Red River Gorge advice this weekend

I'm Headed to RRG this weekend and looking for crag advice, it is my first trip there. The Saturday and Sunday weather looks at least sunny, but on the heels of a pretty substantial rain and generally wet month. High temps about 40 Sat. 50 Sun. we are staying at Miguel's and have a rental car.

My partner leads up to mid 5.10 trad or sport, I like up to mid 5.12 trad or sport. We plan on bringing a double rack up to #4 Camalot, and 15 draws/slings. We have more gear if there is reason to take it. Should I bring a second rap line to accompany the 60m lead line?

I am looking for suggestions for dry and sunny crags stacked with high quality classics; big bonus if the crag fills both niches of difficulty above.

Thanks!

Solar Collector & Gold Coast

Your best bet is fortress wall, lots of cool stuff there, all trad, and good South facing rock. Fun lines at all grades. Emerald City is also nice but I don't know about harder trad lines, there isn't much there but the location and approach are nice, no place like home is an epic 11c and whiteout is a nice 5.8 trad. Solar collector & gold cost are good, but can be busy, and it's a mix of sport and trad. Muir Valley isn't a bad choice but can get crowded, but contains some of the most classic lines at the red. If you feel like pushing yourself then solarium there is a good wall, but all the routes there are 11 and up sport. Hope that helps.

You don't need a second rope, but it can be useful in some places. You can almost always get by without it.

In terms of your rack, I mean, seems like more gear than I have. The odd route might want triples but just don't climb that one. Double standard rack should get you up pretty much everything.

The Eastern Gorge region has some great crags that have a good mix of sport and trad. I would check out Funk Rock City and Eastern Sky Bridge Ridge. There are not that many hard trad lines but there is a a lot in the 5.10-mid 5.11 range that are high quaility and some super good difficult sport routes. Funk Rock will also be a nice sunny crag, I climbed there in late November and was in a T-shirt. They don't stay dry in the rain but that shouldn't be a worry this weekend, its looking beautiful!! Have a good time!!

Eastern Sky Bridge: redriverclimbing.com/RRCGui…
Funk Rock: redriverclimbing.com/RRCGui…

I second the Funk Rock and Eastern Sky Bridge areas. They have a good range of trad and sport and are south facing. Emerald City seeps badly. All of the slab routes will be soaked. So you will be forced to Global Village, which is good, but sheltered. The Stadium faced south and has good sport nearby, but Muir will be very busy. Purple Valley is a really awesome place with a good mix. Fortress Wall is good, but it doesn't have that hard of trad or sport. It should be dry and is a short walk.

You really don't need that large of a rack unless there is some specific crack that is the same size most of the way. You should be able to get away with a single rack to #2/3 (unless you are going for OW's) with doubles in the finger to tight hand size. I typically carry tricams and nuts instead of the doubles in cams. It will save a lot of weight.

TomCaldwell wrote:Purple Valley is a really awesome place with a good mix

FYI, 9B is closed at the intersection of 9A/9B (basically right after pebble beach) for a stream bed and forest restoration project until some time in the fall. Otherwise I'd agree. You can still get there by parking and walking 5 miles or I think you can drive all the way around and hike in from the other side, but I'm not sure.

fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DO…