RRC Archives

The day arrived when we were to attempt Chimney Top Rock. The wife (mother?) of the land owner allowed us to pass through her garden on the way to their bridge crossing the Red River. "Watch out for Rattlesnakes; I killed one in my garden a couple 'o days ago" she said. We assured her we would be careful and headed off towards the rock.
Soon after crossing the bridge we were neck-deep in canebrakes and brush. Every rustle in the weeds became a Rattler, but we pushed on arriving at the base of the rock later in the morning.
Now the rock face began at the top of a small rise with a little ledge we could just walk around the base on by pushing brush out of the way with our legs. We soon had a climbable route in sight and went back to get the climbing gear from the spot we had left it on the ledge.
There was a Copperhead on the ledge beteween us and the gear. Being the environmentalist that we were, we took a falen limb and brushed it over the ledge. Soon we were at the spot where we hugged the rock face and pushed aside the bushes to get to our gear. I don't recall who first spotted another Copperhead intwined in the base of the bushed, but after that we saw literally a dozen or more where we had just passed less than a half hour ago! We were not so tender with the rest of the snakes.
Retrieving the gear, we returned to the crack we were to follow for our route up, set up a belay and started climbing. The only thing I can remember that was exceptional about the route was about 2/3rds of the way up was a large piece of rock tetering on a ledge. One had to mantle on this rock to continue the climb. It was very unstable and on a subsequent trip we dislodged it to make a safer spot for the belayer.
Upon reaching the top we congratulated ourselves and set up a rappel back to the base. Crossing the fields became anticlimatic as we were not too afraid of the snakes anymore.

When we returned from climbing we immediately posted an article describing the route and suggested that folks rappel from the overlook rather than bothering the landowner for access. As far as I know, this was the first recorded climb with a claim of first ascent on a formation in the Gorge.
After this event, the Cumberland Climbers really grew. New members joined, not only from the Sierra Club and the caving group, but from UK as well. Many brought their experience from climbing in other states/countries.
Some of the names I can recall were: Dr. Grace Donnelly, Bill Rogers, Mary Francis Reed. I know there were several others from California and a few with experience climbing in the "Gunks", etc.; I just can't recall their names.
We put together climbing and rapelling demos in the Gorge. Natural Bridge was a favorite place to do this; ropes running all over the place!
We bought a 600' roll of "Goldilne" from The Plymouth Cordage Company and Split it into 120' lengths for use by the group and for sale.
Tower Rock became a training ground for those interested in the sport. We staged and published a number of photos showing knots and protection placement. And we were having a ball putting up new routes.

Cool.

more to come?

Are you guys familiar with a gentleman by the name of Mike Forte/Fortay (sp?)?

PS: I'm enjoying these stories... Very cool.