Foster Falls Tennessee Trip
	June 7, 2003
	Report by: Denmark Blount
	To see some pictures from the trip, visit Eric's website.

We were almost rained out. Frank and Tony went up Friday and 6 optimistic climbers went up Saturday to Foster Falls, Tennessee, for the June Atlanta Climbing Club trip. On the drive up it rained the whole way with a few heavy downpours. When we arrived it was not raining but it was totally overcast. We put on our raincoats and hiked down the trail to see how wet the rock was. Davis was the only one who carried his pack. The first two climbs, Pond Scum 5.10d and Skipper 5.9, are slightly overhung but were damp and dripping water in a couple of places. Ethnic Cleansing 5.12d under the huge roof in The Right Bunker was damp and the chalk on the holds was gooey, sticky, and very slippery. The Left Bunker, also known as The Darkie Cave, is also under a huge roof. But it too was damp and dripping. By then the rain was coming down steadily. We took a spur to the upper trail and hiked back to the parking lot.

We met Frank and Tony, who had broken camp and packed up. We had not gotten in a single climb, but Friday Frank and Tony had completed Pre-Marital Drilling (not in the book, a face climb under the roof in The Left Bunker with 4 bolts and anchors, 5.9 according to one web site, but some of us feel it is a 5.10a because of the bouldering pull-up start and thin holds before the third bolt).

We drove back to Chattanooga in steady rain and one very heavy downpour. After pizza at Lupi's for lunch, we crossed the river and visited Rock Creek Outfitters. It is a big, well stocked climbing, camping, and backpacking store. By now the sun had come out between big white thunderheads. We headed back toward Atlanta and, you guessed it, passed through a couple of light showers and a couple of heavy downpours along the way. We stopped at the indoor climbing gym Escalade in Kennesaw. It was not raining when we went in but it came down heavy at times while we climbed indoors and dry. It is a nice gym with 40 or so routes, top rope and lead, a bouldering area, and a kids area. After a few hours and a break in the rain, we called it a day and headed for home.

This was the last club trip before the summer break. We are off for July and August and will regroup in September for the Lost Wall trail day with camping and climbing 9/6-7.

This page was last updated on 12/19/2004 .