Sport Climbing at Franklin Gorge!!

OVERVIEW

COME CLIMB WITH US!! This is an intermediate climbing trip but open to top ropers who want to learn how to lead! Franklin Gorge is a super cool looking area, and also one of the closest places to get real outdoor sport climbing to Charlottesville. Because of this, it’s been on my radar forever. It’s located on private property, so at first we’ve resisted the urge to climb there until hearing from another ODC climber that she talked to the owners and they’re cool with people climbing. We’ll keep it to a small group to be courteous. Since hearing, I’ve made a number of attempts to check it out, all of which have been canceled due to weather, scheduling, or that one time I slept through my alarm (oops). Hopefully none of the above will be an issue this weekend and we’ll finally get a chance to check out this zone.

Franklin Gorge (MTB proj link below) looks like it has lots of cool, long sport routes. We plan to mostly climb in the 5.8-low 5.10 range. We would like to have some people who can lead climb/belay, and clean, but those who can only top rope are welcome– we’ll set up top ropes for you!! So if you don’t know how to lead, please don’t be afraid to sign up for this trip! We can even get you mock leading if you want.

Mountain project: https://www.mountainproject.com/area/110310448/franklin-gorge

YOU BRING:
Water
Lunch and snacks
LAYERS
Climbing stuff
– Helmet
– Harness
– shoes, chalk bag, chalk, hand warmers to put in chalk bag??
– belay device and locking carabiner
– Mountain project app (free) with WV downloaded

WE’LL BRING:
Ropes
Draws
Stick clip
Quad

PLAN
8:30 am – meet at corner of echols and skedaddle
10:30 am – arrive at Franklin Gorge
11:00 – 4:30 – climb!!
5:00 pm – leave Franklin
7:00 pm – back in cville