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Video Friday - 11/4/2011
Last weekend I had the pleasure of making the long journey south to Kentucky's Red River Gorge for a weekend of climbing, shooting guns and eating pizza.
I may have jinxed myself a little bit by posting that extended forecast in last week's Video Friday post as the forecast of temps in the 50's with minimal chances for precipitation on Friday turned into a day filled with rain, snow and cold temps. Despite this we still made it out and sampled a few new routes at a crag just down the trail from Solar Collector called The Bright Side. I got the full new route experience by taking unexpected falls due to holds breaking, dodging broken holds while belaying and getting thoroughly bouted on the easiest route there. The clear highlight of the day was a 5.12a called Golden Brown which starts with some so so rock but is capped by a beautiful golden headwall of amazing crimps.
The rest of the weekend was much better weather-wise, and despite the fact that I haven't been climbing on a rope very much of late I somehow managed to flash my two hardest routes ever1. Talk about sweet action...
As the weekend came to a close I was once again reminded of that line from The Godfather: Part III where Michael Corleone says, "just when I thought I was out...they pull me back in". Every time I write off the Red as a boring place filled with mindless jug hauls I go there and remember that the climbing really is a lot of fun. In my defense this mindset is mostly born out of a combination of my incredible weakness at climbing endurance routes and my disdain for having to drive 8 hours each way to get to the Red. Regardless, the Red has been pulling me back in for over 10 years now and I suspect it will continue to do so for years to come.
Video Friday
On the Video Friday front, be sure to check out Tomorrow I Will Be Gone, a 40 minute film by Outcrop Films from a season spent in Rocklands, South Africa.
- Tomorrow I Will Be Gone
- Alex Manikowski At Lincoln Lake Pt. 1
- Petzl RocTrip China 2011 - First Edit
- 5,000 Miles - Part 3: Priest Draw
- Alex Manikowski At Lincoln Lake Pt. 2
Footnotes
- 1. It didn't hurt that both featured full no hands rests half way up which suited my level of preparation perfectly back
4 comments
narc...how's the "the scene" contest coming along?
Winners announced soon
Smart move avoiding the Motherlode, no more fixed draws and you would have been harassed if you took more than ten minutes on a 'warm up' climb
I was busy clipping fixed draws elsewhere in the Red :)