Where is the mountain, William Shatner?
Heatmaps of the best areas in the U.S. for outdoor rock climbing
On its highest and finest level, whether these tough young guys with their sinewy bodies and their one-meal-a-day routine will admit it, there is a passionate affair going on between the climber and the mountain. Why do I climb the mountain? Because I’m in love.
— William Shatner
Climbing reveals the beauty of life in so many ways. The immovability of the stone demands flexibility and change from the climber to overcome its obstacles. In its best moments, the movement of climbing becomes a flow that exposes the human body’s ability for graceful coordination. And when plunging into the unknown of the adventure, the climber brings back with them more life than they ever began with.
In pursuit of this beauty, we must know where to find the mountain, whether it be the monolithic El Cap or a four foot tall pebble.
Finding the Mountain: Heatmaps
Please remember to leave no trace and respect climbing ethics.
Using outdoor rock climbing data from Mountain Project in conjunction with geographical data provided by the United States Census Bureau, I’ve created several heatmaps that highlight the best areas for climbing in the U.S.
With access to the abundant stone of the Rocky Mountains, it comes as no surprise that Colorado dominates the “All types of climbing” map.
Other locations of notable quality include Utah, Yosemite, Southern California,Wyoming, Southern Nevada, Kentucky, New Hampshire, Arizona, Washington, and West Virginia.
More Heatmaps: More Types of Climbing
We can also build type-specific heatmaps by filtering the data to include only a specific type of climbing (sport, bouldering, trad, aid, alpine, snow, ice, mixed, toprope).
Sport, Bouldering, Trad
The sport, bouldering, and trad heatmaps look reasonably similar to the “All types of climbing” heatmap.
How about some rarer climbing disciplines?
Aid, Alpine, Snow, Ice, Mixed
A few interesting results- Washington is a jackpot of snow climbing while New England boasts cold winters and plentiful ice climbing.
And not to be forgotten,
Toprope
Wisconsin appears to have an above-average concentration of toprope routes.
How are these areas scored?
For each ZIP code in the U.S. (~42,000), we assign a score based on its proximity to each climb in the U.S., each of which is weighted according to the climb’s average rating (zero to four stars) and number of user ratings.
Finally, the scores are plotted on a logarithmic scale to give the geographical visualization a more even distribution of colors.
A formal definition of this score, the project code, and more can be found here.
Conclusion
Hopefully, these visualizations bring you one step closer to your mountain.
