January 2023 Newsletter

Newsletter / January 2023

 

Legacy Members

The Red River Gorge Climbers' Coalition is honored to have received support from so many smart and devoted board members and volunteers throughout the years. Many of these members set the foundation for what we know the RRGCC to be today. For those that attended Rocktoberfest last October, you may have seen our Legacy Member award presentations on Friday night. The board of directors want to take a moment to honor those that have gone above and beyond with their contributions to climbing in the Red River Gorge. These are members of the community that have earned a lifetime membership for the time and effort that they put in to improve the Red River Gorge’s climbing community. Please take a few moments to read about the amazing inaugural class of RRGCC Legacy Members. View the 2022 Legacy Members Here.

 

BOD Spotlight

Adam Gregory served as RRGCC Vice President in 2017 and President from 2018 to 2020. During Adam's tenure, he was involved in paying off the Miller Fork Recreational Preserver property, paying off a large portion of the Bald Rock Recreational Preserve mortgage, formalizing a partnership with the United States Forest Service, setting up much of the technical infrastructure that the BOD still use today, and countless other things that may have gone unnoticed. Sadly, 2022 will be Adam’s last year on the board. We wish him well as he starts a new job and passes the torch to a new group of volunteers. If you see Adam at the crag, be sure to say thanks!

 

 

 

Members Rejoice!

2022 was the second year of the RRGCC membership program and we have officially reached over 400 members! Each membership purchased allows the RRGCC to further the mission of providing open access to climbing for all. It is truly amazing to see the support that the climbing community has for the Red River Gorge and we hope to continue to see it grow! Not only does each membership support the RRGCC, it supports the local businesses which provide membership benefits through this program. So, don't forget to use your member benefits before they expire!  We aim to continue to provide valuable membership perks and swag that you love and use. For those that are not yet members, sign up today!

If you are interested in purchasing a membership for friends or family, you can do so by designating the name of the person who will be receiving the membership in the “Additional Instructions About My Donation” field when making your purchase! This would make for a great holiday or birthday present for those that belay you on your project!

RRGCC Member Testimonials:

“It’s important to know that the places I love to climb will be there for the next generation - like my kids (12 & 5), who are young climbers. The RRG is one of my favorite places in the world. I’m a member of the RGGCC because they put great effort into stewardship of the area in both development & maintenance. I love the community that the Coalition cultivates with outreach & great events. And the access they provide to these areas through great facilities & information.” - Zack O’Renick, Louisville, KY

 

 

 

 

“I am a member of the RRGCC because I want to ensure that future generations have access to world-class climbing in Kentucky. Climbing has changed my life for the better, both physically and mentally. I believe the work that the RRGCC does has the potential to make positive change for individuals like myself for decades to come.” - Aaron Mikel, Lexington, KY

 

Become a member!

2022 Events

2022 was a great year for events! We partnered with many gyms and businesses to bolster our fundraising efforts as well as give back to the local community. Overall, the RRGCC was a part of twenty-seven events in 2022!

  • LEF Boulder Comp
  • Red River Reunion
  • Women Rock at Climb Nulu
  • West Sixth Trivia Night in Lexington
  • Country Boy Tap Takeover in Lexington
  • Climb L8 - 16 gym events spread out between Cincinnati, Lexington, and Indianapolis!
  • Rock L8 - 2 outdoor trips planned in collaboration with multiple organizations and outreach across the tristate area
  • JATD
  • Rocktoberfest
  • Access Fund Advocacy Conference
  • Access Fund Future of Fixed Anchors Conference
  • Muir Valley Trail Day

Trail Days

During Johnny and Alex Trail Day (JATD), we had over one hundred volunteers which completed twelve large projects. It was amazing to see everyone back together again to celebrate John Bronaugh and his son, Alex Yeakley, and to steward the lands that we love to climb. The RRGCC is very grateful for the support from the community and we hope to see you all again in 2023! Although, JATD is our largest trail day of the year, we had many other trail days in 2022. In total, the RRGCC hosted over twenty-five separate trail days and completed a total of over 1200 hours of trail work! These groups came from climbing gyms, universities, climbing teams, local climbers, and of course, the RRGCC land manager Curtis Gale-Dyer and his wife, Audrey. We were even lucky enough to receive help from the Access Fund Conservation team as well as Patagonia sponsored athletes! That’s a lot of time cutting trail, building belay bases, fixing bridges, and much more. With the help of Shannon Stuart-Smith, we even opened a new crag in Bald Rock Recreational Preserve (BRRP) named Hazel Hollow which boasts many climbs with a wide range of difficulty and a short approach. Thank you all that helped with these trail day efforts!

Rocktoberfest

Rocktoberfest 2022 was a huge success! Sponsors and vendors showed up in force with swag and excitement for all of the attendees. The "vendor village" at Land of the Arches campground was at max capacity with the likes of Quantrell Subaru, The North Face, Yeti, Black Diamond, Petzl, Sterling Ropes, La Sportiva, Quest Outdoors, Mosaic climbing gym, Ale-8-One, and many more! The event also had a speed climbing competition on Elemental Climbing's mobile climbing wall and a drop-tower for attendees to demo Bailout System's self-rescue device! We can't thank our sponsors, vendors, attendees, and volunteers enough for making this event possible.

