OHIO BOULDERING

“I drove through Ohio once” is the common reply when I tell climbers where I grew up. So it was a pleasant surprise to get my friend Dan Proudfoot’s recent email reminding me of an upcoming Dr. Topo guide to Athens, Ohio bouldering. Having spent untold hours and dollars on weekend drives from Columbus to the Red River Gorge (3.5 hours each way, give or take), I remember the sense of shock, even frustration, when I first heard there were actual rocks in my state.

OK, I’m exaggerating. After all, I’d cut my n00b teeth on the slippery limestone pockets and edges of the so-called Springfield Gorge, a half-pitch toprope quarry owned by Freemasons (and eventually closed by said Freemasons, after a climber rigging a TR took a fatal grounder in the 90s)—and the Hocking Hills were rumored to have a few decomposing sandboxes of joy worth playing on—so I knew the Buckeye state wasn’t totally litho-lacking. But on the whole, climbing and Ohio just didn’t mix. Then, not a year ago and just a week before I hit the road for Colorado, I got in touch with Dan, who said he’d like to give me a tour of Athens bouldering. A tour? I thought. There’s so much bouldering that a tour is required? I grabbed my pad, camera, and some Red Bull, and was Audi 5000 (actually, I drive a Honda).