Snacks and climbing
WATCH THE CHEEZITS!
The forecast called for nice weather. Unusual for August in Kentucky. A tropical storm slid up the coast and drug some Canadian air in. Just perfect for two days of climbing. I hooked up with"D" for Saturday and we went with a Chris to a new place he had discovered on the edge of the forest. We piled in his car and took a shortcut across a creek. When the water came up over the hood and hit the windshield, I was seriously concerned it was coming in the doors next. I heard D say "keep going!" Chris gave it some gas and it went right through and up the other side. I was watching the doors but they weren’t leaking any. Amazing, later we found large gravels in the front skirt, where it nosed into the streambed. We took the long way on the trip back.
It would be a casual approach to this crag if it weren’t for the green briars. After a couple hundred feet they started pissing me off. The wall was worth the hike. Bulletproof sandstone, not too tall, but featured and three nice cracks close together with a couple walk downs. I lead a nice easy flake and then a good chimney. Chris had a close encounter with a rattlesnake at the top of it, so I decided to call it Rattlesnake Chimney 5.5/5.6 it’s hard to tell the difficulty. the start is a squeeze that makes it hard to move up. Chris set up a top rope on a beautiful splitter. It still hasn’t been lead. We cleaned it a bit and worked out the moves. We all did a lap or 2 on it and think it's solid 5.9 fists. A good route for sure. We hiked around the wall scoping more routes and called it a day.
Miguel’s was hopping that night. The cops showed up about 4 in the morning and hauled off a couple local squatters that were giving Susan a bad time. I was snoozing in my truck and missed it. They kept a lot of the tent campers up till then and breakfast centered around the goings on.D and I went out to my new favorite obscure trad crag.
It has an easy approach to the top with unbelievable exposure. You can see Small Wall and Hens nest and several other outcropings. It's two raps to get to the base. I rapped down to the alcove and waited for D. When he landed, he says, “There’s a copperhead!" It wasn't 10 feet from where I had been standing. They blend in with the rock and I didn’t see it at all. I had been there 2 other times and not seen one, which makes me wonder. I set up the next rap and landed on a pinnacle half way down. I kicked the rope off the edge and went on down. Then I hear a voice,” Watch the Cheezits!" he says. I am about to land on a box of them and I notice a tent full of young campers back under the pinnacle. I hadn't yelled "rope" and wasn't expecting to see campers at the base. I still don't know how they managed to get there with all their stuff. They said something about a mad scramble. It is a cool spot if not illegal.
The game plan was to do the 5.8 on the other side of the buttress, so we hiked around. I had been here twice with Stacy, but it was damp and I wasn't sure she could get up the crux. It’s 15 feet of sustained overhanging layback. The crack is off fists and hard to get into to place gear, with nothing for feet except the crack. I lead up and hung on my gear twice to rest. It’s two stars and I was loving every minute of it, in spite of the difficulty. My adrenaline was pumping. I got up to a couple ledges with small trees and stopped at the second one. It is inside a chimney big enough for two to stand. It was nice and cool and I was hot. The rock wraps all around you with an offwith size opening. There are three chock stones piled on each other in the back. Above, you can see the flake of the second pitch. It’s just beautiful. D came up and belayed me from the ledge five feet below me, where he could see the next pitch better. It’s easy 5.5 with lots of feet. As soon as you get over the chock stones and out of the chimney you are above the trees and the view is around you. It just doesn’t get much better at Red River Gorge. We topped out and had lunch, took some pictures and rapped back down for some more climbing. The campers were gone. They took their Cheezits with them too.
Jesse New Aug 04
The forecast called for nice weather. Unusual for August in Kentucky. A tropical storm slid up the coast and drug some Canadian air in. Just perfect for two days of climbing. I hooked up with"D" for Saturday and we went with a Chris to a new place he had discovered on the edge of the forest. We piled in his car and took a shortcut across a creek. When the water came up over the hood and hit the windshield, I was seriously concerned it was coming in the doors next. I heard D say "keep going!" Chris gave it some gas and it went right through and up the other side. I was watching the doors but they weren’t leaking any. Amazing, later we found large gravels in the front skirt, where it nosed into the streambed. We took the long way on the trip back.
It would be a casual approach to this crag if it weren’t for the green briars. After a couple hundred feet they started pissing me off. The wall was worth the hike. Bulletproof sandstone, not too tall, but featured and three nice cracks close together with a couple walk downs. I lead a nice easy flake and then a good chimney. Chris had a close encounter with a rattlesnake at the top of it, so I decided to call it Rattlesnake Chimney 5.5/5.6 it’s hard to tell the difficulty. the start is a squeeze that makes it hard to move up. Chris set up a top rope on a beautiful splitter. It still hasn’t been lead. We cleaned it a bit and worked out the moves. We all did a lap or 2 on it and think it's solid 5.9 fists. A good route for sure. We hiked around the wall scoping more routes and called it a day.
Miguel’s was hopping that night. The cops showed up about 4 in the morning and hauled off a couple local squatters that were giving Susan a bad time. I was snoozing in my truck and missed it. They kept a lot of the tent campers up till then and breakfast centered around the goings on.D and I went out to my new favorite obscure trad crag.
It has an easy approach to the top with unbelievable exposure. You can see Small Wall and Hens nest and several other outcropings. It's two raps to get to the base. I rapped down to the alcove and waited for D. When he landed, he says, “There’s a copperhead!" It wasn't 10 feet from where I had been standing. They blend in with the rock and I didn’t see it at all. I had been there 2 other times and not seen one, which makes me wonder. I set up the next rap and landed on a pinnacle half way down. I kicked the rope off the edge and went on down. Then I hear a voice,” Watch the Cheezits!" he says. I am about to land on a box of them and I notice a tent full of young campers back under the pinnacle. I hadn't yelled "rope" and wasn't expecting to see campers at the base. I still don't know how they managed to get there with all their stuff. They said something about a mad scramble. It is a cool spot if not illegal.
The game plan was to do the 5.8 on the other side of the buttress, so we hiked around. I had been here twice with Stacy, but it was damp and I wasn't sure she could get up the crux. It’s 15 feet of sustained overhanging layback. The crack is off fists and hard to get into to place gear, with nothing for feet except the crack. I lead up and hung on my gear twice to rest. It’s two stars and I was loving every minute of it, in spite of the difficulty. My adrenaline was pumping. I got up to a couple ledges with small trees and stopped at the second one. It is inside a chimney big enough for two to stand. It was nice and cool and I was hot. The rock wraps all around you with an offwith size opening. There are three chock stones piled on each other in the back. Above, you can see the flake of the second pitch. It’s just beautiful. D came up and belayed me from the ledge five feet below me, where he could see the next pitch better. It’s easy 5.5 with lots of feet. As soon as you get over the chock stones and out of the chimney you are above the trees and the view is around you. It just doesn’t get much better at Red River Gorge. We topped out and had lunch, took some pictures and rapped back down for some more climbing. The campers were gone. They took their Cheezits with them too.
Jesse New Aug 04
posted by ynot | 10:28 AM
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