Monday 1 December 2014

Part 4: Kentucky Fried



Official AAA road map for Kentucky.

Time again to do some blogging. Just about to leave Kentucky after a funny ol’ month and a half in The Red River Gorge, climbing (sometimes), eating (lots), and generally just having a cruisy time of it. Enjoy!

Van Land:
Sexy aint it?

After a week and a bit running around New York I finally had a van and was ready to kit it out with a bed frame and try and insulate it as best I could. Having no tools to speak of it was going to be an effort to work out but luckily Marie mentioned her dad, Scott, lived not far from The Red and had a bunch of tools. So after talking to Scotty on the phone it was all on and I headed out of New York. Eleven hours driving later I rocked up at Scotty and Linas house in Louisville, KY.
Scotty "The Man" Buckingham, putting first tools to the job.

These guys are just awesome. The epitome of southern hospitality. They set me up in the guest bedroom with my own bathroom in there huge house that Scotty built and took me out to dinner pretty much every night of the four I was there, the last night being homemade Chinese Hotpot that Lina made, which was super tasty. They even kitted me out with some bedding and utensils. Can’t thanks these guys enough for all the help. Bloody marvellous!
Chinese Hotpot = Culinary sensation.

Over the next four days we insulated the walls, floor and ceiling of the van with BAT insulation. We built a bed frame down one side as well as installing some fold down shelves for cooking on the back doors.
Pretty thick........so is the insulation.




Not Pictured: Scotties super thick southern accent.

Bourbon being a mandatory feature of all vehicles in the state.

Home, sweet home!


And Finally Some Climbing:

Now with a pimpen home on wheels I was itching to get down to The Red and meet up with my buddies Logan Barber and Jack Masel, who had been there for 2 weeks already, for some climbing action. A couple hours’ drive, a few stops at Walmart and the supermarket and I was finally pulling in to Miguel’s. This iconic pizza shop/camp ground sits in the corner of the car park with fields of tents winding their way to the back of a hollow between the hills where it’s situated. My first impression of Miguel’s is that it is friggen busy, climbers absolutely everywhere. It seems everyone has a dog and no one is particularly friendly which I found out over the next few weeks isn’t always the case, meeting some awesome folks, especially the guys who work here. 
Welcome to flavour country.

Welcome to steep country.

The Leaves where all turning red for the first couple of weeks I was here which made for some beautiful views driving between crags and at the top of the cliffs. Sunsets in particular could just light up for some stunning scenery.
This is Natural Bridge, its natural, and a bridge.



The first climbing day for me the guys took me to The Motherlode region down south. This is the place with the Madness cave, an incredible 40 meter wall that kicks back to 45 degrees half way up with rippling features that provide consistent incut edges all the way up. If you’ve seen photos of The Red it was most likely this wall. Not wanting to do anything too hard on the first day I checked out a 5.12a(24), a 5.12b(25) called “Ale 8 1” and got completely sandbagged on some terrible nonsense called Chainsaw Massacre (5.12a, 24). Getting ridiculously pumped on these the first day climbing gave me a taste of what this place is mostly about, consistent climbing while fighting a nasty forearm pump. There is also definitely some techy stuff here which I actually found the most enjoyable.
Logan on something ridiculously steep in the Madness Cave.

The Red River Gorge is also most definitely a sport climbing outdoor gym, with entry conditional on dog, stick clip and climbing slang test (some favourites include “dirt me”, “I’m numbing out” and ”I was cruxing so hard”)
Logan on Prometheous Unbound 5.13a(28). Cruised it 2nd shot.

The climbing here is honestly amazing though and is some of the most enjoyable climbing I’ve ever been on but ultimately I just couldn’t find my groove with it. I guess its a mix of a few things. I subluxed my rib two weeks before leaving Australia (tip: don’t go mountain biking before a big trip) which was lingering and meant cutting my training short which I don't think helped. 
Me on Jesus Wept 5.12d(27).

Even though I didn't climb as best as I thought I could I did manage to get up I couple of amazing lines. My third day on I managed to flash a 5.13a(28) called Spank and onsight another straight after called Easy Rider. Both where super fun. Kaleidoscope (5.13c, 30) also went down third shot which was great and a 5.13b(29) Table of Colors Direct might have been the best I climbed in the whole place or ever for that matter. Another 5.13b(29) I flashed in the Madness Cave called Flour Power, which might have been the highlight right there. I also managed to onsight or flash a bunch of climbs between 5.12a(24) and (5.12d(27) so pretty happy with that for sure.
The look of struggle. Me on Sex Farm 5.12b(25).

Logan had a great trip with a couple of 5.13c’s(30) as well as some impressive 5.13a(28) onsights, go Logs! Jack should be super stoked with his trip, definitely harnessing some long hidden potential with a few 5.13a’s(28) and 5.13b’s(29) and his first 5.13c(30) with Kaleidoscope. Was great to hang out with these fellas and climb rocks. They made the trip so much more awesome.
The boys in line with there tickets in hand.
A few weeks into the trip my good mate Roman came over to join us. We had been planning this trip for months before hand and was awesome to finally see him over here and to hang out. Roman did nothing short of an onsighting rampage, tearing The Red a new one with style. He bagged himself a few 5.13c(30) onsights and a whole bunch between 5.12d(27) and 5.13b(29). Some truly impressive climbing to watch.
Golden Touch 5.13b(29), didn't even make it past the 2nd bolt, nice photo though.
Duckface and sleepy eyes, look out ladies.


It has been a great crew to climb with, also making a local crusher and all-round nice guy Nat an honorary Aussie who climbed with us a bunch. I really did enjoy the climbing style here and once I let go of thinking I had to climb hard grades and just climbed because it’s fun (which I forget way too often) I had a great time on the rock. It’s so nice to be somewhere completely different and also enjoying the company of my good buddies!

To Be Continued........ Again:

So I have written more but it ended up being way too long so I might leave this one for now and put another blog up soon with a bunch of other stuff I got up to while in Kentucky. So far the trip has been just awesome, Loving life! Put another blog up soon, promise. Big hugs for everyone back home. Miss y'all!


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