Rockcastle Bouldering

The directions and topo for existing problems were recently released for a new bouldering spot in Central Kentucky called Rockcastle. Yesterday Sam and I made the hour and 45 minute journey out there to check it out!

The weather was perfect and we had equal proportions of exploring, climbing, and beer to make for an awesome day.
Impressions of Rockcastle:
Rock Quality - some as good as 4/5 but lots of really chossy flake systems on the roofs. There is plenty of good rock waiting to be cleaned and climbed, and almost all of it tops out. For some reason most of the development has been concentrated on roofs, and the aformentioned loose flakes...

Potential - the best and most expansive bouldering I've seen in Kentucky. Could continue to grow and be a quality playground for Kentucky boulderers, but I cant imagine it becoming a "destination".

Problems:

Main Side

Me on "Waiting Room", V4
Quick send but super fun and committing throw to the top!



Sam battling "Red Line", V3, on Boulder 1
Quality rock with fun moves, starts WAY low under the roof.

Other Side

"Gopher It", V4 FA *****

Stone Fort/LRC Update

December 5/6 Stone Fort LRC

Andrew, Hannah, Tim, and I woke up Saturday morning to find the parking field and my tent covered in about 1-2 inches of wet Tennessee snow! We quickly entered the newly opened Urban Rocks climbing gym (which served as Triple Crown headquarters) to find that the competition had been postponed to the following day, and that competitors could boulder at Urban Rocks for half price until the Dyno Comp and party that evening.


We decided some coffee was in order so we headed into downtown Chattanooga for some Chatty's coffee and some pumpkin bread. Then back to Urban Rocks for some awesome indoor top out bouldering (that gym has it goin on!).

The afternoon was spend back in Chattytown running around like hooligans with some buildering and parkour to boot! Then to a local brewery for some fresh beer and some tasty eats!


The night was wasted away watching the dyno comp then to bed early for the comp the next day.

Similar to Horse Pens, no one in our group turned in scorecards at the end of the day. We had a blast though! Some highlights were barefoot climbing, a sweet boulder of highballs, and Andrew nearly sending (and paying the price for not) a V10 called King James.

Stone Fort (LRC), TN this weekend!

Andrew, Hannah, Tim, Tanya, Chris, and I are heading down for the final leg of the Triple Crown of Bouldering this weekend, thought I'd post a video of Jimmy Webb and Brion Voges sampling some of the excellent problems LRC has to offer.

Advanced Circuit - Little Rock City, Tn from Jimmy Webb on Vimeo.

Purgatory

Tyler, Tim, Andrew, and I all are siked on routes at Purgatory. I am working "the castle has fallen", Andrew is getting close on "lucifer", and Tyler and Tim are putting in ever-so-close redpoint burns on "paradise lost"

Movies

Its a gorgeous crag of minimally featured grey rock and hosts 4 of the best and most difficult climbs at the Red all right next to each other. Coming around the corner to see the early morning sunlight illuminating these classics is a sight to behold.

The last few days have held some fun and interesting climbing for me. On Thanksgiving day, Jason, Ben and I went to Muir Valley and warmed up on Preemptive Strike (6b) and Earthsurfer (7a). I sent Earthsurfer second go, it's a interesting climb with fun moves and two hard cruxes, a bulge with a shallow crack that you can suss a finger lock off then make a move to shallow sloping dish, and then hit some jugs. After you gain a breather you can being to pull the second crux, moving moving over another bulge, on small crimpers, make a hard clip and then keep it together on the interesting slab above, palming and making "trust the rubber" moves. It tops out at 100 feet and there is a great view of the Valley, this view alone makes this climb worth doing. After that we went to Midnight Surf and gave Cell Block Six (7b+)some attention and Ben gave Tapeworm (7c)a good burn.

Today, Chase came and woke me up and we headed out to the gorge again. I haven't climbed with Chase for quite some time, and was happy to have some time at the rocks with him. We decided that we were going to go to Foxfire (5.7 R) at Eaglepoint Butress Instead of doing the first pitch on Foxfire, we opted to do Day Dreaming (5.9+). I got the first lead. I headed up the awkward lay back, small hand, and finger crack. Like most "Old School" + rated climbs, it was probably closer to a mid 10 than a 9. I belayed Chase up and we made the traverse across a rat shit covered ledge and built a new anchor on a tree. He led the next pitch, or the actual second pitch of Foxfire, this was the first R rated pitch, it finished on a scary traverse to the the next belay station. I was then on lead, and jumped on the 3rd pitch, again a 5.7 R pitch. I worked up through marginal placments to a roof where I moved onto the face to gain the 3rd belay station. I built an anchor on a tree that would not hold more than a small fall if we were lucky. Chase didn't fall (thank god) and we climbed the last 4o feet of awesome exposer. This is a great route for those who want an adventure. The R rating on all the upper pitches make it spicy!

