Red river Gorge October 2008
Sunday 12th October
Sport climbing at the roadside
A 06.00 am start was required today, this was an American style climbing trip, Chuck, Marty & I set off on the 6 hr drive East to meet Ken who Despite living in Kentucky had a similar distance to travel as us.
We met up at the campsite, quickly set up tents & dumped gear before shooting off to nearby Roadside for today’s climbing. Just to put people in the Picture the ‘Red’ is a major sandstone climbing venue in the state of Kentucky with over 1500 sport & trad routes. Most are single pitch but many longer routes of all grades are available.
The interesting thing is that many of the venues in this area have been procured by &/or under the management of a climbing group known as the Red River Gorge Climbers Coalition.
http://rrgcc.org/
The first day we visited Roadside, great for a short day, it has a mixture of sport & Trad. Routes done, Motha 5.6, Jump for Joy 5.9+, Fadda 5.10a, 5 finger discount 5.9, Kampsight 5.9+ After climbing we adjourned to Miquels Pizza & then had a camp fire back at the site.
Monday 13th October
Walk into Eagle Point Buttress
Today’s venue was Eagle Point Buttress an area none of the team had been to, it started with a 40 min walk along a lovely river, the tress were magnificent in the autumn colours. The first route was Foxfire a 5 pitch heavily starred 5.7, this was superb & took us to the top of the crag, the descent options were long walk or rap, so we rapped a 200ft almost totally free rap, awesome.
Climbing on Firefox 5.7
After that the day went downhill a bit, Chuck & I decided to suss out the rest of the crag while Ken & Marty did Day Dreaming a 5.9+ dihedral.Our tour of the crag turned into a bushwack & we decided that the only decent climbing was near where the other two were so we went & joined them.
All of did Day Dreaming then decided to set up a top rope on a serious looking 5.10b, even getting to the top was wacky as we had to traverse out of 'DD' to get there on very loose ground.
Routes done Firefox 5.7 (5 pitchs), Day Dreaming 5.9+ & Pussy Whipped 5.10b.
Tonight’s evening meal was at a buffet place all you can eat for $10.00 and believe me Americans can eat a lot.
Mega 200ft free rappel that only just reached the ground
Tuesday 14th October
After a less than successful day of exploration we decided to go for a safe bet, an area Ken & Marty knew well. It’s called Fortress Wall, it was all trad & after a dodgy start on a so called 5***** 5.7 (2 pitchs) it got good, superb climbing & Chuck excelled today.
Climbs done Party Time (2 pitch) 5.7, Bombs Burting 5.8, Blue Runner 5.9+, Where Lizards Dare 5.10b, Snake, 5.9, Serpent, 5.10b.
We also bumped into another couple of like minded players, Rik & Scott, we all adjourned to Miguels pizza place for eats & good crack, damn good crack.
Chuck leading the very exposed Where Lizards dare-a bit of a sandbag at 5.9+
Wednesday 15th Oct
The last day and only half a days climbing, so we went to another dead cert called Lady Slipper/Global Village another mixed trad/sport venue. Superb climbing then we had to disappear by 12.00
Routes done Kentucky Pinstripe 5.10a, Vision, 5.7, Father & Son 5.7, Loosen up 5.10b.
We packed up sharpish & went for lunch in another buffet joint, even better than the first place & not for the faint hearted it’s no wonder Americans are so big, I have never seen as much food in my life.
Big thanks to Ken, Marty & Chuck for making this trip possible, hope to see you all again soon.
wow, looks tremendous. And warm!!!
Wish I was there, looks very like some of the Aussie crags in the Blue Mts.