Hunting Season

Hunting Season is here, and I'm not talking about looking for new problems in the hills. Ohio's hunting season as been in full swing for a while now, however there is one week a year that catches my attention a little more then others. That week is referred to a "Deer Gun Week" around here, it lasts from November 30th through December 6th. This is the only week that Hunters are permitted to hunt deer with a gun, besides a couple special weekends.

I want to let people know about this Deer Gun Week due to the affect that it has on the local climbing. Several of the areas that are mentioned in this blog and that allow climbing are also open to hunters during the above mentioned dates. So be careful if your out and about in the woods this week, make sure to wear bright colors and beware of your surroundings.

Even in areas as such as the Trailer Park I have seen hunters. The best places to climb during this week would probably be COAD and Witches.

Below is some info on Ohio's Hunting from ODNR' page.

Deer Zones and Bag Limits
	Deer Permit ($24)			Antlerless Deer Permit ($15)
Zone	Opening Date	Closing Date	Limit	Opening Date	Closing Date	Limit	Total
A	Sept 26, 2009	Feb 7, 2010	1	Sept 26, 2009	Nov 29, 2009	1	2
B	Sept 26, 2009	Feb 7, 2010	2	Sept 26, 2009	Nov 29, 2009	2	4
C	Sept 26, 2009	Feb 7, 2010	3	Sept 26, 2009	Dec 6, 2009	3	6

Deer Hunting Hours

Archery season hours are 1/2 hour before sunrise to 1/2 hour after sunset.

Hours for deer hunting are 1/2 hour before sunrise to sunset for the Youth Deer Gun Season, Deer Gun Season, the Early Muzzleloader Season, and Statewide Muzzleloader Season.

09-2010 Hunting Season Dates and Bag Limits

SPECIES	OPENING DATE	CLOSING DATE	DAILY BAG
White-tailed Deer: Archery	September 26	February 7	Refer to Deer Hunting Section for details on zone and bag limits
White-tailed Deer: Early Muzzleloader Wildcat Hollow, Salt Fork Wildlife Area, Shawnee State Forest	October 19	October 24
White-tailed Deer: Youth Gun	November 21	November 22
White-tailed Deer: Gun	November 30	December 6
White-tailed Deer: Gun (extended)	December 19	December 20
White-tailed Deer: Muzzleloader	January 9	January 12
Wild Turkey: Fall	October 10	November 29	Refer to Turkey Hunting Section for details on seasonal bag limits
Wild Turkey: Spring
	April 19	May 16
Squirrel (gray, red, fox, black)	September 1	January 31	6
Mourning Dove	September 1 - Refer to Publication 298 or Small Game Section
Ruffed Grouse	October 10	January 31	2
Goose and Brant	Refer to Waterfowl Season Dates or refer to Publication 295 Click here to review all Waterfowl Season Information
Ducks, Coots, Mergansers and Canvasbacks	Refer to Waterfowl Season Dates or refer to Publication 295 Click here to review all Waterfowl Season Information
Cottontail Rabbit	November 6	February 28	4
Ringneck Pheasant	November 6	January 10	2 (cock pheasants only)
Bobwhite Quail	November 6	November 29	4
Fox, Raccoon, Skunk, Opossum, Weasel	November 10	January 31	No Limit
Crow Fri. Sat. Sun. Only	June 5, 2009	March 14, 2010	No Limit
Coyote	No closed season for hunting or trapping		No Limit
Wild boar	No closed season for hunting		No Limit
Groundhog	Closed during deer gun season only		No Limit

An Out-Of-Towners Guide To Athens Bouldering

Tim is working hard on putting together guides for all the different climbing areas in and around Athens, but after looking through the old post I realized there aren't any directions listed to get you to the bouldering in the first place, so I thought I would give some to get the folks from out of (and in) town started

Driving directions-  To access the bulk of Athens climbing there is an excellent trail network.  If it's your first time coming in to town,  I suggest you start with the COAD/Trailer Park Areas.  The trail head for these areas is located on East State Street.  If coming taking 33 East or West, follow the signs towards the State street exit. Once you reach East State Street, turn East towards Apple Bees, you should pass it on your right.  Continue following East State past a few car dealerships, shops, and restaurants (a few should be familiar from Dylan's post).  After passing through a few lights you will come to an intersection with Walmart and Burger King on your right, and The Ohio University Credit Union on your left.  From here you will turn left down a small street which I can't find the name of.  The Credit Union should now be on your right, and a small trailer park on your left.  Park at the end of the road at the  big blue and white barn.  The obvious trail in to the woods is called the Cucumber trail. 

