Pictures from the Red

After a long week of getting our asses handed to us by some sweet Kentucky pocket climbing action, Elliott and I were feeling pretty worn at the end of the week and considering neither of us had climbed in close to 3 months, we were psyched just to have redpointed some 5.9s and hang dogged a couple 5.10s. On the last day of climbing however, we found a sweet slab route called possum lips at the military wall and just couldn't help ourselves. It's a 5.10d which was higher than anything either of us had redpointed all week so neither of us was expecting too much. BUT, elliott hopped on and after about 30 minutes of dancing, chalking, blowing off holds, and some more chalking he got the onsight! In an attempt to have some of his good psych rub off on me, I hit the route next and fell at the crux. But still feeling like I could get the send, I hopped on the next go and got the redpoint. Needless to say, this was the highlight of my trip. Then later on in the day, we decided to hit an 11b in the left flank called aquaduck pockets. The route is tons of fun but tricky because you have to grab the right pockets in order to find the good holds and trust me, there are plenty of pockets to choose from. I hit the route first and was lucky just to hangdog my way through it. I was constantly having to stop and evaluate the beta and try and figure out which pocket to use which way. So after I came down, I gave elliott the secret beta thus denying him the onsight but giving him some serious help with the redpoint. In true elliott fashion, he crushed the route first go and once again I got it on my second. Daniel also hopped on it and got the send as well. The people at the red were awesome and I'm already so psyched to go back. It's a world class climbing spot and the people are fantastic as well. Also as promised, here are some pictures from our trip. Peace! 

                        

Week at the RED!! (and a new blog layout)

Hey there digital world! Sorry it's been a minute since i've posted on here, but since I haven't really climbed for the past couple months I didn't see a need in posting about my climbing. That said, I'm currently writing this post from the downstairs area of Miguel's Pizza at the red river gorge meaning that I'm back! (and it feels so good). So while I'm sitting at my computer, I'll take a quick minute to give some updates on what's been going on lately. Last week my dad surprised me with the gift of a DSLR Minolta camera that was previously used by my grandfather. I'm not sure the exact name of the camera, but I know that it's pretty freakin' sweet. He also gave me 4 lenses for it so I'm real psyched about some climbing photography right now! So after I acquire a cord to hook that camera up to my computer, I'll be able to upload lots of sweet shots from this trip as well as all future climbing adventures. As far as the red goes, here's what's been goin down... 

Me and Elliott got here Monday night late and decided to just kick it around Miguel's for the evening since it was already too late to climb. Then yesterday we spent the day exploring the red (It's my first time and his second) as well as getting our bodies used to feeling rock on our fingers. We hit a 5.7, 5.8, and two 5.9s . We onsighted all the routes with the exception of the 5.8 for me. The last move was kind of big and I completely misread the holds. Either way, it was a good day for both of us considering neither of us had felt rock in a couple months. Then last night we met up with Brea, Daniel, and Matt (a couple of our friends from chattanooga) and we all got together today to hit some sweet stuff in the shire. There was this one beautiful line called K.S.R. (I think those were the initials) and it was a sweet 10d right in the middle of this huge face. I don't exactly know why it was so pretty but it was. It also proved to hold strong to the red's reputation for having freakin' hard routes. Each of us was able to make it to the top with a bit of falling and hanging (basically everyone hang-dogged the route except for elliott). After watching the four of us hang it up, Elliott hit the route with a head full of steam. He did it as a top rope because he was afraid of not being able to get the gear down if he attempted a lead, but he definitely surprised himself when he got the red point (that is, if you can get a red point for a top rope, I'm not really sure). So props to him and hopefully the next couple days will lead to some more get-your-ass-back-in-shape-and-up-that-route climbs for all of us. That's all I got for now. 

Oh! And I got a new blog layout. Do you like it? 

Peace! 

-J dubs