Slade

We are no sport climbers. Everyone knows that. However, every once in a while we go to sport climbing crags and test if suddenly a hunger for the exposure of a long route has grown inside us. So far without much success.
Red River Gorge is really famous, maybe one of the most famous climbing areas in the world. Pictures and videos we have seen of the area made us curious, so we intentionally packed our harnesses and belaying equipment when preparing for the flight to the US.
Lucia and Noah, two of Birte's friends from Ann Arbor moved there two years ago and invited us to climb and stay with them. We gladly accepted the offer and had a great climbing day with them after spending a night at Miguel's Pizza, which we had to visit at least for a night! Miguel's is known all over the US. In every crag, be it sport climbing or bouldering, you'll find climbers with Miguel's Pizza shirts. It is the american pendant to Magic Wood, but way bigger...and way cheaper!
The rock is bulletproof sandstone as everywhere in the Appalachians. And the climbing is really fun. The holds range from crimps over slopers to jugs. Some of the climbing is very technical, other routes are mostly physical. There are short boudery routes and long endurance beasts that cover 50 meters or more.
As expected we were not very strong mentally while climbing and had trouble committing to moves above the third or fourth quickdraw, but we still had a lot of fun! The climbing was better than anywhere we have climbed before. We could really imagine doing that more often. But RRG is not around the corner...

On Saturday evening a huge party took place at Miguel's. It was the 40th anniversary! There was live music, free pizza and free beer. After our long climbing day, the crew around Lucia and Noah, Ciarand, Danny and Jonah, and we grabbed one of the very last parking lots in the vicinity of Miguel's and rewarded ourselves with pizza and beer. The vibe was great!Read more