New River Gorge Update

Well, I've been at the New for almost a week, now. I spent the first two days sitting in the rain. Well, actually, it mostly cleared up in the afternoons both days. Regardless, though, there weren't any climbers around that I could find.


This is Rain Shelter 2.0, now with Water Resistance!

I spent some time hiking around, looking at climbs, and generally checking out the area.

It's a little hard to tell what is going on here (there was no way to get a good angle to photograph it from without being able to fly...), but it appears that this tree fell over and hit an overhanging sheet of rock, which had previously formed a sort of cave, or rock shelter, knocking it backwards and exposing the dirt and roots underneath. I was just amazed by this sight. It really gave me an appreciation for the massiveness of the tree and the sheer power of the force that knocked it over. I only wish I could have captured it better to share with you.

This is the New River Gorge Bridge, the world's second largest single-arch bridge, and second highest vehicular bridge (perhaps number one in one or both categories in the U.S.). One day a year, they close the bridge to vehicular traffic and people BASE jump off it and stuff (Bridge Day).

Thursday evening (the first nice day I was at the New), I drove by Bridge Buttress, and, lo and behold, there were actually people climbing! I stopped to talk to them and they offered to let me climb with them, so I took them up on it, of course. Laura, Karen, Kristen, and Jay (who, it turns out, is j_ung of rockclimbing.com...he writes reviews and articles for them, and was running the site for a while) were super-friendly and I had a great time climbing with them. I managed to get four climbs in despite not starting until 5:30 or so.
This is Bridge Buttress. The crack up the middle of the face is Zag (5.8 trad), and the arete on the right is Angel's Arete (5.10b trad).

Friday, I climbed with a guy I met through rockclimbing.com, Matt. Matt had only top-rope climbed before, so I taught him to lead climb and lead belay. He was a quick study and did a good job...though I didn't test his belay too thoroughly.... My only fall on him was deliberate, and he was expecting it. Still, I felt safe with him, and will climb with him again if I get the chance. We climbed at an area called Bubba City which has a lot of moderate bolted routes. Unfortunately, I failed to get any photos while we were out. It's hard to get pictures in a group of two...one climber and one belayer means no photographer....

Saturday, I climbed with Jay and his friend, Bryce, who was in town from North Carolina. We ended up climbing at Bubba City again, but I got to get on some different climbs from the day before, at least. In the course of the day, we saw a baby copperhead, and two black snakes...one of them in the crack I was about to hand jam in! I saw him just before sticking my hand in the crack and hand to change plans and do a long reach to the next pod where I could get a jam. Good thing that hold wasn't critical!

Here is Bryce belaying Jay on Cerveza Verde (5.8), which is one of the climbs I did on Friday.

Sunday, I climbed with Jay, Bryce, and Jay's wife, Wendy, at Fern Butttress, in the Star Trek Wall and Orchard Buttress areas until Wendy aggravated a shoulder injury, and she and Jay headed home. Bryce and I got a couple more climbs in before calling it a day.

Here is Wendy near the top of Transporter Crack (5.6 trad) at Star Trek Wall.

Route List for 4/23-26:

• Zag (5.8 trad) (TR clean...well, technically, I hung to remove a stuck cam, but I would have gotten it clean!)
• Angels Arete (5.10b trad) (TR)
• Butterbeans (5.10a trad) (TR clean)
• Chockstone (5.9 trad) (TR clean)
• Near Beer (5.6) (Onsight)
• Cerveza Verde (5.8) (Onsight)
• Gilded Otter (5.7) (Onsight)
• Daisy Cutter (5.7) (Onsight)
• Wunderkind (5.6) (Onsight)
• Beer Wench (5.8) (1 Take...the start was pumpy!)
• Werewolf (5.10a Mixed) (TR)
• Peanut Bubba And Jam (5.8 Trad) (Onsight)
• Transporter Crack (5.6 Trad) (TR clean)
• Crack of the Klingons (5.6 Trad) (TR clean)
• Hysteria (5.8 Trad) (Onsight)
• A Wild Hair (5.6 Trad) (Onsight)
• Beech, Beech, Beeeech! (5.6 Trad) (Onsight)
  

Out with the old, in with The New!

