The last rest day was awesome. I went for a run, worked on the van and vegged out in the sun a bit. Pretty much just waiting for my skin and body to heal.

Yesterday we left the campsite later than usual. Audrey was headed to The Muir Valley with some friends while JJ, Marshal and I started out at The Motherlode. We warmed up in the sun and that was probably a bad idea. Before even getting on the first route I just wanted to nap. After a few routes I went over and got on Transworld Depravity. JJ wanted to try and flash it so I went up slowly and tried to rememember all the beta and clean the holds. Conditions were pretty good but unfortunately JJ just missed the timing on the first crux move, near the eighth bolt and fell. He continued to the top and sorted out beta but didn't try for the redpoint. After JJ, Marshal got on The Madness, a classic route in The Madness Cave. He had been on the route once before and was going for the redpoint. He too made it really high but fell right near the end of the redpoint crux.

After that we headed over to Bob Marley. As we were hiking up Marshal asked me if I was going to try and redpoint Fifty Words For Pump, I said that I was going to try hard but wasn't really on redpoint burns. If I fell I was going to work it to the top since I wasn't entirely satisfied with my beta, especially the transitions between the hard moves. As it turns out it's a good thing I tried hard that first go. I barely linked through the crux section, having to adapt my hand sequence to compensate for being powered down from climbing from the ground. I managed to sink onto the kneebar at the fifth bolt and shake back and forth and recover. I then vaguely remembered the next few moves but managed to get up to the seventh bolt where I could shake a few times. The upper rest at the eighth was much harder than it had felt off the dog the previous times I had been up there I and couldn't remember my sequence exactly for the next few moves and ended up throwing for a large hold above me. I fought to control the hold, move the feet out left, gingerly reach up to a split finger pocket and then locked off for a good crimp. I sat there on a big hold for awhile. I had only been to the top once and that was last year. In my mind I didn't think it would be too hard but I didn't want to fall up there. I remembered going left and fortunately that worked for me and I managed to clip the anchors! Suprisingly I redpointed the route fourth try this year and fifth try overall if you include the one attempt last year. I couldn't believe how fast it came together. And yes I moved the bolts on this route prior a few weeks ago prior to both mine and Dave Graham's ascents. For more information you can read this post.

JJ then tried to redpoint Ultra Perm but fell near the top, mixing up his hands pulling the final lip. Marshal tried No Redemption and he too messed up his hand beta near the top. Poor guys need to work on their redpoint skills :). I then tried No Redemption and managed to stick the crux move, unfortunately after that I couldn't remember what to do for the last hard move and ended up trying to move off a really bad pocket. Apparently I need to work on my memory skills as well. I fell, lowered to the ground, pulled the rope and retied in. Again I hit the crux move and this time when I approached the last hard move I was really tired and pumped. I actually went to go pull off a hold and started to pump out. I had to down climb a few moves, try and recover and ended up throwing wildly to an upper hold, which was fortunately quite good. I stuck it and climbed, incredibly pumped, to the top. I honestly think I tried much harder on No Redemption than on Fifty Words. We wrapped up the day with Marshal and JJ trying to redpoint No Redemption and Ultra Perm a few more times with both of them trying their respective routes in near dark conditions. Unfortunately neither of them sent. After a final dinner at Miguel's we headed back to Lago Linda's and slept.

Today we packed up everything. We are dropping the van off for service this evening and headed to Louisville to drop Marshal and JJ off for their flight tomorrow morning. I had asked JJ and Marshal to pack as much as possible yesterday but being lazy they didn't and I ended up waiting until around 11 before we could leave the campsite. We headed for The Muir Valley, where we hoped we could make a quick escape from. Audrey had left early to get some climbing in while I was waiting for the boys. At Muir Valley I hiked over to The Solarium to meet up with Audrey quickly while JJ and Marshal went over to The Sanctuary. Audrey was sorted for climbing partners so I cruised back over to The Sanctuary and ended up stick-clipping up Cherry Red to scrub the top holds. After the rain last week the top 10 feet was dusty again. Hanging on the rope I thought I saw a good sequence but it still involved chucking for a really sharp crimp. I tried the route once and fell at the one move but in cooler conditions I might, might try it again. I hiked over to a new area called Midnight Surf, an area that I had heard about but hadn't been to yet. Most of the routes were big moves between big horizontal ledges with the occasional boulder problem between big ledges. I was impressed by the wall when I first walked up to it. Definitely a great find for the Red. There were quite a few people there and I guess I had just missed Audrey onsighting Cell Block 6, a steep 5.12c. I then tried to onsight Shiva, a steep but bouldery 5.13b. Fortunately you have a lot of time while hanging onto big ledges to sort out sequences above you and I managed to sort out the crux sequences well enough for the onsight.

