captain static's blog

The most recent issue of the RRGCC Newsletter is now available on the Coalition's website - http://www.rrgcc.org/documents/2008/newsletters/enewsletter_issue1.pdf

If you want to receive future newsletters directly send an e-mail to members@rrgcc.org with "newsletter" in the subject line.

I'll never forget my first belay test, a 150 pound railroad wheel dropped on a hip belay. This was in 1972 at the Voyageur Outward Bound School in Ely, Minnesota. The rope was Goldline and I had leather gloves and a wide leather belt protecting my back. That was a heck of a jerk. The experience came in handy several years later when I caught my friend in a 60 foot pendulum fall on a hip belay while climbing the Wham Ridge route on Vestal Peak (13,864') in the Weminuche Wilderness Area, CO.

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I first started going to Red River Gorge in the early 70's on camping and backpacking trips. In those days Seneca Rocks was the place to climb for us Buckeyes. Still we saw some potential at the Gorge and would occassionally bring our ropes and racks along with us. There was no guidebook to the Gorge as far as we knew. Chimney Top Rock and Tower Rock were the only two "crags" I had ever heard of in the Gorge.

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Six degrees of separation is the concept that everyone is six "steps" away from knowing everyone on earth. You are one "step" away from everybody you know. However, when it comes to rock climbing you are two steps away from knowing every rock climber on earth. This was proven to me many years back at the bar in Moose, Wyoming. One evening one of my climbing friends, Dave Gardner, was in the Moose bar while on a trip to the Tetons. He was enjoying the band and when they took a break he struck up a conversation with the drummer. The drummer asked Dave where he was from.

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Captain Static here bloggin' atcha from poolside. Just finishing up a one week vacation in sunny Florida. How does a climber survive for a week in Florida? Well I bought the latest issues of all three climbing rags, Urban Climber, Rock & Ice, and Climbing to read. Really, I needed the rest after messing up both my middle fingers earlier this spring. They have slowly have been getting better and hopefully with having taken one week off I'll be ready to start training for the fall season @ the Red.

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In response to continued disrespectful behavior by some climbers, the owners of Torrent Falls, a popular Red River Gorge crag, have decided to close the area to unrestricted climbing. Guests renting a cabin or room at Torrent Falls Resort may still climb on the property. This closure was announced and made effective on Friday, November 24, 2006. When closure was first threatened earlier in the spring, the RRGCC convinced the owners to write set of rules and give climbers a chance to show that they could follow them. Unfortunately not all climbers were following the rules. Recent flagrant incidents cited by the owners in explaining their reasons for moving forward with the closure included someone who leashed their dog by a “No Dogs Allowed” sign. Another disturbing incident occurred when the owners were showing close friends around their property and came across a woman urinating out in the open despite the fact that the owners have provided a port-o-let for use by climbers.

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A little over a month ago I attended the Access Fund Acquisitions Summit in Boulder. Shortly after arriving at the AF offices I hooked up with Sean Coburn of the Carolina Climbers Coalition and we headed up into Boulder Canyon and did an old Layton Kor route at Cobb Rock. Later on that evening we all got together at the Med restaurant for some tapas and drinks. The next morning the meeting began at the visitors center in Eldo. The weather sucked that day so we were'nt too tempted to climb. Had a lot of great information and discussion in our meeting. That evening we had a great meal and keg donated by Avery brewing. We continued to work on the keg late into the evening in our luxurious accomodation at Boulder Mountain Lodge. We had another half day meeting the next morning but by the time the meeting was over it was a beautiful sunny Colorado day and several of us stayed to climb in Eldo. I left with one of my climbing partners, Dave Christenson, who lives in Louisville and is a volunteer for Rocky Mountain Rescue. The next day Dave & I headed down to the South Platte and he took me up the classic Bishop-Jaggers route S. Platte Pics on the Dome. It was a perfect day with blue skies and the snow covered Pike's Peak in the distance. Not a bad "business trip" for the AF meeting considering I climbed three out of the four days I was in Colorado!

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