OK, I changed my plans a little and left North Carolina yesterday to head to the New River Gorge in West Virginia. I decided I didn't feel like making the 3.5 hour drive back to Table Rock, especially considering that the weather there looked to be a little spotty...chilly, with non-negligible chances of rain.

On the other hand, it was almost certain to be rainy today, here, but I kind of liked the idea of another rest day, anyway. It looks to be cold and rainy again tomorrow, so I think yet another day off is in my future. Maybe I can actually get my fingertips mostly healed!

I guess that's it for now. I think maybe I'll do some hiking, tomorrow....

More NC Cimbing

I spent all day Monday and Tuesday morning hiding out from the rain in Brevard. I did a little shopping and spent a lot of time hanging out at a coffee shop with free wi-fi.


This is my awesome, but mostly ineffective rain shelter. Who would have thought that my old tent groundsheet was water permeable?

Tuesday afternoon, the rain cleared up and the sun came out and it was beautiful! I hiked up to Looking Glass Rock to see how wet the rock was. To my surprise, it was almost entirely dry! It hadn't rained too heavily and I guess the wind and sun of the afternoon dried the slabs out quite quickly.

This is the really unique looking face of Looking Glass. The eyebrow formations are quite bizarre. They are mostly slopey, but often make good foot-holds and sometimes have cracks that will take gear and occasionally even a hand jam, or a lip on the top that is a good undercling. Mostly, though, it is friction climbing. Slabtastic.

Since the rock looked dry, Kent came to Brevard on Wednesday, and we climbed Sundial Crack at Looking Glass. I was pretty scared leading the first pitch, even though it was supposed to be only 5.5. Route finding is rather interesting here. There isn't a really clear line. You just have to look around and figure out where you might be able to get gear, and where the holds (kind of a mis-nomer since you are rarely able to hold onto anything...) look best, and climb in that general direction. I didn't do such a great job on the first pitch and ended up with some pretty long runouts...and every move is delicate.
Here is a view up the second pitch, I believe.

The third pitch starts up the name-sake crack (really a water groove, I believe). It was my lead again and I was thrilled to have a crack to climb. Finally, something familiar! The crack was somewhat flaring in places, but took some good hand jams, and some fantastic foot jams. It's a shame it only lasted 30 feet. After that, it was back to the slab. By this time, I was feeling more comfortable on the slab, and did a better job of finding gear placements. I felt much stronger on this pitch.

Kent led the last easy pitch to top-out.
Here I am at the top. It was a beuatiful, sunny day, but a little bit windy, and cold until the sun came over the top of the rock.

Wednesday night, we drove to Shortoff Mountain, in Linnville Gorge, and camped there for the night. Thursday, we climbed Paradise Alley (5.8+) at Shortoff. I forgot to take my camera on the route, and, therefore, didn't get any pictures, but the first pitch of that climb may be one of my all time favorite pitches. It was absolutely stellar climbing. The climb tackled a steep, juggy start, then pulled up onto a ledge, from which it followed easier dihedral climbing to another ledge under a steep, pretty clean face, with a more featured face on the left side. The crack in the dihedral was mostly thin hands with some great pods for hand jams. I mostly lay-backed, using good feet on the left wall, resting on bomber hand jams, and occasionally stemming out to good feet on the right face. Several times I thought about calling for a take (resting on the rope), but each time I pushed through it and, shortly, found a good rest. It was some of the most fun I've ever had climbing...and that's saying something! The next three pitches were less exciting, but still fun...a blocky dihedral followed by a couple of slightly steep, juggy faces.

Thursday evening, Kent headed out to go visit some family for the weekend, and I drove up towards Table Rock, and slept in my car at a trailhead parking lot. Friday, I drove into Linville Falls, checked out the falls (a 0.4 mile hike from the parking lot), which were not really all that impressive, and got my mail. I had had Melissa send me some stuff general delivery, and was pleased to find that it had arrived. After that, I drove to Winson-Salem, did a little grocery shopping, and hung out at a coffee shop journaling for a while, then drove up to Hanging Rock State Park, home of Moore's Wall, and ended up paying way too much to camp in the state park campground.

Saturday, I met up with Jeff Dillon, who I had met through rockclimbing.com, his daughter, Phoebe, and some friends of his, Kristie and Heath, plus a friend of a friend of his, Jonathon, and climbed at Moore's Wall. We climbed at a small crag above the Amphitheater area. I don't know the names of any of the routes. I led a fun 5.8, and TR'd a couple of 10's.

