COVID-19 Climbing Guidelines: The Red River Gorge in the Daniel Boone National Forest, Muir Valley, and all RRGCC-owned property - which includes Miller Fork Recreational Preserve, Bald Rock Recreational Preserve, and Pendergrass-Murray Recreational Preserve - request that you follow the guidelines outlined on each website if you choose to climb during this time. See links above for more details about each climbing area.
A fun and pumpy ride beginning with 3 bolts of easy crack climbing then exits right onto a steepening face filled with shallow pockets and sloping pinches.
I say this route should get a route name. Its too good to go as "Choco-Factory-Unknown-3"!
reading through Willy Wonka quotes and found - "Hip to the Jive" ?
Gave it 11c but think with beta figured out a little better, 11b is about route right.
Cool start, gets on ya, then gentle finish.
As it stands there are 2 biners per anchor bolt, would really benefit having about 12-16" of chain added.
Liked it!
We were there this weekend. Loved the climb. The party climbing next to us removed the extremely worn biners and sling. One of the biners was getting sharp and the sling was starting to fray. I think they may have taken a picture. Now there is only one chain and nothing on the other anchor bolt.
We went back to it yesterday and my friend Spyder added a chain to the anchors so now they are equalized. I think the lowering biners may not be steel, so we need to keep an eye on them.
btw, a couple of weekends ago we saw someone take a fall from the upper part of this route and hit the ledge on Wonkaholic, busting her ankle. I have never felt even remotely in-danger by when i climbed Hip to the Jive, and I would have said that the ledge was not in the way, but I guess it is. While the person climbing was relatively inexperienced, I don't think they did anything drastically wrong, except, maybe, attempting to clip from a wrong hold. May not be the best route to practice falling on.
Was on this today, didnt see any worn aluminum at the top, just chains. I threw some steel I had in my pack up there to keep the chains from getting worn out. should be good for a while i hope.
There's no aluminum because we pulled them off the other week, as well as a few others. These routes don't need fixed anchors. Learn to clean. Your biners will be stripped soon
Cleaning good steel drop ins off the chains is retarded IMO. They are no different than putting on steel quick links, except that it does increase the convenience factor. Better use of your time pulling the aluminum mank as you encounter it.
the problem with steel is nobody second guesses it or realizes its steel and then everything starts getting any kind of shit at the anchors. worse, people just TR through it since it's there and then you have worn shit that has to be inspected, yanked, replaced. when did cleaning become such a chore or too difficult?? if it is then may i suggest a different hobby
Chain, rings, and quicklinks wear out too. At least biners are easy to remove when necessary. Taking down good biners because you disagree with them philosophically is kind of a dick move.
I think that at a mid 11, top roping shouldn't be an issue. If you take off the steel biners just because you have some philosophical issue with people not having to tie in to clean, then at least put up a couple of beefy quick links to replace the steel you just took off the route. Or, when the chain starts to wear, then I am sure you will be equally excited to come back and fix it then.
Solid for the grade and very fun. Surprisingly pumpy for only a few bolts of steepness. No need for any cleaning biner on this. Very easy to retrieve the first from the second and then stem up a bit to lessen the clean swing. Pretty sure there were 2 quicklinks now at the chains.
Felt really hard for 11b in modestly humid conditions. lots of holds to choose from, and only one of them is marginally better than the others. quality route though, and I found all of the falls to be quite clean once you hit the steep.
Route details are copyright Ray Ellington, John Bronaugh, and other Red River Gorge climbers. Climbing is an inherently dangerous sport. The information in this guidebook is subject to error and should supplement never replace common sense and caution, competent guidance and instruction, and actually being outside. One should be especially cautious on matters of route length, descent type, and number of bolts (especially since such things do change occasionally).
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