Climb L8

The Climb L8 event was started in 2021 by the RRGCC's Education, DEI, and Outreach committee and the event is still growing! The monthly Climb L8 program has been funded by donations that we have received from Ale-8-One, local businesses, and dedicated donors. The community has supported the RRGCC's goal to promote responsible climbing and ensure that everyone has the chance to experience and appreciate the sport. This has allowed the RRGCC to partner with climbing gyms in Cincinnati, Lexington, and Indianapolis in order to assist people from marginalized communities that may not have had the chance to experience climbing otherwise. The Climb L8 event schedule for 2023 is currently being organized; it will be available on our website!

Rock L8

In 2022, the RRGCC utilized funding we received from Climbing 4 Change and The Friends of Muir Valley to expand on the Climb L8 program and take the initiative from the indoor climbing gyms to the crags in the Red River Gorge. The RRGCC partnered with Adventure Crew in Cincinnati, Amachi in Lexington, Friends of Muir Valley, and Bluegrass Climbing school to plan and execute two trips down to the Red and bring 28 individuals outside climbing for the first time.

Conferences

As you can see from our list of events, not all of the RRGCC events involve climbing gyms or beer. The RRGCC also had some learning opportunities in the form of conferences. Our Executive Director, Billy Simek, attended the Access Fund Future of Fixed Anchors Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. During this conference, we learned how other local climbing organizations (LCO) and the United States Forest Service (USFS) currently manage fixed anchors on their properties. These discussions helped us understand our own stance on bolting and how we should be involved with the anchors on our own properties. This led to the development of the RRGCC's bolting Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and Route Registration form. Read more about this below!

We also attended the Access Fund Advocacy Conference in Chattanooga, Tennessee. This was an amazing event where we were able to reconnect with folks from all over the southeast. We heard from many amazing speakers which topics ranged from land management and acquisition, to creating and supporting affinity groups. We were also able to tour some new properties in the Chattanooga area to learn about new ways to conserve and preserve the properties that we currently own, as well as any new properties that we may purchase in the future. It was great to hear all of the different perspectives from people in the global climbing community. Much of what we have learned is already being implemented into our work for 2023.

If you have any events or businesses in your area that you think the RRGCC should be a part of, please reach out to us at events@rrgcc.org.

The RRGCC Cares About Bolting

With the Red River Gorge being predominately a sport climbing area, we know that maintaining bolts and other equipment is crucial for safe climbing. At the Access Fund Future of Fixed Anchors Conference, we realized that in order for the RRGCC to properly allocate its limited resources to meet our dual mission of open, public access and environmental conservation we must be able to track, guide, and manage development on our land. Further thought into how this is currently being handled has led to the creation of the RRGCC Bolting Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) document and the Route Registration Form.

The Bolting MOU document contains guidelines for route development on all RRGCC owned land which will assist you when deciding which materials to use as well as which routes to develop. Additionally, this document contains route development requirements which relate to trail creation, vegetation management, and documentation and publication of any new routes on RRGCC owned property. If you have ever bolted a route on RRGCC property or plan to in the future, please sign our Bolting MOU document.

If a new route is bolted, please inform the RRGCC by submitting your route in our Route Registration Form. This will allow us to better categorize and track when a route was created, what type of hardware was used, and when the hardware might need to be replaced. We promise, you won’t be spammed with emails or criticized for your bolt placements.

Learn more about bolting

Grants

The RRGCC was lucky enough to receive these grants in 2022:

  • Access Fund JEDI Grant - $5,000
    • Used to improve infrastructure and create accessible parking and trails in Pendergrass Murray Recreational Preserve (PMRP)
  • Columbia Gas Community Grant - $2,500
    • Used to improve infrastructure at Chica Bonita crag in Pendergrass Murray Recreational Preserve (PMRP)

If you know of any grants that the RRGCC should apply for, please contact us at fundraising@rrgcc.org.

 

Where Are My Donations Going?

With the success of the membership program, grants, and events, the RRGCC has been able to make great use of the donations that we receive. Here are some of our most important purchases made in 2022

    • The Executive Director, Billy Simek is now officially the RRGCC’s first ever salaried employee. Thank you for all of the work that you do for the organization and the community, Billy!
    • The RRGCC storage unit was broken into this year and many trail tools were stolen. The RRGCC purchased new equipment to replace what was lost.
    • Lumber, nails, gabion baskets, culverts, and other materials used on our twenty-five trail days
    • Due to the flooding damage that Kentucky has experienced, we have spent thousands of dollars to improve the infrastructure of our properties such as:
      • Coal Bank Road and parking lot
      • Drive-By parking lot
      • Miller Fork road flooding repairs
      • Motherlode hill grading
      • Chica Bonita terracing
      • Major trail reroute in Miller Fork to Camelot/Neverland
      • Erosion control and trail work prior to Lumber Yard opening
      • New bridges at Chocolate Factory
    • You may have noticed some bright new RRGCC event canopies at Rocktoberfest this year and this is because we have upgraded some of our event equipment! In addition to the bright red canopies, we have also purchase new event table cloths and banners to be used at upcoming events.
    • Dedicated supporters have donated funds directly to the Education, DEI, and Outreach committee which have been used for Climb L8 events.
      • Interested in donating directly to this fund? Donate here!
Donate!

Upcoming Events

  • RRGCC Open meeting
    • The RRGCC will host our Annual Open Meeting on March 22, 2023. This event will be held virtually again this year, so be on the look out for a link in your email and social media!
  • 2023 events
    • Red River Reunion - March 2023 (exact date TBD)
    • JATD - June 2023 (exact date TBD)
    • Rocktoberfest – October 6th -8th
    • Climb L8 – see the full schedule HERE!

Are you interested in hosting a trivia night or tap take over in your area? Email us at events@RRGCC.org