We then quickly hiked out and drove to Lexington to drop the van off. Marshal and JJ treated us to a nice steak dinner at a roadhouse where we could throw peanut shells on the floor. For some reason I had a craving for chocolate milk but about two minutes after finishing it I felt really, really sick. Walking around in the cool night air helped but it was up to Audrey to drive us to Louisville where we are staying the night. JJ and Marshal fly out early tomorrow morning while Audrey and I are headed up to Cleveland for a funeral tomorrow and a wedding on Saturday. Hopefully we'll be back Monday well rested and ready to climb some more!

Finally we have absolutely amazing conditions. Unfortunately (or fortunately) most of the Petzl athletes have left before the conditions became suitable for climbing hard. You really do need good conditions here in The Red River Gorge, more than most places. Here you climb mostly on texture or really small, sharp crimps where sweat and soft skin can kill you. The past few days have been cool and the forecast calls for clear skies, near freezing temperatures overnight but comfortable conditions throughout the day. I'm looking forward to it!

Last week it was pretty rainy and on Sean's last day we hiked out to The Chocolate Factory in the rain, fully expecting it to be wet or condensed. Amazingly the rock was dry. I guess the cliff itself is pretty open and exposed so any wind helps to dry it out. Sean really wanted to climb the right hand project here (tentatively named The Golden Ticket). On his warm up attempt he fell high but slightly lower than his highpoint. He did managed to link the entire crux section to the top and looked strong in doing it. While he was working the right hand project I stick-clipped up the left hand project and touched the holds. This route is definitely futuristic. There is a tough but climbable section down low, maybe 5.14- to the sixth or seventh bolt but then there are two distinct crux sections with very small and spaced holds. I'm debating going up and reinforcing some of the crimps. If any of them disappear I'm not sure the route would go. As it stands I think it is very, very hard. At least 14+. Sean gave the right hand project four attempts in total and his best attempt he fell just past the crux move but still in the crux boulder problem, right near the top of the route. I'm guessing that if he had one more day on it he'd redpoint it for sure. In the evening we decided to drive to Louisville (Sean was flying out early the next morning), get a hotel room and escape the rain for a bit.

Thursday morning Sean left early on an airport shuttle while the rest of us slept in. We then went to breakfast, hung out in the Mohammed Ali Center lobby and gift shop, then went to the Louisville Slugger Factory and again just walked around the foyer rather than pay money and go into the museum. In the afternoon we went to the Louisville climbing gym where Rob, the gym owner was kind enough to let us climb for free. We bouldered for a few hours playing a few different games and then we did a few crazy training sessions. We did some finger strength exercises, campused for a bit, did a few pushup drills and finished ourselves off with Marshal leading us through a core workout. By the end I was sore and could barely move. To offset our training we gorged ourselves on Chinese food and then drove back to Lago Linda's.

Fortunately Friday was a rest day. While it wasn't raining it wasn't great conditions and we spent the day in Richmond. We did some laundry, spent some time on the Internet and then I went shopping for Audrey's birthday dinner and present. For dinner I settled on marinated porkchops with a salad and asparagus as sides plus some bread, cheese and a nice bottle of wine. For her birthday cake I bought a chocolate fudge cake which JJ and Marshal decorated at the store. Those boys sure are artists... and for some reason Marshal thought the cake should say "Dominate Audrey", as opposed to "Happy Birthday Audrey". Thanks Marshal.

Saturday was Audrey's birthday and I made a breakfast of blueberry pancakes with blueberry sauce, not a bad way to start off the day. Audrey had control of where we were going to climb today and she wanted to head to The Darkside at some point. We decided to warm-up at The Solar Collector, unfortunately so did 60 other people. It was packed but we managed to get a few pitches in. I was hoping to try a few routes at The Gold Coast but it was starting to rain and those routes get wet pretty quickly. Audrey and I headed over to The Darkside where it was packed as well. Audrey gave one burn on The Force, a route she had tried once over a week ago. After spending a few days up in Cleveland and with the rain in the past week Audrey just wanted to feel the route out rather than kill herself trying for the redpoint. She figured out a good sequence, especially for her feet and didn't try the route again that day. It really was just too busy to work anything since people were always waiting in lines. In the evening I slaved over the stove making dinner then we had a campfire and roasted marshmellows. We were going to have smores but for some reason I bought graham cracker bees (little tiny bees) instead of regular graham crackers, not really able to make smores with those. There were quite a few people around and we just sat around having a good 'ol time.

