Alpinist/Access Fund Ad

Alpinist.com front page

I'm excited to share that a photo I took in the Red River Gorge sometime back in the Fall of 2009 is being used in and ad for Alpinist and the Access Fund.  The photo can be seen on the Alpinist website and in the Spring 2012 issue.  I haven't seen the ad in print yet but will be making a trip to the gear shop to find it.  It is rumored to be appearing on page 35 in issue #37.  The route is Paradise Lost 5.13b in the Pendergrass-Murry Recreational Preserve in Kentucky.

Issue 37

As viewed online

Andy Hansen: Climber, Linguist, and Part-Time Model

Andy Hansen surfs the flake on "Headstone Surfer" 5.10a

Funk Rock City, RRG, KY.

Above the flake and into the dihedral of "Headstone Surfer"

Doing his best piranha impression on "Hardcore Jollies" 5.12a

Funk Rock City, RRG, KY

Working out the beta before his first 5.12a send of "Surpress the Rage"

Sunnyside, RRG, KY.

Fighting the pump on "Twinkie" 5.12a

Phantasia Wall, RRG, KY.

Recollecting his thoughts after the whipper. To boink or not to boink...

Return from the Red River Gorge

Andy Hansen on "Hardcore Jollies" 5.12a

Funk Rock City, RRG, Kentucky

I have just returned from a climbing and photographing trip to the Red River Gorge in Kentucky. The warming spring temps meant it was time to get climbing, so Andy Hansen and I packed up my station wagon with food and climbing gear and ventured out for a ten day adventure. The trip would be out longest to the Red and we were both very excited to try and tick off many sends, and also photograph some of our favorite lines. The climbing was to include many 5.12 sport climbs such as "Suppress the Rage" 5.12a and "Orange Juice" 5.12c but as well as several 5.11 tradition lines such as "B3" 5.11b and "Synchronicity" 5.11a. We had hopes of climbing harder than we had been able to do previously, and we figured over the ten days we'd have some time to work more diligently on some of the routes. The weather for a majority of the trip was sunny and warm, but eventually the temps cooled and some rain came in for the last couple days. But regardless of dropping temps, the stone was there to be climbing, and we gave it our damnedest.

Walking around barefoot felt like summer. Need I say more?

The Craggin' Wagon in the parking lot of Miguel's.

"Home sweet home" for ten days thanks to some handmade curtains.

Our home was an '89 Buick station wagon, our kitchen was a wobbly picnic table, and our job was to rock climb. Life was good, and the photos and videos reflect this. So as I gather myself and attempt to adjust back to regular life here in Wisconsin I will be editing photos for a more thorough photo post in the near future. I can't wait to share some new Red River Gorge photos, as well as some beer drinkin' hillbilly stories that will leave you askin' "How'd ya git up there ya crazy kid!?"

Red River Reunion 2011

Poster Design: Emily Rubin

My photo of Eddie Avallone on "Cutthroat" 5.13a was used for this year's Red River Reunion poster. (Top Photo) I will be getting down to Kentucky at the end of March and am looking forward to seeing this poster hanging around. It seems everyone I know is looking forward to being able to get down to the Red this spring to get on one project or another. Lets welcome the warmer temps because spring is just around the corner!

A Second Look

Recently I've been taking a look through a lot of my photos from climbing in the Red River Gorge over the last few years. I've been hoping to better organize them, as well as being able take a second look for goodies I may have previously overlooked. It's great to look through all the (barely) old images from the two trips there in the fall of 2009 when I really committed to going on my first "photo trips" instead of just climbing. I am finding a lot of exciting shots that seemed to slip past me at the time, but not anymore!

I am also working on starting a small collection of images to submit to Ray Ellington for the next edition of the Red River Gorge Guidebook, whenever it may come out. Along with this process I have been submitting images to websites such as www.rockclimbing.com and www.mountainproject.com to share with the general climbing community for feedback and beta photos. So far the reception has been good, but it is an on going process in which I hope will yield some good feedback and future opportunities. So next time you're looking through climbing photos online to get psyched while ignoring the fact that you're at work, I hope you can daydream while looking at a few of mine.

