North Carolina · Rock climbing · Westfield

Center Buttress

Center Buttress in North Carolina has 6 trad climbing routes with 2 distinct difficulty grades.

6 routes

5.5 – 5.9

Trad

Best time to visit Center Buttress

Best months: March–June and August–November. Best months have typical highs of 55–85 °F, lows of 30 °F or warmer (32 °F where the station doesn't record snow), at most one snowy day and no more than 12 wet days.

Jan
48° / 29°
8 wet
Feb
52° / 30°
8 wet
Mar
59° / 36°
9 wet
Apr
70° / 44°
9 wet
May
76° / 55°
11 wet
Jun
84° / 63°
10 wet
Jul
87° / 68°
11 wet
Aug
85° / 66°
10 wet
Sep
79° / 59°
9 wet
Oct
70° / 47°
9 wet
Nov
60° / 36°
8 wet
Dec
51° / 31°
9 wet

Typical high / low (°F) and days with rain or snow, 1991–2020. Measured at Danbury, NC, 6.4 mi away at 1,019 ft. The station sits about 1,300 ft lower than this place, so expect it a little cooler here. This station doesn't record snowfall. Source: NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020.

Center Buttress is a climbing area in western North Carolina, about 1.7 miles from the town of Moores Springs. It sits among a cluster of other climbing spots, with Circus Wall, Central Wall and Sentinel Buttress Boulderfield all within about a tenth of a mile. The name suggests a wall of rock, and the area is known for its trad routes on the buttress itself. The climbing here is all trad, and the routes run from about 5.5 to 5.9 on the YDS scale. Sentinel Buttress, the oldest route at the crag, was first climbed by Robert Mosely and M. Davis in 1963. Great Escape, at 5.9, is the hardest of the six routes listed, and its first ascent was made by Greg Demeter in the early 1980s. Spring and fall are the most comfortable times to climb. Typical averages from a nearby weather station in Danbury put October highs around 70°F with lows near 47°F, and April is similar at about 70°F by day and 44°F at night. That station sits roughly 1,300 feet lower than the buttress, so temperatures up high run cooler. For a change of pace, the Moores Wall Loop Trail and Torys Den Trail are both about 0.8 miles away. Paddlers can head to the Little Yadkin River, about 8 miles off.