Climbing in the Red

Redclimbing2008_048, originally uploaded by gonewest98.

So this is my friend Anne, climbing her second route outside on real rock. I like this one because she looks like a total pro, even though she was really nervous. We went to this area of Red River Gorge called Muir Valley, and the place where this climb is is called Practice Wall. There are a bunch of climbs that are all about the beginner level and they are all really close together. Muir Valley has been putting up a lot of new routes in the past few years, which is really nice, because in the past it would have been hard to find a lot of stuff for beginners. I drove down to the Red with Anne, Erica and Amber. Anne and Erica both work at the Gazette, and Amber is a former intern who has moved on to bigger and better things at the Seattle Times, but still managed to fly all the way back so she could cram herself into a tiny Suzuki filled to the brim with stuff and ride for 7 hours to sleep in the woods!
We stayed at Miguel's Pizza, which might not sound much like a campground, but it is essential to any trip to Red River Gorge. The place is a shack owned by Miguel Ventura, where he sells the most awesome pizzas known to man (just ask my friends) and opens up his backyard to climbers, where you can camp for $2 per person per night. The place is amazing and impossible to describe. You just have to go. On any given night there will be people sitting around a campfire, playing cards, walking the slackline, playing basketball (REALLY badly, I might add) hoola hooping, or (and this is a first for me to witness) spinning flaming poi. We originally had six people going with us, but two dropped out, so we were left with 4 people in the most humongous tent I have ever seen. It was a nine person tent, complete with its own closet. At 10 feet by 18 feet, it was probably big enough to fit three queen size air mattresses inside, although we only had two. With enough room for the air matresses, cooler and all of our gear, it was quickly dubbed the Tent Majal. I was a little embarassed setting up such a huge tent, but it came in really handy that night when it started raining. We all sat inside, playing Uno and painting with light, which is really the first time I have ever just hung out in a tent. Generally they are too small to be good for anything but sleeping. After that night I got over my embarrassment and decided that anyone who wanted to say anything about the Tent Mahal was just jealous.
Saturday we went out to experience our first climbs. I was a little nervous being in charge of everyone (read: responsible for anything bad which might happen), but it turns out I was the only one to have any sort of brush with danger. I was lead climbing our second climb of the day which was about 30 feet high. I climb up to the third bolt hanger, clipped on a quickdraw, tried to clip the rope—and dropped it. By this time I was a little shaky, but I was sure I could get it. I grabbed the rope again, pulled it up and put it in my teeth (read: lots of slack in the rope—not good) so I could get a better grip, then proceeded to fall, probably about 20 feet. It happened so quickly, I didn't even have time to be scared I was falling. But Erica, my belayer, did her job and caught me about 5 feet above the ground. I think it actually scared her more than it did me. Taking lead falls is a part of climbing outside, but that was still the farthest I have fallen, and I am not even exactly sure how it happened. After being a little shaken up, but not hurt, we stopped for lunch, and then I climbed back up to finish that stupid climb. We climbed a bunch more stuff after that, but I managed not to give my belayer any more heart attacks. Once we got back to work at the paper, though, it seemed like all everybody was talking about was my "brush with death." It was a great trip, everybody got along, and nobody got hurt. Not that I was expecting anybody to, but my mommy instincts make me worry a little bit about stuff like that. And the best part is that I got to share a place that I love with friends, and I think now they love it as much as I do.