Glorious Butt Shots

One last trip down to the Red River Gorge as the summer and fall wind down and winter begins. This is probably the latest I've traveled to the Red to climb, and I don't think I'd hesitate to take the drive again. The rock was a bit cold at some crags but we occasionally got lucky and were able to follow the sun to several warm crags. This will also be the first major trip of the year where I was in the company of multiple climbers in the same place. The photographer in me tells me to grab the ascender and GriGri, look for the light, and get ready to hang for hours shooting ever angle I can pull myself into. Although this is tempting within itself, the climber in me has a way of coming out in the diminishing fall temperatures. So on the other hand, the climber in me tells me to bundle up, do some jumping jacks, squeeze into my cold shoes, and see if I can hang upside down from my feet mid climb... Although I want to continuously pursue climbing photography without slowing down, I am aware that my enjoyment of the sport directly reflects why I choose to pursue it seriously in the first place. Sometimes I'm an ambitious aspiring adventure photographer, and others I'm just a big kid with a rope attached to him for safety. Some days I can control myself better than others... these are my favorite butt shots from the short trip.

Andy Hansen being lowerd off "Breakfast Burrito" 5.10d

at Drive-By Crag, Red River Gorge, Kentucky.

Andy Hansen en route.

"Breakfast Burrito" 5.10d at Drive-By Crag, Red River Gorge, Kentucky.

Andy Mires on "Tikka Monster" 5.13a

Drive-By Crag, Red River Gorge, Kentucky.

Dave Neill on "Whipstocking" 5.11a

at Drive-By Crag, Red River Gorge, Kentucky.

Yours truly, just trying to blend in on one of my my favorite 11's

"Whipstocking" 5.11a Drive-By Crag, Red River Gorge, Kentucky

The Red In November: Post Two

Dan Apostoli on "Chainsaw Massacre" 5.12a

The Motherload, RRG

Zak Romuald on "Chainsaw Massacre" 5.12a

The Motherload, RRG

Craig on "Hot for Teacher" 5.12c

The Motherload, RRG

Zak Romuald on "Mid Life Crisis" 5.11c

Indy Wall, RRG

Eddie Avallone having second thoughts,

nah, just gettin' warmed up...

"Triple Sec" 5.12c/d The Sanctuary, RRG

Robin Maslowski on "Ale-8-1" 5.12b

The Motherload, RRG

Its officially crunch time for me as I approach my last week of my last fall semester at MIAD. I spent a large amount of time writing a three part narrative about traveling around the United States, and found great joy in the challenge of this extensive creative writing. My interest in writing seems to be growing exponentially, and Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" has provided me with some additional inspiration. I also have recently started an improvised form of journalling, and spent my Friday night running around a local Milwaukee venue taking notes on anything and everything going on as the dance music blared. I knew it would be an interesting process, but had no idea how exciting and entertaining the writings would actually turn out to be. I learned a lot from my surroundings though the seemingly silly observations that would have otherwise been forgotten without the small green spiral pad. I typed it up the next day it came out to be around five pages of genuine stream-of-consciousness observational thought. I now carry this notepad with me everywhere, and write about all sorts of nonsensical assessments. I am uncertain how I will apply this process into my photography, and am not yet sure if the writings hold value outside of my own interests. I will just have to keep writing and see.

I am also posting more climbing photographs from the Red, and hope that people are enjoying the new images still. (I think I will do a non-climbing post next to spice it up) Tuesday at school will be my "final critique" of the rock climbing images from this semester, and I have made eight 24x31 inch prints to showcase what I consider to be the best eight images from the two trips. I displayed three of them all last week and got a lot of positive feedback from the series. On another note, I hope to have my website up and running within two months, and will keep everyone updated on that. Cheers!

(All photographs ©Matt Kuehl)

The Red in November: Post One

Eddie Avallone coming down off "The Madness" 5.13c

The Motherload, RRG

Lindsay Reareon styling the classic "Fuzzy Undercling" 5.11b

Military, RRG

Zak Romuald hitting the India feature on "Tissue Tiger" 5.12b

Military, RRG

Gitta Lubke on "Convicted" 5.13a

The Motherload, RRG

Dan Apostoli having a "Mid Life Crisis" 5.11c

Indy Wall, RRG

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! I hope everyone has recovered from their food induced coma gracefully, what a week! I've been working hard on editing all the photos from the trip, and I still have a lot of work ahead of me. Also, if you would like to see these photos somewhere offline, this upcoming week three prints will be featured on the work in progress wall at MIAD, and I am excited to hang them together as well as get some reactions from the work. Also, one of my photos was chosen for the Adventure Rock photo contest winners, and is now on display in the gym, although it was not printed by me. I will be short with the writing today, but will have more in upcoming post... more to come soon.

