The Red (River Gorge) - Labor Day weekend

Climbers - Tall Tim, Carine, Doug, Angie and Calvin
Weather - good, bad, then ugly

First, a big shoutout for Deb's awesome power cookies. Doug also makes a mean banana bread. That couple can flat out bake, yo.

Day 1, Saturday. Weather: Good.
We made good time Friday night to get to Lago Linda's around 1:30am local time. The highlight of the roadtrip was passing a burning van; literally engulfed in flames, with people standing not 20 feet away and the cops just sitting there letting cars go by. The gas tank looked ready to explode in about 30 seconds, but I guess the cops had it under control.


Saturday morning we headed to the PMRP, parked at Sore Heel and headed to Rival Wall. Doug and I started on Days of Thunder 5.9, while Carine, Tim and Angie put up the draws on Rorschach Inkblot Test 5.8+. It gets the '+' for having an awful waisthigh shelf-start. Other than that, fun 5.8. Next to RIT is Monobrow .10a, which climbs crimps and uses an arete. Deserves at least 4 stars for tricky and intricate climbing. Tim did a great job leading and Angie and Carine TR'd. Doug and I also tried Lobster Claw, .12a. LC is a heavily pocketed vertical wall. It had a bail biner at the third draw, so we figured what the heck, if we can't send, then at least we have an easy way down. Turns out it was way fun; we both sent second go after beta burns. I think Doug could have flashed it but decided to 'fall' in the easy mid-10 part just to make me feel better. Thanks Doug!

Rival also has two long and fun .10c's: Delayed Gratification and Hatfield. Both are about 80 feet long and 'slightly pumpy.' Slightly my arse. After we put the draws up, Tim, Carine and Angie had fun climbing these.




















Day 2, Sunday. Weather: Bad


Sunday we headed over to the Gallery. The Gallery is home to 27 years of climbing 5.8, described as 'the best 5.8 in the Gorge.' Bold claim. I can't really evaluate it because I had to clean it in the rain. :) Angie and Tim took turns leading it, but Carine didn't get a chance due to sore fingers. We had enough time to also put up Murano .10b and Johnny B. Good, .11a (very soft), but the heavens opened right around noon. We sat under the cliff getting soggified until we decided on a dignified exit.

After heading back to the campsite, we talked over our options and decided to stop by Roadside (yes, our old rainy day standby) for a quick burn on Tic-Tac-Toe, .12b. Tim, Carine and Angie had declared themselves climbed out, so Doug and I tried this one.

TTT is a 4 bolt 60 foot climb, so it feels a little heady, but the climbing is juggy and pumpy and not too bad until the last bolt. Here, you probably have something like a V3/4 crux guarding the anchors. Doug returned the favor and worked beta out until finding a sequence and shared with me. Pumpy bastard (the climb, not Doug). We tried for a redpoint second go, but we didn't make it. Miguel's pizza afterwards made up for the lack of sending. :)

Day 3, Monday. Weather: Ugly.
Monday, we headed back to the Gallery to try and give Tim and Carine another chance on 27 Years. I didn't mention that the lines had been awful on Sunday. The word is out on 27 years, and however the climb actually is (it's good, but I didn't think it was I-N-C-R-E-D-I-B-L-E; okay, maybe I'm a cynic), people want to try it because it gets 5 stars in the guidebook. While that was being climbed, Doug and I put up A Brief History of Climb .10c and The King Lives On, .10b. Click on The King and check out the picture - I swear it looks right out of Jackson Falls. Climbs like it too. Me like. Very much. Doug too.
Look:


Angie decided to lead Murano, .10b and was having a great time until the heavens decided to open back up. That effectively ended our day. Carine and Tim both tried A Brief History of Climb on TR, and Doug graciously cleaned it. I used an existing bail biner to clean Murano and we packed up and headed out.

It was a partially soggy weekend, but we had a great time nonetheless. I hope to get back soon and try Different Strokes, .11c (supposed to be very atypical climbing for the Red and Mosaic). Here are the rest of the pics.