Despite the title of this blog, I actually packed 427 feet of rope and hoped to use at least some of it. Today was our last day in Red River Gorge and, somehow, I managed to convince Jason to go trad climbing- no small feat. Anyone who’s climbed with him knows he’s perfectly happy to pull impossibly difficult moves far above a crash pad, but tying into a rope makes him a little nervous.
After indulging in the first real cup of coffee I’ve had in a week (thanks to Joe, who actually packed a coffee grinder and French press), we headed to Fortress Wall, home to a series of high quality cracks. We started out on a super easy 5.4, an offwidth 5.5, and a 5.6 with marginal gear. Party Time, a five star 5.7 was awesome, a fist to offwidth sized crack with great views. I got a little nervous on the lead when I managed to run out of appropriately sized gear and had to push my last cam a good 15 feet, but the quality climbing more than made up for it. I think even Jason enjoyed it; as I belayed him up I overheard comments about how fun the climbing was and he only looked mildly terrified as he reached the ledge. :)
Our last climb of the day was pretty unique. A hand sized crack with an offwidth pod called Snake. Below is a pic of Jason cleaning it.
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