Here is Kristie, pulling through the initial, not very 5.8-looking moves of the 5.8. Very fun moves!
And this is Jonathon trying to pull through the crux of one of the 10's (the harder of the two).

After that, Jonathon and I went down to the Circus Wall and climbed Zoo View (5.7+), one of the area classics. A 5.5 first pitch leads to a belay at a large ledge. You then traverse left, past a bolt, to a crack system, getting some magnificent exposure, then climb up to a huge, super intimidating roof, which you pull through on giant, juggy horizontals. Truly a great climb.

Here is a view from the first belay.

We finished up and got back to the car with the sun going down, and headed into Winston-Salem for dinner and some well-deserved beers.

After dinner, I drove to Chapel Hill, to visit my friends Jae and Tracy. Today, the three of us went for a hike in a nearby state park. I'm going to sleep here again tonight, then, tomorrow I will head back to Table Rock to climb with Kent on Tuesday. Thursday, I plan to head on to the New River Gorge in West Virginia. Should be fun!

Route List for 4/15-18:

• Sundial Crack (4 pitches, 5.8) (Onsight pitches 1 and 3, followed pitches 2 and 4).
• Paradise Alley (4 pitches, 5.8+) (Onsight pitches 1 and 3, followed pitches 2 and 4).
• Unknown 5.8 (Onsight)
• Unknown 5.10a (TR clean)
• Unknown 5.10 (TR)
• Zoo View (2 pitches, 5.7+) (Onsight pitch 1 (5.5), followed pitch 2)
  

First taste of NC

Well, my first taste of this trip anyway. I climbed in Linville Gorge with Eric, Bobbi, and Bev a couple years ago and had a great time. So far, I've climbed at two areas I hadn't been to before and had a great time at both.

But, before I get into that, I promised some pictures from my last couple days at the Red.

Jason belaying Jana on Fuzzy Undercling (5.11a). A strong lead! I was tired at the end of the day and didn't get much past the first bolt on TR.


The beautiful dihedral of Cheaper Than a Movie (5.8). Cool route, with some pretty strenuous laybacking, but great rests.

So Friday, I drove to Asheville, did some laundry, and camped out in the Wal-Mart parking lot. I was surprised but he number of RV's, vans, etc. camped out there. There must be a whole sub-culture there I didn't know about. Anyway, Saturday, I drove to Chimney Rock, and met Kent to climb at Rumbling Bald. We did three routes at Cereal Buttress, then went to the Comatose area, but most stuff there was wet. We ended up top-roping a 5.11a slab route that I'm not sure of the name of. It was fun and I felt pretty good on it, despite a couple falls. I took about a 10 foot lead fall on Frosted Flake at Cereal Buttress. The route ascends easy climbing to a roof, which you traverse out, then goes up a flake with a 3" or so crack. I pulled around the roof into a layback, moved up a few feet and got a piece in, moved above my piece a ways, and my left foot spit out. Oops. :-) It was a good, clean fall, and I got right back on it, and finished it out. Fun climb!

Here are some pictures from Fruit Loops (5.7, also at Cereal Buttress, if you couldn't guess).


Looking down the first pitch.


Looking up the second pitch chimney.


Looking out from the top at Lake Lure (I think).



A waterfall in the distance (near Chimney Rock, I think).

Apparently, Dirty Dancing and Last of The Mohicans (I think) were shot in this area....

Anyway, Saturday night we drove to Laurel Knob. Kent had never climbed there before, but wanted too. We drove up the steep, twisting mountain roads and got to the trailhead camping area well after dark. Kent set up his tent, and we both grabbed some food and hit the sack, preparing for an early rise in the morning, since the approach can take 1.5-2 hours, and the climbs are long.

