Red River Gorge/ Seneca Rocks: April 17-26, 2009

(Borrowed from Dean's blog: www.deanlords.blogspot.com)

Packing 1

Packing 2

Post red-eye in Columbus, OH; pre drive to the Red.

Looking like hell after the red eye. Recommendation: Don't take 5 sleeping pills in one dose.

"That John Denver's full of shit, man!"

Dean arrives at the Red River Gorge for his first time ever.

Dean on a four-star .12a at Bob Marley Crag.

Just another day in Paradise.

Jon Starr is a very special friend.

Dean is trying to get attention. Nathan preps food at Lago Linda's.

Nathan rodeo clips at the Bob Marley Crag.

Sadly we leave the Red.

Rest day as we arrive at Seneca. These are my tips.

Other tips.

Camping at one of Yokum's campgrounds, Seneca, West Virginia.

View from hotel at Seneca Rocks. 

Freaking beautiful.

Escorted to a cool Via Ferrata by the owner of CMI.

Neat-o bridge along the neat-o via ferrata outside of Franklin, WV.

Trying to get some bonus vertigo on the bridge.

Naffin walking the bridge.

Dean-o getting ready for the next day.

The freaking Vansion and the Machine arrive.

Bacon and tofu. will the universe explode?

Silly lizzard. Wrong continent.

Will Mayo, Chris Goplerud, and Nathan Smith.

Brian.

Naturally, we found the sport cave at Seneca.

Last supper at Seneca.

...because Utah's OK after all.

THE LAST FEW WEEKS have brought rocks of different sizes in Utah and the Arizona Strip... so not too much to report; I'll keep it brief. 

Two weekends ago my friend, Dan, suggested that we head to the St

George area... despite having steadfastly declared that I would spend the weekend nailed to my taxes, we rallied down and spent a day checking out Phalanx of Will, a night checking out Chuckawalla Wall, and a second day (and second session) freezing in shade, wind, and 43-degree temps at Cathedral/ Wailing Wall. (A guy there had a thermometer.)

Last weekend (Apr 8-12), my friend Ian came into SL

C and we went down to Joe's Valley- the only place within driving distance with a decent forecast. Thurs/ Fri were thuper-nice; we met up with Dean Lords and his friend, Heather. Sun was rocking as well; we "rolled deep" with a glorious crew from SLC including Mike, Cheryl, Nathan, Brett, and Zac. Saturday snowed, but it was warm in Momentum. 

Thursday night Dean Lords and I take the straight-up red eye to Columbus, Ohio f

or two days at the Red and eight in West Virginia. 

Why don't I live in Kentucky?

AFTER 10 DAYS at the Red, nearly half of which were snow and atmosphere/rock-saturating rain and humidity, I returned to Utah not at all ready to be back... snow, rain, work. You know. "Life". 

So after a few days of withdrawl (depression, dragging my feet, rocking back and forth in my chair, browsing images.google.com), my friend Will Mayo and I started email vollying. Will had had an excellent point: if I wanted to be back at the Red, why didn't I fly back? 

Well, Will- that's a good freaking question. 

So a flight was booked with Continental Airlines from SLC to LEX March 27-30. Passanger Christine Balaz.

I returned with over-the-top-psych and adolescent giddiness. Will and Peter picked me up at LEX... even did the grocery shopping. I brought only one light carry-on bag, borrowed sleeping gear, and shared draws, rope, cookware. 

We had three great days together. Weather-wise,  it was beautiful the first and last day- bad for a day in the middle- but perfect for jogging through the woods in rain gear to check out different crags. 

Anyway. I'm going back to the Red on the 17th for just two days before

 heading to out on some other eastern adventures... and possibly again next weekend, but I'm trying to avoid giving into such obsessive-compulsive behavior. We'll see. 

The Red is RAD!

I HAVE BEEN HEARING about the Red River Gorge for quite some time. A super-fun sport climbing gold mine with wicked hard sandstone, wicked steep overhangs, and 2,000,000,000,000,000 routes (including some great trad lines).
I've also been quite aware for some time now that, in all of my years of climbing, I'd never taken a trip by myself. I've driven by myself to meet friends, but I've never gone somewhere expecting to know no one. (Though I was prepared to go by myself to Spain last December, my friend Jon purchased a ticket to come with me about 45 hours prior to departure.) Given this, I've been feeling pretty lame and codependent about this- in the same way I'd felt lame and codependent before I could lead climb. Or read.

So, during the week of March 12ish, while all of my friends were headed south to sunny and beautiful Indian Creek, I was packing my bags to fly to the probably colder and rainier Red River Gorge... by myself. I went on good faith, trustingly placing myself in the hands of the greater climbing community.

My (now) friend, Andrew, (then friend-of-a-friend-of-a-.....) agreed to pick me up in Louisville and put me in the hands of his friend, Joel, who would then drive me to the Red, climb with me for a few days, and leave me for the week while he went back to work. Both of these guys were willing to do this purely out of good will. Thanks to them, I was able to fly solo, borrow their camping gear, crash at Miguel's, and climb my little forearms out without ever having to rent a car, pack a tent, or anything of the like.

In the end, it worked out nearly exactly as I'd hoped. Though Spring Break '09 clogged Miguel's with chillness, Nalgene bottles, bongo drums, helmets, and crappy acoustic versions of crappy-crap Ben Harper, I still enjoyed the hell out of the scene and met some individuals independent of the 15-passenger-outing-club-van scene. (Also met some cool people from within that scene, to be perfectly honest.)

Andrew and Joel became solid friends, both of whom I got to climb with twice. I also got to hang out with Andrew's son, who was way into protecting us with his light saber at the crag. I met lots of locals, all settled in for the season, just as the Indian Creek crew beds down in the desert. (Jealous!) I also got to hang out with two guys, Ian and Josh, who were good enough to give me a lift to the Motherlode one day, and with whom I spent more than one evening with a box of wine, hiding from the rain.

All told, it was a great trip. The first four (of 10) days were pretty brutal, weather-wise. Inches of snow on the ground the first day. Super-saturating rain each of the next three days --to the point where nothing was climbable, even the most steep and protected overhangs. Days 5-10 were beautiful, but I spent them battling gravity for lack of proper warm-up days on the early end of the trip. My camera also broke (lens malfunction), but I still got some photos from early in the trip. But I ended up going night climbing three times in order to try to replace some of the rainy days. 
But anyway. Apparently it was so much fun, that I'm going back again this weekend for three more days. Whoops!

Revival!

I've spent the last few months puttering around the corners of the southwest desert, pulling on lots of holds, dipping my hands and feet into a few cracks... Nothing remarkable, really. Just passing the winter, spending three days a week generating Vitamin D and eating Vitamin I. 

Now, my students are on spring break and, though I could barely resist a bikini-and-hair-gel vacation to Cancun, I'm headed to the Red River Gorge for 10+ days.

A very gracious friend-of-a-friend is finishing his day's work, and is coming to pick me up in just a few hours.

Meanwhile, I sit and marvel at the majesty of an airport angel-stallion. Stunning. 

Fly you blessed beast, fly.