Help us make this year's Climbers That Care event even better by bringing in canned goods, hats, jackets, presents.. whatever fits your fancy

Another season coming to an end in the Red, at least thats what we tell all the people from other parts of the country. Time to decide whether to fatten up at the family Thanksgiving feast or eat tuna from a can with friends in the dirty South. It’s the perfect time to start planning the deep Winter trip and finally hit Hueco. Or maybe its time to hit the plastic and get freaky strong for next Springs routes. Or maybe its time to drop climbing for the season and hit the powder…

When you list it out like that most of our lifes choices seem pretty tame compared to a lot of those in the local areas around the Red. Instead of choosing how to waste their day away wrestling rocks or skiing slopes, they are trying to figure out how to put a hot meal on the table and clothes on their children backs.

This is your chance to give back to the families of the areas that you play in. Please bring your canned goods, hats, jackets, boots or whatever could make someones winter a little more comfortable. Last year we had a full truckload of supplies donated and hope to repeat that this year. All the food and clothing is donated to the food bank ran by the Catholic Church of the Good Shepherd in Campton. If cash is your only option be assured that 100% will be used to buy food/clothing for the drive.

This year we are going on a gym tour and plan to hit as many gyms as possible. Right now we have Eastern Kentucky University and Bluegrass Bouldering committed. If you have a gym or would like to suggest one to host please get in touch with us.

Festivities will include free admittance to the gym, a one of a kind slide show featuring many of the areas talented photographers, including some old school favorites, music at some of the events as well as pot luck dinners (depending on location we will have adult refreshments available). And of course, there will be plenty of good folks and warm smiles to go around.

So find a gym near you to pull down and put up some good deeds:

• Bluegrass Bouldering (Lexington, KY)- November 19th
• Rockquest (Cincinnati, OH) – November 22nd
• Rocksport (Louisville, KY) –  December 8th
• Hoosier Heights (Bloomington, IN) - December 10th
• Eastern Kentucky University (Richmond, KY) - December 11th

Many thanks, Climbers That Care

climbersthatcare.com

Saturday morning started off as a typical summer day in Kentucky. Hot enough to scorch the devil, humid enough for altitude training, bugs thick enough to float a truck and more snakes laying around than fibers on a plush carpet.

No one in their right mind would be outside on a day like that. Especially not out bushwhacking to see what the next holler holds, hauling a drill kit through rhodo thickets so dense you can’t see the other side, or worse yet be out working for free for others enjoyment…

Luckily for all of us, Johnny did those things every chance he could get.

I’m not sure if it’s a spreadable disease from touching too much Corbin sandstone, or maybe it’s a side effect from too many Ale-8′s, but Johnny and Alex sure would have been proud to see a 120 people sharing the same affliction showing up with tools and water in hand and ready to suffer for something bigger than they are.

As volunteers received their trail assignments and raced out all over the PMRP it reminded me of ants rebuilding their hill after being disturbed. When everyone picks up a stone it makes the wall easier to build. So as I swat another horse fly to the ground and wash the stinging nettle sting off my arms, I’m laughing out loud and thinking to myself that this is what Johnny wanted the PMRP and the RRGCC to be.

Volunteers braved the elements and didn’t stop until projects were completed. Chica Bonita, Curbside, Bob Marley, Shire, Gallery, Left Field, Play Ground, Volunteer Wall, Courtesy, Rival, Sore Heel short cut trail and the new mountain bike trails all saw significant improvements. Work was made easier by the amazing wraps provided my Miguel’s and crew as well as drinks from GFS and Red River Outdoors.

You would think that once the work whistle was blown that folks would be lining up to leave the property, to be the first to make the slip and slide run, be the hero that tapped the kegs or at least be first in line for dinner provided by True North Outfitters. But this strange affliction that we share drove a few crews insane and they literally had to be pushed down the hill with tools in hand and blindfolded to prevent further work.

As everyone gathered back to Lago Linda’s to wash, feed and drink the sore muscles away a storm like no other rolled in, only adding fuel to the party that was to come. By the time the 23 String Band took the stage the crowd had shaken the sore muscles away and gotten warmed up for a full night of dancing by an impromptu one-arm pull-up adult beverage chugging contest… that in all reality should become an Olympic event. The 23 String Band tore it up as always and played well into the night keeping everyone on their feet and truly enjoying this thing we call life.

Completely exhausted and soaked in rain and sweat I look around at all the smiling faces of friends and family and an overwhelming sense of belonging and calm takes over… and we all dance again.

Thanks to everyone that made this years Johnny and Alex Trail Day the best one yet. Looking forward to suffering in the woods, dancing till I can’t move and making Johnny and Alex proud again this time next year.

Matt Tackett

Thanks for your interest in JATD! We’ve already placed our orders for lunch and dinner and such.. meaning that if you’re planning on coming, we probably weren’t. And that’s fine.. just make sure to bring some lunch, dinner, snacks, beverages.. anything that will keep you in good spirits and working hard on the land you own

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!

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!

On April 11, 2009, Miguel’s hosted Red River Reunion to benefit the RRGCC.  The event included a shoe demo by 5.10, climbing competition at Torrent Falls, Rodeo Clip contest, as well as booths by 5.10, Petzl, & Black Diamond. The evening ended with the Stone Alliance Film Tour, music and, of course, a giant bonfire.  The event raised over $500 for the RRGCC.

