The Winterlong Belay: Stir Crazy in the South

Its the O.G. (original ginger)

So the amount of climbing down here at The Red has been minimal. Between the rain and the cold temperatures it has been a frustrating and demotivational the past few days. Despite getting robbed the ability to climb more then one or two routes a day, we have taken up other activities such as riding a unicycle and cracking peanuts. I do have to say that we have been making it outside for some adventure and exploration. Tuesday Lee, Jeff and myself checked out some more walls in PRMP. Our initial efforts where to find the wall called "The Chocolate Factory". After about 2 hours of hiking up and down gravel roads, in and out of well pumps and finding the wrong crag, we decided for a retreat to the jeep for some food and thought. Our second attempts at finding the trail were a little more successful realizing that the path was about 50 yards from the jeep. Awesome. We hiked back to the wall and gawked at the world famous climb "Pure Imagination" (5.14c), which has been recently been degraded by Adam Ondra. Realizing that i will not be climbing a route of that magnitude anytime, i studied it, laughed at the intensity and walked away like a badass. I believe we will be returning there tomorrow (Friday, Jan. 18th).

Today (Thursday, Jan 17) was the first day of the week that all three of us got to climb hard on some dry rock. Battling numb fingers, frigid toes and the hopes of the sun coming out, i was able to work on a route that i attempted the first day of climbing in The Red. The route "Hey There Fancy Pants" is a beautiful 5.10c that is about 55ft and just pushing my level of climbing, gave me a run for my money today. I was able to complete the route but not give it a solid send, even with the fancy pants setup i had. This isn't over between the two of us. . .

It seems that when ever we leave an area the weather decides to flip on us for the better. We left The New and the sun came out. We leave The Red tomorrow and guess what. . . the sun is going to be shining in full. It will be the first time we have seen the sun since friday and i fear we may melt or go blind. It will be a half day of go hard or go home climbing in the morning then its off for a nice long bouldering sesh in Chattanooga and surrounding areas. The best news of the next two weeks is no rain as far as the eye can see and the temp. should be decent (between 40-50).

The Land of The Arches has been a very cozy home considering our circumstances and giving up the nice luxuries like a hot shower and wifi will suck a little, but for me, going back to somewhat primitive camping and hustling the woods is good escape from the techknowledgey that can suck life away.

So it seems Lee, aaand Eric are striving to be novelists. But yea, Eric gave yall a nice run down of the past few days. Tuesday was fun towards the end of the day and yesterday was cool too, some of the thickest forest we have been in. We went to see a pretty massive natural rock arch that I suppose was carved by water. The trees had a layer of ice upon them, down to the very last twig. Plus there was some serious fog out there which provided the day with it's very own aura. Me and Eric ate ice that pulled right off the pine needles on top of the arch. We call them; "Pine-sicles," delicious. To be honest the lack of climbing was getting to me. I became bored and frustrated. Were on this amazing trip and have been stuck inside all too much. But today was great, first good day of good climbing since the first two days of the trip. I sent my first 5.10c. The climb;"Hey there Fancy Pants" I think it's a five star. Thing climbs so nice. Went at it twice getting to the crux but slipped off. But the third times the charm, felt awesome. As the sun was going down it actually came out, I was on the last climb of the day. Hiked back in the night, great day. We just said farewell to Bill the maintinence guy, awesome dude along with the owner Dave. Been a nice treat staying here this past week but tomorrow we will be packing up, do some climbing, and then its off to Rocktown, Georgia/ Chattanooga, Tennessee. Were drinking beers, Eric's working the Unicycle, an purtty soon we'll be jammin'. Stay dirty friends, stay dirty. Jeffrey out.

Howdy its Lee here,

Today was good, i got on that there 5.10c that those two have been raving about, fell once due to numb fingers... sent it the next go, it was good; nice moves. Afterwards i got on a 5.11a and it was sweet, super technical and balanced, with big moves; sent it first go. That makes me wish we had more than just tomorrow to get on harder stuff. But tomorrow were going to the chocolate factory and i think with some work pure imagination should go down... (i mean it got downgraded to 5.14c.) but the sun should be out thank god. For those that don't really care about my climbing exploits, everything is good, the arches is treating me well. We are warm and dry, and i'm looking forward to better weather. On to the Chattanooga area for some sun and the best bouldering in the southeast.

Peace Love and Chicken Grease

These first five photos are from our rest day visit to natural bridge state park