Our objective was Groover, a 6 pitch, ~900' 5.8. We knew there was another party that was going to be on it, and they left 20-30 minutes ahead of us. When we got there, they were still leading the first pitch, and moving pretty slowly. Kent led the first pitch, and then we sat for a long time at the belay. After the other party started leading the third pitch, I started the second. I finished it, establish a belay and waited about 20 minutes before the other party's leader finished the next pitch. This had to change if we were to have any chance of hiking out in daylight. I talked to them and they agreed to let us pass at the third pitch belay. I led the third pitch and shared the other party's anchor, brought Kent up and led out on the 4th pitch. Of course, after asking to pass the other party, I had to make a fiasco of it. You climb up high and get a piece, then down climb to where you can cross a water groove (running with water), then climb over to another water groove, which you climb up. Crossing one of the water grooves, I lost my balance and took a little fall. I was basically on TR off of the high piece, but there were several feet of slack out that Kent had not taken up. Anyway, it was no big deal, and was easy to get back on, but I felt stupid. Then, I climbed to wrong water groove (because it had a crack with gear, which seemed like a good idea to me, since my last piece was like 30 or 40 feet away). I started up it and got a few pieces in before Will yelled to me that I was going the wrong way. So, I had to down-climb and traverse (with no pro) back to the correct water groove. It was easy climbing, but the gear was extremely sparse. I missed the belay ledge and climbed to the end of the rope, then had to down-climb to a decent stance. All this after we had passed the other team. Boy, did I feel like a dufus. Oh well. They didn't seem to mind. I finally set a belay and brought Kent up. I was a little flustered, but he was very positive and was not bothered with what I considered to be a poor performance on the pitch. So, that made me feel better. I took the next pitch, which continued up a crack system then traversed across a slab to a bolted belay. It had some runout and committing sections, but wasn't too bad. I also led the final pitch, which was quite a fright-fest. I traversed a slab to a water groove, which I worked up a bit, getting one questionable piece in (20-30 feet out of the belay), then continued up the groove, finding no gear. Before long there was a sopping wet section that I didn't want to try to pull through unprotected (and with one questionable piece far below me), so I pulled out of the groove, onto the face, and looked for gear potential. I saw something I thought would take a #3 Camelot and climbed toward it. It was flaring garbage. I placed a #3 with 2 lobes making good contact, and two completely tipped out, because it was that or nothing, then continued up to a crack that took a bomber number 4. What a relief! Gear I could trust! No more fear of a 100 foot factor 2 whipper (if neither of my pieces held, which seemed likely)! Yikes. More poorly protected slab climbing led me back to the water groove and easy, but runout climbing to the anchors. Wow. I was done and lived. Awesome. Six miserable raps, with the rope inevitably falling down groove after groove running with torrents of water, getting completely soaked, got us back to the ground. There's nothing like rapping on a soaked rope with your rappel device wringing cold water onto your groin. At least it was a warm, sunny day. I got back to camp as final light was fading. Kent was about 20 minutes behind me. I made chicken stew for dinner and Kent was grateful. Hot food and cold beer. Yum. Checked the weather and forecast was for 70% chance of rain over night, and 80% chance today, and cold, with highs in the 40's. They were also calling for a 50% chance of rain, Tuesday. Kent decided to head back to Charlotte, and plan to meet up with me again Wednesday, when it is supposed to be nice again. I need the rest anyway. My fingertips are shredded from over-gripping on sharp granite. What a great adventure.

Here are some pics.

The first pitch goes to the tree. It's further than it looks. The tree is huge.

The second and third pitch follow the crack system behind the tree. The fourth pitch goes around the corner at the top right (I think).

Looking down from my second pitch belay at two members of the other party (of three) at their second pitch belay, and, in the distance, Kent, at the first bitch belay.

Kent coming up the water groove of the final pitch.

That last pitch made my hair stand on end. Kent, you could have told me my hair looked like that, and I would have put my helmet back on for the picture. :-)

Route List for 4/11-12:

• Fruit Loops (2 pitch 5.7 Trad) (Onsight)
• Granola (5.8+ Trad) (Onsight)
• Frosted Flake (5.9+ Trad) (Led with one fall)
• Unknown 5.11a bolted route in Comatose area (TR)
• Groover, Fischesser Finish (6 pitch, ~900' 5.8R Trad) (Followed pitch 1, Led pitches 2-6)
  

On the road again...

I'm heading to North Carolina tomorrow to meet Kent, who I met through rockclimbing.com and plan to climb with for the next week or so. We plan to climb at Rumbling Bald Saturday, because it should be dry there after the rain tomorrow, and go from there.

