red river gorge climbers' coalition

JR Goodwin, our good friend from Louisville, Kentucky, recently helped host a Trail Day to maintain the trails in the Pendergrass-Murray Recreational Preserve – Coal Bank Hollow. At the end of the day, he found himself in a rare state – out of words.

Sitting here to type out the events of the May 15th trail day extravaganza I find myself, for once, speechless. From the initial ideas and layout to the hard work and sweat of those in attendance as well as the lunch, beer, and party spot donated by those who couldn’t attend, a huge THANK YOU!! I have been left smiling about the wonderful community and family that we of the Red River Gorge are so lucky to have. A passion passed onto me by many of those before me was obviously shared by the many, many people that showed up that day and to say that much was accomplished would be an understatement of the sheer force that descended onto coal Bank Hollow that day.

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Another meeting down, another docket of business together, another set of cookies, stickie buns, and brownies put away.. Yep, the April 17th meeting of the RRGCC is all but history with one of our larger crowds in hand, likely due to some of the spring’s best weather to date.

If you missed this one, have no fear – there’s one tentatively scheduled for July 24. Check back again (or subscribe to our feed) to find out the details. In the meantime, read over the proceedings from this last meeting to stay up with the current happenings and updates.

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Roadside Crag is one of the Red River Gorge’s most popular crags. Minutes from the parking off a major roadway and hosting wide range of climbs, Roadside attracts dozens of climbers of all abilities every weekend.  Roadside is located on the Graining Fork Nature Preserve, land that is owned by climber-friendly Grants Stevens and Jon Haight.  Over the years, though, Roadside’s popularity has contributed to increased wear and tear on the approach trail, especially near the steep trail-head. The increased foot traffic led to obvious problems with drainage and erosion.

On Saturday, April 3, 2010 Mike Driskell of Driskell Home Repair in Louisville organized a second trail day at Roadside Crag to try to address those problems. Thirteen people came to put the sweat of their brow into helping remove litter, trim tree branches, widen the trail-head, and improve drainage along the beginning of the trail.  They refueled with some Miguel’s for lunch, provided by Driskell Home Repair, and stuffed their packs with some RRGCC schwag.  After working on the trail-head, Driskell and company moved to the area near Roadside Attraction, a classic and popular trad climb, where the trail went straight up a series of rock steps.  The poor drainage and steep incline led to severe erosion in this area.  Now, after plenty of volunteer effort, the trail now accesses this area via a switchback that should mitigate the impacts near Roadside Attraction.

Mike hopes to return complete the new section of the trail on the next Roadside Trail Day, possibly in the spring of 2011.  Additional projects also include working to stabilize the erosion around the base of the slab routes to the far-right of the cliff line.

Thank you to the volunteers that helped: John Grider, Malcolm Akindana, Randy Tebbs, Carrie Kirkpatrick, Dave Jasperson, JR Goodwin, Mark Rohr, Robert Keith Todd, Bryan Spencer, Josephine Neff, Derrick Powell, and Mike Driskell.

If you were not able to participate in this event, please mark your calendar for Johnny & Alex Trail Day (check out last year’s JATD), which will be held on August 14th, and stay tuned for more! Or, if you want to throw yourself at a project all your own, tell us about it and we’ll support you!

Miguel’s Red River Reunion was a smashing success this spring raising over $2,900 to benefit the RRGCC!  The day began with shoe demos from Evolv and LaSportiva so that climbers could have the best shoes possible to compete in the climbing competition.  Twenty-six people signed up to compete and Rick Bost was ready and waiting with the gates open at Torrent Falls.  Congratulations to the winners & thank you to all who competed!

Girls

Jalapeno
1. Maria Farinacci  4 routes  24 points
2.  Carrie Vieland   3 routes  24 points
3.  Neysa Dominguez  3 routes  22 points

Habanero
1.  Stacy Boore 15 routes  214 points
2.  Jessica Brackett  14 routes  204 points
3.  Emily Rubin  15 routes  194 points

Boys
Jalapeno
1.  Mike McCrum 6 routes  74 points
2.  Joe Simmons  7 routes  59 points
3.  tie – Andrew Candela and Jeremy Stocks 48 points

Habanero
1.  Mike Anderson  11 routes 197 points
2.  Roger Bess 12 routes  183 points
3   Jason Marshall 14 routes  177 point

The RRGCC Sales table was staffed by friendly RRGCC Volunteers: JR Goodwin, Vince Cocciolone, Derrick Powell, Paul Vidal & Josephine Neff.  We quickly sold out of several items including the limited edition RRGCC nut tool, which was donated by Ken Thompson.  We hope to have an even wider selection for our next event!

The evening included a fantastic pig roast prepared by the Miguel’s Crew.  It was followed by a raffle,  a slide show, and a video by Spencer Victory.  And as always, Dario had stacked the wood high for the evening bonfire!

Thank you to all who came and participated – and THANK YOU MIGUEL’S!

2009 RRGCC Year in Review

This past year had a lot of exciting happenings for the RRGCC.

The year began with a large ice storm.  Bill Strachan worked with 5 climber volunteers and three US Forrest Service personnel.   On February 21, 2009 they cleared storm damage in Martin’s Fork area, which includes the approaches to Military and Left Flank.

Todd McCormick and the University of Pittsburgh hosted a climbing competition to raise funds for the RRGCC.  Their event raised $1,125! (more…)

A big thank you to Red River Outdoors and all who participated in 2009′s Climbers that Care event this past Saturday. During the day, much trail work was completed at Torrent Falls, where (thanks to Dr. Bob), we all had a place to gather around a fire in the evening.

