Snow and spring break?

Post by **heidiramma** » Wed Feb 17, 2010 3:05 pm

krampus wrote:Is it just me or am I the only one in Kentucky who knows how to drive in the snow

definitely in our part of town at least!

Post by **Clevis Hitch** » Wed Feb 17, 2010 11:33 pm

Driving around here is a little bit different than tooling around on city streets or even going down the wide open highway. All of these roads are curvy. The road has some serious tilt to it so that water will run off. You can run off the road down here and drop straight off a hundred foot cliff. There are several places on the road I live on that have sheer unprotected cliffs immediately off of the road. I always tell people where I'm going and when I expect to arrive/return.

As far as coming down here right now. You'd have to have 4wheel to park. Roadside parking is under a foot of snow and there is that snow plow wall built up on the side. Thats not to mention the incredible amount of ice on the walls.

Woke up this morning to a fresh 3 inches of powder on the roads. They had it cleared up by noon. There were still slick spots this evening. I think we're supposed to get more snow tonight.

Post by **ahab** » Thu Feb 18, 2010 12:56 pm

we went to the left end of roadside on sunday and climbed fadda, 5-finger & hard left. it's worth it just to check out the ice world. all the giant boulders are covered in about 3 inches of ice. monsterous ice chandeliers are lined up all the way across the top. pretty spectacular.

Post by **Brentucky** » Thu Feb 18, 2010 4:17 pm

ahab wrote:monsterous death'cicles are lined up all the way across the top. pretty spectacular.

stay away from those things kiddos

Post by **ahab** » Thu Feb 18, 2010 5:13 pm

brent, don't be a wuss. the climber is out of the fall zone, s'all good. it's your belayer that will die in the event that one of those death'cicles falls...

so, be sure your belayer uses a gri gri kiddos

Post by **dustonian** » Thu Feb 18, 2010 11:20 pm

As a barometer... How's the Roadside parking area looking after today's melt, Clevis?

Post by **The Pirate** » Thu Feb 18, 2010 11:44 pm

did not get much of a meltdown today...maybe tomorrow...

Post by **Clevis Hitch** » Fri Feb 19, 2010 12:51 am

Today, the roads were dry all day. No precipitation. I'd be careful pulling into parking lots if my car had a front fairing. As far as the S.R. Stricktly four wheel drive only. The gravel is squishy and everywhere is full of mud. Most of the creek bottoms remained frozen due to the absence of sunlight and the creeks keeping everything colder. Roadside has had a few people pull off into it and you could probably get in and out of there no problem.

If you get stuck anywhere in the gorge give me a call 606 668 6503 I'll come out and give you a tow day or night. Like I said I have a F-250 and I ain't afraid to use it!

Post by **dustonian** » Fri Feb 19, 2010 12:55 am

thanks y'all

Post by **Clevis Hitch** » Fri Feb 19, 2010 8:53 pm

Today was sunny. There were people climbing in the sun shirtless 8) . Roadside parking is soggy but manageable. the biggest thing today was all of the Ice falling. While we were there there were several big thumpers. It was kinda dangerous there for a minute.

We didn't even attempt the SR today. Hard packed snow with a layer of water on top is what was on the gravel/untreated roads.

Any crag that has blacktop running up to the parking area is in.

You could probably navigate 9a/b if you kept your speeds low. Any untreated road that has a steep hill on it is out. The black top down to Solar is clear and the gravel to Solar is a slushy mix.