Yesterday we woke up to blue skies and cool temperatures. We decided to warm up at Drive-By where Audrey had a project and Marshal and JJ could tick off a few unsent routes. Late in the afternoon we headed over to Bob Marley where I wanted to try Fifty Words For Pump, a route I had tried once last year and had moved the bolts a few weeks ago but hadn't been back on. With the new bolt placement it was much easier to work the crux section and I managed to link through it (from the 4th bolt) first try. I worked that section for a little while before continuing to the top of the cliff and getting a sequence down. JJ then tried to onsight Ultra-Perm, a steep 5.13d right beside Fifty Words. He made it up through the crux before pumping out. I tried Fifty Words one more time but was actually pretty tired and getting cold. We finished off the day with a few lame attempts on No Redemption, a technical 5.13b on the left end of Bob Marley. It was dark by the time we got back to the campsite and Audrey, who had returned a little earlier, had some warm soup waiting for us. It's crazy how cold it got in the space of a day.

I'm resting today but Audrey is out with Marshal back at The Darkside. I'm just doing some work and vegging out. I'll try to go for a run this afternoon and maybe stretch a bit but that's probably it. The weather for the next few days looks great and then Audrey and I will head up to Cleveland for her cousin's wedding.

Honestly in the just over two weeks that we have been here we have only had a few good climbing days. Currently it is raining hard and the forecast calls for rain until the weekend. One of the good climbing days was the day of the flash rally and this past week we had about a one hour period of great conditions when Sean did Lucifer. I'm not kidding. It was crazy good conditions and about 20 minutes after his ascent the wind stopped and the air became very still, warm and muggy. Don't get me wrong, Sean probably would've done the route in the direct sun, in the summer, the way he looked on it but it was pretty amazing conditions. So yeah, it's raining and rain sucks.

I should've named this entry Pimp My Ride since that was probably the most exciting thing to happen this past week. On Thursday we took a rest day and headed into Richmond to do some laundry and hang out at a coffee shop. While we were in town I filled the car up with gas and checked the tire pressure, knowing one tire was low. As I filled the tire I heard hissing and sure enough there was a nail in one tire. I called the rental company and they said I could either get the nail taken out and keep the receipt or bring the car in and change it. Since we had already beaten that poor car for the past two weeks, including one day with eight people in it, I thought a new car wouldn't be such a bad idea. When we arrived at the rental car office they didn't have the same class of car for us and asked us if we wanted an SUV. Without hesitation Audrey said "OK", and now we are the proud drivers of a Chevy Equinox, definitely a better vehicle for driving down to The Motherlode and other areas. After getting the vehicle we went out for dinner at The Shamrock for Irish Nachos and Burgers.

On Friday I drove Audrey and Emily to the airport in Lexington. Emily was flying home and Audrey wanted to rent a car to drive up to Cleveland for the weekend. Audrey had found out earlier in the week that a childhood friend, and close friend of her family, had passed away and she really wanted to spend some time with her family. A one-way car rental was the most convenient/economical means of getting up there. It was around 4pm by the time I got back up to the Red. I drove straight to Purgatory just as Sean, JJ and Marshal showed up. I warmed up on The Castle Has Fallen and was amazed by how good the rock felt. Sean gave three burns on Lucifer; his first burn was short lived - falling at the third, his second burn he fell at the last hard move past the seventh and his last attempt resulted in the redpoint. It was amazing how easy he made it look compared to the amount of work the route took me. He was literally switching his beta on the fly and throwing his feet around. While the conditions were good JJ flashed Dracula '04 and I did Paradise Regained, Kenny's extension to Paradise Lost. Unfortunately the conditions crapped out pretty quick and we called it a day soon after.

