BFCV2  (5/22/10)

It happened again!  A smidge smaller than V1, the crew was able to takle the more advanced portions of the New River Gorge.  Day one sent the entire crew to Bubba City to takle such classics as Geisha Girl (5.8) and Kinesthetica (5.10c).  Having to overcome the largest climbing crowd in recorded history, everyone managed at least two if not three climbs before everyone moved on.  Next stop was Junkyard Wall.  Big up to Natalie Sayre for flashing Reachers of Habit (5.11b) because for everyone who doesnt know, Natalie is 3 inches taller than 5 feet and that climb will jump at least one grade if your not pushin 5'8"!!!  Morgan McCrea sent the runout ultra classic Team Jesus (5.10a). 

Next day the crew climbed at Endless Wall in the realm of the Prowess.  Props to Morgan for leading the incredible Biohazard (5.10a).  A few of us attempted Freaky Stylee (5.12a) too no success.  That top move is impossible so if you have beta then our ears are open.  Morgan and myself climbed the Prowess...sooooo goood!  Finally, once again, Natalie FLASHED the uber classic Stim O' Stam...good work girl!

The last day was cut short but not before a few good routes were put up.  Here's a shot of McCrea on the first route established at the New River Gorge, Zag (5.8)

Redneck Hoopla  (5/15/10)

Im going to reserve my own words regarding this weekend and allow Chris Olson to attempt the impossible feat of retelling to Story of Hoopla.

Frank Sells Firewood.  Slade, KY

Speak Muse, Of a man long suffering, gifted in the arts of speech, craft and trade...Wait wait wait, thats not right.

   Jon, Kyle and I had just pulled into the parking lot of the shop/house/shack after a hard day of projecting futuristic lines (read as looking for dry routes) in The Red. The house/shop was of equal size to shack that was nailed to one side, by that I mean roughly equal to the size of a van. We were here on a mission to find firewood and countless yokels had advised us that the man we needed to talk to about this was Frank. We exited the vehicle and out he came in all his glory. Frank was covered from head to toe in Carhartt coveralls that were made for a man twice his size; he appeared to be approximately 140 years old, he had lived those years hard too.

Then Frank spoke, with a voice like a whiskey soaked beagle baying, and asked what we wanted as he brandished his wrench at us. Jon plucked up the courage to address this MAN and inquired about firewood. Frank responded that for $10 we could have that wheel-barrow full of wood. Since we were only in Slade for one night a wheel-barrow full seemed like over kill so we asked for half a wheel-barrow load for $5. This is where Frank showed his shrewd mind, he responded that it would still be $10 but we could leave some here at his shack if we wanted. We put our heads together and debated the issue and decided in these tough economic times that getting half the wood for double the price seemed ill advised. Frank took our $10 and we began to load the wood into the car while he disappeared. When that was done we called out our goodbyes to Frank only for him to shout back that we could comeback anytime and he could fix my 2009 Honda because " you know me I'm just here playing with my tooooools". There were many things that were troubling about this. First it seemed unlikely Frank knew what a Honda was and less so how to fix a broken one. Second we did not know Frank, and in fact had met him approximately 7 minutes previously. We most certainly did not want to bother him while he was playin with his tools.


Thus ended our interaction with Frank, but we were all changed by his unbridled american spirit.

Acadia National Park, Bar Harbour, Maine

Lindsey Dieffenbaugher on the famous "Sea Stack"  Otter Cliffs

(above)  Carmella on one of the low tide routes.  Lucky for her the hurricane hit three days prior.

(below)  An impressive view on the hike up the beehive.

Mariba Fork!   (1/21/2010)

Mariba Fork is a magical place.  Its the furthest place away from Miguels and requires an approach unlike anything Ive experienced at the Red.  Read the description in Ray Ellington's guide book.  It goes like this,

"Aside from being remote due to the long hike, this area is made even more remote by the drive out of the gorge required to reach it.  The quality of the lines are decent enough to warrent a trip, but the beauty of the area makes it highly recommended.  Mariba has a magical feeling.  On approach, you swear there is no rock in the vicinity then you drop down into a small corridor opening up to a maze of tunnels and caves.  There are more large amphitheaters in Mariba than anywhere else in the gorge."

When we showed up, there was a fresh dusting of snow and the river was frozen.  The place was absolutely beautiful.  Kyle always has a bad case of cabin fever to he snagged the first lead on Laceration.  Here is Chris Olson rapping the route after second lead.

Despite the epic approach (it only took us 20 min from car to laceration) we got some good climbing in.  After Laceration we hit up Reach the Beach.  Guide book says 5.10a R but it felt more like 5.10c safe.  Maybe I did it wrong (thats usually the case.  This route was super splitter for 40 feet.  The best hands Ive felt in the red so far.

Look at that wall! The route was about 80 feet and stopped on the ledge where the center tree is. I bet its only a matter of time before the headwall gets developed. There are some fantasy like chicken heads and buckets up there. The next day was a complete bust. Rain soaked everything. We checked everywhere....the Motherload, Eastern Sky Bridge, Roadside and the Zoo. Have you ever hiked in the red? We you should, there are really good sites such as chimney top and half moon rock. The last day we celebrated the great doc by playing around on Ro Shampo. The route is good. Despite the grade debate, it always warrents a climb. Olson has the beta, give him a call.

The Prowesse

This special route deserves more respect than most routes found along the expanse of endless wall, new river gorge.  Just look at its stunning beauty!  At 5.9 R (R coming through the last 30 feet), 120 feet tall, including a cave start to a gently overhanging buldge traverse and a fanstical slab finishing on a perfect face (PERFECT) this gem is hardly traveled.  Maybe because most people dont see it.  On approach, you walk right below the lip (hence the cave start) and the route bridges both the face shown below to the opposite face.  This is the route from an adjacent buttress.

Sorry for no actual shot of climbing (that would be dif to pull of with just two people).  However I included the next two pics to 1. demonstrate the actual height of the route (check the trees) and 2. conclude just how beautiful the New really is.

Erin enjoying the summit.  Snake buttress on the left.

Big Free Climb  (11/2/2009)

The big free climb was a small idea at first.  Intended to be a simple graduation trip for the autumn climbing class, the club only expected about a dozen or so participants.  After I convinced the climbing class instructors to open the trip up to the entire club, we announced the trip atthebiweekly meeting and BAM!!!! mega huge response.  From day one of planning to when the group left columbus we crested the 50 person mark and eventually topped out at 53 people.

Welcome to the secret area of Nuttall.  A guide area by reputation, the small rock playgroud hosts 12 diffent climbs from 5.3 to 5.10 allowing for a perfect begineer paradise.  Thanks to the moreexperienced club members for dedicating a large portion of their day to set up anchors andsupervise all belays.

A little insider secret, the new has spectacular bouldering.  From the hot spots of Hawks Nest and lower river blocs to the tip top of Beauty Mountain, there are Jungle Esk problems from steep caves and spicy slabs.  Above are two example.  Sick V3 slimp (slope and crimp) crux and a V4 arete.  Thanks ASANA for the great "green" pads.

Enjoying the sunset after day one.  Beauty Mountain Lookout.

Morgan on the scary opening crux of Space something 5.11.  Had to include the shot.

Premier rock climber Sonnie Trotter answering a few questions after giving a presentation on April 23rd.