Leaving Las Fayetteville

Today we are leaving the new, with a few wet days behind us, and heading to the Red River Gorge.  there is threat of rain but we're staying at Land of the Arches where we can sleep indoors and get hot showers for 5 bucks a night.  Pretty awesome set up.  the crags at the red are overhanging so we should be able to clip bolts regardless of the weather.

We went to summersville lake on Wednesday, with hopes to get on some classics but the clouds took a dump on us and we ended up only getting to lead a 5.7 warmup. It was a total bummer.  Luckily chris showed us narcissist and went for the lead, it was a crazy overhanging 12a in a massive ampitheater.  he got really close to the send but ended up missing a dead point move.  After he clipped the anchors Eric and Jeff tried their hand on it on top rope, both getting to the crux.  I was inspired and a little scared but i roped up and gave it a try, and ended up fighting the pump with three falls and clipping the chains.  It was awesome, I was stoked to get on my first 12 and get to the anchors.

Its the dude man Jeff here. So we were expecting sun Thursday morning along with some sweet sport to climb. Instead we woke to fog and wet rock. We decided to head to the cave to work the V5 roof problem, perfect test for my new kicks, heel hook city ya dig. So I worked it in four sections got all my beta and gave it a real go. First attempt got sloppy in the middle and wasted too much time and energy. Second attempt was probably the best I've felt on a boulder, I was cruising strong and fluent, went for a jug but landed just short on a sloper, tried to pull up a heel and slipped off. There were five pads on the ground and I missed all of them. I dropped like a sack-o-sand, landing on the rocky floor left forearm first. First blood of the trip. To credit the other guys they were taking photos while I was climbing but luckily Eric had his first aid kit. I gave it one last try, this time landing on the jug, I got to the last moves but was totally pumped, that thing is long. I'll be back. So were here at the Cathedral Cafe, just had a real breakfast. Its nice out and ironically I have some unfinished business at a V4 in the Dam called "Leaving Los Fayetteville" I plan on sending and skippin' town to The Red in Kentucky. Till next time. Stay dirty.


Your now tuning into the token "Ginger" (Eric). Well, despite the weather and rain toying with our emotions for the past few days we have all been able to maintain a pretty positive attitude here in West Virginia. I was able to send some nice long sport routes Wednesday with Chris, but my luck soon ran out. The next day there was a rain route (5.7 warm up climb) to be lead and i was up for the climb. Needless to say we ended up in the cave working the 5.12a (Narcissist). My body seemed to be off to a rough start, my tendonitis was acting up and a pretty bad tooth ache that racked my brain pretty well. Slowly but surely im gaining control over my body again and showing who the real boss is. I was able to work on the rainy day V5 with the others and will be sending some nice sport down in The Red very soon. Well to the hillbillies, hippies and that good ol' shine. . . its been fun West virginia.

Jeff working the beta on the cave V5

Eric bearing down on the 2 finger pocket

Jeff bicycling his way out the roof

Lee chalking up on Narcissist

Chris cruising to the high first clip

"Hey there big boy, whatcha up to?"

 Jeff eying up the Master Chief 

 Leaving Cotton top for the last time

Summersville Lake and bridge

The idea of being on the road is starting to set in; instead of heading back to pennsyltuckey as usual, we're moving on.  The same thrill and excitement of the road that we experienced on the first day, we're experiencing again.  The lure of the open road has captivated us and we're jumping in head first.