It's a "New" World

Last weekend (Wednesday-Thursday) I had one of the most amazing climbing outings of my life. On Monday night I was at work drying up from not getting to climb enough outside. I told Grace this. So she said, "Ok, let's go climb this weekend". And so a trip was born. We invited other people, but the inclement weather forced people to bail. But I was determined to go climbing. So on Tuesday night Grace drove down from Northern Virginia to meet up with me. I got off of work at 10pm and met up with her at CNU. From there we started the drive out west. We swung shifts of driving, but even still ended up passing out at a rest stop about 70 miles outside of Fayetteville. 

After a collective 2 hours of sleep, I was anxious to get climbing. We arrived at the Endless Wall at around 8am. The sky was gray, and threatened to open up, but the temperature was perfect. We hiked down to the Cirque, and I nervously paced infront of Trebuchet. This will probably be my long term project, and I've been psyching myself up for this climb. For now I'm just trying to focus on the 5.13c lower section of the climb. Mostly it's a lot of committing lunges to decent holds. At the 5th bolt there is a deadpoint to a jug. Apparently it's possible to do it without cutting feet, but for whatever reason I couldn't do it without cutting feet.

Me monkeying around on Trebuchet (5.13c)

 After a couple hours of projecting, we moved out, and headed to the Upper Meadow. At the meadow we got on Infatuation (5.7), Berecik (5.8), and Pedelante (5.9). Pedelante seemed a bit hard to me, awkward moves, but definitely fun. If anybody get's on Berecik, BEWARE!! There is an angry Black Jacket hanging out on this climb. Just the week before it stung our friend Tate in the face! After climbing these moderates, I got on Eye of Mordor (5.13a). I sent this rig in January when it was 26 degrees outside. This time around the weather was good. I didn't pull the crux, just having some fun on it! I lowered down from the route and we made a fun rope swing off the route. After climbing we headed to the Summersville Campground, which is free!! That was the only reason we went there! Grace went straight to bed, and I hung out with some rowdy West Virginians! Eventually they did get to rowdy, so I headed too bed, and made a point of locking Olga up.

Hiking into Upper Meadow

Smelling the Roses

The Mordor Swing

Tired after the Eye of Mordor (5.13a)

Hitchin?

The next day we woke up to stunningly clear blue skies. Since it didn't look like rain was going to happen, we headed out to Summersville Lake to climb. The original plan was to head to Orange Oswald and climb the moderates there, but we ended up stopping at Under the Milky-Way (5.11d), and the 5.9's around the corner. The 5.9's were fun, a little bit tough. Under the Milky-Way was an absolutely stunning climb, with very intriguing moves on an arete. 

After the second bolt, the sun is out to destroy your sight (Under the Milky-Way 5.11d)

Under the Milky Way (5.11d)

While I was lowering off Under the Milky-Way, we had a conversation with another group of climbers. They said that they had just gotten off of Narcissis (5.12a). Internally I scoffed because most people are out to get on that climb specifically. They tell me I should try the Direct start which comes in at 5.12d. Somehow in my mind I got convinced into it. But first we had to go get on Hippy Dreams (5.7). I had never been on this climb and it's a classic, so why not? We climbed Hippy Dreams in the setting sun, enjoying the views of the lake, and the pleasure of each others company. Taking in the fact that nobody else would get to see such an amazing sunset on the beautiful day. After climbing Hippy Dreams we casually walked back to Narcissus Cave, and started setting up. By the time we got set up it was dark. With headlamp on, I tried to do the start boulder problem. I couldn't quite pull it, be it from physical fatigue, mental fatigue, or just plainly not strong enough. I'm not sure, but it looks like one tough move off the ground, followed by easier climbing. After throwing in the towel on the direct start, I headed up the normal climb. I had an odd connection with this route, and not a pleasant one. This is the route that all of the rock jocks come to redpoint. So I to really wanted to get this route. About half-way up I started getting tired, thrusting from jug to jug, trying so hard because I wanted this climb. Just as I was about to fall, something clicked inside my mind. Let it go. I don't need this climb, why can't I just let go of my ego, and enjoy the pure and simple fun of climbing. As soon as I realized how much fun I was having, I continued climbing up, just savoring the amazing climbing. I got to a bad bat-hang/ high heel rest, and looked down at the ground. I couldn't see anything except for the rock that my headlamp illuminated. Everything else was left behind. I pulled the crux, clipped the chains, and let out a yell of pure joy. Life was suddenly clear, and I knew that I didn't want to leave. 

Narcissus Cave, about to go get on Hippie Dreams

We hiked out, dreaming of pizza. But by the time we got to Pies and Pints they had been closed for an hour. Instead we made Mountain House lasagna in the gas station parking lot. We began the long drive home, and acted like goof balls on the way.

Safety first kids.

How I feel after climbing Hippy Dreams

Next week we'll be spending 5 days at the Red! Happy Climbing!

