Jammin the New

Best splitter cracks of the New River Gorge

By Paul Nelson

A climber eyes up the crux of Tree Route (5.9+). Photo by Nick Rothenbush

Pure crack climbing is an acquired taste. Crack addicts seek out seemingly laser-cut splitter cracks on blank walls— completely devoid of handholds and footholds—requiring the pure endurance hand and fist jamming techniques that form the foundation of Yosemite and southwest desert climbing. When compared to face climbing, which can produce a confusing array of contrived movements over various bands of rock, pure cracking climbing is elegantly simple because its options are so few— you’re either in the crack or you’re on the ground.

When I was learning to climb at the crack mecca of Indian Creek, UT back in the late 90s, I noticed that many climbers from the eastern U.S. had a hard time with this style of climbing. They would often search for the tiniest face holds outside the crack, desperate for any respite from the relentless jamming that these cracks required, typically resulting in flailing and failing when the face holds inevitably ran out.

Now that I mainly climb at the New River Gorge and other southeastern sandstone crags, this approach makes

Left: Linear Encounters (5.11). Middle and right: New Yosemite (5.9). sense. If you’ve got decent footwork and crimping skills, you can finesse your way around many cracks using those miniscule edges that form so well and consistently on the Nuttall Sandstone of the gorge—edges that would just break at Indian Creek. The vast majority of the NRG’s cracks are actually face climbs or ‘crack-lite’ climbs in which you can use the cracks for sidepulls, laybacks, stems, and other types of trickery, but don’t necessarily require pure jamming techniques.

However, there are some gems scattered throughout the gorge that require you to toss aside your bag of face tricks and wiggle those fingers, hands, and feet into the crack and jam. In compiling this list of the best pure cracks at the NRG up to 5.11, I eliminated routes that follow corner features (which ironically crosses the aptly-named Supercrack off the list), routes that have too many face holds, or even those routes which feature constrictions in the cracks that make the jamming too easy. Succeed on this list of NRG classics, and you’ll be ready to climb pure hand and finger cracks anywhere on earth, move on into the intimidating 5.12 cracks of South Nuttall, and even start using your new crack skills on sport routes.

FANTASY (5.8) - ENDLESS WALL

From its thrutchy, wide start, to an intimidating roof pull and the 60 feet of glorious pure handcrack that follows, you’ll be hard pressed to find a more memorable 5.8 crack anywhere. Even better, a huge caprock at the top keeps Fantasy dry in the light rain, and gets ample shade throughout the summer.

NEW YOSEMITE (5.9) JUNKYARD

More aspiring crack climbers get routed on this beautiful splitter than any other. Hit up Junkyard Crag on a busy weekend and you’re sure to see muscle-bound gym bros struggling to layback and double gaston their way up the crack—anything to avoid true jamming! The crux of New Yosemite is a slight bulge with thin hand jams for most folks. You have to hang off these pure jams to plug gear, making it significantly more difficult than Fantasy. The only detraction to this route is that the splitter only makes up the bottom half—it’s just too short!

TREE ROUTE (5.9+) BRIDGE BUTTRESS

It may not be as aesthetic as New Yosemite, but this route throws a wider variety of jams at you than any other 5.9 at the NRG. Hands, fists, fingers, ringlocks, even full body stems—you’ll have the opportunity to pull all these techniques out of your bag of tricks on Tree Route. Lead this and you’ll definitely be ready for 5.10.

SPRINGBOARD (5.10a/b) FERN BUTTRESS

Once you get into the 5.10 grade at the NRG, the possibilities open up. Fingercracks take center stage, and the line between face climbing and jamming gets blurry. It’s hard to narrow down a strong list of contenders like Mushrooms (5.10a), First Strike (5.10a), Burning Calves (5.10b), Rod Serling Crack (5.10b), and more, but for elegant jamming and beauty, my favorite 5.10- has always been Springboard. A slightly overhanging wall, cruxy fingerlocks at the start, and an excellent position make this line not just a must-do but a must-repeat.