Paradise Lost (8a)

Overdue Updates

So its been a few weekends without an update but that's because I haven't really been taking many pictures and like to update with pictures and words. Plus, I've been feeling kind of lazy in respect to the blog. However...

Bouldering
Triple Crown, HP40
Had a blast with Andrew G, Tim Black, and Johnny Slice. No one turned in scorecards but that didn't matter! What did matter were the almost sends, boulder hopping expeditions, and bourbon-induced teabagging and shenanigans! Tim and John almost sent Mullentino (V7), and Andrew DID send Green Lantern Low (V8), Skywalker (V8/9), and Consumption (V8). "eh, Good Work.."

Trad
The Learning Curve (5.12a)
Chase and I went to Eastern Skybridge a few weeks ago to try this gem of a line. Only 35 ft long, it amounts to a marginally protectable highball boulder problem that feels maybe V6. The crux is at the very top and is protected by a shallow #000 Black Diamond C3. We chose to suss it out on top rope and I feel confident enough to make a lead attempt next time!

Stucco Nu (5.11+)
Andrew led this adventuresome trad route this past Saturday and entertained all bystanders with an epic full body shake at the very top of the dihedral. The cruxy run to the chains eventually spit him out and left him with a joyous 30ft. whip onto a #2 stopper! He finished the route and I top-roped it. It climbs fantastically and I am planning on going for the lead send next weekend.

Snotrocket (5.12+)
AMAZING ROUTE!!! ONE OF THE BEST CLIMBS EVER! VERY HARD, VERY LONG, WITH AMAZING MOVEMENT! Andrew and I both TR'd it, Andrew plans to be going for the lead send soon, Good Luck!

Goodstone (5.11a)
This thin splitter fingercrack gave me my first trad fall! (11/15/09) 20ft on a #2 Metolius TCU

Sport

So much sport climbing to mention, but I'll stick to what I'm currently siked on. Andrew and I have winter proj's at the Gallery and Purgatory. Mine at least are perhaps way harder than I can pull, but I'm going to put the work in and see if I can do them!

Me - Paradise Lost (8a), Zen and the Art of Masturbation (7c+)
Andrew - The Shocker (8c), Lucifer (8c+)

Off Width

Wide cracks offer a whole new set of challenges to climbing. Finger strength and endurance are suddenly no help, your entire body comes into play. Last weekend, the defining climbing moments came for me on my attempt at "Muscle Shoals" (5.8+) at Muscle Beach, my first off width. While I didn't send, this climb tested me physically and mentally. This crack was full on off width from start to finish. I racked up with the biggest cams I have ever used. I had 1 #6 BD C4, 1 #5 BD Camalot (about a 5.5 in C4 range), 1 #5, and a #4.5 and #4. I wedged myself into the crack and started to inch and grunt my way up. At about 8 feet I found a stance, my chest and back were wedged against the wall, and I worked a knee bar and a heel toe cam. This allowed both hands to be free. I reached down and uncliped the 5.5, reached over my head with my other hand and passed the cam in, then I placed it above my head. Inched up again until it was at my waist. and moved it again. Then the crack got wider, I left the cam behind, and inched inside the crack ENTIRELY! I was able to get the 4.5 all the way back and exteneded it with a huge runner. After that I was able to stand up and scoot the #6 above my head into what I found to be the crux. finally I found a face hold, and was able to top out. I had just climbed a 50 foot crack with 3 pieces. I was battered and bloody from head to toe and sore for three days after. To do this crack safely two number 6's, and two number 5s are essential, I would like to have three 6's if I do it again.

October 23-25

This weekend started with some shabby weather, which only got better as the days progressed. Friday, Allen, Katie and I headed out and made our way to Roadside. Allen made his way up the soaking wet flake of "The Return of Chris Snyder"(5.11d) before deciding bailing was the best answer. We then headed back to the 5.10 wall, where I made two close burns on "Stay the Hand" (5.12a) one fall each time. On Saturday we (Allen, Tyler and I) headed to Muir Valley, leaving the girls to fend for themselves. We started our day by warming up at the "Bone yard" on "Captain Blondie Sinks the Ship" (5.11a/b), and then headed to the AMAZING "Midnight Surf" wall. There Allen worked "Tapeworm" (5.12d), I successfully teched my way through the boulder problem on "Iniquity" (5.12b) and got my redpoint. Tyler made quick work of "Cell Block Six) (5.12c) sending second go! Katie Scatena and I then went to the "Sanctuary" where we worked "Immaculate Deception" (5.12a) me falling one clip away from my onsight. Katie made good progress and her first 5.12 send is not far away!