After Sean did Lucifer on Friday we headed out to The Chocolate Factory on Saturday. I figured since he walked up Lucifer it was time to get him on some of the unfinished projects around. One of the lines Kenny Barker bolted on the right side of The Chocolate Factory looked amazing, and hard. We warmed up on one of the 5.10 routes on the left of the area then I stick-clipped my way up the route, touching the holds and trying to find a sequence. The first eight bolts of the route were hard but definitely do-able, 5.13+(ish), capped with a full wingspan reach between good holds. After that was a probably V10 crux. Sean figured out a good sequence moving left through the crux and put together some good linkage on his second burn. A superb route, something I actually want to train and get stronger for!

On Sunday Sean and I drove up to Columbus to watch a Vancouver Canucks vs Columbus Blue Jackets game. Jeremy Pettigrew had purchased a block of tickets for some friends and we were excited to watch a game. We met up with Jeremy, Nikki, Kenny, Julie and Nick before the game and arrived early to watch the pre-game warmup. We were there as the players took the ice and were a little disappointed to see Curtis Sandford lead the team onto the ice, meaning that Roberto Luongo wasn't starting. I like watching the pre-game warmup since you can stand right at the edge of the glass and actually see the players up close. I even tapped Matt Cooke on the shoulder as he skated out, I don't think he appreciated that though :) The game itself wasn't that exciting with Vancouver not even taking a shot in the entire second period. Fortunately the Canucks won. We finished off the evening at a sports bar watching baseball and waiting for Audrey to arrive from Cleveland.

Monday we drove back from Cleveland and didn't climb. It started raining the afternoon and by this morning it was a full on flood. Bruce Adams (Alaska Bruce) had arrived and we went out climbing to Roadside Crag where the rock wasn't totally dry but wasn't soaking wet either. We played on a few 5.12s and then tried to top-rope this crach climb without using any of the face holds. That was the most fun :)

So the next few days calls for rain, rain and more rain. I might have to learn how to build an arc...

Finally... After over a year of obsessing about the darn thing I managed to do Dogleg, 5.12a.

As forecast the weather cooled down quite a bit for the past four days leading to some hard sends and lots of great climbing. On Thursday we started out day at The Motherlode, I was hoping to get on a few climbs and refresh my memory for the competition this Sunday. I wasn't really planning on taking the competition seriously but I was curious about how many routes I could do in a day. After warming up Audrey tried what I consider to be a hard 5.12d called Eight Ball. I was pleasantly surprised when she figured out what looked to be a good sequence for her through moves that I always feel insecure on, in fact I fell on it today. While we were at the GMC wall Sean McColl and a few of the other Petzl athletes (Emily Harrington, Daniel Woods) showed up. I know Sean wanted to try Thanatopsis and I had told him that he should try and flash it, I also told everyone around here that I felt he would. After warming up and watching both Emily and Daniel try the route Sean roped up for the flash. As he did for me 5 years ago in Maple I talked him through the sequece before he got on the route then gave him move for move beta while he was on the route. True to form Sean didn't waste much time in the lower crux and quickly climbed up to the last rest before the top. After a few shakes he set up for the final throw and fortunately the hold is quite good so he could stick even though he said he barely did. Finally we're even :). After that I redpointed a route called White Man's Shuffle, a route rated 5.13d that I had onsighted an easier variation of last year when we were here. Honestly, it felt like onsighting again. After The Motherlode Audrey and I headed over to Bob Marley where I wanted to attempt Dogleg. I went up it and quickly climbed to the crux. Unfortunately after a year the move was still just as big and improbable feeling. I tried the move a few different ways and quite a few times. I finally settled on having my right foot really high and my left foot smeared sideways on the wall below me. From that position I could generate a bit of momentum and as long as my left foot didn't slide I could fully dyno/deadpoint to the upper sharp crimp. I stuck the move once only and quickly lowered to the ground to try the redpoint. Fortunately for me I finished the move first try and redpointed the route. As John had promised Petzl donated $500 to the RRGCC. Thanks John! After Dogleg I tried a new 13b/c that Sean had done the FA (First Ascent) of yesterday. I gave it one working burn then returned for the redpoint. After that I was pretty much done. That evening we went and had dinner with the Petzl crew at Miguel's. Miguel donated the pizza for the evening and we all stuffed ourselves. Audrey and I spent most of the evening talking with Timy Fairfield about training, dieting and climbing in general.

