The RRG trip started at the Rock Gym, when I was looking at photo's of a climb called Twinkie (.12a). One of the harder climbers at the gym, Ryan Lieberman recognized the climb, and asked if I was planning on going out. I told him I wanted to but had nobody to go with. So rock climbers being rock climbers, we threw together a last minute trek from VBRG to Slade Kentucky. At a distance of 580 miles, this was the farthest I have ever driven for a climbing trip. Little did I know that it was not going to be a cragging trip, instead, this place was a climbing mecca. Some of the best rock east of the Mississippi. Also being with such hard climbers, we all fueled each others motivation to climb hard. I don't think there was a single day that we didn't get on a 5.12. So here are the routes that we got on:
RRG
•Put Me In The Zoo---5.9+ Sunshine---5.9
•Hippocrite---5.12a Put Me In The Zoo---5.9+
•Scar Tissue---5.12a Trigger Happy---5.10a
•Edgehog---5.10d Make A Wish---5.10b
•Make A Wish---5.10b Good Gravy---5.10b
•Easy Rider---5.13a Edgehog---5.10d
•MILF Money---5.13b The Dude Abides---5.11a
•Eyeball Chaw 5.12a Forearm Follies---5.11d
•The Dude Abides---5.11a Raindancer---5.10a
•Raindancer---5.10a Scar Tissue---5.12a
•Good Grave---5.10b Hippocrite---5.12a
•Sunshine---5.9 Nicorrete---5.12a
•Tissue Tiger---5.12b Eyeball Chaw---5.12a
•Forearm Follies---5.11d All The Way Baby---5.12b
•Nicorrete---5.12a Easy Rider---5.13a
NRG Apollo Reed---5.13a
•Trigger Happy---5.10a MILF Money---5.13b
•Apollo Reed---5.13a
•All The Way Baby---5.12b
We left Virginia Beach and immediatly hit traffic at around 3:30pm. It was a beautiful sunny day. Once we got past the Hampton Roads and the traffic cleared up. About an hour and a half later, a wall of black cloud was looming over Richmond, VA. Stephens and Ryan's phones came alive with warnings of flooding and a tornado. Soon the rain was falling so hard that I couldn't see 15 feet infront of the car. I just kept going, and although the emergency alerts told us to seek shelter, we preessed on through Richmond. The sky cleared up as quickly as it began, and there was evidence of storm damage.
Thunder Heads in Richmond, VA
More Thunder Heads
After stopping for some chalk at REI, we headed out on I-64W towards the hills which I have missed so much. After that not a whole lot happened, the wheels turned, the miles crept by, and before I knew it we crossed the border from Virginia to Kentucky.
No, no it's cool, only 461 miles to go!
By 3am we arrived and were pleasantly suprised to see only a handful of tents at Miguel's Pizzeria. Stephens and Ryan set up there tent, while I got my bed in the Mini-Van ready. Unfortunatley, I forgot that this was Kentucky, land of the bugs. Here I am relaxing in the sleeping bag, when I look up and see the ceiling of the van covered with bugs (they were gone the next day)! All in all I drove around 11.5 hours.
The next morning I was woken up promptly a 6:30am by a sleepy looking Ryan. I felt like crap on only 3ish hours of sleep, but hey, when it's time to get up, it's time to get up. Apparently Miguel's isn't 24/7 anymore either, they open at 7am, so I could have slept in! Once we were sufficiently filled with French Toast, we headed south to "The Zoo". We parked at the side, packed up and headed up to the crag.
First morning at Miguels, a little foggy.
Parking Lot For the Zoo
To get to the crag, you have to cross this log, then head up a 3rd class hill.
So my first outdoor rope climb on the East Coast was a fantastic slab climb called "Put Me In The Zoo" (5.9+). The start was the hardest part, with a few crimps, but after that it became a masterful mantle-piece. Once we got warmed up, we headed over to Hippocrite (5.12a), a climb we had all looked at and decided it looked like something we could on-sight. But before we could even reach Hippocrite, Stephens had his attention piqued by the severely overhanging, jug haul, called "Scar Tissue". He went for the on-sight, but pumped out on the difficult finish. All in all not to bad for a few boulderers (we need to work endurance!).
Scar Tissue 5.12a
Stephens Nunnally on Scar Tissue and Ryan Lieberman on belay.
After Stephens put up the draws, I hopped on going for my on-sight attempt, hoping I could make it further. The climb is only 3 stars, but it needs to be more. Super huge jugs (dirty start), and the amazing thing about the route is that you don't notice the pump...until you hit something that's not a jug! Caught by suprise of the pump, I fell at the last bolt going up to the anchors.
Stephens after being lowered from Scar Tissue 5.12a (the pump is real).
Ryan decided to save his energy for his on-sight attempt of hippocrite, so we left the draws hanging on Scar Tissue so that we could come back to it. Ryan headed up Hippocrite, and fell at the third bolt right at the under-clings. However he did make the hero crux-clip which was really freaky! We all tried Hippocrite over and over again, until eventually we were to wrecked to continue.
Ryan Lieberman after a fall at the crux of Hippocrite 5.12a
Stephens Nunnally clipping the 3rd bolt of Hippocrite 5.12a
Stephens falling off the crux of Scar Tissue 5.12a
After this Stephens cleaned the route and we went to go find a moderate climb to cool down on. We eventually found a "cool down" called "Edgehog"(5.10d). Slabby Micro-crimps (did I mention MICRO!) to a dirty 5.9 run-out. Stephens and Ryan lead this, but I decided on the TR.
Slabby BS is not what I came here for!
After that we drove back to camp to eat pizza, slackline, and play the loooooonnngest game of chess.
Stephens and Ryan (The Bickering Couple)
I think we can safely say that Ryan has lost.
Enjoying "A Late One"
Stephens slacklining
Ryan...well...he's trying right?