Presently...

Well the trip was a great success. The weather was great for November, and I was able to photograph everyday. I spent significantly more time hanging this trip, and my hand-crafted belay seat was extremely helpful and minimized my discomfort while in the air. Bringing two ascenders made jugging easier too, and it saved me some grief, even though I had two right handed ones. The lighting conditions were varied the whole trip, and the first day it was either direct sun, or cold flat light, neither of which are ideal. I focused on getting different angles on the routes I had photographed before, and tended to back away a little more from the climbers on most occasions. I also learned a couple new tricks to keep myself from dangling helplessly facing the wrong direction, as well as how to work in trees. I also made a point to get everyone's name that I photographed this trip, and now can credit each individual directly, as well as have an excuse to make some new friends. I hope you all enjoy the photos, and feel free to contact me. I will posting the new images very shortly, and frequently, so check back and tell your friends...

Hittin' the Road Again

After some last minute planning (frantic searching for people to cover my weekend shifts) I am now free to leave Wisconsin, and am heading straight to Kentucky. I got my one remaining shift covered today, and must thank Dave, Dustin, Alicia, and Lara for keeping my job(s) fun, as well as being flexible and willing to pick up the slack in such short notice. I anticipate this will be my last major opportunity to photograph rock climbing in Kentucky before spring, although I would not be surprised if something else came up between then and now. I have made some improvements upon my rigging this time around, and am bringing two ascenders (instead of one) as well as fewer lenses and no tri-pod. I am also building a belay seat, which will help comfort my ass while hanging in the air for consecutive hours. Besides comfort, the belay seat will look, and act, very much like a swing. It is made from one rectangular piece of (found) wood with holes drilled in the corners and some climbing cordalette to suspend it. I was thinking about improvising some sort of padding for the wood, potentially a towel or old shirt cut up... I think the seat will work great, although it is a little more weight to haul. If it totally sucks it will make good firewood anyway...

This will be my second trip down with Zak, and my first with Dan. We are planning on leaving at midnight Friday and arriving around 10 am Saturday, just enough time to get some quick breakfast and start the day. The weather looks good for the weekend, and I hope it stays unusually warm. If anyone else will be in the Red this weekend and wants to meet up, just call/email me.

Climbing at the Motherload

Big falls are to be expected, Sasha Digiulian comes off "The Madness" 5.13c

Andy Miers crimpin' down on "8 Ball" 5.12d

Emily Harrington works out the moves on "White Mans Overbite" 5.13c

Andy Mires warming up in the beautiful Motherload, RRG, KY

Eddie Avallone makes easy work of "Cut Throat" 5.13b

Andy Miers clips on the aesthetic line "8 Ball" 5.12d

Andrew Wheatley styles "Snooker" 5.13a

Jeff Fulgham keeps moving on "Snooker" 5.13a

Needless to say I was pretty excited to wake up and drive to the crag after a entire day of rain, after all, I was there to photograph, and only had two days to do it. We lost our "warm up" day, so we opted to jump right in, and climb at the Motherload upon our first opportunity. This area is home to a very steep amphitheater which tops out just over a hundred feet of notoriously difficult and pumpy climbs, it is quite an amazing place to be. We got on the only wall with an 5.11+ to warm up, and I ascended the rope Andy hung for me to get my photo brain warmed up. I snaped a few good shots, and got everything lined up for bigger and better climbs ahead. We headed a little deeper in, and found some more climbers we knew, who were climbing "8 Ball" 5.12d, and "Snooker" 5.13a. Just as we got there someone was finishing a climb, and I asked if I could jug up their rope and hang for a while, they knew I was there to photograph and didn't seem apposed to the idea. He set up a fixed line for me, and rappelled down off of it, and I got my ascender and cameras ready. Ascending a steep wall is especially difficult, you are just dangling in the air the whole time, with nothing to keep you oriented in any direction, and you can only move up or down. The weight of the cameras on my back didn't help the process, and the dynamic climbing rope I was ascending made everything less efficient, but I'll take it over staying on the ground anyday. From this rope I could photograph a lot of different routes, and since the crag was pretty busy that day, had an opportunity to shoot many different climbers. The lighting was pretty perfect, all the rain had made for an overcast day, and metering exposures was easy because of the consistent light. I hung for two hours before I needed to come down for a break from gravity, and am very happy with the images I got. The photos posted here are just an overview on that day, and I will continue to post them gradually after this.