WHAM BAM THANKS FOR THE JAM (5.10b) BEAUTY MOUNTAIN

I like to divide cracks between ‘white collar’ and ‘blue collar’ techniques. White collar climbing is elegant—you crank on dainty fingerlocks, body lightly swaying back and forth as you float up the crack. Blue collar jamming, on the other hand, involves fists, elbows, shoulders, arms, knees, and a sort of bar-fight mentality to get up wider, steeper climbs. Wham Bam is most definitely that, with a steep wide start that builds into a hand traverse and glorious pull-around the arete into perfect handjams. You may want to tape up for this one.

INDIAN SUMMER (5.10c) SUMMERSVILLE LAKE

This is probably the most perfect, consistent, continuous splitter crack in the region. Starting on steep handjams and gradually tapering down to ringlocks and then fingers, each move is slightly harder than the one before as your pump

A climber dances his way up the impeccable face of Chasin’ the Wind (5.11b).

clock starts ticking and you try to decide just how much gear to place. The only drawbacks? Indian Summer is only about 40 feet high, and only climbable when the lake level is down in the winter.

LINEAR ENCOUNTERS (5.11a) ENDLESS WALL

The 5.11 grade is where trad climbing all comes together and really shines at the NRG, and climbers solid at this grade have to be well-rounded in terms of technique, gear placement, endurance, headspace, and jamming skills. For some geological quirk, however, almost all 5.11 cracks in the area require some devious face skills. Linear Encounters

is a textbook ‘king line’ featuring a steep off-fingers start and blind handjams around a corner, but you’ll have to pull a few insecure 5.11 face moves to reach the anchors.

CHASIN’ THE WIND (5.11b) BEAUTY MOUNTAIN

Perched high over the New River on an imposingly blank buttress and guarded by a sketchy 5.9 first pitch, this fingercrack may be the most beautiful splitter in the state. While water solution pockets create constrictions that prevent this from being a purely parallelsided splitter, the exposed climbing and position overlooking the gorge are unforgettable. Even better, these constrictions eat up wired stoppers, meaning that you don’t need a massive rack of cams to climb this classic. w

Paul Nelson is an aging, crusty trad climber who can often be found jamming in the New’s lickety splitters. He’s also a musician who can often be found jamming in and around the Fayetteville area with his jazz band One for the Road.

The tall, striking splitter of Fantasy (5.8) gobbles hands and gear for a classic New River crack climb.

QUALITY INGREDIENTS, UNEQUALED EXPERIENCE.

FAYETTEVILLE, WV 219WESTMAPLE AVE 304.574.2200

In October of 1994, Dave Bassage and Roger Harrison sat in the back of a bus after a paddling trip on the Gauley River. As the rickety bus bounced and rolled over the waves of the rugged Appalachian terrain, the two paddlers bounced and rolled through the waves of a vicious brainstorm. They were spawning a plan.

Many things have been spawned in the back of a bus, from the mischievous ploys of ornery children to a pivotal piece of the civil rights movement. This particular plan, on this particular bus ride, would become the central spectacle of the environmental justice movement that would go on to restore the mighty Cheat River.

Bassage and Harrison were dreaming up the Cheat River Festival, an annual event hosted by Friends of the Cheat (FOC), an environmental nonprofit whose mission is to “Restore, preserve, and promote the outstanding natural qualities of the Cheat River watershed.”

This May, the Cheat River Festival will celebrate its 25th anniversary, and the silver lining is far more than symbolic. In the 25 years following the formation of FOC and the first Cheat Fest, a

staggering amount of environmental, recreational, and cultural improvements have taken place throughout the 1,422 square-mile watershed. Cheat Fest lies at the galactic center of this microcosm and has been the site of countless events of varying scale that have contributed to FOC’s rise and success.

ORIGINS

It all began in the spring of 1994, when the waters of an illegally sealed underground coalmine burst through a mountainside, flooding Muddy Creek and the Cheat with deadly sludge. This toxic concoction contained acidic water and heavy metals, staining the banks bright orange. A decades-long legacy of acid mine drainage (AMD) had already rendered the Cheat a dead river, but now the outlook was even bleaker.