Friday was supposed to be a rest day and I offered to help Kevin teach a clinic. He was teaching Intermediate Sport Climbing, which could pretty much cover anything. We had 13 climbers signed up with abilities ranging from 5.9 to 5.12. We headed for the Drive-By crag and while Kevin gave them a few quick pointers I ran up a few routes to get ropes up. Unfortunately due to insurance reasons the participants were not allowed to lead climb, and had to wear helmets. By the time I was done climbing three routes Kevin was done talking and we turned the people loose. While they climbed Kevin and I walked around, answered questions and tried to help people with particlar problems on routes. By the end of the day I had done five pitches and was really tired. We drove back to Red River Outdoors, rested for a little while, had dinner and then went down to watch King Lines, the latest film from Big Up Productions. The film was incredible featuring some of the finest climbing footage I've ever seen. It profiled Chris Sharma and followed him around the world looking for different, hard routes and boulder problems. It was practically mid-night by the time that was done and I was really exhausted.

The weather was crisp and sunny Saturday morning. Perfect conditions for lots of climbing in The Motherlode. The start of the competition was rather unorganized. In fact Audrey and I weren't really sure what the format was, nor what routes were in. It turns out that each route was worth 1000 points and they would divide the routes by the number of competitors that climbed the route. I started out on Snooker and then walked over to the far end of the Undertow Wall to belay Audrey on a dirty looking 11d called Stella for her warm-up. She managed to do it but I hesitate to call it a great warm-up for her, she usually warms up on two routes that weren't in the competition. After she did that I walked back over and climbed White Man's Shuffle a nice long 5.13d on the GMC wall just as the sun was arriving. I was hoping to try Thanatopsis but many of the european climbers were in line and I thought people would rather see them climb it than me. Instead I tried Transworld Depravity but couldn't remember my feet in the first crux and fell quite low, fortunately it didn't take any energy. After that I belayed Sean on an onsight attempt of Omaha Beach which he didn't quite get and then after I climbed Madness Sean onsighted it. Between me climbing long routes and Sean taking even longer to onsight them we were really running out of time. We fired off a few routes on the Undertow Wall and then I tried but failed on Hot For Teacher, a dirty, rarely climbed 5.12c. I'm happy to report that during the competition Audrey redpointed Eight Ball, only her second day on the route and she also flashed a 12b. Not too shabby. In fact I think her effort on Eight Ball overshadowed Sean's effort on Thanatopsis, in my mind at least. When the dust had settled Audrey and I both finished in second place but I only completed five climbs all day, not a very good effort on my part. Next time I'm going to hire a belayer and run around :). I was super impressed with the locals that came out to watch and with most of the Petzl athletes who at least showed up and tried to onsight/flash some of the harder routes. I'm guessing 300+ people wandered through The Motherlode that day and quite a few of them watched Steve McClure almost onlight Transworld Depravity and Mikael Fuselier repoint Transworld complete with a backflip for the victory jump. That evening was the final dinner and after party and what a party it was. I just wish I had slept sometime in the past four days. By midnight I was exhausted and barely made the drive back to bed.

Today a few of us had planned to head out to The Chocolate Factory to try and lay siege to this impressive overhanging dihedral crack on the left end of the wall. We arrived at the cliff around 10:30 and it was fully in the sun, which was nice in the morning but got a little warm as the day wore on. Daniel DuLac, Steve McClure, Sonnie Trotter, Chris Linder and I all hiked up with a few of the Petzl photographers along as well. Daniel was a trooper and elected to go first. He clawed and grappled his way up through the masses of spiders and webs, occasionally tossing spiders off the wall and sometimes going in-direct to brush holds. Near the top Steve McClure was hanging on a fixed line and managed to fiddle in some wires in the final headwall as well as reach down and remove some particularly nasty spider webs. When Daniel finally lowered down the route was much cleaner and it appeared that the crux was definitely near the top. I didn't actually expect to flash the route but I tied in next and gave it a shot. With Daniel's gear in place I managed to cruise up, re-setting a few pieces here and there but usually just clipping and going. There were a few tricky moves but the route is probably 5.12- until the very end. Right at the top the dihedral kind of disappears and the holds get very small. I fell about 8' below the anchors but with the crux still ahead of me. It turns out the crux is actually the last move, an all out dyno to the final jug over the lip! It was really quite an amazing line. After me Sonnie tried the route, falling near the top and Steve McClure flashed the route with style. Katie Brown, Whitney Boland and Lynn Hill also tried it with Lynn literally stalling at the last move and deadpointing to the anchors instead of the top, mere inches from the flash. Sonnie, Daniel and I all pinkpointed the climb without wanting to bother with toproping to clean the gear every time. Four of us completed it but most of the effort was done by Daniel for sure. Steve and I headed to Bob Marley where I was hoping to get on Fifty words and try out some new beta that the Euros had found. Unfortunately evening humidity and heat plus three days on had erased motivation and skin so I didn't even get on it.

