boulder problem hits you squarely in the
face. Some, apparently, argue it’s 5.11d
but most will need their game face on
even at 5.12a to be honest; grading issues
aside, it’s another mega route. Just beyond
is The Return of Chris Snyder (5.11d), 30m
long the meat of this is the 20-degree
overhanging headwall. This brilliant
route is a total pumper, fortunately
once past the crux high on the headwall
you can literally crawl into a horizontal
break and fully lie down. Many do just
that and for good reason. If only the UK
had routes like that – oh boy!
West of Kentucky 11 is the Zoo;
altogether a more typical experience
with plenty of steep routes. Monkey
in the Middle (5.11a) and Geezers Go
Sport (5.11b) are typical jug-hauls but
nevertheless excellent throughout their
25m length. Harder classics are Hippocrite
and Scar Tissue, both are 5.12a and both
climb the same barrel-shaped overhang-
ing wall but are quite different. Hippocrite
involved massive moves – read jumps –
between huge pockets and is a classic,
dynamic testpiece whilst Scar Tissue
is a power endurance test involving
tick-tacking your way up the crucial final
moves between much smaller pockets.
Do them both; they’re unmissable.
Zookeeper 5.14b on the very right of
the crag deserves special mention. It’s
a short but massively overhanging thin
seam above the rock stack; it’s anything
but the usual Red jug-haul. And the
super thin line just right was ticked off
by Alex Megos in Nov 2019 at a believed
grade of 5.15a. Right of there, the New
Zoo has yet more quality classics.
SORE HEEL HOLLOW AND
THE MOTHERLODE AREA
This is where most climbers spend the
bulk of their time, the crags and climbing
in this area are absolutely world class and
the routes cover the entire grade range.
Owned and managed by the RRGCC,
access is via Bald Rock Fork Road off KY
498, half a mile or so along which the
gravel road drops down a steep hill into
the bottom of the Hollow; 4x4s are the
preferred wheels for obvious reasons.
Starting with one of the biggest and
best crags in The Red, the Motherlode
has a wealth of amazing routes especially
in the 5.11 to 5.13 range. On the left is
Buckeye Buttress and the Warm-Up
Wall. The well-named Warm-Up Wall,
mentioned earlier, is good but overshad-
owed by the lush-looking walls of the
former; Stain and Heart-Shaped Box
(both 5.12c) and Golden Touch (5.13b)
are a selection of the harder technical
offerings on the modestly overhanging
walls at Buckeye.
GMC Wall, in the centre of the
Motherlode, is stacked with steep,
quality harder lines that are sought-after
testpieces; The Madness Cave and the
Undertow Wall on the right, however,
are something else baby. Bill Ramsey’s
1999 classic, Omaha Beach (5.14a) up
the middle of the Madness Cave offers
stupendously pumpy, high quality
climbing that is reckoned to be one
of the best of its grade in the country.
Finally, the Undertow Wall might only
be 20 to 25m high but at 25-degrees
overhanging the classic Red pump is
at its deepest on the predominant 5.12a
to 5.13a graded routes.The Chocolate Factory, just a
stone’s throw from the Lode, is another
exceptional crag. Packing more routes
across a wider grade range, than any
other single crag in The Red, the Chocolate
Factory is understandably hugely popular
with many climbers, after all, where else
would you find two of the best easiest
routes – Oompa (5.10a) and Loompa
(5.10c) – rubbing shoulders in the middle
of the crag with two of the best world
famous hard routes, Pure Imagination
(5.14c) and The Golden Ticket (5.14c).
The left-hand side of the Chocolate
Factory offers varied climbing. Keeping
to the easier routes EGBG (5.10a),
Climatic Crush (5.11b) and Snozzberries
(5.12a) are justifiably popular and offer
excellent climbing. Like many of the
good routes in this area, they get pretty
busy at weekends – fortunately though,
there’s plenty of alternatives. The
right-hand end of the crag is very
impressive and rammed with hard
classics. The best of the easier routes
is Swedish Fish (5.12a). 6http://www.climber.co.uk may–jun 2020 57
Red RiveR GoRGe South – mid-GRade SpoRt climbinG ShanGRi-la
Sam Gore picking the
pockets on A.W.O.L (5.10a),
on the 5.10 Wall at Roadside.massive jugs
festoon most
of the 20-degree
overhanging wall