While the Muddy Creek blowout didn’t kill the Cheat, it did serve as a catalyst for change. A tightknit group of paddlers and whitewater guides gathered on the banks of the Cheat to figure out how to accomplish the herculean task of resuscitating a dead ecosystem. Those friends became the Friends of the Cheat. Dave Bassage, a

25 Years of the Cheat River Festival

By Dylan Jones Photos by Gabe DeWitt

raft guide at the time, was one of the founding members and immediately stepped into a leadership role. “None of us had been part of an organization or formed one before or knew anything about that,” Bassage says.

Just as quickly as the idea hit him on the bus, Bassage and a fledgling FOC were suddenly planning the first Cheat River Festival. “At that point I was president, and we didn’t have any staff,” Bassage recalls. One of the original FOC board members lived in the house above the modern festival site. “He said we could use his bottom land and we went down and walked around, and it was completely over grown, we couldn’t even tell for sure if it was flat. We gave it a shot and got to work clearing weeds.”

CHEATING THE SYSTEM

FOC agreed to split proceeds from the inaugural event with the West Virginia Rivers Coalition, which at the time had Harrison at the helm. They roped in the West Virginia Brewing Company, which wheeled in the stage on a trailer bed. “We were making it up as we went,” Bassage says. “The stage for the first Cheat Fest was something we

just tacked together to get through it all.”

FOC would need some power—star and electrical— to put on the musical aspect of the festival. In a move that was unprecedent at the time, Bassage reached out to Anker Energy, a coal company, to see if they’d provide some generators. Anker offered up some generators plus a $10,000 sponsorship donation.

“We caught a lot of flak for working with a coal company, but part of our philosophy was we were looking for allies and not enemies,” Bassage says. “Anker also pledged $200,000 to do a cleanup anywhere in the Cheat as long as it was some place that would make a difference. This all came from my breakfast meeting when I was just going to ask for some generators.”

Both FOC and Cheat Fest faced skepticism early on. The river was dead because of the legacy of coal mining—why were these boaters, some from out of town, working with industry? Bassage says that skepticism, which was “coming from every direction,” presented an opportunity for FOC to develop credibility through Cheat Fest. “We were willing to sit down with the coal company, we brought in local musicians, we brought in local food vendors,” he says. “It helped us to develop and foster those relationships. Now that it’s been 25 years, everyone in the area knows Friends of the Cheat.”

The Cheat’s ecosystem is

alive once again. Everything is flourishing, from macroinvertebrates to fish to several species of fishing birds. And while some may be quick to differentiate FOC from Cheat Fest, it’s easy to see the impact the festival itself has had on the river’s

“To be there on a totally dead river that has now come back to life and to know that was because of the efforts we did is priceless.”

Dave Bassage

recovery.

Bassage claims that Cheat Fest kept visibility on the river as FOC evolved throughout the years. He tells the story of finding a fishing lure during FOC’s first river cleanup. “I thought someday, I’m gonna use this and fish on the Cheat,” he says. “And these days, one could. The Cheat has come back to life, it isn’t perfect, there’s still AMD to be addressed, but now nature gets a fighting chance. Ultimately, I’ve found that nature wins if you give it a chance, and Cheat Fest has been the catalyst to make that happen.”

A RIVER OF PROMISE

FOC’s inclusive philosophy ultimately resulted in the formation of the River of Promise task force, a coalition of state and federal agencies, academic institutions, environmental organizations, and industry representatives working together to address the legacy issue of AMD in the Cheat River watershed. “We said let’s all pull together to try to clean up acid mine drainage because the legacy AMD was coming from old abandoned mines and there was no liable partner out there,” Bassage says. “Rather than point fingers on who to blame, we just had a mess to clean up.”

According to long-time FOC member and local paddling legend Jim Snyder, that industry endorsement was paramount in the formation of FOC’s partnership with the WV Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). “If you’re gonna come up with a solution, you’ve got to have everyone at the table,” Snyder says. A master craftsman of hand-hewn wooden paddles that are used around the world, Snyder can usually be found squirt boating along the Cheat Narrows. “You have to learn to be cordial to each other and work toward a common goal. The River of Promise essentially made that real.”

That promise is one that was kept. It all came full circle in 2018 with construction of the state-of-the-art AMD treatment plant on Muddy Creek that’s now discharging alkaline water into the Cheat Canyon. Following the DEP’s ribbon cutting ceremony at the T&T treatment plant on Friday, May 3, a special public recognition will be held at Cheat Fest to commemorate the 25 original River of Promise signatories.

