OH man…OH MANNNN!!!! Well my world couldn’t be better and thats no lie. I have been climbing in the Red River Gorge, Kentucky for the past THREE weeks!!! It has been amazing. I have gotten a chance to take down some amazing routes of all difficulties. Of course the hardest ones are the most fun and challenging so those are the lines that stand out the most. Check out these photos of Omaha Beach 5.14a. I did this one in about 4 or 5 tries. An amazing line of an endurance race. That’s the name of the game here in the here in the Red…ENDURANCE!!!
LONG, pumpy, and continuos are words that come to mind. 
I climbed another route called 50 Words For Pump as well…this route is about 5.14c and is HARD. It starts with JUNK holds in a very hard series of moves down low lead to a rest and a long 13d to the anchor…. With all of the rock down here in the Red there are lines to climb EVERYWHERE…I have been really excited lately about bolting and putting up routes. I have only gotten ONE done, but it is an insanely amazing line. It is the line I have been wanting, the one that contains ALL of the difficulty aspects that make my hands sweat and head spin. BLISS!!! 
The climbing involves a lot of hard moves and very little resting. The holds are all normal and decent sizes…nothing tweaky and nothing too awkward. The style is “resistancia”, like the Spaniards say…or Resistance. It is very serious climbing and very difficult. I am hoping it stays as hard as it feels now. There is a whole process of climbing a route that is new or a first ascent. There is finding the line, equipping the line, then cleaning and figuring out the moves…..THEN climbing it from the ground to the top without falling. SO MUCH love. I love this stuff…I am very psyched to have a new love in my life….(Colette is still first, don’t get me wrong) 
Last week the folks from Gregory flew me out for some product developement work. This was a big deal to me as I have a LOT of pride in my core sponsors, as they are the ones that make my dreams come true. I met with CJ Whittaker to talk about a new pack series. CJ has a degree in engineering (industrial) and has a great brain for this type of thing. It was an amazing experience sharing ideas and talking all about concepts, features, function, simplicity, complexity, colors, material and just chopping it up about packs AND climbing. For me it was surely an intense 2 days of work. My brain hurt for hours at the end of each day. HEALTHY right??!!! We even got a chance to test out some new packs CJ has put together…lets just say…2009 for all you Gregory lovers….you SURELY have some things to look forward to!!!!
I got to see how samples were made and how a simple idea can become a completed product on a consumer’s back. 
Thank you guys so much…. 
…George, Stephanie, Jim, CJ, John, Vince….Jon…All ya’s….it was an amazing and informative experience I am sure on both ends. Gregory is THE best pack company out there and I now know why. Stay tuned….
Did George get a hair cut?