Red River Gorge, KY

Red River Gorge, KY

Only one week after the previous trip to the New, three climbers (Felix, Erica and Steve) decided to head to the famous Red River Gorge to enjoy the beautiful Easter weekend.

After a chilly first morning, the sun woke up and heated the rock in the PMRP area, where we were heading. After sending some nice climbs at the Drive-by crag and meeting other Pittsburgh climbers at another crag, we finally went to the Courtesy wall where we used what was left from our muscles to climb another bunch of amazing pieces of rock.

The next day, the crew decided to go to the “Long wall”, and alternating between Trad and sport routes, everyone spent the whole day destroying their fingertips. Felix sent his first 5.12 (and a really nice one): “The gift”, congrats! After everyone’s skin was screaming for rest, we headed to Miguel’s to enjoy a pizza that we really deserved.

The last day of this trip was spent at the “Left Flank”, where we threw our last forces in some other amazing climbs. This was the end of an awesome Easter weekend, we’re all looking forward to the next one!

-S. Clerc

New River Gorge, WV

The weather forecast seemed to be good for this weekend, and many climbers headed towards the New River Gorge to spend some time climbing outside.

On Friday, after having some bad luck with a flat tire on the highway, we arrived quite late at Summersville lake. This was not enough to discourage us to climb a few lines (finishing the last one with a headlamp) at Whipoorwhill before going to set our camp at Chestnut Creek.

The next day, we went to Bubba city with a couple of other Pittsburgh climbers, where we climbed almost every single route that we found until we were exhausted. A good dinner set us ready for a good night of rest before Sunday.

On Sunday, we went to Endless Wall to enjoy some really nice trad and sports climb until mid-day, when it was unfortunately already time to go back home.

-S. Clerc

Seneca Rocks, WV

Felix, Michael, and Erica went to Seneca for a weekend of multipitch trad climbing. We met up with other Pittsburgh climbers and split up into two teams. The weather looked threatening Saturday but cooperated in the end. Michael did Gunsight to South Peak (a classic!), the first pitch of Le Gourmet, and Front C. Felix and Erica tagged the summit twice, the first time climbing Skyline Traverse to West Pole, and the second time climbing the classic Soler.

It rained all Saturday night, and Sunday morning things were quite wet. A constant light drizzle prevented anything from drying, but we grouped back together and braved it anyways, figuring the Southern Pillar would provide an easier opportunity to bail if (when) the weather moved in. After going up Climbing Punishment, we were ready to set up topropes when the weather *really* kicked in, soaking us in a matter of minutes. A late lunch on the front porch finished off a great weekend of climbing.

-F. Duvallet

New River Gorge, WV

Memorial day weekend is always a good opportunity to climb at those far-away crags, but this time we decided to stick closer to home and spend some time at the New. We checked out new crags we hadn't been to before and climbed classic lines at ones we'd visited plenty of times before. Monday was spent climbing at Summersville lake, and when the weather *really* got hot we dipped in the lake to cool off.

-F. Duvallet

McConnell's Mill State Park, PA

Two of us went to McConnells Mill for rock climbing. In addition to having fun climbing in the cold, we practiced setting up top rope anchors, rappelling, and belaying from above the climb. All went well for us. The new locking biners made it easier to set up climbs. However, we did encounter some other climbers who lacked the equipment and skills to safely climb. Unfortunately, our attempts to convince them of this failed.

-M. Tschantz