NRG trip - Coming and Going

NRG Super Project

I just returned to MD from a short but sweet trip to the New River Gorge.  I had five days to climb with one rest day.  Short trips like that are tough.. Sometimes the weather can suck, you could split a tip or the weather could be good but the conditions might be terrible.  Luckily for us we had some ok weather, no new injuries to account for and to top it off the best bouldering conditions I have had at the New..  Cold was the motif. When the sun was shining it was great then it snowed 2 inches.  Jah Bless. Good thing mother nature crapped on my rest day so Micah Klinger and I hiked around that day.  He showed me some of the local projects on the dries one in particular that ranks high, one the best things I have seen in the country.  It reminds me of the shield at Stone Fort.  One line of holds, perfect white sandstone, no hodge-podge.  Why has this not been done?? might be the question floating in your mind.  Logically, the answer must be that its really not as cool as I am saying it is.  Something like that would be well known.  Objection!  Perhaps the 25min + steep down hill approach to the rivers bowels could lend an explanation as to why its not been climbed.  Climbers have a tendency to be lazy creatures. I cannot blame them, I love being a fat kid.  Why drag loads of pads down a hill covered in poison ivy and its cronies when the New hosts so many amazing routes and boulder problems that require only the motivation to push the larger of two peddles to the ground on the floor of your car.??? Ah yes, lets not forget the hike up the steep hill to get home.  At least the new isn't located at the top of a volcano...  but in some minds it should be. They will never venture and therefore never reap the rewards.
The trip started well, I managed to repeat a bunch of lines that have gone up recently.  (bouldering, this trip was primarily a bouldering trip).  After a day of cleaning up outstanding problems I started to look for projects.  It was supposed to snow the following day so the idea was to get a game plan together for the rest of the trip.  We saw some really good lines but the one that stood out to me was the F5 project.  F5 being the name of a really great boulder problem that Micah put up last year. F5 for any meteorological aficionados that are reading is also the rating they use to describe a tornados ferocity based on wind speed and cone size.  Pretty much the boulder looks like a tornado is what I am saying.  Anyway, up the hill from that boulder is another boulder and another boulder and another boulder.....  but the one I was interested in is suspended in the air. Its super steep and has/had an amazing project out some crimps to a good right hand finger bucket then enter crux town to undercling pinch, wind mill to bad bad sloper move feet jump to finish jug and you're doneski.  Two session on this beast.  The first was a lack of preparation.  I was not informed that the boulder had a super nar landing and at the same time I forgot all those years of boy scout training that would have told me to be prepared with an additional pad.  We hiked for 25min with two and a half pads to a boulder problem that required at least 7 pads.  Oh well.  I tried the moves and managed a two piece with no intentions of trying a red point.  Too dangerous.. So we left and I would return on the next nice day to send.

Our next stop was Fayettstation, a well known bouldering area right on the river.  I was there to see a super project that may or may not go.  Really steep boulder with small holds to a blank section.  It looked amazing.  I tried it a little but it too requires some pads.  After a few attempts at the project I scooted over to the classic Octagon Control and banged that out.
I am tired of writing so I will say that the rest of our trip went like this.  Great climbing, first v12 in the gorge and a ton of fun with our good friends at the New.  I got some footage from our trip that I will put up soon.