All in all I think the Petzl Roc Trip was a huge success this year. I was in Squamish when it was held there and I have to say that the community here seemed much more involved and appreciative of the event. It might have had something to do with the fact that the RRGCC raised almost $30,000 to help pay for next years mortgage on the Pendergrass Murray Recreational Preserve. On a personal note I'd like to thank John Evans and Chuck Odette for making Audrey and I feel welcome throughout the week. I am not sponsored by Petzl but they definitely took good care of Audrey and I this week.

Also check out audreysniezek.com for Audrey's perspective of this past week.

When we arrived in Kentucky a week ago it was raining, 90 degrees and 100% humidity. By yesterday it was still 80+ degrees but as I type this update it is maybe 50 degrees and cooling down fast! Should make for better climbing conditions though.

Audrey and I decided to rent a car for our time here in The Red River Gorge. Last year we bummed rides off people or abused our van to get around so this year at least we can be independant and abuse a rental car. I love abusing rental cars. We spent last Friday running errands, going grocery shopping and picking up the rental car. We arrived up at Lago Linda's in the late afternoon in the pouring rain, very reminiscent of last year. Fortunately the rain stopped quickly and we were able to get set up in the sun.

On Saturday I headed out climbing with local route developer and an extraordinarily nice guy, Kenny Barker. Audrey actually had her sister Nicole and Nicole's family down for the weekend. They had arrived very late last night and I was expecting them to sleep in a bit so I got out early, hoping to meet up with them in the afternoon. Kenny and I were both interested in trying a route called Cherry Red at The Solarium. This route was done a few years ago and we had heard it was anywhere between 13c and 14a. To warm up we did a few shorter routes, I onsighted/flashed a 13a and then we headed for Cherry Red. Unfortunately by this time it was 90+degrees out and we were directly in the sun. I knew the crux was near the top and managed to onsight up to it. I was stupid in the onsight though, I was holding onto ridiculously sharp and small holds. Being in the sun and warm every move was tearing more skin off me. By the time I fell I was really not willing to hold on anymore. I tried the upper move a few times but that was it. We really needed to get out of the sun. We headed over to the Bob Marley crag but it was still warm and I couldn't muster up any energy to try with real effort. I didn't manage to meet up with Audrey even though she was out climbing with her nephews and her niece. We were quite tired after all the driving and with Nicole's family arriving really late I was ready for an early bedtime.

It was only slightly cooler Sunday and I woke up early and headed out with two climbers who are on the Canadian Junior National Team (JJ Mah and Marshal German). We started out at The Motherlode where I tried to give them a quick tour. We did a few warm-up climbs where they got ridiculously pumped and I was just hitting my stride. My skin was still sore from the abuse my finger tips took the previous day so after chucking a lap on Bohica for the amusement of Nicole and her family I was done for the day. I spent the afternoon taking photos of Nicole's family climbing, bugging JJ and Marshal and walking around some familiar cliffs. That evening we had a campfire complete with roasting hotdogs and making smores. I was amazed that I couldn't remember any campfire songs from my childhood.

On Monday we headed over to the eastern part of the gorge. We showed Audrey's relatives how to get on the freeway and decided to do some climbing over in that direction. We first headed to an area called Fantasia, an area that boasts the steepest 12a in the entire gorge. While we were there a few of the Petzl athletes who are in town for the upcoming Roc Trip showed up, Dave Graham and Joe Kinder. We weren't there that long before deciding to head to Military Wall to try a few routes on the 5.12 Wall. Audrey went for the onsight of a 12b and gave it a good effort but came up just short. While she was resting I tried a 13b called The Legend. I first attempted this route about six years ago but wasn't strong enough to link through the bottom boulder problem and after a few years the bottom boulder problem had gotten harder. It didn't help that some of the holds were wet at the bottom and it was really warm up. I have no idea how many times I popped off those bottom holds but it took me a few different breaks to actually redpoint it, well after Audrey had redpointed her route.