Directions to the boulders-  Follow the cucumber trail in to the woods.  Please stay on the main trail not only because it is good ethics, but because this trail is on privately owned land, and we don't want to lose access!  Follow this trail until you reach a wooden foot bridge on your left.  To access COAD and the emerald boulder cross the footbridge and follow the trail left.  To access the trailer park boulders pass the bridge and continue on.  Along this trail you will pass the commitment area, the ravine area, the font area, the spirit area, and tons of other established problems.

Definitive guides coming soon, stay tuned...

Here is a map of the Athens trail network on which I marked the bouldering parking in red, along with a couple of the more condensed areas.  Hope this helps!

Trip Report: HP40, Triple Crown Event

This past weekend a large group of Ohioans traveled the 1400 miles to compete in the second leg of the Triple Crown event at Horse Pens 40. The Triple Crown is a series of three bouldering competitions spread across three boulderfields, and three states.
From the TC website
WHAT IS THE TRIPLE CROWN? The goal of the Triple Crown is twofold. First and foremost, the mission is to raise funds for two organizations dedicated to maintaining climbers' access: the Southeastern Climbers' Coalition and The Carolina Climbers' Coalition. These two organizations have been instrumental in the acquisition of land for the climbing community, in a region that is riddled with access issues. Secondly, this unique event will once again provide a tremendous opportunity for vendors to promote the sport of bouldering, which has quickly become the focus of the ever growing climbing community.
There were six of us that drove down from Athens and met up with three more from Athenians, three from c-bus, and three from the nasty. With our powers combined we created a force to be reckoned with.

We arrived on Friday afternoon to temps in the high 60's and a campsite that was awaiting our tents, thanks to the crew from C-bus. We started the night with introducing the first timers to the boulders of HP40, they were amazed at the concentration of this southern boulder destination. We all had an early night in preparation for the full day of climbing we were committed to in the morning.

Awoken to the commotion of climbers beginning their morning routines and smell of coffee was a
pleasant start to the day. We all signed in at registration and picked up or event shirts, free swag, and comp guide books. They gathered everyone under the pavilion, went over the rules and unleashed the mob of 400+ into the boulder field. Dylan and I however decided to enter a new division the morning of. This new category was called star chaser; the idea was for us to compete by climbing the best problems in the entire field. This meant that instead of getting the points for difficulty we got the number of stars used to rate the problem. The competitor at the end of the day with the most stars was the winner. The problems could be as high as a three star classics or a pile of sand with no stars. Both Dylan and I attempt problems as hard as V5 for three stars. By the end of the day we were both spent and sore from the local classics. By then I had complete 56 problems for a total of 96 stars for 4th place.


Now there were some others in the group that managed to pull off a better day. Conan from C-bus had planned out his day a month in advance. He had a list of problems he had sent before, along with a few new ones to try and walked away with a score of 4322 to secure 2nd place. Right on his heels was another friend Eric with 4298 for third. After the second event, Conan sits in first place overall for mens intermediate, and Eric in 4th. Good work guys!

Shane, also from A-town, brought his A game along for the 9 hour car ride. He managed to rack up 2139 which was only good enough for third place, however he is sitting pretty going into the final event with 225 point lead over the guy in second place. That is a whole extra problem for his category, beginner mens.



So that being said we all have some training to do for the next event to hold our spots or advance for a win.

A write up from Dead Point Magazine can be found here. Along with a Video here, which has a couple of the Ohio crew in it.

Over all Triple Crown standings can be found here.

We have one month to get ready for our next leg of the series at Little Rock City aka Stone Fort.

Until then...

