roninthorne
Dec 21, 2006, 4:34 AM
Views: 18598
Registered: Nov 27, 2002
Posts: 659
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Bold lines and HARD moves made Nelson what it once was, back when there were no cabins, and the place was covered in greenbriar and poison ivy and rarely visited by anyolne outside the circle of maniacs who put up lines there. Lucky enough to have been friends with one or two of those folks and to have climbed there in the day. Nelson was a place of scattered hard routes and a few moderate lines. Not much "beginner" ground, not the horn o' plenty that Seneca is, nor the overwhelming parallel reality of champe, or Judy Gap. In Nelson, you were a long way from anything, on sometimes challenging terrain, moving in the footsteps and sometimes the shadows of giants. You went there humble, and you went there strong, you climbed smart and you backed off when you had to, and went for it when you could, or had no other choice. You either got your head handed to you, a balance statement on your reality checking account, or the incredible feeling of standing atop a lost world, hiding in plain sight in the middle of one of the most travelled valleys in Eastern America. Nelson is a place like no other. I would like to think that any climber with any inkling of the importance of this place in the history of West Virginia, Eastern, and North American rock climbing would chip in to keep it from becoming just another Future Generations string of private mansions dominating a public landscape. So tell me, organizers... anyone really think we could put together a plan to buy one of the legendary hardplaces of the Southeast?
(This post was edited by roninthorne on Dec 21, 2006, 10:48 AM)
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