FOC’s Fantastical FUNdraiser

For FOC executive director Amanda Pitzer, Cheat Fest highlights the common ground in a politically divided watershed. “I think Cheat Fest is a place and time that brings people together of varied interests and backgrounds,” Pitzer says. “It’s a story that people can tell for generations about a group of people who worked to change something that they thought was wrong and won. We throw this pebble that is Cheat Fest, and the ripples that come out are immeasurable.”

The festival’s financial ripples, however, are very measurable. According to Pitzer, FOC receives an average of 40 percent of its overhead budget each year from festival proceeds. “In a sunny year, it can be up to 60 percent,” she said, highlighting how the weather for one day can have quite an impact on FOC’s annual budget. “A lot of watershed groups have one or two staff if they’re lucky, but Cheat Fest has allowed us to operate and have a staff.”

Those ripples extend into the local community as well. “There’s the economic development standpoint,” Pitzer says. “It’s the biggest thing that happens in Albright every year. We’d love to see Albright look more like Cheat Fest every weekend.”

Simply put by Cheat Fest Volunteer Coordinator Ellie Bell, “Cheat Fest is everything.” It’s a concert, a boating pilgrimage, FOC’s biggest fundraiser, an educational outreach event, and a social melding pot all rolled into West Virginia’s biggest spring party.

At just 25 years old, Bell is as old as Cheat Fest itself. She’s served in several roles at FOC over the course of her early environmental career, including a two-year stint as the Stream Monitoring Coordinator and three years as Cheat Fest Coordinator from 2016 – 2018.

But it’s not all sunshine and good vibes. Cheat Fest is a monumental undertaking that consumes nearly twothirds of a year to plan and wrap up—all for a two-day event. According to Bell, the job starts in October and doesn’t let up until the following August. “It’s more than just planning a party,” Bell says. It’s making sure FOC is on budget and ready for the enormous amount of projects that are always happening.”

Lauren Greco, an environmental scientist, was Cheat Fest Coordinator in 2015 and wrote the book—literally— on how to do the event. “We call it the bible,” says Pitzer. “It took a scientist to organize twenty-some-odd years of the festival.” This year, Greco has returned to West Virginia to reprise her role as Cheat Fest Coordinator, letting Bell narrow her focus to coordinating the festival’s 350 volunteers.

Via the cultural phenomenon of Cheat Fest, Bell is a shining example of the younger generation’s ability to find happiness and stay in West Virginia. “Cheat Fest has defined my life,” she says. “My community went from tributaries to oceans; it just grew immensely. I met my boyfriend through Cheat Fest, I met my best friend through Cheat Fest, I met my career mentors through Cheat Fest.”

Stewed Mulligan, a crowd favorite, has played at every Cheat Fest.

Like Snyder and many others, Bassage has attended every festival. He views the annual pilgrimage—and FOC—among his greatest successes. “I have no children, and I think of FOC as my baby that has grown up and made me very proud,” he says. “I was just part of the team that made it all happen, but it’s still what I’m most proud of in my life. To be there on a totally dead river that has now come back to life and to know that was because of the efforts we did is priceless.”

Head to Albright May 3 and 4 to celebrate 25 years of the Cheat River Festival. For info on presale tickets, head to www.cheatfest.org. Gate tickets are available for $15 on Friday and $25 on Saturday and are the best way to directly benefit FOC. See you there! w

Dylan Jones is publisher and editor-in-chief of Highland Outdoors. He’s been to every Cheat Fest since 2011 and will absolutely be at this one. Swing by the Highland Outdoors tent and celebrate the Cheat River with us!

