The Southerly Way - Dayton Pocket Day 1

After a nice little rest day hanging out in Chattanooga we were all ready to get out again. RV especially, after blowing a bit of money at Rock/Creek on some new kicks and a new jacket. It was like speed spending.

After getting a tip from Nic we decided to go out to Dayton Pocket for the day. We printed off some directions and went out.

We surprisingly found ourselves in the parking lot without a hitch. This may have been a first. We got everything packed up and started out down the old mining road. The absolute beauty of the place was amazing! All of the mist from the river was freezing in the air and the resulting flurries combined with the bright sun made for an almost magical feel all day long. We kept on catching ourselves talking about how incredible the area was.

RV on the foot bridge. We were a bit too wide with the big pads

I was enamored with these things in the river

Some random ninja found us and tried to kill us with an icicle. It broke.

After an hour or so of messing around and exploring, we made our way to the first objective, River Dance. The problem sits directly next to the river and has an almost perfect line. A cool series of compression moves takes you to the crux slap and then to some awesome jugs!

We warmed up on said jugs for a little while before setting our sights on the problem. Unfortunately the snow and ice from the previous day was melting onto our landing. On top of that the mist from the river was soaking everything and we were having a rough time keeping our shoes dry.

I figured out the first couple of moves relatively quickly and set my sights on the big slap move. What an crazy move!! After a high right heel you just slap up to a flat wall and then bump to the jugs.

The water was higher than I expected it to be and I kept on waiting for my left hand to dry fire. We kept on awkwardly joking about us falling in the water, knowing all the while that it was an actual possibility. Funnier now.

After some more serious effort I was getting closer to sticking the crux move but couldn't quite muster the core to hold it. On top of that, I wanted to save some skin for the roof.

Katie also gave it some good effort but had some troubles with the cold, wet heel hooks. We walked back towards the roof, or where we thought the roof would be. Once more we found everything without a hitch! Not sure what was up but we were pretty excited when we saw this:


Pretty incredible. The roof was amazing and there are holds everywhere on it! Minds were blown.

After a bit of awe and running around like idiots, we all started to warm up once more. We picked out the V5, I can't remember the name sadly. Maybe Recollections? I watched and took pictures as Katie worked out the moves. RV hopped on and did it second or third go as a nice warm up while Katie got really close before deciding that it hurt too much.

A really cool archway just below the roof

Katie and RV hanging out for a bit at the makeshift campsite

RV Sending Recollections

On the big move

And Again...

I hopped on for a flash go and got nice and lucky. It all felt good and before I knew it I was dropping off of the jug with numb fingers.

Katie then set her sights on Torpedo and RV and I tried in vain to locate the start of Honeycomb. Still not totally sure where it starts. We ended up starting at a gigantic flat jug and moved into a cool double undercling. We were able to figure out all of the moves but one and eventually gave up until we knew what the line actually was.

Katie, meanwhile, had been giving some great goes on Torpedo, a neighboring 7. Torpedo climbs out of the roof on a cool "torpedo" like feature. All the while you climb out on little crimpy slots before turning 90 degrees, matching and making a big move to a jug.

She did a great job with the beta and pretty soon was just being stymied by the long move to the jug. She made some GREAT links and looked supremely close.

Moving to the jug

Into the last slot before the big move

Trying really hard to get motivated...And failing.

With a possibility of three more days of climbing she wanted to save her skin a little bit and stopped for the day.

RV hemmed and hawed about whether he wanted to give it a try. Once we convinced him to we had to convince him to try and flash it. Maybe 10 minutes later he was putting his shoes on for a flash go. He made it further than he thought he would and came off just before the big move to the jug.

A smile on his face, he worked out some of the other moves and vowed to come back. I had since been done so we packed up and went back to the hot tub for the night!

Huge thanks to Nic for the great beta. Such a very cool place and I'd highly recommend it to anyone in the area.