The Michigan Climbing Club travels to Red River Gorge

Escaping Ann Arbor’s first snow, the Michigan Climbing Club made their last five-hour drive out to the Red River Gorge in Slade, Ky, before the end of the season. From first-time outdoor climbers to confident lead climbers, a group of mixed talents made their way to Miguel’s Pizza, a counter-culture hostel-like campground, all in the backyard of a pizza shop.

With an early wake-up time of 7 a.m., the group got started early. Grabbing coffee and a breakfast of Costco croissants, they made their way to Muir Valley. Starting at Bruise Brothers Wall, Rackham student and trip chair Luke Herberger started by setting up a warm-up route, graded by the Yosemite Decimal System at a 5.8 difficulty. Ohio Climbing and Engineering junior and lead climber Justin Choi followed him, setting up Workin’ For The Weekend (5.10c). In a brisk morning wind, Choi yelled down from an anchor, sarcastically, “I’m already cruxing out on the cliffs.”

While some of the first-timers began their climb, Herberger emphasized: “It’s more about trust than anything.” With the belayer necessitating a focus and attention to the climber and the climber placing and trusting their footing to find the next hold, climbing isn’t only about trusting one another, but having the courage to trust oneself on the rock.

After tiring out those routes, a short walk away was a more populated 5.8 route, Trundling Kentucky.

In a discussion about crag snacks, Herberger pulled out a block of cheese and salami. Choi remarked, “this guy always got a portable charcuterie board.” In a full day of climbing, time must be optimized. With lead climbers setting a route, others climbing it then later cleaning it and hiking to climbing walls, crag snacks serve as important sustenance throughout a physical day. Choi and Herberger remarked about a time they’d witnessed a “granola-girl final boss” with a huge cucumber as a crag snack, pointing out its lack of nutrients.

About midday, the group headed to Practice Wall to try out new routes. With a tiredness setting in, a break ensued, and “The Red: 2nd Edition” a climbing guidebook by Brendan Leader came out. Coming across shorter routes, a wave of fear entered the space. With fewer anchors to clip to, Herberger put on his helmet on to set up shorter, less challenging climbs. Around the corner, Choi and Alum and lead climber Zach Fish set up an overhung route called The Handout (5.12a). After trying and succeeding during the first climb, Choi passed it off to Fish to clean it up, requiring him to remove all the quickdraws from the anchors and bolts for the next group of climbers. Cleaning his first route, Herberger stood by watching and directing as Fish came down the route, quickdraws clipped on his harness.

After a silent hike back to the car, tired climbers packed gear into the car with a plan to head to RedPoint BBQ. Arriving to an hour-and-a-half wait time, they decided to drive back to Miguel’s for some quick and trusted pizza. To their surprise, they sat another hour, watching kids play basketball outside the shop, waiting for the pizza to come out. To keep the morale high, Herberger brought out a deck of cards and Engineering senior Leela Jacob introduced Egyptian Rummy to the group, a card-slapping game. Quickly, the intensity of the game drew the hungry climbers in.

Worried about Choi’s Hyundai Santa Fe in the rainy pot holes of the valley, the first car parked at the top, and hiked down to Pendergrass-Murray Recreational Preserve Sore Heel Hollow. Setting toward The Gallery, with colder and wetter rock than the previous day, Herberger first set up a 5.10b/c route, Murano while Choi prepared to set up 27 Years of Climbing (5.8).

Senior Statement Editor Meleck Eldahshoury can be reached at melda@umich.edu

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