Proper Soul

For the past month or so I have been staying at a small campground located in the heart of the New River Gorge in West Virginia. The climbing in the Gorge can be very challenging with thought provoking movements up beautiful white and orange Nuttal Sandstone. Most of the areas I’ve climbed at around the US, take an average of two weeks to really start to feel good and comfortable on the rock. The New on the other hand has taken more like four or six weeks before I am finally starting to feel comfortable with some of the movements. I am sure the weather has played a huge role in this, with average temps soaring well into the 80’s. Take the heat and add in some tropical like humidity and well, conditions have been tough. With the manky conditions, I have really had to take my climbing down a couple of grades. That being said, I have gotten on some truly amazing rock climbs here at the New. The locals in town and staying at the campground are really friendly and have made me feel right at home. While climbing though out the gorge, I have been eyeing up some of the harder lines looking for a cool project to zone in on. Proper Soul 5.14a is a proud looking 100-foot line that climbs through a beautiful steep dihedral on it way to the top of the cirque at endless wall.

After sweating it out waiting for good conditions I finally decided to just get on it and see what it was all about. My first working burn up the route took about an hour. Conditions were not great, I got rained out of the first crag I went to and ended up at the cirque because it stays dry in the rain. Most of my time on the route was figuring how to get into and then back out of the crux dihedral. The other half of the route climbs through a couple of powerful and tricky traverses ending with a sure to be heartbreaking last couple of moves to the top. After my first burn, I was absolutely trashed. After not climbing that hard for a couple of weeks my body felt like it had been run over by a train. Anyway, I think I have found a pretty good project.

Day two on Proper Soul was really inspiring. I had a pretty good burn and fell leaving the dihedral. I was third day on, however conditions were way better for this go. Temps in the 70’s with humidity probably down around 60 to 70 percent. I was really psyched to get a high point on the route and also make it to the chains with only three hangs. Feeling good about the route at this point. Can’t wait for a rest day.