is gated or rough, or it is undeveloped and has nothing to advertise. Those are the places below — of them across regions.