ClimberMayJune2020

54 may–jun 2020 http://www.climber.co.uk

destination

Opening Scene

The rain wasn’t especially heavy, but it

had fallen persistently all day long. A

wet, pervasive clag hung heavy in the

air as we sheltered beneath a crag and

checked the guide to get a fix on our

position. Finally, the dim light and

dog-tired eyes didn’t help, we were

satisfied that we were beneath the

Warm-Up Wall at The Motherlode.

After 24 hours of continual travelling

we’d arrived all-in the day/night

before. Sleep, however, proved

disappointingly evasive. Soon it was

daylight. We have no food, and worst

still, no coffee so it was an easy

decision to head straight to Miguel’s,

the spiritual home of climbing in The

Red. Suitably nourished and caffeinat-

ed, we hit Stanton for supplies and

then, finally, when we could procrasti-

nate no longer, we went in search of

dry rock. Objectively, in no fit state to

climb but hey, we were in The Red.

Red River Gorge Select describes the

Lode thus, ‘The Motherlode is The Red’s

hardest sport-climbing Mecca, and one

of the best crags in the world. Massive in

scale and diverse in character, the Lode

epitomizes Red River climbing and offers

the exemplar experience’. As well as one

of the finest cliffs in The Red, The

Motherlode is also reckoned to be one of

best wet weather destinations; little

comfort then that the many of the routes

were dripping with run-off.

The Warm-Up Wall, however, offered

salvation, a cluster of dry routes. Fifty

foot and five bolts long, Simon and I

kicked-off with Trust in Jesus (5.11b).

Originally climbed back in 1994 it felt

more of a wake-up call than it should

have been. The tricky start leads immedi-

ately into the tasty mid-section: the rock

got steeper, the holds got bigger and, not

surprisingly, the pump got deeper. Nor

did it escape our attention that the bolts

got further apart. We pushed on,

switching routes with Chris and Sam,

onto Injured Reserve (5.11a) and then,

finally, Ben (5.11a) with the blind bravado

of experienced climbers on their first day

in a new area.

With three routes in the bag and our

Red cherry well and truly burst, we

stumbled back to the car in near

darkness, satisfied with the afternoon’s

work but a little bamboozled by the

climbing and not least by the grading

which seemed not only hard to fathom

but frustratingly inconsistent. Neverthe-

less, we’d kicked-off our trip and at the

Lode too where, according to the guide,

‘...you’ll find, “the biggest holds you’ll

ever fall off of” ’. Whilst this point is

made specifically about the Undertow

Wall it relates equally well to many of the

crags in The Red and a point which came

increasingly into focus during the next

three weeks of our visit. 6

Red RiveR

GoRGe South

mid-grade SpOrt

climbing Shangri-la

Words and photography by Keith sharples (unless otherwise credited)

Deep in the heart of Kentucky, The Red River Gorge – a.k.a. The Red – has a gargantuan

collection of spectacular sandstone cliffs most of which are, unsurprisingly, festooned

with a plethora of amazing routes. Some argue it’s the best sport climbing in America.

South of Mountain Parkway in the Red River Gorge South, the concentration, quantity and

quality of the climbing is remarkable. Keith sharples spent time in autumn 2019 shamelessly

hunting-down mid-grade classics at The Red, yet he barely scratched the surface of the

established routes in the South let alone the North, Miller Fork nor any of the recent

developments. He left thinking The Red really could be climbing’s Shangri-La.