REFLECTIONS

“A lot of disparate people are finding common ground. It’s been great to find out how much of an environmental community we have around here.” Jim Snyder

“The poignant moment I remembered from that first fest, the day was beautiful, and there was an apple tree next to the stage in full bloom. Joan Pitzer was playing her penny whistle, and that piercing, birdlike sound wafting over the fest site was just incredible.” Dave Bassage

“My favorite Cheat Fest moment was last year when Matt from Fletcher’s Grove was crowd surfing and it was pouring rain and there were still people having a good time.” Ellie Bell

"The year that Johnny Staats played, I got up and danced on stage during the set. Afterward, I came back around and see my staff talking, and they just had big smiles on their faces. It’s those moments that are the most rewarding to me, that I can share those feelings with really great people.” Amanda Pitzer

Brace yourself... splashies are coming. Photo of Double Z rapid courtesy ACE Adventure Resort

A WALL OF WATER APPEARS OUT OF NOWHERE AND SUDDENLY TOWERS OVER A 16-FOOT-LONG RAFT FILLED WITH EIGHT FLABBERGASTED PADDLERS

The raft surges into the trough at the base of the wave and then rockets skyward, threatening to fling itself backward. The wave, however, is forgiving this go around and the raft pitches forward as it crashes through to the other side, West-byGod-willing, upright. All eight unsuspecting passengers and one very suspecting guide remain on board. As fast as it began, the rapid is over and the drenched rafters— expressing a mixed bag of excitement and relief—are high-fiving their paddle blades beneath the majestic arch of the New River Gorge Bridge.

Spoiler alert: This is the grand finale of a high-water spring rafting trip on the New River Gorge. If your rafting trips on the New haven’t ended with the Million Dollar Wave, you probably didn’t go rafting on a high-water spring day. This wave only comes out to play at water levels of above 17,000 cubic-feet-per-second (CFS), but when it does, it’s easy to see how it got its aquatically affluent name.

Bow over stern on the crest of the Million Dollar Wave in the Fayette Station rapid.

“The New at high water is a totally different rafting experience than at lower summer levels; it’s like rafting a completely different river,” said Bryant Baker, a river operations manager and guide at ACE Adventure Resort in Oak Hill. “My alltime favorite single feature would have to be the Million Dollar Wave on the left side of Fayette Station Rapid. It’s a 15 – 18-foot standing wave from crest to trough, and it’s hidden from view so your guests don’t see it until they’re dropping into it. Then it’s stomach-in-your-throat, boat-standing-up-on-end good.” That New New The New River Gorge is one of the top whitewater rafting destinations on the East Coast—if not the country— with an average of 65,815 people rafting the river on commercial rafting trips each year. With visitation numbers highest during peak summer, the majority of paddlers are unaware of the rowdy characteristics the river takes on in spring. The Million Dollar Wave isn’t the only feature thing that ramps up with the water levels every spring. In fact, most rapids on the New are nearly unrecognizable at high water compared to their average summer day counterparts.

Aquatic face shots galore.

Double Z, the most challenging rapid to navigate on a typical summer day, transforms from a rocky, zig-zagging obstacle course to a wide-open ramp with a monstrous, boat-destroying hydraulic known as Barry’s Hole. But while Double Z arguably gets easier at high water (as long as you avoid Barry’s Hole), the set of successive rapids known as The Keeney’s are a whole different story. As the water rises, what was once three separate rapids becomes one massive series of holes and waves with a dangerous rock pile known as The Meat Grinder seriously upping the consequences if something goes wrong. Alongside the class IV/V rapids on the river, high water also ups the ante of the class II rapids, turning them into boat-flipping holes and epic rollercoaster wave trains. “It’s a naturally flowing river that always runs and at every level it has at least one supreme rapid,” said Sam Kellerman, a raft guide at Adventures on the Gorge in Fayetteville. “That’s what makes the New River so great.”

The Springtime Beast of the East Beginning in North Carolina, the New’s rainy watershed funnels vast amounts of water into the constricting canyon of the New River

Gorge, creating a year-round whitewater mecca where the excitement and ferocity rise in tandem with each cubic foot on the water gauge. “It’s very exciting and sometimes intimidating to work on the New River during springtime when water levels are unpredictable and can change rapidly,” said Tony Morris, a guide at New and Gauley River Adventures in Fayetteville. “It’s wild because, with every six-inch change in water level, the rapids and river features change.”

Between June and September, average water levels in the New River Gorge range from 2,000 – 6,000 CFS, according to United States Geological Survey (USGS) records from 2008 – 2018. By comparison, the same 10- year averages for March through May show average water levels ranging from 13,600 – 16,300 CFS, with flows frequently rocketing to above 24,000 CFS—or higher—throughout the spring season. Rafting companies run commercial trips each year from March through October at water levels ranging from less than 1,000 CFS to a commercial cut-off of 32,000 CFS.

