West Virginia · Rock climbing · Summersville

Pirate's Cove

Pirate's Cove in West Virginia has 9 climbing routes with 8 difficulty grades, offering sport and trad options.

9 routes
5.9 – 5.13a
Trad · Sport

Best time to visit Pirate's Cove

Best months: April–October. 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.

  1. Jan

    41° / 21°

  2. Feb

    44° / 23°

  3. Mar

    52° / 29°

  4. Apr

    65° / 38°

  5. May

    72° / 48°

  6. Jun

    78° / 57°

  7. Jul

    81° / 61°

  8. Aug

    80° / 59°

  9. Sep

    75° / 53°

  10. Oct

    65° / 41°

  11. Nov

    54° / 32°

  12. Dec

    45° / 26°

Typical high / low (°F) and days with rain or snow, 1991–2020. Measured at Summersville Lake, WV, 2.9 mi away at 1,768 ft. This station doesn't record snowfall. Source: NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020.

Pirate's Cove is a climbing area in West Virginia, set within the Summersville Lake Wildlife Management Area on land managed by the Army Corps of Engineers. It sits among a cluster of climbing spots, with The Coliseum and Gun Wall both about 0.2 miles away and the DC Memorial Boulder at a similar distance. The Climbers Trail is also within a quarter mile. The climbing here runs from trad routes on the easier end to sport routes that reach the 5.13a grade. The area has nine routes in total, with six trad and three sport. The hardest is Black Panther, a 5.13a sport route first climbed by Jimmy Webb, and the easiest is an unnamed 5.9 trad. Indian Summer is a 5.11a trad route, and Mutiny is a 5.11+ sport route first climbed by Doug Cosby in 1991. For timing, late spring and early fall are the most comfortable. Typical averages from the Summersville Lake weather station, about 2.9 miles away, show May highs around 72°F and September highs around 75°F, with July the warmest month at about 81°F. The Gauley River, about half a mile away, offers river fishing. Summersville Lake Shelters, roughly 2.9 miles off, and Battle Run, about 3.6 miles away, are the closest campgrounds.

Routes (9)

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The ColiseumPhoto: Jarek Tuszyński, CC BY-SA 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)

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