All Work and No Play

I've been slacking, I know. I haven't posted in almost a year. I'd love to say that it's been a super busy year, but it hasn't. I've just been lazy. I work everyday at Virginia Beach Rock Gym, and any day I don't work, I climb. On top of the working, I've managed to go on 5 or 6 climbing trips around the Southeast. Most of the trips have been to West Virginia, going to the New River Gorge, Franklin, and Seneca. The only place that I've actually managed to climb in Virginia is Iron Gate. Turns out Franklin and Iron Gate are the exact same distance away. Iron Gate has a lot of rusted bolts, and no guidebook. Getting to the crag seemed to be the hardest part. We ended up bushwacking above the cliff line unknown to us. We ended up rappelling in on a sketchy sling. When we finally did get to climbing, we got on four climbs. An unknown 5.9 mixed slab climb, a 5.10b called Mind Games that Jonathan had told us to get on, a short 5.5, and a 5.12c called Ganja. Of all of them my favorite was Mind Games, fun movement on beautiful orange rock, with a killer view of the James River. A good trip to see what was out there, but I don't think I'll return to climb there again.

Ganja 5.12b/c

Rainbow Rocks from Iron Gate

I've also taken one very memorable trip to Linville Gorge where we got lost, and ended up getting on a random climb that we couldn't find in any guidebook. Somebody at the cliff remarked that they had never seen anybody climb it. Probably not a first ascent, but definitely a cool feeling. I thought that the climb was Little Corner (5.6). Later on we found the true Little Corner, which turned out to be a lot harder than the first climb. I definitely plan on heading back to Linville to get on some of the more classic climbs.

Lake James from Shortoff Mountain

1st pitch of Little Corner (5.6)

3rd pitch of Little Corner

Hiking in the Gorge

One of my favorite locations in West Virginia (mostly because it's the closest) is Franklin Gorge. At first Franklin seems like a pretty small area, but in reality the cliff line keeps going and going. Every time I go, I make a point to get on something new. I don't own a guidebook for the area so everything is a guess! So far I've gotten on about 10 routes, my favorite one is called "Blood, Sweat, and Chalk". It's a 5.9+ on beautiful jugs. It's pretty tall too, around 90 feet of climbing.

Most recently me and Chris Presley (Yes he's related to Elvis) went to Seneca Rocks. It was Chris' first time outside climbing, so I decided to throw him in the deep end. Instead of cragging around and looking for hard climbs, we opted to attempt to climb the whole ridge line of Seneca. This ended up being a wonderful idea. We woke up at 6am, packed up, and hiked in. By 6:30 we were at the South End, tied in and ready to climb. Once again in true unpreparedness, we had no idea where we were going. Just following the path of least resistance. Carrying packs that were without a doubt too big, we set off. The first pitch headed up a left facing corner with big in-cut jugs that was protected very easily. I cut the first pitch off at about 80 feet, so that Chris and I could both decide on what looked like the PLR (Path of least resistance). I belayed Chris up to the small ledge, and we decided that continuing up the corner looked easiest. The second pitch was the first crux, but only the first 5 feet. Awkward laybacking lead to a low 5th class slab scramble. The second pitch ended on a beautiful belay ledge that was basking in the rising sun.

Hiking up to Seneca

Hiking up to the South End

I made a habit of looking at the next pitch and saying, "This next pitch is looking pretty hard". So yes, the pitch was looking a little hard, kind of wide. In my mind I was contemplating bailing off, but I convinced myself that we had just drove 6.5 hours to do this, and damn it we were going to do it. After an easy 60 foot traverse in which I clipped three manky pitons. After the traverse I headed up to a large crack, which had a ton of face holds, and even a cool mono pocket. Instead of continuing up into the blank face, a popped out around the arete and continued onto the face to belay off a tree. 2 more pitches of easy traversing brought us to a large ledge where we had our first break, and the wonderful realization that we didn't have any food. After a 20 minute break, having deep meaningful conversations about life, we headed up to the top of the ridge.

We separated it in two zig zagged pitches and came to a pretty cool gap in the rock where we could see through to the other side. We decided to untie and free solo the summit pinnacle of Humphrey's Head. 

About 20 minutes after, we continued heading up. Now facing the very intimidating Cockscomb. From our point of view it appeared overhanging on the main face. Through the center of the pinnacle was a chimney that went clear through to the other side. We opted to head through the chimney, which only took one piece of protection. To make it through the chimney we had to take our packs off and throw them ahead of us. Once though the chimney, we headed straight up onto the west face of the Cockscomb, with mostly pitons for protection. This pitch seemed to be the crux, with a weird rock over onto a bad side pull. After topping out the Cockscomb, we sat on the summit and watched the vultures circling around below us. 

Standing in front of the Cockscomb, the chimney is right between my legs!

From the summit of the Cockscomb, we traversed the ridge, had one short 30 foot rock step, that spat us out onto another huge ledge, where we stopped, pretended to eat, and got into talks about life and climbing. After our break, we headed up to the South Peak, traversing the scary ridge, eventually hitting an anchor, and calling it a day. 

Somewhere near the South Peak

Climbing makes me dance!

South Peak Ridge

Descending through hip deep leaves! 

Climbing trips are a great way to get in some serious power bonding. It's really either going to make or break a relationship. On most climbing trips I've been on, I've made amazing new friends. Monsieur Presley was no exception. Happy Climbing!