Trip Report: Emerald Send Fest

I'm just going to put this statement out there:
Emerald boulder may offer the best concentration of high quality, moderate boulder problems in Athens.
I've found one of my new favorites: "Discombobulation" V5

Anyway, last week Louis, Gunnar, Joey, Mike, Carrie and I went out for a late afternoon session. We had a good ol’ time yellin at each other and figuring out beta. Louis filled his score card by sending everything but “Crystal Shard,” and I managed to get yet a couple more new sends in before I leave town.

We started out the session with the classic slab “Snake Eyes.” Smeary feet, slopey holds and a balancy dead point make this line super fun.

After the send train left the station we moved on to “Barbs” or “Barbed Wire.” Now Louis and I tried this last spring with no luck. If I had to explain the situation last spring there would be three factors that lead to our demise: Low Traffic, Humidity and Weak Sauce. Last spring it felt like we were trying to mantle on sand castle slopers.

Regardless, Louis and I made short work of the super fun V4 this time around.

Joey in awe of the jewel

Here's a slide show of "Barbed Wire:"

Discombobulation is an awesome line. As stated before, it may be my favorite Athens 5. The creative beta and smeary feet really brought the group together trying to solve this problem. Start with high feet and manipulate the balancy slab smears and obvious holds to get purchase on the slopey top out. Lore has it that no one under 5’10 has sent it!

Emerald Arete was quickly dispatched by Louis on this outing and he has for sure been crushing lately. His laid back attitude and climbing psych only compliment his superb spotting skillz. Spoons not forks!

We had a beautifully perfect fall day with the afternoon sun petering out leaving us with crisp send temps. It’s always a good session when a group of motivated individuals sets forth on an epic senday. So get out there and make your fingers bleed, spend a day in the woods enjoying the gorgeous east coast forests and take it all in because it’s going to be winter soon.

Climbing Shoes and Sizing

Climbing Shoes and Sizing:

The idea with this post is for users to share the climbing shoes they have owned and the size of those shoes. That away fellow climbers can view their list and use it to to help choose an appropriate sizes when purchasing new shoes. A street shoe or boot listed for reference is great too.

Leave your list as a comment for everyone to see.

Below are links to some popular shoe manufactures.
Five Ten
La Sportiva
Evolve
Mad Rock
Scrapa
Mammut


Comment Model:
Make, Model, Size (comment about the fit)

ex: Five Ten, Jet 7, 9 (tight as hell)

Athens Bouldering Projects

Just like any other climbing area, the Athens Ohio climbing and bouldering scene has its fare share of projects and unrepeated problems. Today we are going to share a few of these projects with you.

Nelsonville Area:

First up. The projects located behind Hocking College, which are located on campus property. Two steep roof lines that lead to easier exit mantels. The one pictured below is a series of overhanging good crimps that lead to a slopey half pad edge crimp crux section. The second is also a steep roof to large sloper rail, that might then yield a dnyo to the finish. For access directions leave a comment with your email address and we will send them to you. Hocking has some minor steps you have to take to climb here.




Next up is the "Arching Nemesis" project at the Land of Super Heros. This small area located in Wayne National Forest near Nelsonville is composed of just two boulders, the Super Hero boulder and the Sidekick Boulder. The the project is on a 20-25 foot tall overhanging arete that leads to a dicy exit onto the Superman Slab. Direction to come in a following post. You can also see it in this video. This area also contains potential for a few one move wonders of lesser quality

Trailer Park:

Tall and Proud, that is the game it these next two projects at the Trailer Park near the Commitment boulder, aka Boulder Cove. First is "Big Mamas" this it the beast of an arete that is featured in climbing magazine.(Justin Roth's) blog. This line climbs the left side of the arete to the top. Good holds lead to balancey and progressively harder climbing. Height, sketchy landing, bad weather and weaksauce have kept this one from being picked.

Next up at the Trailer Park is the Entrance roof located to the left of the trail as you go over the boardwalk just before you get to the commitment area. The "Flux Capacitor Project" climbs straight out the roof on decent holds, establish on the face and climb through crimps and the hold the looks like the flux capacitor from the "Back to the Future" movies. Battle out the slopers, underclings and dirty rock to the top. This is a high ball that see little traffic and is currently dirty.