Day two broke Sunny and Cold, we headed to "Drive By" where we began to climb. Katie Scatena made quick work of "Whipstocking" (5.11a) and "Yadda Yadda Yadda" (5.11b) which she quickly repointed hanging draws. Chase and Allen worked a hard 5.12d, while Katie Erickson and I palmed slopers and held pinches on "Check Your Grip" (5.12a) I managed to get it clean on my third go of the day. Chase and Tyler spent the day working "Beer Belly" (5.13a) while John worked towards the send on "Dirty Smelly Hippie" (5.13b), which I decided to get on at the end of the day. All in all it was a great weekend, with some amazing climbing!

Triple Crown Hounds Ears

Our first bouldering trip of the year was a weekend excursion to visit the first triple crown event of the year at the private Hound Ears Club in Boone, NC! Though the weather looked iffy the whole preceding week, all 250+ competitors lucked out with a beautiful 65 degree bluebird day for bouldering

Saturday broke bright, cold, and dewy, with free breakfast from five-ten and the loading of pads and groggy climbers onto trucks and into buses. The anticipation quickly rose to a pre-Christmas fervor as the hoards of climbers ascended the gravel mountain road to where Evolv, Five Ten, La Sportiva, and Scarpa were handing out demo models of their newest kicks. Finally, after some parting rules and wisdom, we were dismissed to shred our tips on the razor sharp crimps of Hounds Ears.

Tim and I got the day started with quick onsite/flashes of Woody's v3 (v5), and proceeded to the mushroom boulder for a cool traverse called Abracadaver (v4), and for Tim to come close to sticking the wicked swing of Mushroom Roof (v6). We then split up for a few hours to negotiate the crowded rocks solo. Teeterpoint (v6), and Capt Crunch (v4) were next for me. I was able to send the highball Capt Crunch, but Teeterpoint allowed me progress and no send, along with stealing several layers of skin.

As the day wound down and the few climbers with skin and hopes of victory rushed about attempted to fill their scorecards, cries of effort turned to curses of pain and bloody tips until the final horn sounded to bus back to the campground.

The party lasted well into the night for most, treated to an, er, entertaining? music experience before the awards ceremony, and the dispersing of much swag and raffle prizes.


Recommended Problems:

Abracadaver v4
The Pocket Problem v4
Captain Crunch v4
2,000 v4
The Mad Splatter v5
They Call Me Nobody v6
Crystallized v1
The Edge v0

Brian Voges, who placed 2nd in Men's Open, got the first ascent of an outstanding Hounds Ears project that links The Crusher (v10) into Flash or Trash (v5) and dubbed it Half Price Porno (v11/12).

Dreary Saturday

Last Saturday, after an adventurous start to my weekend which started with me being kicked awake by Miss Katie E at 3am, we met young Dru at 9am. He was itching to get out to the Darkside to climb, he and I headed out with his father and planned to meet the girls there later. It rained the entire way, fortunately Darkside is so steep that even the tops of climbs stay dry. Dru kicked off the day by climbing the "ramp of death" to get to the start of "Shanghai" (12d) he quickly worked out the moves going bolt, making it the hardest climb he's done all the moves on. After that I got a rope stick clipped to my project, "The Force", Then the ladies showed up. As I began to work the bottom moves of "The Force" again, Katie E. jumped on "Tuskan Raider" (12d) (pictured) and made great progress! I managed to stick the crux move on "The Force" on lead finally, making me hopeful that climbing in decent conditions and feeling 100%, I'll connect the bottom difficulty section in the least! Later in the day Sarah and Lindsay both gave good burns on "Mama Benson" (12a) Dru also gave Tuskan a burn, but then had to go home. To finish our day Katie got on Tuskan and got all the moves! I got on it too and figured out the crux moves, it's a super cool route, and has a sit down rest just after the crux! It was a super day full of climbing and various shenanigans!

Beautiful Weather!!!

Sunday was the first day of fall climbing, and it was truly magnificent. After a week of rain the sun came out and illuminated a dry 75 degree day full of hard climbing. Lang, Katie1, Katie2, and I set out earlyish to Drive-By.