For some reason Tuesday I was climbing again. I had offered to help equip some of the route in The Motherlode area with new quickdraws for the events this weekend. What I didn't now is that I was actually going to have to do some climbing and that it would be warm and humid all day! I ended up climbing the moves on Thanatopsis, Cutthroat, Eight Ball, and Transworld Depravity before whining and weeping enough to call it a day. During the day many of the Petzl athletes came through on a tour so I had a quick chance to say hi to some old friends. Audrey and I were invited to a dinner that evening and at the dinner somehow the topic of Dogleg came up. Dogleg is a 5.12a route that I tried a few times last year but was not able to do. As a bit of a joke and to add further incentive to climb the route John Evans of Petzl offered to contribute $500 to the Red River Gorge Climbers Coalition if I do the route before Sunday. Now that's incentive!

Today Audrey and I rested but it was really cool and breezy this morning. We headed into Richmond to do some laundry and were quite disappointed to find that our favourite coffee shop from last year was no longer there. After finishing up laundry we headed back to the gorge and hiked out to watch the Petzl boys trying the Ultimate Routes. Petzl put a bounty on two open projects for the men, two established routes for the women and an open project for both sexes. One of the ultimate routes was at a new area called The Chocolate Factory and it was still a little warm so many of the male climbers passed on the routes there. It turns out both the womens routes and the other mens route was at the Bob Marley crag so that's where all the athletes were. It was a little cooler there and already Sean McColl had completed the unisex project, a proposed 13c/d route that had previously not been completed. Many of the boys were trying Fifty Words For A Pump while the women were trying No Redemption, and Ultra-Perm. By then end of the day Fifty Words was still unsent but Martina Cufar had redpointed No Redemption and Emily Harrington had redpointed Ultra-Perm. So already, after a single day, three of the bounty routes were completed and the coalition was making some money. I stayed in the campsite working this evening while Audrey went for dinner with the Petzl folks again.

I'm looking forward to this weekend. I'm not sure exactly what my plans are but I guarantee I'll be working Dogleg at some point :)

Well after a week of climbing at The New River Gorge we've gotten bored of the lack of climbing here and have decided to move on. Yeah right... I climbed 7 days in total and haven't even touched the surface on the number of routes here. The New is definitely on the list of places to return to but we are leaving it, heading back to The Red River Gorge.

I probably should've rested Monday. My side was sore, my skin was getting thin and it was getting warmer today but Audrey wanted to climb and honestly so did I. Once the decision was made to climb my mind started churning and Porter's recommendation of Titan's Dice returned to me. I knew Audrey wanted to climb at Endless Wall and try Quinsana. I suggested warming up near Titan's Dice... just to check it out. Sure enough the climb looked intimidating. J.B. Tribout's onsight of this route is legendary in this area and I was pretty sure it would take superhuman effort and ridiculous luck on my part to repeat that feat. Sure enough after warming up I laced up and tried to onsight this route. I didn't even onsight to the second bolt! In fact it took me a few tries to figure out how to get past the second bolt and then quite a bit more time to figure out the third, fourth etc... I was happy just to make it up this climb, cleaing spider webs as I went, and as I sat at the anchors I seriously contemplated cleaning the route and not trying it again. I didn't know if I had it in me to redpoint this pitch. I don't know what made me leave the draws up for the redpoint, probably fear of being heckled to death by Porter but I lowered off and started resting up for a redpoint attempt. Audrey tried to onsight an 11c just around the corner but like many of the routes here it had some powerful reachy moves on it. Audrey figured out, what looked like disgusting beta, and suprising to me she too elected to leave the draws on and actually got right back on the route. She redpointed it immediately but from my perspective I was psyched that she even bothered to redpoint an 11c. The climbing here is different. We walked back over to Titan's Dice and I went for the redpoint, I couldn't figure out how to clip the 4th bolt and elected to pull past it and clip from above. My right hand was in a decent hand jam but as I pulled up over a lip my hand slid out. I was fighting just hold on but as my hand slipped so did I. I actually skimmed the ground but fortunately didn't hit hard, a great catch by Audrey. Standing on the ground, a little scared I quickly pulled the rope and started up again before I could decide to give up. I clipped the 4th from a hard stance but at least I was a little more relaxed on the hand jam and made the reach past the 4th. From there it was a just a matter of not falling and trusting my feet through a wicked little stem dihedral. I was psyched to get this route done, it really made me work. After that we went back to Quinsana but again I couldn't figure out the last move. This time I felt the conditions were good but my skin was letting me down, seriously I've got lots of excuses. Audrey flashed up to the last bolt on top-rope and after that we called it a day. Initially we were going to move to a campground with Kevin and Alli but we decided to take the showers, Internet and witty company at Porter's instead.

