Summersville Deep Water Soloing TAKE 2

OVERVIEW

Do you like swimming, climbing, and jumping off rocks into the water?? Ever want to try free soloing without putting your life in imminent danger? May we present to you: Deep Water Soloing. Basically, the climbs are right next to 10+ feet deep water that will catch you when you’re done climbing or happen to fall on your way up.

SO Ella and I had to cancel our DWFS trip last weekend because of a combination of illness and bad weather. BUT we are going to try again this weekend, and start off the trip by going on a lil sunset hike and camping at Ray’s campground! We’ll drive up to Ray’s at 3:00 pm Saturday, get there at 6:00, go on a little hike and cook dinner, and then wake up to climb on Sunday! (ppl will only have to pay $1 for camping because ODC reimburses $10 per night)

We’ll be climbing at Summersville Lake, an amazing spot for deep water free soloing (on top of boating, floating, and highlining!) in West Virginia. There’s so many different spots to climb in the lake, with routes ranging from 5.6-5.12. We’ll be paddle boarding around the lake and visiting different spots to climb throughout the day, on top of swimming, sunbathing, and chatting.

You should feel at least a little comfortable climbing for this trip, but if this is your first time climbing outside, that’s okay! Just understand that because we have the extra element of falling into the water, we prefer some beginner bouldering experience for this trip.
You only fall or jump into the water from as far as you climb up – so you only have to climb as high as you’re comfortable! I personally don’t push myself crazy hard on the climbs, and instead climb up to nice places to jump off.

You must, however, feel confident in your swimming and resurfacing abilities after falling so that we can all feel safe & comfortable. We will be jumping from high distances and swimming in deep water, so a good swimming ability is a must. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions – Cam’s number is 703-488-8892 and Ella’s number is (804) 647-0461!

The plan:

Saturday
3:00 pm – meet at Echols
6:30 pm ish – arrive at Ray’s
700 pm – hike or make dinner depending on how we feel
Rest of night – hang at Ray’s!!

Sunday
7:30 am – breakfast, pack up from Ray’s, leave for the lake
9:30 am – arrive at the parking lot & pump up the SUPs
10:00 am – get in the water & get climbing! Hang out, paddle around, eat some snacks, and have a good time.
4 ish (flexible depending on how long people want to stay! But 5 is probably the latest) – return to cars and head back to cville
7:00 pm-ish – arrival back in town! We may get back a little later than 7 on sunday!

What you need:
– sleeping bag, sleeping pad, toiletries
– 2 changes of clothes
– Swimmy swimwear
– Towel
– dinner to make at Ray’s: there is a communal kitchen that we can use, so bring food like pasta to cook an easy dinner with. (we can coordinate this in a gc prior to the trip)
– breakfast
– Snacks & a lunch! We’ll be there all day, store in a plastic bag in case your pack gets wet
– Water (3 liters) (we’ll fill up at Ray’s before we go to the lake)
– Old climbing shoes or sneakers, or you can go barefoot! Don’t use the club climbing shoes because water can cause warping/damage– we suggest going barefoot
– Sunscreen
– Money for a possible food stop on the way back Sunday

What Cam and Ella will bring:
– Paddleboards to navigate the lake
– Dry bags for our stuff
– lifejackets
– First aid kit
– Tents

****DRIVER’S NEEDED! Will get priority off of the waitlist, gas reimbursement, + 50% tip ($20 max)!!*****