Two Weeks in the Life of a Working Class Ronin: a visual tour

It begins here; the slow light of dawn, creeping in through the cold, prying sleep out of your eyes and bringing the need for coffee.

Our mailing division, in temporary quarters while we moved, again.  Miss Cindy, in motion.

Consulting with the Skipper...

This kind of fine craftsmanship with caulk (to cover up the fact that you don't know how to build either a sill or a louver) later inspired the Skipper to the delusion that he was a carpenter and woodworker.

That delusion led him to strap a piece of bookshelf bracketing to either side of the truss, connect it with a turnbuckle, and pronounce that a "center brace".

Proof that Iowans did in fact interbreed with tumbleweeds,
and that a month of painstaking effort by two craftsmen to create a thing of lasting beauty can be undone in a matter of minutes by a clueless hack with a screw gun, a pair of sheet metal cutters, and an IQ of 84.

An example of the Skipper's fine sawyer work.  Note the ripped end grain of the beam above, the one that has no pegs in it. Real professional grade work, there.

Because our clueless leader could not find one of the most common bases on the market, Mike Fisher enjoys placing four pads with 16 screws on each beam.
Way to speed production, Skippy.
Brilliant. 

"Right... ahhh... since you are the carpenters, why shouldn't you clean up the roofer's mess and move the masonry supplies out of the mud to get the crane into place?"

"Whaddaya mean they had two weeks to clean the area... you're here, aren't ya?"

"Look, I brought you almost five dollars worth of crap from McD's as a bribe... like you would a dog you were training."

What do you mean you won't do it cheerfully for a bone tossed your way?  Geesh... workers nowadays aren't thankful enough for their jobs!"

Did someone say "bone"?

Despite the worst efforts of far too many stupid people, the finished product, in place, courtesy of the Punishers.

Belated Congratualtions

After 21 days of effort over the course of three months, Mike Farnsworth finally sent his 5.13+ project at Smoke Hole Canyon's Darkside Wall on the weekend of November 8th, 2014. He called the route Cartography of Spirit.

The line, a second variation ending to The Lightness, climbs the center of the wall, working heel hooks, smears and micro-edges through a series of desperate throws between underclings and marginal side-pulls, past several roofs. 

Farnsworth, who has more than one hideous crankfest to his credit, called it "the best and hardest line I've ever done in my life".

Rumor has it that Matt Behrens is geared up for the second ascent.

Farnsworth, Behrens and a handful of other hard climbers from across the East Coast have all taken shots and and falls on the other suspected 13+ in the area, Reed Creek's Cold Day in Hell. That line was bolted by Ryan Eubank in the winter of 2009.  The crux, a long, no-feet reach between a three-finger hole and a mono never went free, and Eubank  installed ring anchors at mid-height to create the three-bolt 5.12 Napoleon Complex from the bottom of the project.

To date, there has been no first ascent of Cold Day in Hell.

The Renovator, trying to decide whether being able to feel his fingers would be a good or bad thing, on an early TR attempt of Cold Day in Hell.

Along with the Weather

Tomorrow, along with the inclement weather that will cloud most of the eastern seaboard, some of you should receive what we hope will be a ray of sunshine...

Thanks to the diligent efforts of our hard-working mailing department at Owlfeather Productions, the next batch of guides and T-shirts went out on Monday morning, as soon as the post office opened in Petersburg, West Virginia.

Soon, a new generation of explorers will be shredding the crags of Smoke Hole and Reed's Creek, like these folks;

Corey McKenzie above the bouldery start of Reaching Conclusions, Reed's Creek

The Usual Suspects, aka, the Adrenaline Crew.


...the big one on the left end hugged me...

Cindy warming up on Second Rule, with John Riedel 

Michael Fisher, rollin' coal through the first ascent of his steep, technical line La Machina, Reed's Creek

Look for them in the mail beginning tomorrow!

Back in the Field

First things first-

Thanks so much to Nicholas Kurland for taking an active role in trail work around the area, and to Chris Egress and Tyler Hall for donating two bags of canned goods during our last Trail Daze event, food donations for the local family that lives on $1000 per month that we are trying, in our own small way, to help. These folks keep an eye on one of the most popular crags in the area, and this is just one way we can say thank you.

This is also a cease-fire on the Access Fund.

When they do something worth noting in the local area, I let you know.

Til then, nuff said.

Spent Friday night with grandchildren and their parents afterr a hundred mile drive through insane rush-hour traffic.

Rose early and loaded gear, headed off into the Potomac Highlands and spent Saturday night camped in the Beast, with the company of my lovely wife for a change, after an incredible day hiking the North Fork Trail and an evening spent with some old friends in the shadow of Eagle Rock.

We rose early and rolled to our gear cache, then made our way to the canyon as the first churchgoers stirred. Rumbling off the main drag, we found a parking spot near the project, where I quickly assembled the tools to cook pancakes, crepes, and eggs in the cold morning shadows at the west end of the Main Arch of the Entrance Walls.

