Access Fund and Lookout Mountain Conservancy are pleased to announce the opening of a new bouldering area right in the heart of Chattanooga. The Boulders on Old Wauhatchie Pike offer quality problems at all grades, right at the base of Lookout Mountain. The boulders are the closest climbing to downtown and boast super easy access, making them a great place to go after work or with a family.

Access Fund approached the landowner, Lookout Mountain Conservancy (LMC), in 2015 with an idea to build out trails and infrastructure and open the boulders to climbing. After a few years of relationship building and proposal development, the LMC approved the project and gave the go-ahead for the Access Fund-Jeep Conservation Team to begin building out sustainable landing zones and trails.

Thanks to a generous grant from the Lyndhurst Foundation, the Access Fund-Jeep Conservation Team has been working alongside LMC’s Howard School interns, Southeastern Climbers Coalition, and hundreds of other volunteers to prepare the new bouldering area for climbing. They planned and built key landing areas and trails to ensure long-term bouldering access and sustainability.

The Conservation Team purchased several tons of local sandstone and, using high line techniques and brute force, constructed a stone wall that will last the test of time. The team moved more than 300 rocks, many weighing more 250 lbs each, in a tetris fashion to create beautiful dry stone stacked walls and staircases. Behind these walls lay another several tons of back fill to bring the steep slopes to more level bases, giving climbers an easily padded and safe landing area.

This initial “soft opening” officially opens five boulders, including The Slide, Bulge, Turtle, Edge, and the impressive Cliffhanger boulder. Access Fund is still working to build out infrastructure around twenty more boulders as part of our Chattanooga Climbing Conservation Initiative, supported by the Lyndhurst Foundation. As those projects are completed, more boulders will officially open to climbing. Please respect all temporary closures. Work is in progress and more boulders will open soon. Get the lay of this new climbing area by visiting Mountain Project.

A special thanks to the Lyndhurst Foundation, Southeastern Climbers Coalition, LMC and their Howard School interns, and the hundreds of volunteers who helped build trails and landing zones to make this opening possible.