Getting Lucky in Kentucky

This past weekend, I traveled with 12 other guys to Slade, Kentucky for a weekend rock climbing trip, and I wanted to blog about it. I got back late last night, so I am just getting time to write it now.

So, Friday at about 2 pm, I took off for Kentucky with 3 other guys. One car had already gone down on Thursday night and camped out, and a third car was leaving late on Friday. Shooting the shit with my friends on the way down, the 6 hour ride was flying by until we hit some heavy Cincinnati rush-hour traffic. Other than that hiccup, we made it down in around six and a half hours, and it wasn't bad. We arrived at our cabin and were pleasantly surprised with what we found: two bathrooms, 8 beds, two couches, a small but functioning TV, a wrap around porch, hot tub, and usable kitchen. The stage was set for a great weekend.

As the third and final carload of climbers arrived, we began plotting the rest of our night and the next day. Despite setting a goal of leaving the cabin at 7 am on Saturday, the group still decided to stay up, hang out, and do the sorts of things you would do in the middle of Kentucky. Luckily, the hangovers weren't too bad at 6:30 the next morning and before I knew it, the 36 eggs I had scrambled were devoured and we were on the road to 'Roadside Crag' our first stop of the day.

Needless to say, we were all pretty excited and motivated to have a good day, and it powered us through the early wake up. Hanging out with the group's leader and two of his climbing friends the night before, I had watched numerous climbing highlight videos and seen many photos of them in action so I was super pumped. I had also noticed the climbing lingo they were using and admired it, so I came back with some new sayings as well. Before getting to the wall, there was one other thing. I am scared of heights. Not deathly scared but it's still pretty significant, so that was surely on my mind while approaching the first challenge.

Boy, did our early start really help. We were the first people to the wall that we wanted to start on and by the time we left there were probably 25 people there, clogging up the routes and creating waiting lines. We had a large group of 13 people too, so it was nice to be able to establish our territory. The first wall was fun; the three most experienced guys 'led' three routes and set up ropes so that everyone else could top-rope climb those same routes. I made it to the top of probably the second toughest route of these three, roughly 60-70 feet, (they were all relatively easy) and was the most uncomfortable that I felt all weekend. I didn't really look down at all because I was so focused on climbing, but my inexperience with something this challenging plus my fear of heights combined for a tense experience. When I got down though, the natural high I experienced was so awesome, and I felt really good.

The rest of the day, we traveled to at least three more crags, usually driving to another spot and then hiking from there. One of the coolest things I did all day was whats called a dynamic movement or a 'dyno' on one of the later routes. Basically, there was two low holds where I could stand on with my left foot and grip with my right hand, however, the next good hold was a solid few feet about my head. At first, I tried to jump and get it, but I couldn't and after a few tries, I found another way up and finished the climb. Feeling good after making it up, I got lowered to the ground and wanted to try again. After a bunch of close calls, I finally jumped high enough, got my left hand on the grip and was able to pull my right hand and the rest of my body up to the ledge. Nothing like the adrenaline after the initial climb that gave me the extra push, it was a great feeling.

The last stop on Saturday was one of the most interesting parts of the trip for me. While most of the group went back to cabin, the three experienced guys wanted to go to a harder route on another crag so one other guy and I tagged along. What we came across was basically a behemoth of a route that was rated a 5.11a, and by far the most difficult one of the day. Honestly, I made my backpack into a pillow and laid down to watch and take pictures; I didn't think any of them could make it. Well, one after another, all three of them made it pretty smoothly, including two who stopped for a rest in the human-sized cave that was 3/4 up to the top. Literally just watching and hearing them exert energy while climbing 'Bathtub Mary', my hands were sweating, and I was getting nervous. It was awesome to see the really good guys get challenged like the rest of us did.

Following a good Saturday night with a big bonfire, we slept in on Sunday but had time for one last climb that was fun but very hard for the group lacking experience, myself included. After that, we started the trek home. Overall, the trip was excellent, and I loved it. The leader said something on Saturday night that was really fitting: "The one thing about climbing is that everyone climbs hard. No matter your skill level, everyone goes hard. That's what I love about climbing," he said. And he's right. All 13 of us were thoroughly challenged at least once over the weekend and put everything we had into overcoming that challenge. It was really rewarding, I would definitely go again.

Hopefully, I can get some pictures up soon.