Another new area at the trailer park is the Lions wall.
This area is mainly slabs until you reach the right most side near the rock house. This section of the wall is less featured and 15-20ft tall with half pad and smaller edges on the slightly overhanging face leading to the top. Not to much effort has been put into these projects, but they will go very soon.







COAD:

One of the remaining projects at COAD is a roof to overhanging Arete. This one has thwarted many attempts for a while. It is located on the upper tier at COAD. It sits the the left of "Too Small for Paws" and "The Crack". Stand up into a sandy/chossy start that leads to more solid crimps in a horizontal weakness. From the crimps make a dynamic move to the sloper dish, contiune right up the arete to the top, going left to crack system has been done. Sorry can't find any photos at this time.

Witches:

Witchs has a another tall blank arete that has seen some action. Dubbed the "Nientiendo Thumb Project" is the very first tall arete as you enter the area. Stand or sit and climb the arete. Rumors say that it has almost been sent on multiple ocassions but it still remains virgin.

Emerald:

A low start to Discombobulated remains open too. Same start as Crystal Shard Sit and Emerald and climb left along sloper to linkup with the stand of Discombulated. Not a pure line in its form, but still doable and hard.


This is not a complete list of Athens projects but a taste of what still remains to be sent. Also, sorry the directions are not posted for all of these areas. We are still working on the individual guides to each area. If you need directions in the meantime, leave a comment and we will shoot you back an email.

Now let see some of these projects get sent with these fall temperatures.

Be Safe and Climb Stong!

Trip Report: Witches

Hey yall,
Louis and I went out to Witches last week and got in a late afternoon session.

The (A) on the map denotes the approximate location of Witches

Setting sun and crisp temps made for the perfect send-fest. The chill of fall in Athens means many things to me, one of those things is wonderful friction. The other things have to do with getting drunk in spandex and a wig.

I'm telling you with all honesty, Athens sandstone is easy to palm in the fall. It's like cheating. Otherwise heinous top outs felt effortless, the classic "Witches Traverse" felt easier than picking up dudes at the bar and "Drews Arete" was actually feeling sendable (although I did not send). So after warming up on the warm up boulder, which doesn't really have that many good warm ups anymore thanks to the consistently inconsistent rock, we threw ourselves at a highball project that vindictively stayed a project.

As the sun started to disappear over the gorgeous Hocking River valley, Louis and I jumped on the V4 classic "50 Grit." An aesthetic vertical block with a lone sloping crimper dividing the 4 feet between start holds and sloping mantle. Unfortunately, I did not get any photos of us on "50 Grit," but I did get a snap shot of the block. Here's few photos from the day:

Warm up boulder Drew's Arete on right and Witches Traverse on left

Drew's Arete

Louis with the send

The Proj: Nintendo Thumb

50 Grit

Beautiful fall day

Here are some appropriate alliterations to accurately associate my appreciation for our awesome Athens afternoon:
The overall outing was outstanding.
Super solid sloper slappin'
Crazy crimpy cobble clobbering.
-Dylan

New Athens Bouldering Forums

Dustyn has set up some forums for the Athens Bouldering scene. Check them out.

http://athensbouldering.freeforums.org/index.php

Athens Eats - Where to fill your tank

If you're like me then your insatiable urge to crush boulder problems is only complimented by your ravenous and undaunted appetite. There are few things more satisfying than eating delicious and unique food after a day of slappin' slopers and pimpin' crimpers, especially when the day's sole nutrition was cliffbars and sour worms. Climbers may not be known for their good hygiene (at least we can boast low weekly water usages), but a lot of us do consider the environmental ramifications of where that 65% soy "all beef patty" comes from. Luckily, Athens has the goods to make your belly full and your conscience clean, but don't worry there's still an abundance of mundane fast food joints. Being that I'm biased and proud: I will not spend too much time describing the intricacies of the supreme balance of tastes protruding from McDonalds Whopper value meal.

