Cragmama "Not all who wander are lost…" JRR Tolkien

Category Archives: New River Gorge

New River Rendezvous X – A Recap of the Rollercoaster

New River Rendezvous X – A Recap of the Rollercoaster

After skipping a year for the first time in 10 years, the New River Rendezvous was back and better than ever this past weekend!  For those of you not familiar with it, the ‘Vous is a climber’s festival that raises money for the New River Alliance of Climbers (NRAC).  It’s also a great excuse for the climbing community to get together and celebrate living near some of the best stone this country has to offer!   Though it was the 5th Rendezvous for Steve and I (and Cragbaby’s 2nd), it was my first time attending as an athlete for Trango,…Read the rest of this entry →

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Sending a Family Project: Flash Point (5.11d)

Sending a Family Project: Flash Point (5.11d)

This weekend the hubby and I had the unique opportunity to send a project together, one that was equally meaningful to us both, but for very different reasons.  For Steve, Flash Point was about redemption.  After a pretty successful toprope run this past January, he tied in on the sharp end with no expectations and shocked everyone (but probably himself the most!) by making it through the first two cruxes clean before pumping out one move before a good rest 80 feet up.  After jugging back up he found some better holds that probably would have kept him on had…Read the rest of this entry →

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New River Gorge (in January?!?) and Climbing “Tall”

New River Gorge (in January?!?) and Climbing “Tall”

  The cool thing about living in the Southeast is that rock climbing can be a year round endeavor.  In fact, some south-facing, friction climbing areas are pretty much only good in the winter (Stone Mountain, Rumbling Bald, and the Asheboro Boulderfield come to mind).  If the sun is shining and the wind is calm, you can have a very pleasant day with relatively warm rock even with high temps in the low 40’s.  But despite the abundance of winter climbing opportunities, our family always makes a definitive shift into “cold weather climbing mode.”  We spend more time jumping down onto crash pads than…Read the rest of this entry →

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New River Gorge: The SEND Train has left the station…

New River Gorge: The SEND Train has left the station…

And I managed to hop on it this time.  (It’s about time…) SEND TRAIN:  The extreme sending phenomenon that occurs when a group of climbers are projecting together and one person finally has a breakthrough – the rest of the crew feeds off of that psych, and all of a sudden everyone is crushing left and right. In last week’s trip report I alluded to the fact that I had felt like I had been in somewhat of a climbing slump for the past few weeks.  It seemed like no matter how hard I tried, I was always coming up…Read the rest of this entry →

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The NRG Craggin’ Classic…

The NRG Craggin’ Classic…

This weekend marked an exciting milestone for the American Alpine Club, as well as any climber frequenting the New River Gorge (which is probably the majority of us in the Southeast…)  The “Craggin’ Classic” event gave climbers a chance to get a sneak peek at the latest progress on the new AAC climbers’ campground.  It’s pretty bare bones right now, but from the sounds of it, it has the makings to become a staple part of the NRG!  The crowd was small, but the camaraderie was high, and it seemed as though everyone was relieved to finally see some fall temps again!…Read the rest of this entry →

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“Not all who wander are lost.” —JRR TOLKIEN