Red River Gorge, KY

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

Light Up Night On The Allegheny

On Friday, November 16, 2012, a massive crowd descended on downtown Pittsburgh for the region's biggest event of the year.  800,000 people (including a sizeable handful of Santas) were expected for this year's Light Up Night and with the beautiful weather that evening, actual attendance was probably more.  Folks crowded into Market Square, PPG Place and Rink, Fifth Avenue Place, One Oxford Center, EQT Plaza, numerous other downtown sites, and the Clemente Bridge Party for an evening of lights, live music, treelightings, and other fun.  It was capped off with "the region's most creative and spectacular theatrical production of Zambelli fireworks and pyrotechnics special effects, including a rainbow and Niagara Falls, all launched from the Warhol Bridge."  The best view of all was had by the dozen Explorers and guests, right on the river under the Clemente Bridge.  We loaded up a whitewater raft and shredder and four kayaks, passed a surprise lighting inspection by the local Coast Guard commander, and launched into the Allegheny just at the start of the 8:45 Point Park show fireworks finale.  We then headed upriver to the edge of the river closure and enjoyed an awesome view of an awesome show, as live music spilled over the bridge deck down to water level.  We had that part of the river to ourselves, shared only with the Coast Guard boat enforcing river closure between the Clemente and Carson bridges.  The show included some floating pyrotechnics - multicolored embers resting for minutes on the river surface - and a shower of white sparks that looked like a waterfall as we gazed upstream.  The reflections of the fireworks in the downtown and North Shore buildings added to the glittering color.

Those of you who changed plans or cancelled at the last minute really missed out!  My learning for next time is to not keep my phone handy in an outside pocket to take calls and messages from last-minute plan-changers, but to leave it in a car (on this trip, it wound up being left on the bottom of the river).  Those of you who missed the announcement should subscribe to explorers-kayaking :-).

Here are a few video clips from Ahmet, on the raft:

Though the video can hardly do it justice, you may be able to gather that the trip was awesome!

-B. Towne

Cooper's Rock, WV

We made the hour and a half drive down to Cooper's Rock in West Virginia on a beautiful fall day. The leaves were colorful, the sun was out, and the temperature was cool and perfect for climbing. The CMU Explorers club provided all the gear we needed including a guide book that explained the bouldering routes on each of the house-sized boulders which seemed to be whimsically scattered across the mountainside. We climbed for several hours, moving from boulder to boulder and trying as many routes as we could. The routes ranged from fairly simple, to impossible. Snacks, a packed lunch and constant pictures provided good breaks between climbs, as well as opportunities to socialize with fellow students and explorers. Once we were all too tired to continue, we headed back towards Pittsburgh, picking up delicious some roadside tacos on the way. It was a great experience and I would recommend it to anyone!

-B. Hood

Great Allegheny Passage

Two of National Geographic Traveller's ten "Best Trips for Fall of 2012" (worldwide) are in Pennsylvania.  Additionally, one of their picks for "Best In the World" overall 2012 travel destinations is Pittsburgh.  Eager to visit all three of these in successive weekends, I announced a trip on the Great Allegheny Passage [on the explorers-biking mailing list].  The GAP is a trail from Pittsburgh to Cumberland, MD where it connects with the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Towpath which will take you all the way to DC.  The plan was a 160 mile bike camping trip "out & back" to Ohiopyle's Kentuck Knob campground.  Lots of folks expressed interest, but then later backed out or cancelled at the last minute.  The two troopers who remained got up on a Saturday morning, geared up, and set off.  It was a nice day riding along the rivers (Mon and Yough) through colorful fall foliage.  The trip was shortened from a two day 160-miler to a one day 80-miler due to an impending storm and lack of desire to bike through high winds and cold rain :-).  We kept an average pace pretty well above what we'd predicted, and managed to hold that the whole way (until that final hill coming up out of The Waterfront), getting back just around dark and enjoying a delicious dinner.  It was a fun trip!  A photo is attached.

-B. Towne

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