Team PBR got the day started with some onsights and flashes of Whip-Stocking (5.11a) and Yadda Yadda (5.11b), both of which were enjoyed by all :) Lang then gave Check Your Grip (5.12a) a burn, and I gave it a go on Beer Belly (5.13a) - an awesome 5.11d layback flake into a v5 traversing pocket problem!

Next on our agenda was an afternoon at the Motherlode where Katie E. redpointed Ale8 (5.12b) for the first time- Go Katie! I gave 2 burns on the amazing and brutally hard 8 Ball (5.12d), and one on Stain (5.12c). Lang gave Chainsaw Massacre several burns and also sent Injured Reserve (5.11a) after finding the hidden crimp ;)

All in all a fantastic day even to be outside! Great to feel motivated again to climb til your fingers bleed, and siked to continue to get stronger into the amazing fall season at the Red!

Rain Rain Rain

It has been raining for days and is starting to dull my wits. A mixture of cabin fever and general recklessness has driven my weekend thus far. A pitcher of Dogfish 90min. IPA and a bottle of Bacardi 151 was enough to get me, Lang, and Katie S sufficiently lubricated and prepared Lang to be picked up for his night at the Red in the rain. Katie and I decided to "tough it out" in her dorm rather than brave the demoralizing weather, and now at 12:40pm I'm attempting to drag her out of bed and to the Zoo for a few burns on Hippocrite (5.12a) and Scar Tissue (5.12a), a couple short 45ft routes on 40 degree wall. Climbing will win out! .... I hope.

NRG, September 18th, 19th and 20th.

Last weekend Chase, Tyler and I made the trip to the New River Gorge. Chase and I left Lexington Friday afternoon and met Tyler in Ironton, Ohio at about 6pm. While we were waiting for Tyler to arrive however, Chase and I had some adventures. Most interesting was our brief acquisition of a puppy. We were walking around, and this lady yelled at us "Ya'll lose a dawg?" Chase and I answered no, and she asked us if we wanted a dog. Chase's response was "I don't know, I'd have to see it" we walked up and she handed it to us and said "It's your problem now". Chase and I weren't sure what to do, then a man drove by and said "Is that there your dog?" we said no, and he said he'd take it. We then had no dog, an hour or two later Tyler and Langston arrived. We headed off to the New. We arrived at Roger's late, and set up camp and went to bed early. The next morning we got up and headed off to Kaymoor. We came to the Rico Suave Buttress. We decided to warm up on a slab called Totally Tammy (5.10a) This was, with out a doubt, one of the hardest 10's I've ever been on. After that we moved on to a NRG classic, Rico Suave, also a 5.10a. This, the three of us agreed was one of the coolest 10's we'd been on. There was a cool line beside Rico that I was able to hang draws on while cleaning. We then each got a burn on the height dependent and incredibly technical "Out of the Bag", 5.11c/d. After having our fill of technical stuff, we headed off to the Glory Hole, where we wanted to get on some classic and super steep 12's.

We decided that we would test our metal on Skull F~~k, (5.12c, 7b+)(see picture) This was a line that shot up through two large roofs to the chains. I had never done moves quite like the ones I had to do to pull roofs. Several small crimpers, at least one toe hook and several heel hooks and gastons brought me to the chains, more scared on a sport route then I've been in a very long time. "The Hole" was one of the eeriest places I've ever climbed it was dark, the perma-draws were all on chain hangers that rattled against the wall when the wind blew. After one go each we decided it was time to go check out the old Kaymoor Coal mine. We walked down 800 steps to the relics of the coal refineries. we jumped the fence and explored, then we went down to the river and swam, smoked pipes and had PBR.

The next day we headed off to Summersville lake. On the way we stopped at the New River Gorge Bridge, quite a view. After a poor start, and being lost for an hour or so we managed to find our way to long wall. We warmed up on a spicy 5.10b called "For What? aka Hot and Buttered" at 60 feet or so and 4 bolts I felt runout. Then we moved a little further down the wall and got on a route called "Maximum Overdrive" (5.11c). I have never felt so happy to onsight hanging draws. After we all sent, we headed off to The D.C. Memorial Boulder and got on "All the Way Baby" (5.12b, 7b) We all gave this a few good tries, none of us sending, but all of us coming awfully close. Because of our late start we didn't have much time so we headed over to The Colosseum to look at the climbs there, and decided that would be our destination the next time at the New! After pizza and beer at Pies and Pints, we headed home. All in all an awesome time In West Virginia!

