On somewhat of a whim, I decided to join Tobje and Gummi on their weekend trip to the New River.
Just a week prior I had been certified to lead-climb, and this trip was the first time I'd actually put this new skill into practice.
On Saturday morning we drove to West Virginia. Our initial hope was to climb at the Meadow River, but we found that the road was blocked just after we forded a creek.
Since Meadow River access was blocked, we climbed one side of Summersville Lake on Saturday and the other side on Sunday. The area is beautiful, although it kept constantly reminding me of the initial scene of "The Planet of the Apes."
On nearly every climb Gummi would climb first, setting the quick draws, then I would climb either top-rope or lead (usually with the first anchor in place). Lastly, Tobje would climb and clean the route of our quick draws.
Eventually I became pretty comfortable clipping into the anchors and climbing above each. I even cleaned a 5.10a after one rest and one fall.
