Trad Talk... If you're in to that sort of thing...

[the midas touch 123]

I do not post on here much... In fact, I believe this is my first post ever...
I do get on here quite often, but usually just to check out routes or tick off my climbs
(which I would like to add, are apparently still weak like McDonald's coffee )...

I have been climbing and visiting the Red River Gorge regularly now for about a year and half.
I started off climbing sport, but have been predominately climbing trad for the past 3 months!

Over those 3 months of climbing I have spent the majority of the time climbing outside of the RRG area.
(at T-Wall down in Tennessee and several places within the Wind River Mountain Range out in Wyoming..)

That being said, my experience and knowledge of trad climbing, specifically in the RRG, is somewhat limited.
As I hope to be frequenting the Red much this fall, I wanted to ask those interested veterans a few questions.

My question(s) for all you veteran climbers in the RRG are:

1. What route or moment (if any) really stuck with you and got you hooked on trad climbing and why?
2. What is your favorite single pitch and your favorite multi pitch trad climb in the Red River Gorge and why?
3. What in your opinion is the best easy, moderate, and difficult trad climb in the Red River Gorge and why?

-On a similar note, how accurate do you find the star rating system specifically regarding trad routes?
I am wondering how many lovely gems there are out there, with 0 stars and/or 0 votes to their name?

I welcome all kinds of jokes and social experiments... (as if I could stop the trolls if I wanted to. )...
But I also welcome some sincere responses from those of you climbers that enjoy the trad climbing scene.

Well, lets trad talk... If you're in to that sort of thing.
Cheers People, Midas

[caribe]

Go to Middle Small Wall and do them all. 8)

[milspecmark]

What grade Trad do you like to climb?

[JR]

My question(s) for all you veteran climbers in the RRG are:

1. What route or moment (if any) really stuck with you and got you hooked on trad climbing and why?
2. What is your favorite single pitch and your favorite multi pitch trad climb in the Red River Gorge and why?

1. Parallel cracks (in a face not a corner mind you) hooked me because it was completely new and I had no clue how to do it. It was really fun to try to master a technique that for me was completely unintuitive.

2. Crack Attack and Jungle Beat

[krampus]

My Trad exploits are put to shame by most of the gear pluggers in the red but two trad experiences have stuck with me more than any other rout trad or sport that I have ever been on.

1. Muscle shoals - 5.8 - My first experience with offwidth, full body pump and I quite literally ran out of gear at the half way mark. I will never forget the conscious decision to pass through the no fall zone as opposed to taking the unimaginable whip well above my last piece. Never felt so alive as I did when I was inching and fighting my way to the top.

2. The slab section of the Fibrulator - There is a direct version that is a little more difficult but better protected, take the slab for the full on keepyourshittogether experience, with a good belay I don't think the fall would be perilous but you still don't ever want to find out.

[camhead]

Cool thread. I really like trad, started out as a trad climber, but 99% of the time I come to the RRG I leave my rack at home.

That said, there are some amazing lines here. I agree with JR that the parallel perfection of Crack Attack is just amazing. It is one of the the best single splitter pitch perfect handcracks in the nation, and I'd put it up against the best at Indian Creek, UT, or Yosemite any day.

Inhibitor was the first trad line I got on at the Red, probably 7 years ago or so. Just as Crack Attack is cool because it is one specific style, Inhibitor is great because you have to be on your game for so many different styles; thin hands, chimney, roof, fists. It was also a memorable climb because Terry Kindred suggested it, and belayed me on it. After onsighting it, he could tell that I was pretty psyched, so he knocked me down a few notches; "Nice climb! Nothing pretty, but a great blue-collar ascent." RIP, man.

[toad857]

if you like easy/moderate climbs that protect very well, check these out:

Wall of Denial: Strick 9, funhouse, bongo.
Global Village: Father & son, vision, jake flake, and casual viewing
Stadium: indecision
Fortress wall: bedtime for bonzo, funhouse (bottom is wide the whole way, bring #4s)

Also, Foxfire at EPB was great fun.

[Crankmas]

toad's list is great, having started climbing well before sport climbing arrived we did plenty of trad in the past, my favorite was leading Vector Trouble because it seemed technical to me and had the cool finish, a favorite moment too was having John Bronough join us and send our current project at Pebble which we in honor named Brontosaurus, I was lucky enough to climb with Ed Pearsall a bit and he had a very infectous appreciation for trad that allowed him to continue a rise in standards, also meeting Greg Smith and seeing him climb was awesome, highly unusual to encounter another party of climbers back then

[dustonian]

My favorite multipitch route is Daytripping at EPB, followed closely by Mailbox to Next Day Air at Long Wall. Quest is good too but dirtier, and of course Jungle Beat as well as Bedtime for Bonzo, Party Time, & Foxfire in the easier range (haven't done Nevermore yet). I don't pick favorites well, so my favorite single pitch is a long list: B3, Fibrulator Direct, Inhibitor, Bloodline, Autumn & Rock Wars (hate to admit it), Good Times, No Return, Headstone Surfer, Indecision, Tradisfaction, No Bones about It, Renegade, Jack the Ripper, Whistle Driller, Good Tang, Dicey at Best, Handjob, Vector Trouble, Blue Biner, Blue Runner, When Gravity Fails, Cruise Control, Calypso to Where Lizards Dare, Frenchburg Overhangs, Beeneling, What's Left of Beeneling, the list goes on and on and there are still so many I haven't gotten to yet....

I personally felt Crack Attach was a bit overrated and too short to really compare to the splitters at places like Indian Creek. And finally, there are still many crags all over the region where it is still very rare to see another party of climbers all day... all you have to do is explore a bit and get off the beaten path... just like in the "old days."

[the midas touch 123]

I was fortunate enough to get out and climb Bedtime for Bonzo a few weekends ago!
Truly an adventure.. Possibly my favorite trad route Ive done in the RRG thus far..

P.S. I'm still kicking myself in the butt for letting Dmack lead the 2nd pitch of that thing!