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For a flash slide show of all our pictures click the picture above
To start, here is the quote of the trip
compliments of Brian.
July 2nd: Get Ready and Get Out
4th of July weekend! My 6 week nursing summer semester was over as of 10:30 AM Wednesday July the 2nd. I had packing cleaning and unfinished business to attend to before heading down to Philadelphia to meet up with my brother Peter for the night before heading out for the 7hr drive down to the New River Gorge Thursday morning. It felt good to be school free, even if it was only until next Tuesday.
July 3rd: Peter Putzed Again
The plan was simple. We had until Monday to get in as much climbing as possible. If we woke up at 6:00 AM and got to Philly by 7:00 we could be hanging off a cliff in WV by 3:00 PM with 5 hours of sunlight left. Perfect. Well, Pete was thinking something different. A late night running errands, combined with sleeping in and then multiple different errands to run around Philly the next day resulted in a exit time closer to noon. Shit, peter putzed again!
We rolled in just as it was getting dark. We found a free camping spot way off 22 minutes from Rt. 19 past the boat launch past Conard. Back into town we went to call Brian to arrange a meeting time and place. The (closed) Cathedral Cafe outdoor seating area was perfect for drinking some beer and practicing my tin whistle until we could contact Brian. Our camping spot was definitely just a crash spot but I really enjoyed playing the tin whistle which I was just learning next to the river late into the night.
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July 4th: Cathedral Coffee Morning, Meet Brian, and Climb like Crazy
We got up by a decent time to meet Brian at the Cathedral Cafe in Fayetteville. This gives us opportunity and an excuse to relax, drink coffee, eat some breakfast, and play the whistle. Brian arrived bringing with him the smell of Denny's fryer oil he was using for diesel in Amy's converted turbo diesel Jetta.
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1st stop, the Junkyard walls. We Climbed some superb 5.9 and 5.10 climbs. I definitely got my dose of 'freak out' leading "The New River Gunks" a 5.9 hands crack that my hands wouldn't quite fit into. Luckily I just barely got my shit together enough and pulled through the crux to the easy 5.7 finish. Wow, I suck. The climbs at Junk Yard walls are all about 50 ft tall and top anchors abound. Many of the anchors are easily accessible from the top making rope moving for more difficult top rope climbs a cinch. Luckily, Brian's Pabst 24 Oz'rs finished off our hard day of climbing!
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When we got back to camp Brian discovered that there was a cherry tree over our camp. Like a bunch of monkeys with half a brain be we came up with a half baked idea on how to reach the highest cherry branches. Brian and Peter balanced one of the picnic tables on end while I stood on top trying to keep my balance while grabbing handfuls of sweet ripe wild cherries.
July 5th: Wait the Rain Out, Harness up my Dog, and do some Slippery Climbing
So what now? It rained all night. I woke up with wet feet to find my sleeping bag in a puddle. Due to rain we had a lazy coffee start and played the whistle as we watched all the kayakers head out to fresh raging waters. After it had dried out some we headed over to the Endless Walls area. You park at the top of the cliffs at this area and then clamber down large wooden ladders to access the cliffs from the base. We got the chance to pick some wild blueberries and get a nice view of the gorge from the top.
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It took some vacillating and brainstorming but we eventually opted to harness Oliver up and lower him over the side of the 20 foot ladder to get down! Little did we know that to get out at our exit point we would be hoisting him up a 40 foot ladder then through a rock crevice ladder another 20 feet after that! Oliver took it in strides and was very excited when he finally reached solid ground again!
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Once we got down it was a lush green hike along the base of the cliffs. The rain from the night before had brought all the dark greens and browns out. We came across this small spire of rock that looked like it had been speared into the ground. Peter couldn't resist.
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As we were hiking, Brian and Oliver walked through a hive of ground hornets resulting in Oliver getting stung several times in his left front paw. After bolting around the offending area Oliver jumped over two large downed trees with his dog packs loaded up with water bottles. I noticed him limping and got a bit worried. I thought he might have sprained his ankle but it turns out it was just the hornet stings. After hiking down the endless stream of beautiful but wet cliffs, Peter picked out a 4 star 5.8 climb to slop his way up. It was a rather sketchy slimy affair that I was glad to not be leading. Thanks Pete for letting my pus sack float behind you! I gave Oliver some TLC and a Benadryl after which he promptly dug a hole and fell asleep for an hour while we climbed. There were these Mayflies floating around like pieces of bright white lint caught in the air. I managed to catch one and snap a picture.
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We climbed the 5.8 then moved the rope over to a 5.9 and a much harder face climb. After that it was time to hike out. We decided to try our luck with a different ladder but after another lengthy hike we ended up at an even bigger ladder then the first. 40 feet up with another 20 foot ladder up through a rock chasm. It was pretty difficult heaving Oliver up the ladders so we didn't take any pictures. It was pretty wild though. At the top we got a few long exposure pictures as the sun went down over the horizon. Dinner was camping gourmet with Brian's farmer additions and Amy farmer flair.
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July 6th: Bridge Area Crags Before Heading Home
We finally got our stuff together and headed over to the bridge area climbs were we got a few climbs in compliments of Brian's sharp end willingness. I snapped a nice picture of the bridge as seen above.
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Soon after our 2nd climb however it started to rain so we headed to a protected face under a huge roof. I Led up a short 5.7 crack that Brian had previously led as seen above and then did a massive marginally sketchy traverse to a set of anchors over a four star 5.11 finger crack and a ridiculous 5.12 face climb.
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It was a long drive home after several hard days of climbing. We rolled out of the New at 6:00 PM and got into Philly at 1:30. I didn't get back home to my parents until 3:00 AM. Whew!
For a flash slide show of all our pictures click the picture below
© September 4, 2008