Best of the Red

Tracey Hua, Singularity (12.c), The Portal, Miller Fork, Red River Gorge, Kentucky.

Tracey Hua, Singularity (12.c), The Portal in Miller Fork, Red River Gorge. Buy print

The reason I’ve been a bit quiet on the newsletter front is because we have been rather busy beavering away on an entirely new guidebook to the Red River Gorge, in Kentucky, USA. “The Red” has long been one of my favourite climbing areas in the entire world. Never thought I would say something like that about the woods of Kentucky but there you go! Certainly, it is NOT one of the most spectacular climbing areas in the world, the climbs rarely make it above the trees, however in autumn (or the “fall”, as I should say) when the leaves turn and the colours (“colors”) come out, the woods are magical and are a photographers delight. But the actual climbing is really world-class; super user-friendly rock (not sharp) and some of most incredibly sustained pumpers you’ll find.

The stone is special – but it’s also the community which has developed, nurtured and preserved (actually purchased) much of the land here, which will ensure the Red will remain a destination of choice for many. As an Australian climber, I find the community and all its work to be really impressive and something we can learn a lot from.

Now, as you probably know, photography is my core business but over the years we have also produced many guidebooks covering many of Australia’s most significant climbing areas. 35 years of climbing and all that time spent working on guidebooks has perhaps turned me into something of a guidebook design snob. No, I’m not asserting that each and every guidebook design decision that I’ve ever made has always been the best one, or that there is only one way of doing things, certainly not; in any case my ideas are always evolving. If you want to lug a brick around that’s fine, but I refuse to accept that some of the bloated page-heavy tomes around — with their space wasting design — can in any way be justified in terms of usability or environmental impact. Yeah, guidebook design is a bit of bug bear of mine…

The photos in this newsletter are from a wonderful trip we had to the Red River Gorge last October. Long story short, we got talking with local climber and author Brendan Leader about the guidebook situation there, and came home and smashed it out in the office, producing Best of the Red. The aim of this guidebook is to cover the best climbing of the entire region all together in the one compact book. This book is waffle free and has usability designed into it’s core; it’s for climbers who want to get down to business.

Massive thanks to Brendan Leader for sharing this vision for “Best of the Red” and hats off for an incredible job. It was unbelievably huge and right to the end like a blood hound he hunted down every last fact, even hiking trails with a GPS tracker to ensure our maps were the most accurate in the land. If you see him around the Red, be sure to buy him a drink.

Our shipment was just delivered today. Looks great, I’m psyched! You can order it from us here. American climbers would save postage if you got it direct from our USA distributor here; their shipment is due to arrive on 10th May. And a few boxes have already made their way to the Gorge (check Miguel’s, The Rockhouse and Skybridge Station).

That’s enough guidebooks from me for a while. Some photography projects beckon and, scary thought, unbelievably, I’m going climbing… More soon,

~ Simon

Anna Laitinen, Gene Wilder (5.12d), The Chocolate Factory. Buy print

Michaela Kiersch, Golden Ticket (5.14c), Red River Gorge, Kentucky, USA. Buy print

Monique Forestier, Omaha Beach (5.14a), Madness Cave in the Motherlode. Buy print.

Tina Hafsaas, Pure Imagination (5.14c), Chocolate Factory. Buy print.

Matty Hong, Golden Ticket (5.14c).

Matty Hong, Golden Ticket (5.14c). Buy print.

Your author of Best of the Red Brendan Leader, buy him a beer sometime, here on Dope on a Rope (11c), at Alcatraz in the Miller’s Fork area. Buy print.