Last Saturday the Red River Gorge Climbers’ Coalition hosted their most successful trail day event in their 13 year history. Over 90 people came together to lend their skills and talent to developing new trails, and rehabbing existing pathways on the Pendergrass-Murray Recreational Preserve. Additionaly, last Saturday’s trail day most certainly ranks as one of the largest Access Fund sponsored Adopt-A-Crag events in 2009!

Here is a synopsis of what was accomplished:

At Sore Heel:

• New steps built going to Curbside
• New trails installed on the left side of Curbside
• Completed the exit trail going towards curbside
• New steps built going to Optical Rectitus
• Bike trail maintenance and small addition added
• Foot bridge on the far right of the Gallery
• Gallery side and base maintenance
• Rerouting of trail and steps added in the large drainage ditch
• Trail maintenance in a variety of other locations at Sore Heel

At Crossroads:

• Sign installed
• Wooden steps installed on the side-trail at the Crossroads
• Crossroads side-trail improved

At Darkside:

• Fallen trees were removed
• Steps cut into the trail

At Drive-By/Bob Marley:

• Steps installed at the start of the Bob Marley trail
• New trail completed between Drive By and Bob Marley Crags

In other exciting news, for the first time ever the Johnny and Alex Trail Day raised money for the coalition, both in private donations and sales at the event. These funds and donations of goods and services from our generous sponsors financed that great party.

To those that volunteered Saturday and those that give in so many other ways, thank you!

View Johnny and Alex Trail Day 2009 in a larger map

Thanks to Wes Allen for the video..  a more detailed wrap-up to come..

JATD 09 from Wes Allen on Vimeo.

We had a great turnout for this year’s Johnny and Alex Trail Day. No official head count, but we are guesstimating there were about 65 people out doing hard labor this year. The amount of work and the quality of that work is truly remarkable!

Major work was accomplished at the popular crag known as The Shire where two existing trails were closed and replaced with a new trail that also reroutes access to the popular 5.11 “Amarillo Sunset”. The base of this crag was also shored up with landscaping timbers and logs. A new trail was built to the North 40 crag. Climbers wanting to go from The Shire to North 40 are asked to go back down to the main trail instead of shortcutting across the drainage. A new trail was also built at Drive-by crag that replaces the old steep stairs from the road. Finally, a mountain biking loop was completed from the Sore Heel Parking lot that provides another form of human powered recreation on the Pendergrass-Murray Recreational Preserve.
We want to thank everyone who came out and made this happen, as well as our generous sponsors!

	It wasn't all hard work. Photo: Wes Allen

All pictures courtesy of Wes Allen.

By joining forces with Petzl (http://en.petzl.com/petzl/Accueil), the RRGCC’s Rocktoberfest fundraiser and climber’s festival, raised over $32,000 towards the purchase of the Pendergrass-Murray Recreational Preserve (PMRP). The event’s fundraising power was bolstered by a $10,000 matching grant from the Petzl Foundation, providing an added incentive for the nearly 1,000 climbers who attended the event to pitch in for climbing and recreation access in the Red River Gorge area. In the end this level of fundraising not only secured the Coalition’s 2008 PMRP mortgage payment of $29,400, but also gave a head start on the 2009 payment. Mortgage payments for the PMRP property must be made every July through 2013 before the RRGCC will own the land outright.

This unprecedented event and level of fundraising by climbers to preserve access made national headlines. This year’s Rocktoberfest’s philanthropy efforts piqued the interest of NPR’s “It’s Only A Game” radio program and a segment covering the event was featured on the nationally broadcast radio program on October 27th (http://www.onlyagame.org/shows/2007/10/20071027.asp). Globally, the event generated buzz on 8a (http://www.8a.nu,) a widely trafficked sport-climbing website that spotlights the Red River Gorge as one of the top ten climbing destinations in the world.

The Petzl RocTrip, now in its sixth year, has proven successful in bringing the international climbing community together in celebration of the sport, from New York’s Shawangunks, Squamish, British Columbia, Kalymnos, Greece, and Millau in the south of France. Over 35 high profile sponsored climbing athletes including Chris Sharma, Emily Harrington, Tony Lamiche and local prodigy Katie Brown attended this year’s RocTrip. Open to climbers of all ability levels, the 2007 Petzl RocTrip / Rocktoberfest engaged climbers in a festival of competitions, clinics, and celebration while raising funds and awareness for access issues locally and nationally. “We owe the success of this event to the local community – the volunteers, the RRGCC Board, area businesses, and the one thousand plus people who came out and put dollars down in support of the Pendergrass-Murray Preserve,” said John Evans, Marketing Director for Petzl North America. “I highly recommend other outdoor companies include this outstanding grass-roots event in their outreach programs for 2008. I guarantee Petzl will be back to support this great cause.”

The RRGCC sincerely thanks all of the sponsors of Rocktoberfest 2007, which in addition to Petzl included: Miguel’s Pizza, Prana, Avery Brewing Company, Keen Footwear, La Sportiva, Rock and Ice Magazine, Red River Outdoors, Sterling Ropes, Smart Wool, Solid Rock Climbers for Christ, Paradox Sports, Five Ten, Red Bull, The Warrior’s Way, RockQuest Climbing Center and The Access Fund.