Road Trippin..

I don't really know what it is about the idea of road tripping that appeals to so many climbers. I think it's a subconscious effort to explore the same way our ancestors did, or maybe it's just because road trips are fun as hell. I dunno, but like all climbers I love a good road trip. But after sitting and thinking about it, there really is no reason for myself or any other southeastern climber to ever strive to get away. I mean I can think of at least 30 different amazing climbing crags located within 2 hours driving distant from my house in Huntsville, Alabama, and this is just off the top of my head because there are a shit ton small secret areas and access sensitive places that we try and stay away from. I bet if I sat down with some friends and thought about it we could come up with 100 solid crags located right here in the dirty,maybe more, and this doesn't even include North Carolina, Kentucky, West Virginia, and the rash but climbable South Carolina.

Now for those of you who are picturing a random boulder here or a chossy face there, you're wrong; every crag I can think of is amazing. Amazing not only because of the quantity, but also the quality. When you go climbing in the south you aren't going out to visit one random face; every area is packed full of rock. Most areas host hundreds of routes and problems, and there are always potential for more.

Over the last 8 years I've climbed a good few places in the country, and to find places with so much potential for new lines is very rare. For example, in a lot of the other popular areas in the country you find the new routes or boulder problems being established are just extensions of old ones, or they're just contrived line of older problems, but not here! If I were a betting man I would be willing to say there are still thousands upon thousands of fresh lines all over the south, even in the most developed areas, just waiting for the right person to come along.

A good example is about 2 years ago my buddy Nathan and I got tired of climbing other people lines at the famous but over developed Horse pens 40 and began picking our own lines. This takes work and a certain eye, which I think come from experience, but every now and then we 'd spot a boulder with some excellent moves stuck right between two classics, and boom there you have a solid FA. Some lines are more beautiful than others, but none the less each one is perfect in the mind of the creator. These problems usually never get named or graded, and will probably get written off never to be published unless one of "the boys" sees the chalk, climbs the line and declares it another one of their FA's, but even that doesn't matter. Sometimes the art is not in the boulder problem itself but in the actual creation of the line. Sort of like a beautiful song played directly from a musician's mind never to be written down or remembered. That musician is creating something so personal and special that the moment doesn't have to last forever, it's perfect as is. Not all art has to be tangible sometimes the act of creation is what is so special.

Next time you're out climbing, take a gander, find a fresh line and climb it, cherish it, love it because it's yours, no one can take that away from you, it's your art, your interpretation of what rock climbing should be. Until next time, here are a fews pics of the southeast.