Tuesdays with Shay

So were going to start a new series here on the blog called "Tuesdays with Shay". Each week Shay will be visiting climbing areas around Athens, weather permitting. To start thing off were going to take a second to introduce the one and only "Shay".

Shay as born January 5, 1989 in a small town in central Ohio. Why is this important, it's not, but now you know how old he is and when to buy him a card for his birthday.

Shay is about 5 foot nine and weighs about 12olbs soaking wet with hiking boots on. Is this important. Yes, this allows the little bugger to hang on to some of the smallest holds, the ones that leave the rest of us shaking our heads and rubbing our sore tips.

Shay does have one thing going against him though. That is his shoulder, if you have seen it, you know what I'm talking about. It's the deformed one, the one that makes you want to puke a little in your mouth, every time you see him with his shirt off. Oh... and for some reason he is always taking his shirt off when he climbs.

Shay is however always a bag full of hoots and hollars to be around and climb with. When he's skyed he is full of positive energy that transforms the climbing posse he is rolling with.

So let the Tuesdays begin........

New Line at the Commitment Area

We managed to put up a new line at the Commitment Area today. The waterfall project had been completed lending way to "Sincere Apologies". This climbs the face to the left of the line "Elephant Ear", it climbs through some nice edges and slopers after the akward start. The face is climbed without stemming to the ugly and chossy wall to the left of the dihedral. Were guessing it weighs in at about a v3 and tops out at about 15feet. This is a nice addition to the area.

All of the holds and the top out are currently clean so go give it a try!

Athens Bouldering Update - 9-19-2010

Athens Bouldering Update since the storms blew in. Committment area is clean, ravine area along with Font area have trees in them. Not sure on Coad or Emerald. Sunken Boulder is good, but tons, I means tons of trees are down from the recent storms. We need to organize a clean up to help the other user groups. Anyone available?

Found Shoe!

I found a single shoe at the trailer park. Let me know if you lost one.

Bears in the Woods of Kentucky..What!?

Apparently bears are making a come back into the woods of the Daniel Boone National Forest. This is great news for the region. However there was a bear attack this past week in the Red River Gorge Region of the forest, this has prompted the closing of some major crags.

More details can be found here and a news report here, along with the official forest page.

Sunday in the NRG 6/20/01

Went down to the NRG last Sunday to enjoy the 90 degree weather. With the perfect temps it seemed like the perfect day to hit the New. With us, my brother came and documented the flora and fauna.

We drove down to the White Wall in the South side of Meadow River Gorge, way back in the sticks. Mikes Truck, and Travs' Road Warrior easily conquered the manky class one approach to the business.
On the way in we stopped to push a chevy s-10 out of the ditch, got some toothless local good luck and then proceeded to the crushing. Sixty-five percent of the day was spent in the shade hanging out in the forest and the other thirty-five percent was spent getting on the nasty.
Here's Jaime on the tron-sight of Flaming Pellets.
I stuck with the bolts all day, Jamie and Trav wrapped it up with some trad sends, and Maria topped and cleaned the last route as we packed up in the dusk.

Check out his site and some more photos from years past at the Ping Center and Hocking College climbing comps. If you hit the "Home" link then "climbing" you cant miss it.
here...

http://www.douglasaden.com/gallery.html?directory=images%2FGeorge%2FNew+River%2F2010_06_20%2F&pageNumber=1&onHomepage=#NewRiver

Safety Alert

In light of a recent accident at the New River Gorge I want to help share some info about a piece of gear.

Watch this video

You can read about the accident here and here

So remember to be safe this summer and always, always double check yourselves.