Curious eyes stared from passing cars as we spread raspberry preserves, rolled tortillas and downed French-pressed French roast (French squared coffee, you might say).

The single burner Coleman was still cooling when a white pickup and two cars pulled in to disgorge our friends Mike, Kyle, Nick, Travis, Joe, and several more, all bound for a project and great lines on the Long Branch Wall in the lower canyon.

We talked about Franklin access, routes on the wall above, the imminent release of the guidebook and the other crags of the canyon, before we made our good-byes and they were off to the races and new routing, while I turned to the task at hand.

Up along the trail, ferns still peeking green and moss glowing between the autumn leaves despite several recent cold snaps, sunlight slanting in from the south as I weave between dead falls and ledges on the plateau.

I loop the old tree on the cliff's edge with the ease of practice and think that soon, very soon, I will not have to make this hike to reach the line.  I rest a hand on the rough bark and silently thank the old pine for staying deeply rooted and alive long enough for me to do my work.  I will miss this hike, the peering step out to the edge, the smell of the pine as I lean in close and work the rope around the trunk.

Soon, very soon, I think, I won't make these hikes at all.

But not today.

I triple check every link in the chain and rap down over the short face to the ledge, then add a bit of line to one side of my rappel and continue down over the roof to the anchors.

Swing in close, clip in with an adjustable daisy, back that up with a second runner on the other anchor. Clio the long side of the the rappel line into the biners on the anchor and pull rope from the long side until the tail comes off of the ground.   Tie a keeper overhand knot in the rope to keep it from feeding back and begin slowly pulling the rope leading up to the original rappel tree, pausing to remove the knot from the end, then once again curling in against the anchors as the end whips down, bringing a shower of twigs and pine needles but, thankfully, no rocks.

Knot the end and drop to the base, clip into and double check rap system, and down we go to the scene of last weekend's rap-bolting epic. The hole where the traitor bit sheared off taunts me as I set a nasty hook behind some crusty rock in a horizontal and ease in close, like a bomb disposal expert on an IED.

Nothing blows, and three minutes later I making dust and noise as the Bosch punches another hole into the limestone.

Another hour of drilling, cleaning, contemplation and rappel sees me back on the ground with six bolts on the line. Andrew Suter, Corey McKenzie and their whitewater companion Alise (sp?) arrive as I shed gear and we spend a few minutes saying hello before they go in search of Entranc Walls fun and I wander off in search of my wife, fishing the South Branch as eagles soar above us.

The Punisher is back in the field, Miss Cindy is somewhere wrangling trout, God is in his Heaven and, for just this one moment, all is right with the world.

Halloween- Trail Daze #10

Thanks so very much to Tyler Hall and Gray C, Shane and Chris Egress,Josiah Weeks, Scott Drummond, Nicholas Kurland and Cindy Gray for braving temperatures in the 30's, overcast skies, cold winds and drizzle to make Saturday another in a series of incredible Trail Daze events.

In a matter of hours, this crew built a new switchback to reduce impact on a beautiful old oak tree, removed all traces of the older trail, and did an amazing job of shoring up the trail and stabilizing the belay below Superman.

Strategy session

(L to R) Scott Drummond, Nick Kurland and Chris Egress dig in.

Josiah sez: No gluten or dairy, just CAFFEINE!!!

When the work was done, the rock wranglers descended to inhale chicken pasta salad, power gels and chocolate, then, despite the occasional shower of rain, they dragged out packs and headed back up their freshly-laid trail to tear up some routes.

Nick Kurland and friend Eric worked their way methodically across the wall, dispatching my routes Still Laughing (5.10) and Reaching Conclusions (5.10). After several hangs and combinations of moves, they sent Ryan Eubank's Golden Horseshoe (5.10+) and fought through Fisher's Hunter's Moon (5.10+).  Josiah Weeks, fresh back from the Red River Gorge, warmed up on the great moderate Second Rule with mountain bike madman Scott Drummond on belay , while Tyler Hall and Chris Egress battled the powerful, hard-to-read start of Mike Fisher's La Machina.  

Nick Kurland snaps for the ledge on Golden Horseshoe, one of the great 5.10s to be found at The Reach, Reed's Creek

Tyler Hall rolls through the lower cruxes of Hunter's Moon

Chris Egress cranks through the roof on La Machina

Leaving the youngsters to shred, I collected my wife, relaxing with some friends who actually live above the crag, and we headed off to prepare for a night at Thorn Springs Campground.

We chowed pizza and Halloween candy, talked over issues of the day and assorted trivia of global importance, sipped tasty adult carbohydrate replacement beverages and handed out T-shirts to all our volunteers.

The day's work and play finally caught up with us all around 10 p.m. Good nights were made and we hit the racks.

Cindy rose early to begin frying bacon and making mounds of oatmeal pancakes, and I eyed snow pellets falling from rolling skies as I summoned the survivors to breakfast.

Crispy bacon, pancakes, Sunny D and French press coffee: the Trail Daze crew relaxes post breakfast (courtesy of PHAR/UP and Cindy Gray) in Cabin 51, Thorn Spring Campground

Shane Egress: a force of nature

The South Branch of the Potomac glitters and shines in the autumn sun.