This year, we kicked off our grassroots, community-led trail program. Rather than rely on one large trail day to accomplish much needed work, the climbing community broke the work up into smaller chunks, maintaining their crags with smaller, more focused trail days.

Jack Dickey got us started with the Spring Trail Day on April 18, 2009.  He headed up a crew of 16 volunteers and tackled projects in Sore Heel Hollow.   The trail crew repaired trails damaged by the winter ice storm.  They began stabilizing and reclaiming the denuded hillside leading down to the parking lot and made a specific path for trail that traverses top of said hillside.  They built stairs for the beginning of that trail.  In addition, they improved the bridge to the Gallery and built a new bridge on the trail to What About Bob Wall.

Phillip Gall’s partnered with Patagonia’s 1% program. They raised more than $1200  for the Coalition in 2009 in addition to several generous gear donations!

On June 13, 2009, Mike Driskell and Driskell Home Repair continued the trail day initiative by conducting a trail day at Roadside.  He and his crew were able to remove downed trees that had fallen across the trail, relocate and widen the start of the trail.  They then added stairs to the beginning of the trail and added water breaks to the new trail and portions of the existing trail.

We made our $30,000 mortgage payment on July 15,  2009.

On August 1, 2009, 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. Additionally, the trail day most certainly ranks as one of the largest Access Fund sponsored Adopt-A-Crag events in 2009!  Work was accomplished in Sore Heel as well as at Darkside, Drive-By, Bob Marley, and Crossroads.  Afterwards, the volunteers enjoyed live music, food, beer, and the 100-foot-long slip-n-slide!  Special thanks goes to Sandy Davies for organizing this event.

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.  The event raised $800!  These funds and donations of goods and services from our generous sponsors financed that great party.

Red River Outdoors partnered with Mountain Gear’s to host their U-Climb clinic.  It was held on September 12 & 13, 2009, and both Mountain Gear and Red River Outdoors donated proceeds to the RRGCC.

Then, on September 26, 2009 RockQuest Climbing Center & Benchmark Outfitter put together a climbing competition to benefit the RRGCC. Climbers competed for excellent prizes from vendors like The Benchmark Outfitter, Sterling Ropes, Arc’Teryx, and La Sportiva.  The event raised $500 for the RRGCC!

Finally, the RRGCC wrapped up the year with their 9^th annual Rocktoberfest on October 9-11, 2009.  The event kicked off on a rainy Friday with vendors, a dyno comp, movies, milk crate stacking, funnel cakes, games, and a great DJ.  On Saturday, the rain held off for the climbing comp in Sore Heel.  This was followed by water balloon launching contest, dyno comp, dunk tank, a milk crate stacking challenge, movies, live entertainment, and vendor giveaways and raffles.  The event raised $12,500 for the RRGCC.

As of right now, we have only four annual payments, approximately $118,000, left before we’ve fully paid off the mortgage.  We’re all counting down to our last payment on July 2013. Thank you for your help and we look forward to owning the Pendergrass-Murray Recreational Preserve!

Natural Bridge Campgrounds. Exit 33 off the Bert Combs Mountain Parkway. Follow signs to Natural Bridge Campgrounds

It’s official – registration for Rocktoberfest 2009 is now open! Visit http://rrgcc.org/register/ to register yourself and others for the weekend.

If you have questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to contact us or call us (use the “Call Me” button to the right or dial us at 859-955-0774).

Thanks and see you in October

Friday:

• Camping and parking is included and is on site at the Natural Bridge Campgrounds (click for directions).
• First choice of camping spots (limited sites with water and electric hookups)
• First dibs at vendors and all their demo gear, including gear from:
  Black Diamond, Petzl, La Sportiva, Sterling Ropes Five Ten and others..
• Climbing films featured by Dead Point Magazine and music DJ’ed by our man from the south, John “Cletus” Wilcox.
• Fun and games.. and did we mention all the vendors and demo gear!
• Access to the dyno comp to either toss in your hat or heckle from the sidelines.

Saturday:

• The Clip and Go Comp Climbing competition at the Pendergrass-Murray Recreational Preserve – Sore Heel Hollar Competition will be based on endurance – number of bolts clipped and the difficulty of the route will both factor into the point system.
• Sign up is from 9-10am at the Registration Desk or at the Sore Heel Parking Lot.
• The competition will last from 10am to 5pm and the winners will be announced at the venue on Saturday night.
• Free YOGA class Saturday morning at 9:30.  Please bring your own mat. 
  

Saturady evening will host plenty of music, food, gear, a dyno comp, and plenty more..

Saturday Night:

• Camping and parking is included and is on site
• Free swag from every angle! T-shirts, posters, stickers, gear and much more.
• Silent auction with a ton of top end gear from our gracious sponsors!
• And we’ll be hosting and featuring the Reel Rock Tour Movie
• Plus we’ll have a dyno comp, DJ, and plenty more to attract your distractable eyes and ears..

Sunday:

• Clinics lead and attended by pros from around the sport
• Breakfast in the morning courtesy of the Solid Rock Climbers for Christ

Celebrating one of the largest Adopt-A-Crags this year. Photo by Elodie Saracco

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

Gather supplies in Coal Bank Hollow. Photo by Elodie Saracco

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

For details and RSVP information, visit the JATD details post.