A group of rock climbers in the Red River Gorge want lawmakers to include the sport in Kentucky’s recreational land use law. They hope it will make landowners more comfortable with letting climbers on their private cliffs.
Deep in Kentucky’s Red River Gorge, famous for its sandstone arches, Curtis Rogers and Jereme Ransick are bushwhacking along a shallow creek where rhododendron branches jut out from the sides. There are no trails. They rely on a phone’s GPS and a decent bit of memory.
“I think I walked through it but it hadn’t rained…” Rogers said after a wrong turn, while Ransick checked the map on his phone again.
They continue on, through spider webs and mud. They scramble uphill on their hands and knees. Finally, there it is: a wall of rock with metal bolts going up in vertical lines.
Ransick and Rogers are with the Red River Gorge Climbers’ Coalition. They put in the bolts for climbing. They have big plans for this massive cliff – and a state law that would make it easier for them to get on more like it.
“This is where we started because it was tall and begged to be climbed,” Rogers said. “Ultimately the vision is that there’s a parking lot and trails we would’ve hiked to get here.”
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