Interesting fact- we have now held EIGHT more local trail work events than the corporate-funded Access Fund, and almost all of our events were funded out-of-pocket or by donations fromsmall companies and local climbers... as opposed to shilling the only automobile without a hybrid or cams made in China.

Outside of Seneca, the two local events in which the Access Fund did (belatedly) participate were created, organized and seen to completion by a non-member.... can you guess who?

PHAR/UP: local climbers making a real difference. 

Being part of the solution, instead of the problem, for over a decade.

Contact us today for information on Trail Daze, local crags and the Smoke Hole Shuttle Service: (304) 668-2856; via email: phar.up.2014@gmail.com

Inbound

A long month and ten days of work and travel, prepping for our Halloween Trail Daze and, this weekend, moving households, right in the middle of those event preparations.

In addition, Owlfeather Productions LLC is now a licensed business, new T-shirts and other goodies are in, and we've moved forward with starting a shuttle service for Reed's Creek, Smoke Hole, Dolly Sods and other local points of activity or interest, with service to Franklin, Seneca Rocks and Petersburg, WV.

Crazy whirlwind world, lots going on, but in the midst, I'd like to take a breath and say:

The new guides are inbound!  

We'll be starting to mail them out within the next two weeks or so, so watch your mailboxes, and watch this page for the announcement of where and when we will have the release event! 

 Thanks to you all for your support and patience- it's been great getting to meet some of you, "out and about", and I look forward to seeing more of you once you have the guides in hand. 

New route info, corrections and addendum items will be added to a " Guide Corrections and Updates" page on this site.

Have a great All Hallow's Eve, 

mg

Another Gypsy Ramble

Out on a wet morning for a short hike along the North Fork Trail from the FS 79 campsite above Shreve's Store and Sanctuary.

Double Standard, Anyone?

The following is a post from the Mid-Atlantic Climbers' Coalition webpage, regarding access at the Catoctin Mountain Park, which was recently closed to bouldering:

“We are asking that climbers observe these restrictions to aid in our efforts. Demonstrating responsibility as a climbing community at this time will help make our case as we work to open up access in the future.”

How is it that these same principles of respect and responsibility do not seem to apply to the private property and crags of Franklin in WV, MACC?  You know, where you and your members have been climbing on private property without permission for years and where you continue to walk right past NEW, signed “No TRESPASSING” signs?

Double standard, anyone?

Was any portion of the recent Seneca Rocks Chilifest used to alert and inform climbers regarding this access issue?

How about Bridge (or, as I like to call it, "Let's all go shit in the woods at New River") Day?  Any round-table discussions there, between draining brews, updating your Facebook pages and slacklining, after spending your day trying to find parking and convincing yourself that you are actually observing LNT principles?

If so, there is no word of that on any of your websites.

If the Access Fund can't get the job done with the people it has in place, maybe it's time to replace those people with candidates who are both motivated and competent.

And maybe it's time for all those Access Fund members to start admitting that they really don't give a damn.

After all, they pay good money every year to be told what they should care about, and what isn't important.

Poison Fruit

Got to Franklin today to find three new, signed "NO Hunting or TRESPASSING" signs.

They haven't put up a new sign in the last decade, but after five years of no action from the AF/MACC- voila! Not only new signs, but signs with the name of a corporation, not a family, on them.  

Deja vu, anyone?

Congratulations, Access Fund and Mid-Atlantic Climbers Coalition- your policy of "don't ask, don't tell, don't stop climbing there but don't work on the trails" seems to be bearing the poison fruit I predicted.

You mothers must be very proud.... 

Start all the educational programs you want (with a company that makes its cams in China), partner with macho Jeep (the only car manufacturer that doesn't have a successful hybrid), do your best to spin control this... your people are pissing away more access than even you can buy, every hour of every day.

Help us Save Blair Mountain!

Yo, climbers!

Too many mountains (over 450 of them and counting) have been erased from the landscape of West Virginia and the surrounding Appalachian States.

Now that process threatens a mountain that stands for so much more, Blair Mountain.

How would you pay tribute to a place that changed the course of the labor movement forever? 

We stand at a fork in the road where we can either protect the West Virginia mountain where coal miners fought for their right to unionize, after enduring years of abuse at the hands of both law and coal thugs. Fragmentation bombs were dropped on miners, after machine guns were used to strafe their families and homes from a flatbed railroad car.

We can remember the struggle of these people to simply be treated like human beings, and protect the mountain that stands as a monument to their fight and sacrifices.

Or we can allow Big Coal to blow the top off Blair Mountain in exchange for a simple plaque.

A plaque would not replace Yorktown, or Gettysburg.

And all the plaques on earth cannot replace one mountain.

Tell the Army Corps of Engineers that a plaque won't do. Blair Mountain is an important part of our history and deserves to be off limits to mountain top removal mining.

Find out more and send your message here: http://action.sierraclub.org/ProtectBlairMtn