I've climbed the past two days with Jana and Jason, from Philadelphia, and had a great time. We climbed at Left Flank and Military Wall yesterday, and at Chica Bonita Wall in the PMRP, today. I have some pictures, but left my camera in the car, so I'll post up later.

Route List for April 8-9:

• Fast Food Christians (5.10a) (Led with one take)
• Maypop (5.11a) (TR)
• Brother Stair (5.9) (Pinkpoint)
• Sunshine (5.9+) (Hangdog)
• Cheaper Than a Movie (5.8 Trad) (Onsight)
• Brown Eyed Girl (5.10a) (Pinkpoint)
• Be My Yoko Ono (5.8 Trad) (Redpoint)
  

Round 2 at the Red

Wow! More great climbing at the Red. Only one full day off out of the last 9 is wearing on me though, so I'm resting today and tomorrow, at least. I'm not sure yet, if I will stay here tomorrow or head out. I think I'm going to head toward Atlanta, soon, and try to find a partner for Talulah Gorge.

So, last Thursday, I climbed with a woman named Ann, who was also here without a partner. We went with a couple of other guys to Torrent Falls. We climbed a couple 5.8 sport routes and a 5.9+ sport route, then I wanted to go look at a 5.9 trad route at the end of the crag. When we got all the way down there, this is what I saw...

The overhanging dihedral scared me a bit, but I figured since we had walked so far to get to it, I should give it a try. I got up it, but it wasn't pretty.

This is Ann squeezed under the roof on the first ledge. You have to pull up on big jugs then mantle onto the overhanging ledge. It took me a few tries, and backing up my protection under the ledge before I convinced myself to pull it. Heel hooking out right helped a lot too. In case you are wondering, the rope looks screwy because Ann came off and I had to use the other side of the rope to help her get back on because she swung out to far from the rock. When, I did, the belayer side of the rope clipped itself into the carabiner on one of my cams. No harm done. Just looks weird.

Here, Ann is in the dihedral. Things got easier there, as the right wall is pretty featured, and you could get an occasional hand jam. You can also see the short chimney at the finish. A really cool route. I'd like to go back and red-point it some time.

Bev and Jeff got in around 5:00 Friday morning. It rained all morning, so we went into Stanton for some groceries. By the time we got back, it had stopped raining and warmed up some, so we went to Global Village to try to get some climbing in. We ended up doing 5 routes before dark. Not bad!

When we got back to Miguel's, Eric was waiting for us. A short while later, Jeff's friends Jeff and Meredith showed up. Saturday, we climbed at Muir Valley.


Eric at the start of Tradisfaction (5.10a Trad).

Me top-roping Tradisfaction with a good view of the whole route.

Me on the crux layback section at the top.

A pretty waterfall.

Sunday, Jeff and Meredith left and the rest of us went to Long Wall, because I wanted to lead Autumn (5.9- Trad).
Me at the start of Autumn.


Me on lead.

Finishing up the route. I was so psyched to get this clean!

Bev was so excited for me, she almost got out of her hammock. Almost. :-)

Bev belaying Eric on Autumn.

Eric doing the crux overhanging hand crack the hard way (it's much easier to use feet on the left face) and making it look easy.

Jeff leading on Mailbox (5.8 trad), with the fat crack of Yuk (5.9 offwidth) in the background.

Eric and I put up a top-rope on Yuk and thrashed on it after Jeff and Bev left. Offwidth is hard! Eric figured out the technique and was able to thrash his way up it, with periodic hangs. I got the technique, but couldn't sustain it for long, and ended up giving up and jugging through about 10 or 15 feet of the offwidth, until I got to the squeeze chimney at the top. I could do that.

It started raining last night, and still is sprinkling off and on. It was around 70 degrees yesterday and is 39 today. Apparently, Missouri isn't the only state with crazily fluctuating weather. Eric left this morning, with the prospects of climbing pretty slim and unappealing. I think tomorrow, it is supposed to be colder, and, possibly, snow. Good thing I was planning on a couple of rest days anyway. Now, I just have to figure out what to do with the rest of my week.... Do I stay here, or move on. I think I'm ready to move on. I need to try to get some leads on partners for Talulah Gorge, though. I did talk to one former Atlanta resident who suggested that I go to a gym in Atlanta called Wallcrawlers. He said the people there were friendly and I should be able to find someone to climb outside with. I'd like to find someone online before I leave here, but, failing that, I'll hit up the gym and see what I can come up with.

