Like I mentioned in my other climbing article, I LOVE rock climbing! The combination of strength, agility and mind, I just love that challenge!

Here in the south of West Virginia, I am in climbing heaven! So many different places to climb, in such a small geographical area. Tons of rocks (literally ) different difficulty levels and different scenery.

This time we went climbing on the Endless Wall (I love that name!) This wall is literally endless; it goes on and on forever. Not vertically pfew that would be a huge climb but horizontally. It is a part of the New River Gorge canyon and it follows the river for a long way.

Vertically the wall is also a bit taller than some other climbs (though not big compared to walls on some other parts of the US, but I’m not writing about those anyway). The views here though are magnificent, since it is part of the canyon of the river… When you reach the top of the climb there are some beautiful views on the gorge and the river.

Going to the wall, when you take Fern Creek trail you arrive on the top of the wall and need to get down. There are some ladders that can take you down but we do it the fun way; we rappel down. This is my third rappel in my life (one of them was a long time ago) and because the start is very awkward it is a bit scary (yes I know, I have no problems jumping out of an airplane) you have to kind of step off the cliff on a ledge, step off that, kinda fall down a bit and then hang down without touching the wall with your feet… Luckily I survived this

I did two climbs, (these climbs here actually have names ) Crescent moon, which is a nice ‘easy’ climb and Do-si-do (is that how you write that?). I TOTALLY sucked with Do-si-do. It is a big crack and for some reason I am not really good with bigger cracks (yet). I really flailed my way up and left some pieces of skin here and there. Very painful (got my body bruised, as well as my ego). The thing with cracks is, especially when there aren’t a lot of ledges you can use to hold on to, you have to wedge your feet and arms/ fists in the crack and hold on like that. I have not been able to make that technique my own yet. I just don’t like to put my fists in cracks, and I am not going to elaborate any more ha ha )

This climb for me was such a typical example of mental power versus physical power. Every move I was thinking “Oh my God, I CAN’T”, but for some reason I kept trying. Though my technique SUCKED (10 points for style) I did make it up! (Finally after a lot of painful moments) And I was both embarrassed as very glad I did not give up… And the view… WOW! That was the reward! There was a nice ledge at the top I just put myself for a few moments to rest and enjoy the amazing view! My climbing buddy/ belayer got impatient with me since I did not want to come down anymore now after he already had to face my terrible climbing style ha ha! But I didn’t care, it was hard enough to get to the top; I wanted to enjoy this for a moment

Going back we took one of the ladders up that would take us to Fern Creek trail again. Next morning I was sore.

Ok ok, this is a bit of a ‘tourist’ activity, but since I get to do it for free (remember, I work at an outdoor company) and it looked like fun, I decided to give it a try. And yes it was fun!

A canopy tour is basically a bunch of zip lines through the forest, right underneath the canopy and over cliffs etc. They go either from cliff to cliff or sometimes even from platforms wrapped around trees. Some go faster than others. You wear a harness and you’re attached to a pulley. The pulley is the device that runs over the cable. Since we are doing the tourist zips this is pretty safe (and you get to wear dorky helmets too), but still a lot of fun though!

The first zip line is easy, not super fast, a good starter (ok, I admit, even though I’ve jumped out of airplanes a lot and have BASE jumped even, the first one makes me a bit nervous ha ha!). You’ll look over the edge of the cliff and have to push off the tree to make some extra speed. Across the cliff you will have to pull yourself in because sometimes you won’t reach the other side totally (safety I guess. It is a gravity brake system).

The following zips are a bit more interesting. The next one is from a steep cliff and has some beautiful lush scenery (God I LOVE these forests and mountains!!), funny, this really reminds me of the ‘Droomvlucht’ elf ride in the Efteling (for you Dutch readers out there )

Walking from zip line to zip line is also not in vain, on top of this rim you see those beautiful Appalachian Canyon views that never ever bore!

The following zip goes to a platform built around a really tall tree! Nice… You can only stand on it with two (you and the zip leader) and you will have to take another zip line again to get off this.

A few more zips like this and then the highlight of the tour… a really long and (most important) really fast zip line that lets you go really fast till the end, and goes back again (see picture). It ends in the middle where you have to climb a ladder to get off. (Though again, this is very touristy and might sound uber dorky) This one is really cool! You sit on the edge of the platform, waiting to be able to go, and when the zip leader says you can go… WOOOHEEEEE! Hahaha! Butterflies! Not only when you jump off the platform but also halfway where the zip picks up speed again! Fun! And… you get to do it a second time!!

After this one, one more zip to complete the tour (7 in total). This one is surrounded by beautiful mountain laurel flowers this time of year. All in all this is a fun 3 hours spend. I don’t know whether I would have done this if I would have to pay for it, but luckily I didn’t because it was fun after all!

Another new found passion of mine! Well, almost… I have always known I would like rock climbing, I just never felt the urge to go climb actively in a climbing gym. Since there are no mountains and rocks in Holland, this is what I would have had to do if I wanted to climb often when I was living there… so I didn’t.

Now we have the rock practically in our backyard! I LOVE it!! I love the fact that you are on the rock, looking for the next move and you are sure you will not be able to go further… and you look and try a bit and suddenly you have it! Every time you have to convince yourself to keep looking and trying because after a while you know that you will succeed eventually

I also like the combination of ‘problem solving’ and being physical. I like the fact that it requires your whole body and mind. And it is more about balance and being ‘smart’ than about physical strength…

West Virginia is awesome for climbing! For beginners, hard core climbers and everything in between. It is world class climbing in this area. People from all over the US and the rest of the world come here to climb. Especially the area we went to this time, the New river Gorge. It has SO many climbing opportunities!

In the New river Gorge there are several places you can climb, the area in we climbed is called the ‘Bridge Buttress’ and it is near the New river Gorge bridge. It has different levels of climbing. The (minor) downside of it is that a lot of people climb there so the rock is kind of slick. For me it is a bit of a problem because sometimes my *smears are not super technical correct en they won’t hold :-/ I have to practice that a bit more.

The climbs here have easy access to the top to set up your top ropes for *top rope climbing. There are also bolts for *sport climbing and you can do *trad climbing. We just did top roping this time. Eventually I want to learn to do some leading in sport climbing. So far I have just did the cleaning part of the sport climbing.

What I love about rock climbing in the New river Gorge is the variety of the climbs and different kind of techniques you can use on the different climbs. There are cracks, big ones, small ones, more flat surfaces for your smears and bigger holds. Like I said the ‘down’ side is that is gets a bit more busy there sometimes, especially in the weekend, though I do like to meet other climbers as well.

I love to be out in nature and staring at those enormous rocks… it just takes my breath away… The climbing of those rocks is just amazing!

*Smear = when you place your foot flat on the rock (not on a ledge or anything, just on the flat, or almost flat rock) and you use the traction of your foot to stay on the rock.

*Top roping = when you are secured by a rope that hangs either on a tree or on bolts at the top of the rock. You just climb up no other actions are taken.

*Sport climbing = the rock is ‘covered’ with bolts with hangers all the way up. While you are climbing you secure yourself with a beaner every time you get to a hanger and you put your rope through the beaner. You are not secured by a top rope, only when you reach the top. The second time another climber climbs up while ‘cleaning’ the rock, taking the hangers off the rock while he is secured by the top rope.

*Trad climbing = works like sport climbing but there is not material placed in the rock beforehand (bolts and hangers) you place your gear while you are climbing.