“You’d be hard pressed to find anything in the Eastern U.S. that can compare with high water flows in the New River Gorge,” said Baker, who in addition to guiding on the New River for 16 years has also guided commercially on the Grand Canyon and Cataract Canyon on the Colorado River. “It takes on characteristics more commonly found on high-volume Western rivers. The quality and size of the rapids are very similar to what you’d find on parts of the Colorado in Utah and Arizona.”

Pure Whitewater Focus Ironically, only a small percentage of the New River’s admirers experience these spring conditions.

Only eight percent of the 59,987 commercial clients who rafted the New River Gorge in 2018 did so from March through May, according to figures from the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources. The number of private boaters—folks who paddle without a guide—is not recorded, according to the National Park Service.

According to Roger Wilson, CEO of Adventures on the Gorge, the high water, blustery weather, and unpredictable nature of spring rafting could be why the New River sees fewer rafters in the spring. “It comes down to having the will and desire for big water,” Wilson said, noting guests who come in the spring are “More pure whitewater focused.”

Clients also have to be more flexible because the section of river that companies choose to run each day depends on the water levels, resulting in trips frequently being moved to different parts of the New or the neighboring Gauley River. “Our levels change so much and so often it becomes normal,” Wilson said. “Check the levels at five a.m., then lay the plans for the day. It’s never boring.”

During peak spring flows from March through May, boaters must also be prepared for average air temperatures ranging from 40–60 degrees Fahrenheit, compared to the balmy summer temps in the 70s during peak summer months of June through August, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Water temperatures follow a similar trajectory, with the New River remaining below 65 degrees Fahrenheit until June, when temps commonly rise to bathwater-like 70s and 80s and stay there until the end of August, according to data from the USGS.

The chilly weather and water call for a hardier bunch who are willing to don neoprene wetsuits and coldweather gear, said Haynes Mansfield, marketing director at ACE Adventure Resort. “Spring rafting on the New River is far less family oriented and far more adventure based,” Mansfield said. “This is not the trip for guests seeking a waterpark like, concrete-lined, slurpysipping, lazy river experience. It’s a trip for people that are intrigued by adrenaline.”

Spring often draws people who have already rafted the New or Gauley rivers in the summer and fall, Mansfield said. High-water days are the perfect “step up” for people looking for a rowdier ride, said Kellerman, who frequently has guests return specifically to experience big water. “Catch the New somewhere between 18,000 CFS to 32,000 CFS and you will get big 15 to 20-foot-tall waves crashing in your face, huge fun wave trains, and non-stop adrenaline,” he said. “It’s a little cold but if you dress right, it’s totally worth it.” w

Juniper Rose is editor-at-large for Highland Outdoors and a whitewater raft guide on the New and Gauley rivers who’s favorite exclusive high-water feature on the Lower New is the Million Dollar Wave.

Top and bottom: Paddlers embrace the zero-gravity feel of The Cloud Chamber in Miller's Folly rapid.

5 THINGS YOU’LL ONLY SEE ON A HIGH-WATER SPRING DAY

Seldom Seen Rapid Behold the appearance of the phantom rapid

Location: Between Double Z Rapid and Harmen’s Ledges

The beta: This rapid only appears at above 24,000 CFS—dig in for a big-wave roller coaster

Barry’s Hole Stare down the meanest looking hole on the river

Location: Halfway down Double Z on river left

The beta: Don’t go anywhere near it above 14,000 CFS

Ghost Towns Spot historic coal mining ruins visible through the leafless trees

Location: More places than you’d expect along the banks of the river

The beta: Come in early spring before the leaves hide history from view Million Dollar Wave Ride the tallest runnable wave on the river

Location: Left side of Fayette Station Rapid

The beta: Don’t miss it above 17,000 CFS The Cloud Chamber Hold on tight for a nearvertical drop into a wall of frothy white water

Location: Left of center at the top of Miller’s Folly Rapid

The beta: When the river is above 10,500 CFS, head for the horizon line and fire it up