A Dozen Reasons to Climb at the New River Gorge This Fall
1. Send Temps! Suddenly those teeny crimpers seem almost reasonable! The humidity evaporates, the evenings are cool…This is your season to send the project you have been daydreaming about all summer.
2. You can have your choice of tent platforms at the American Alpine Club Campground. Talk to campground host Paul Nelson about the extra special platforms that you might not know about. One and only one has a view of the Gorge. Explore! Many are tucked away in highly improbably places…
3. Summersville Lake is down which means Long Point and Whippoorwill are back in play. These are super popular areas that are seeing constant route development.
4. Bridge Day! Saturday, October 18th is the largest one day festival in the state of West-by-God-Virginia. It is a blast! We recommend watching from the landing zone at Fayette Station. It is worth taking a half day off of climbing. We promise!
5. The Cirque in the Sun! All through the sticky hot summer you have to avoid climbing at this high end crag because it is too hot. Enjoy the hell out of the late season sun while you tick the hard ones.
6. Less Rain. History doesn’t lie. If you look at the stats you will find the chances of sun to be a good bit higher in the fall.
7. Fayetteville restaurants aren’t as crowded. By now you probably realize that there is some remarkable food to be found in Fayetteville. Fall is the time to breeze right to your table instead of waiting for your name to be called at Pie and Pints, Gumbo’s, Secret Sandwich Society, Cathedral Cafe and Diogi’s
8. Rafting season is over which means there are no drunk rafters making huge noise in the campground of your choice. We love rafters but good goodness they can be rowdy…
9. Water Stone Outdoors will have a Big Sale! The fun starts on Bridge Day…
10. Good deals are available on cabins. You have proven you are a dirtbag, now take a weekend off and splurge on a cabin, or better yet, on an in-town apartment at LaFayette Flats. Treat yourself and your squeeze–you kept climbing all through the summer heat–you deserve it!
11. The Critter factor is way lower. The wasps are dormant, the copperheads are slowing down and the bugs are done.
12. That scourge of nature, poison ivy, is starting to die off. Die, ivy, die!