Living in Athens for the better part of decade now, I am sure to miss the restaurant selection when I leave. Athens is capable of drawing back troves of Homecoming Alums for more than getting up at 6 in the morning to go drinking. For us locals it means long waits at the "famous" uptown eateries but for the homecomers, it’s a chance to indulge in the delicious food selection that can’t be replicated. For good reason, though.
I have broken it down into geographical areas to get fed.
East State Street:
E. State is closest to the Trailer Park and COAD. E. State is home to most fast food chains or corporate restaurants. You can get supersized or footlonged. Most notable for E. State is the Athens Farmers Market that meets Saturday from 10am - 1pm all year and Wednesdays from 10am - 1pm April - October and the following:
Abrio's Brick Oven Pizza:
Pizza and Salads! Dine in, take out and enjoy. This restaurant is one of the few locally owned places on E. State.
Maplewood Inn and Drive Thru:
Local's bar, serves most things deep fried. Maybe the best wings in town? Nachos = Awesome. The Maplewood provides a close and easy way to bring booze to the boulders! Drive thru and get a sixer of Busch lite tallboys and make sure to shotgun them in the parking lot before venturing into the Athens trail network... Just remember, Leave No Trace.
Avalanche Pizza:
This pizza joint is slightly reminiscent of Miguels Pizza in that you can get just about anything you can think of on your pizza. Take away the climber campground, give it a more consistent dough supply and specific specialty pies add a lil ease of delivery and there you have it: Miguels classier, more bashful sister. NO BEER HERE, though.
Village Bakery & Della Zona:
This place is pumped on being local, if you're pumped on being local, then this is your place. If you are not into being local but would love the opportunity to make fun of local-hipster-environmentally-conscience people, then this is your place, too. The Village Bakery home-makes as much as possible, very vegetarian friendly and has great Sunday breakfast specials. Della Zona is owned and operated by The Village Bakery and when translated means From the Area in Italian. Della Zona offers amazing pizza, salad and gelato. They have very creative and awesome pizzas. A little pricey but phenomenal. Also, they have a choice selection of craft beers!
Uptown Athens:
Uptown Athens consists of Court Street and the few roads surrounding. When traveling west on E. State Street you'll know you're getting close when you feel the aesthetic charm of brick streets bottoming out the shocks on your car. There are between 15 and 20 bars in this area, many of which serve typical bar food. The few restaurants listed here offer the most unique options and are all within walking distance from each other. Uptown Athens mixes class with trash and offers opportunity for anyone's taste buds to salivate.
Obetty's Red Hot!:
Indulge yourself in the sexiest hotdog museum in all of Ohio. Obetty's Red Hot! offers premium all beef hotdogs and french fries, but don't worry... Everything on the menu can be completely de-meated for all you veg-heads out there. I love Obetty's and you probably will, too. Sadly, they do not serve beer here. I know, I know, how are you supposed to eat a hotdog without any booze? Do not fret! You are welcome to bring a 40 oz. of malt liquor to accompany your wiener.
Casa Nueva:
Casa Nueva prides itself on being the "localvore's solution" to dining. For those of you who don't know what a localvore is, it's someone that only eats locals. Fortunately, Casa Nueva didn't realize what this word truly meant and they offer Mexican food (more like hippified-mexican) with as much local, low-impact, organic ingredients as possible. The Athens County farms provide Casa with pork, chicken, beef, vegetables and greens. The local beta for Casa is hit up the breakfast and stay after to treat yourself to the full bar. Make sure to get a made to order Bloody Mary.
Jackie O's Pub and Brewery:
MICROBREWS!!!! Delicious fish and chips, Athens Own organic beef burgers with local sharp cheddar, awesome vegetarian selection and microbrews. Jackie O's serves quality brews, foods, and music. Recently expanded, Jackie O's now has one of the largest music venues/bars in Athens. Outdoor seating pool tables and an indoor shuffleboard make this locally owned establishment a great place to lose a few hours. Often, you will meet climbers here (check the creases of their fingers for chalk dust) talking about new problems and waving their arms around like idiots. Did I mention Microbrews? Ales, Lagers, Porters, Stout's and bourbon barreled! They host a fine selection of craft brews as well. Eat and be merry at Jackie O's

Big Mamma’s Burritos:

Big burritos for small prices. Big Mamma’s has some creative twists to the burrito standard. Philly cheese, Big Mac and Chipotle Ranch are all flavors that you can get wrapped up in the warm flour tortillas served till 3 or 4 in the morning... every morning. This place has a cult following of drunken students, so be careful late night!

