Red River Gorge Climbing

So just recently me and some friends got to travel to Kentucky and experience some great limestone climbing in an area known as Red River Gorge.

This is a picture of me playing around on a 5.13a! Needless to say I never even got close to finishing it...but did manage to get two clips into it and almost had the third...so not bad. It was this amazing crack splitting the inside of a 25 foot cave that then swooped over an overhang to a 30 foot leaning ascension. I didn't have a prayer...but it was super fun to try.

Some friends we went with made a neat video and posted it on YouTube of our first day of climbing and shows me finally getting a 5.11a! Now don't get me wrong...the first part of the climb is a 5.8, then goes to a roof for two bolts and comes over a lip to finish on a pair of chains 15 feet above the roof. I fell about 15 times, had someone else try to finish it, then finally got mad and made the move. Not pretty, but fun!

There was 12 of us and we stayed in this beautiful cabin in the wilderness. It was a bit hard to find, but was super convenient to get to all the climbing we wanted. I did quite a few 5.10's (last one was a 10c that I thought was a 9 going into it and was pissed that I fell twice before finishing it...needless to say I felt better once I heard its rating)

Now I've got the climbing bug again and can't wait to get out there this summer! Climbing trips here we come!