West Virginia Climbing

Mike Willams's Second Edition New River Gorge Guidebooks

A complete resource for routes in the New River, Meadow River and Summersville/Gauley areas.

Tim Toula's Rock and Road;s=books&qid=1180104188&sr=1-1

Provides comphrensive directions to get you pretty close to most all of the climbing areas in the state. Most of his advice for classics and locations to visit is still true even though this book is badly outdated.

Rick Thompson's New River Rock;s=books&qid=1180104289&sr=1-1

Most of the Information is good, and most climbers that have been climbing here for awhile use this guidebook, although it does not have the most current information, and doesn't include al the areas that Steve Cater's newest guidebook does. The upside to RT's book is that his route descriptions are better and he includes FAs and route history.

Steve Cater's New River Gorge, Meadow River and Summersville Lake Rock Climbers' Guidebook;s=books&qid=1180104427&sr=1-1

This is the most up-to-date climber's guide out there for the NRG, Summersville, and Meadow River areas. Cater doesn't always know how to count bolts(I know he doesn't personally do it) and he doesn't include much (if any) history or FAs. He does include more than RT's book, and the directions to get places are better. The maps and topos are awesome!

Eric Horst's Rock Climbing Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland

It's better than nothing and if you are familiar with this style of book, then you should know what to expect. Some areas are included, some maps, some directions, but not all you want. Better for WV than the Rock and Road but not as good as others.

O'Brien and Weinmann's Seneca:The Climber's Guide, 4th Edition;keywords=seneca+rocks+climbing+guide+book&qid=1684528419&sprefix=seneca+r%2Caps%2C163&sr=8-3

Newest and most comprehensive guidebook for Seneca (published 2021).

FR Robinson's Seneca Rocks: A Climber's Guide

An older guidebook, most of the projects described have been done, but most of the classsics are listed within.

Franklin Guidebook.

Doesn't exist outside of Eric Horst's book, his descriptions, and topos are less than acurate. Try the above listed online guidebook.

Mike Gray's Reed's Creek Guidebook

Complete guide with maps and route photos. A physical copy of Gray's guide to climbing in Smokehole Canyon is hard to come by, but it's quick and easy to find and use on Rakkup.

Gray and Johnson's Long Branch and Guide Walls Guidebook

Complete guide with maps and route photos. This second of two books on Smokehole Canyon climbing is hard to find in print but easily available on Rakkup.

Cheat Canyon Rock by Andrew Leich https://cheatcanyonrockclimbs.com/

A very comprehensive guide to roped climbing in Coopers Rock and the Cheat Canyon Region of Northern West Virginia. 

Cheat Canyon Bouldering Volume I: Coopers Rock by Andrew Leich

The first comprehensive bouldering guidebook to Coopers Rock, featuring 2,500 problems with photos and detailed maps of what used to be a confusing array of boulder fields.

Remember to never underestimate the importance of having a local along with you if you come to visit. A local might be able to save you many hours of wasted approach time/climbing bad-routes time. Don't be scared by the locals, ask one to come with ya' for a day, it'll help you get the most bang for your time.