Slideshow

Miguel's Pizza and Sports Porn

South Western Oatmeal

This weekend, apart from exciting (and often questionable activities), I decided to eat a diet consisting only of oatmeal. I determined that it was ok to add different ingredients to my oats to ensure that I was getting protein and other essential things. The first night I cooked my oats, poured in half a can of beans, big chunks of cheese, fresh tomato and copious amounts of sour cream, topped by taco seasoning, and stirred it all together. In appearance this looked rather terrible and caused my fellow climbers to look disgusted. I was offered pizza by some other climbers at the table next to ours, although some of my friends eventually manned up and tried my food, which looked sickeningly similar to vomit, and decided that it wasn't as horrible as it looked.

On the Second night I again prepared my meal. As I was preparing to eat it cold, Vadim convinced me to wait, and heat it up on the stove he, John and Tony had just used to cook their meal. When it was heated up, it became a gooey mess of cheese, tomato, beans and of course oatmeal. This night I managed to get everyone to try some! It was, oddly enough, an instant classic. Tony admitted that he would eat it again; Allen proclaimed that he would probably end up eating it at home on occasion! Because of this, I have included a recipe for those who would like to further their dirt-bagging skills!

Ingredients:
Kroger quick-cook oats
Kroger brand? sour cream
Kroger seasoned black beans
Fresh tomato
Kroger cheddar cheese
Taco seasoning packet

Cooking instructions:
Boil water, add oats (but don't really cook them), remove from heat. Add half a can of beans, cheese (don't really cut it, just hack it into larger pieces), "chopped" tomato (again be lazy and and just sort of chop it). At this point add a lot of sour cream, and top it off with taco seasoning to taste. At this point your stove should be put away, so look around for another stove to use, ask the owner of the stove to let you heat your stuff. heat until gooey and delicious. Serve hot (or cold if you couldn't find a stove) eat out of the pot and drink a cold (or warm) PBR! Enjoy!

09/13/09

After sleeping well into the morning, the crew decided that a trad day at Long Wall and Fortress Wall was in store.

I got my 3rd and 4th ever trad leads on Autumn (5.9) and Rock Wars (5.10a)! Such amazing lines, and definitely had my Elvis leg working overtime!  John and Lang also led Autumn, and Lang cleaned Rock Wars. John top-rope onsighted the Suitors Crack (7a) which was super sick, hopefully he'll get the send on gear next time!!

Lang and I both gave decent redpoint goes on the 5 star sport line "The Gift" (7a+), and I fell off 2 inches from the final jug...

Fortress Wall also had some firsts with Tony getting his first trad lead (American Crack) and Lang and I free soloing Calypso III (my first FS).  Katie Scat led a scary 5.6 (5.8R) crack called Calypso II, as did Lang and I.

All in all a rocking weekend!!

09/12/09

Saturday included gratuitous amounts of laziness from me, Lang, and Chase at the Darkside.  There ended up being more substantial quantities of beer, sausage and bacon on the camp grill, and photography than there was actual climbing.  I spent what felt like 2 hours hanging in a harness on Darth Moll whilst taking pictures of Jeff, Nick, and Lang on The Force (7c+).  Probably worth it, some of the pictures turned out bad ass!  Lang figured out some crucial crux beta and Chase was sticking the moves when he wasn't sulking under lack of motivation.  I gave it one go on Mama Benson (7a+), and we called it a day.

Met up with Katie, John, Tony, and Vladim back at Miguel's for some pizza and PBR! There we decided some night cragging at Phantasia was in order, and picking up Johnny Slice on our way out.

I hung the draws on Creature Feature and only clipped 3 bolts and then the anchors, running it out well above groundfall potential just for kicks.  Not to be outdone, Lang upped the ante by stripping down and getting the first true "flash" of Creature Feature.  Moreso than mine, Lang's mischief became the modus operendi of the night, with a total of 4 naked ascents and 1 naked top-rope flail (Vladim).  Highlights include John and Vladim standing naked in their harnesses, arms around each other, singing "Throw the Jew down the Well" from Borat, as well as the capturing of one of the most...er...remarkable(?) climbing pictures of all time as Lang's feet cut on the roof to expose, well, everything...

(photos coming soon)

Welcome!

This is the maiden escapade of teamPBRclimbing.blogspot.com!

This blog will serve to give narrative and photographic evidence to the wanderings and meanderings of Team PBR from Red River Gorge and beyond.  Coming soon will be a post from this past weekend's stories and pictures of epic trad sends, projecting sport, and naked night climbing!