Stephens, Salaam, and Zoe:

These places are fancy enough to take your mom’s boyfriends daughter! Salaam offers Middle Eastern cuisine and a friendly BYOB attitude, quality food for sure. Zoe has a unique style that you may not find anywhere else and laid back, family style fine dining. Stephens is American fine dining at its greatest feel free to BYOB here, too!

Notable Entries:

The Pub: Get a pub burger and fries on Court Street!

Burrito Buggy: The name says it all. This buggy can be found on the corner of Court and Union

The Oak Room: Great place to have dinner and brews! Located off Union Street.

Star of India: Amazing Native American food, located on Union Street.

Greater Athens Area:

Purple Chopsticks:

Have you ever wanted to eat in an art gallery? Purple Chopsticks offers up some delicious Thai food and you get to eat it in a beautifully decorated atmosphere (http://www.passionworks.org/). If you have the time and love hitting a gong, you should find your way to Purple Chopsticks. Again, BYOB friendly with a drive thru/carryout across the street. Sunday brunch is not to be missed! From Court Street head South on Richland Avenue until you cross the Hocking River, then start looking for the restaurant on the right.

Jana’s Soul Food Cafe:

Jana can cook! She hooks it up with down home American cookin’ that makes your mouth water. Breakfast is incredible and so are the sandwiches and entrees. Do yourself a favor and head down there. Jana’s boasts outdoor seating, a beautiful country setting and easy access from the bike path and BYOB friendly. On 33 west from Athens take the Johnson Road exit left, then take the first left down into Historic Eclipse Company Town. Or from the bike path, head about 1.5 miles west from town until you come to the Eclipse intersection.

So here it is, an opinionated sample of the dining in Athens, Ohio. You can get the comprehensive selection here, but for what it’s worth: These are my favorites! Come on down and climb till your fingers bleed, then eat, drink and take in all the charm that Athens has to offer.

Emerald Boulder

Emerald Boulder

Approach:

This boulder is located to the right hand side of the trail as you head from COAD boulders back toward the trailer park. It sits about 100ft off the trail just out of sight. You can use the lone car size boulder(pictured above) along the way as a reference point. It is down the hill from it, just over the shelf. Problems are listed from left to right as the trail approaches the boulder.

Parking: Same parking area as the "Trailer Park". Park at the white barn(Dance Studio) parking area off of East State street, located behind the Ohio University credit union. This is the start of the "Cucumbertree Connector" trail. If it is ful,l park in the Wal-mart parking lot an walk over.

Routes:

1. V0 Warm Up: SUS. This is the farthest left line on the face.
2. V2+ Snake Eye: SUS. This line is 8 ft to the right of the left arête. Find the tricky feet and use the slopey pockets to go straigt to the top.
3. V5 Discombobulation: SUS. This is the right most line before it starts to scoop right. Use the pockets and high gaston to avoid be discombobulated.  A SDS starts under the "Emerald" and traverse left up the rail and into the stand of Discombulation. Pedestal is off! V6ish
4. V5 Crystal Shard: SUS. Located between the face problems and the arête is a scooped area. Stand start on under clings above the honey comb choss and climb up through blank face to gain the “shards” of iron then to the top. A sit down start is located under arête, same as the emerald. Traverse the sloper rail to gain the underclins. V7
5. V5 The Emerald: SDS. Climb the most prominent arête to the top and battle for the jewel.
6. V4 Barbs: This is the last most arête on the rock. SDS and power through the moves to stellar topout. Watch out for the barb wire if you fall.

Printable PDF

Over View map and more photos to come soon.

Local Ethics and Etiquette

Ethics the rules of conduct recognized in respect to a particular class of human actions or a particular group, culture, etc.: medical ethics; Christian ethics; climbing ethics.

Etiquette the code of ethical behavior regarding professional practice or action among the members of a profession in their dealings with each other: medical etiquette; climbing etiquette.

Local Ethics

Clean, Climb, Protect!!

• Chiseling/Chipping: Don’t! Don’t even think about it. The bottom line is to leave the rock alone. Leave it for the next generation of strong climbers coming up through the ranks.
  