Route List for April 2-5:

• Cordelia (5.8) (Onsight)
• Dream Of A Bee (5.8) (Onsight)
• Wadcutter (5.9+) (Hangdog)
• Retroflex (5.9 Trad) (Hangdog)
• Father And Son (5.7 Trad) (Onsight)
• Vision (5.7 Trad) (Onsight)
• Kentucky Pinstripe (5.10a) (Lead with one take)
• Jake Flake (5.8 Trad) (Onsight)
• Loosen Up (5.10b) (TR clean)
• Tradisfaction (5.10a Trad) (TR)
• ED (5.7 Trad) (Onsight)
• Scrumblglazer (5.10c) (TR)
• Cruisin' For A Bruisin (5.10c) (TR)
• Autumn (5.9- Trad) (Redpoint)
• Mailbox (5.8 Trad) (TR clean)
• Yuk (5.9 Offwidth Trad) (TR flail)
  

Welcome to Ol' Kentuck...

Well, I've been at the Red River Gorge for six days now. I've had 4 great days of climbing and a relaxing rest day, met some great people, and, tomorrow night, I have 3 great friends coming to visit me. Awesome.

This is Miguel's, my home right now. In the back, there's a huge tent city of climbers. In the parking lot, I'm probably one of at least a dozen people sleeping in cars. It can be a crazy party on the weekend, but the great thing is it's almost all people with at least one common interest: climbing.

Friday, I hiked around, and messed around on this awesome boulder. I love this boulder on so many levels...you look at it up close and it is fascinating and beautiful rock. You look at it from a distance and it is a fun, pocketed face to climb on. The bottom was easy (think 5.5), but the top-out moves were committing. I didn't want to break an ankle, so I didn't try them.

I forgot to bring my camera Saturday. One of the guys I coimbed with is supposed to send me some pictures. Hopefully, he will.

This is Mr. Bungle, a kind of fun 5.8 bolted route up the arete, and one of the two climbs I did (and the only one I led) on Sunday (a cold, wet, ugly day).

This is Mike and Dillon, two of the guys I climbed with Saturday and Sunday.

This is me on To Defy The Laws Of Tradition (5.10a), the other route I climbed on Sunday.


This is just cool. :-) I love the rock here. It's fascinating to look at as well as too climb.

Monday was a lovely, warm, sunny day, and I climbed with some really great folks from Michigan.
This is Five Finger Discount, a cool 5.8 trad route that Doug and I led (Grace's head in the corner).

We did a few other climbs at Roadside Crag, and a couple of climbs at Emerald City.

Tuesday, I went to Bruise Brothers Wall at Muir Valley with Doug's friend Matt and a couple friends of his. I forgot my camera again. I also regretted not bringing my trad rack as there were a couple decent looking trad routes I missed out on. Oh well, I had fun anyway, despite the constant threat of rain all day. At least it never quite materialized.

Today was a rest day. I drove to Winchester for shopping and oil change fun.

Now to see if I can find someone to climb with tomorrow. If not, I'll have a full weekend with Eric, Jeff, and Bev visiting anyway.....

Route List For Saturday - Tuesday:

• Slow Jack (5.7 Trad) (Onsight)
• Norway On My Mind (5.8) (TR clean)
• Broken Chicken Wing (5.9 trad) (TR clean)
• On The Prowl (5.10a) (TR clean)
• Greenhorn (5.11a) (TR)
• Mr. Bungle (5.8) (Onsight)
• To Defy The Laws Of Tradition (5.10a) (TR)
• Crazyfingers (5.10c) (TR)
• AWOL (5.10a) (TR)
• Five Finger Discount (5.8 Trad) (Onsight)
• Motha (5.6 Trad) (Onsight on all tri-cams!)
• Yellow Brick Road (5.11b) (TR)
• The Shining (5.8+ Trad) (TR clean)
• Little Viper (5.10a) (TR clean)
• Critters On The Cliff (5.11a, but not really...) (TR clean)
• Rat Stew (5.10a) (TR clean)
• Workin' for the Weekend (5.10c, but not really....) (TR clean)
• Send Me On My Way (5.9-, but maybe more 8ish) (Onsight)
• Rising (5.11a) (TR)