Over Thanksgiving weekend five climbers (Felix, Eric, Hugh, Cecile, and Nate) made the trip to Red River Gorge to finish the outdoor climbing season with some sensational climbs.
To accommodate folks staying in town for Thanksgiving dinner, car 1 headed out on Wednesday evening and car 2 started before sunrise on Friday. The two groups met up at Left Flank on Friday to enjoy some amazing climbing in the sun with many other climbers from Pittsburgh. We cooked a group dinner in the Land of the Arches campsite rec building before playing some cards and hitting the tents.
Saturday was chilly and overcast, so the morning was spent doing yoga in the rec building and visiting the Kentucky Reptile Zoo, which houses hundreds of venomous snakes used for venom extraction. After an enlightening guided tour, the group headed to Global Village, careful to check that each stick and log on the approach was, in fact, a piece of wood and not a venomous snake. At Global Village we enjoyed the best crack climbs of the weekend. Hugh had the good fortune to see the sun set from the peak of one of the routes while cleaning it. A variety of experimental pizzas from Miguel's was enthusiastically consumed for dinner followed by many games of Around the World ping pong and Farkle.
Sunday morning the group headed to Stadium in Muir Valley, taped up, and sent a handful of routes before reluctantly heading back to the campsite to finish packing up before getting on the road home.
-N. Brooks