• Cleaning: You have to be able to see and feel the holds. Don’t go crazy and clean until you make a lager hold.( It is sand stone) Brush off the dirt on only the areas that you will use to climb. (Plastic Brushes are the way, don't use metal brushes)
  
• Aspire to climb without leaving a trace: Watch pad placements, avoid covering vegetation. Limit chalk use, minimize tick marks and brush it away after.
  
• Dispose of human waste properly: See Leave No Trace website for more details.
• Use Existing Trails: Stay on established trails, most of the trails lie on public land. However a few land owners have been gracious enough to allow users to cross over thier land. Don't use short cut trails and don't make our own
  
• Park in Designated Areas : Parking is a precious commodity at a few of the areas. If the designated spots are full, go else where. Don't park in the grass, it could be some ones yard.
  
• Maintain a Low Profile: Try not to scream and yell, avoid profanity and keep the radios at home. Most of these climbing areas are used by more then climbers, maybe their outside for the serenity, respect the other land users.
  
• Respect Private Property: Some areas are adjacent to private property, be respectful of their land and wishes. Their opinions of climbers can affect future use, always keep them happy.

If you have questions about our local ethics leave us a comment

So you think you can climb V5?

So, a few of these problems might be rated below or above v5, but if you want to call yourself an Athens County V5er you should be able to make pretty short work of this list.

Birds Nest,Trailer Park, Commitment Area

Tarzan, Trailer Park, Commitment Area

Break Down, Trailer Park, Breakdown Cave Area

Pot O Gold, COAD Boulders, Warm Up Wall

Charlie Horse, Trailer Park, Spirit Area

Tug Time, COAD Boulders, Lower Central Area

Barb Wire, COAD Boulders, Emerald Boulder

Emerald Arete, COAD Boulders, Emerald Boulder

Discombobultion, COAD Boulders, Emerald Boulder

To Small for Paws, COAD Boulders, Upper Wall

Dihedral, COAD Boulders, Upper Wall

The Nomad(Nose Right), COAD Boulders,

Death Arete, Stoud's Run - Beach, Death Arete Area

Drew's Arete, Witches, Warmup Boulder

Let me know if you have any other problems that you think qualify for this list.

Trailer for Rocky Mountain Highball

I know that this is not about Athens, but check out this trailer.


Rocky Mountain Highball Trailer from ClimbingNarc.com on Vimeo.

Land of The Superhero's

West Virginia University Bouldering Comp

WVU is hosting a Bouldering Competition this weekend. Saturday January 31st. Hocking College Outdoor Pursuits is taking a group there if anyone is interested.

See their blog for more details.

Bouldering Comp at the Solution

Solution Rock Gym is hosting a small bouldering comp this weekend. Check out their blog for details.

Solution's Blog

Artic Comes to Ohio

Just as the picture states it is cold here. Official word from the government is that the Artic Circle packed its bags and moved to Ohio. That being said we haven't been climbing much. Hopefully the weather improves so we can get back outside.

In the meantime everyone has sought shelter from the storms and training for the local comps. There will be three comps at Solution Rock Gym alone, a series. Then one at Hocking College and one at Ohio University. It should be interesting to see who wins the Athens county tri-fecta.

Well until the temps return.

So, You think you can climb V3

A selection of problems to test your meld on!

Font Arete, Trailer Park, Font Area

Prostate, Trailer Park, Font Area

The Mantle, Trailer Park, Commitment Area

Elephant Ear,Trailer Park, Commitment Area

Mussels from Brussels, Trailer Park, Ravine Area

Witches Traverse, Witches Hill, Front Area

Witches Backside, Witches Hill, Front Area

Commitment Sit, Trailer Park, Commitment Area

Fifty Grit, Witches Hill, Front Area

Finger Crack, Witches Hill, Back Area

Hand Job, Trailer Park, Mall Boulders

Key Hole Arete, Witches Hill, Font Area

Snake Eyes, COAD Boulders, Emerald Boulder

Deforestation,COAD Boulders Emerald Boulder


Let me know if you have questions on the where about of any of these lines, I will gladly share directions.