While I probably should've rested on Monday I definitely should've rested on Tuesday. However Porter was headed out climbing and I had not had a chance to climb with him yet this trip so I decided to lace them up again. We all headed back to Endless Wall and Audrey started the day by leading a 10b trad route. The route started out as a regular face route just placing gear but right at the top it was full on hand and foot jamming. She fought a little at the top but didn't fall. I lead the route behind her and checked her gear placements, they were all bomber. After that I tried this crazy hard 12a, super bouldery off the ground and not a speck of chalk on it. Yes I fell, no I'm not proud of it. Audrey then onsighted an 11b but again the style of the routes here is hard and she was up-down climbing all over the route but fought it out and nailed the onsight. We then walked over to a route called Pudd's Purdy Dress. Porter was just finishing up his second lap on the route when we arrived. It was in the sun but looked really good. I went for the onsight/flash (I saw Porter up there but didn't really watch) and battled my way up it. My fingers and body were sore and was happy to get to the top. Audrey went for a burn on lead and flashed up pretty high. The crux gave her a little time to pause but it was the scary rockover onto the slab at the top that stalled her for the longest. To do the last move you have to climb a ways above the last bolt, hold onto nothing and rock your weight up over your feet. A heartbreak move for sure but eventually Audrey committed to the move and did it. After climbing we drove over to hang out with Kevin and Alli who were smart and rested today. We watched a few episodes of Scrubs and then called it a night.

Finally we had a rest day on Wednesday. After sleeping in a little I work up and went for a run. Porter's house is pretty close to the national park and there are quite a few running and mountain bike trails right there. I guess I mis-read the trail map a bit because I ended up running down, and down, and down which of course meant that I had to return by running up, and up, and up. It was a good workout at least. I then worked for a few hours and after that we drove back up to see Kev and Alli. We cooked some dinner and then settled in to watch 300, a definite bad-ass movie about how 300 Spartans defended free Greece from the invading Persians. I have no idea if those events are in any way realistic but a bad-ass, entertaining movie nonetheless.

Today was our last day at The New and we decided to go out the Summersville Lake. Audrey had selected a few warm-up climbs and wanted to try a few other low 5.12 routes. Most of the routes we were going to try at Summersville were steeper climbs, not like the technical routes at Endless Wall. After warming up at The Long Wall we walked over to The Narcissist where Audrey attempted the onsight. She cruised what I thought was the crux but got stymied on a long move off a sloping hold up high. She rested, and rested but couldn't recover enough to complete the move on onsight, a good fight though. I then tried to onsight a route called Deep Throat, a route that was covered in cobwebs but at least had some chalk on it. The bottom was really steep with good holds (just my style) but the upper section was bad holds and big moves (not my style). I had previewed the route perfectly and was just in the middle of the crux when a tentative heel-hook I had popped off and I couldn't control the swing. Oops... too bad. We then walked over The Colliseum where Audrey went for the onsight on another 5.12. Again it was just one move that caused her issues and by the time she sorted it out she was too tired to complete the move. She did it quite easily second try. Kevin and Alli were trying the classic Apollo Reed, Kevin unfortunately just missed the onsight. I walked back over to Deep Throat with another Canadian, Mark Smith, and Kevin. Mark was trying it and being a somewhat larger fellow he wanted Kevin to belay him, worried about breaking holds at the bottom. Fortunately he didn't break any holds and in the humid temps worked his way to the top. I tried it right after Mark and managed to redpoint the route even though Mark left the crux holds sweaty and slick, rather gross really.

That was pretty much our visit to The New River Gorge, we are headed to Kentucky tonight. While the climbing style does not necessarily suit me I am psyched to come back and project some of the harder (and easier) routes. The sandstone is super solid and reminds me alot of climbing in Australia. Fayetteville itself is a cool little town with lots of opportunity for outdoor recreation. Not a bad place to have a vacation home...