The Red River Gorge: A Rock Climbing Guide

By Ray Ellington

A fully comprehensive color guidebook to sport and traditional rock climbing in the Red River Gorge, Kentucky. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0972160949
• ISBN13: 9780972160940
• Release Date: August 2005
• Publisher: Wolverine Publishing
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.33 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A guide that makes you keep turning pages!

We were on our way to the Red River Gorge for an extended climbing trip this past weekend when my climbing partner asked me if I wanted to read this new guide to the area that he had just bought. Long drive and time to kill and I replied why not? Little did I know that I would read this guide rest of the drive like a work of fiction! For it was unlike any climbing guide that I had yet come across while climbing in the East Coast the past several years. Ray Ellington (author) is passionate about the "Red" (as its known amongst the climbing community) and his love for the area shines in his painstakingly detailed description of the area, enthralling anecdotes and just really well researched route information to all the multiple crags that make up the Red. Route descriptions include route length, quality as well as FA (First Ascent) information. Directions to the crags are fool-proof, and pictures are included of landmark routes. We found route finding to be a real breeze and not the bushwhacking, frustrating ordeal it sometimes can be. Jay's climbing roots go deep into the history of the area. Along the way he pays homage to some of the legendary climbers and personalities who make up the Red. What book on the Red would be complete without a biographical sketch of area developers such as Porter Jarrad and John Bronaugh, as well as Miguel Ventura of the world famous (atleast amongst climbers) Miguel's Pizza. Small but important details are attended to - the book is sheathed in a water-resistant plasticky cover which helped keep it dry during rainy conditions through the weekend. Climbing at the Red is indeed too good to be true. Go ahead buy this book and ask your boss for time off so you can hurry up and plan your trip to the Red! If he dithers, show him the great pictures from this guidebook and talk him into coming along too!

Sets a new standard

I own a lot of guidebooks, but this one has set a new standard. The Red is very spread out and it can be hard to find your way around. This book will get you where you want to go, offers top notch route descriptions, and photos, both of climbers and more importantly individual climbs. Highly recommended!