Travel Time: Milwaukee to Lexington and Slade

Zak belaying at the Motherload

The crew getting ready to climb, pumped after not crashing on the steep, wet, potholed drive into the Motherload

Using the wagon to the fullest, enjoying the outside between rain storms at camp.

Complements of the Waffle House

Table filled with food

Not driving, just staying dry.

Lexington, KY

The rain was pretty relentless, it never really stopped during the eight or nine hour drive from Milwaukee to Lexington. We left Wisconsin around 8pm, and started crossing state lines quickly; for once the traffic in Chicago didn't really slow us down. The wet conditions were very tolerable at the beginning of the journey, but it got worse further into the night and the next day. We arrived in Lexington around 5am and had reservations at a friend's place for the night. I was allowed the couch because I drove all night, and the others fell asleep shortly, sprawled out on the wood floors nearby. We all woke up around the same time the next morning, around 11:30 or whenever it was Zak felt it was necessary to talk loudly. We sat around, half in our sleeping bags and still half asleep. The rain had stopped, and although it was very overcast we were excited to go find a dry crag to climb at. I was the only one who brought food, so this morning we decided to go to an IHOP, but settled for a Waffle House. It was a nice slow start to the day, and we all wanted coffee before driving an hour into the Red River Gorge in Slade. Immediately after getting into the car again, the rain started back up. Driving was inherently reckless, and visibility was very poor because of all the water from the road. We drove until the storm front ended, and it was an amazing feeling for the rain to be switched off and the sun to be out. Unfortunately, this window of weather really only allowed us time to set up the tent, and then we were forced back into the car to stay out of the rain. Climbing wasn't an option, the rock far to wet and dangerous to scale, and the risk of rock breaking not worth the consequences. Our first day was mostly spent getting adjusted to conditions while cutting our loses and drinking Wild Turkey to help pass the time. Although not all of these images are from the first day, these will provide for a nice introduction to the photos which will be posted soon.

Spring Trip to the Red River Gorge

Well, the time has come, and I am free to drive the station wagon to Kentucky for the annual climbing fest originally deemed "Rocktoberfest." I am especially excited this year because I going down strictly to photograph, and have rallied some awesome climbers to come with me, as well as meeting several more super strong climbers there. I feel the wagon will help make the trip more of adventure for us all, and just today I discovered a rear facing two-person bucket seat that folds out of the trunk, pretty awesome if I can say so myself. The car should help me considerable from the weather too, since I am not bringing a sleeping bag or tent for myself, although this time I have a pillow... I guess I like to look for reasons to improvise and have always wanted to live out of the wagon anyway. What I will be bringing instead is a ton of photo equipment, two Nikon bodies and about 6-7 lenses that should help keep me busy, as well as a bulky tripod and off camera flash. (Much thanks to Dustin Donohoe for letting me borrow some of his lenses, as well as Mike Brown and Lara Ohland for the memory cards, and my cousin Kevin for the lenses he lent me forever ago, which I still use.) I am excited to have so much time to concentrate on climbing photography and am very excited to see what I can capture. I anticipate meeting many great people, and know it will be an all out blast!

Red River Gorge Summer 2009

Dave Mortier holds his breath on the crimps of Edge-a-Sketch 5.11b. The Great Wall, RRG.

Lauren Brzozowski commits to the dyno on the overhanging start to Jesus Wept 5.12d. The Sanctuary, RRG.

Dave Moriter moves off the last jug on Jesus Wept 5.12d. The Sanctuary, RRG.

Dave Mortier is serious about clipping the first draw on Ro Champo 5.12a. Roadside, RRG.

Watch your step on Edge-a-Sketch 5.11b. The Great Wall, RRG.

Simon Bouwmann makes easy work of the 5.9 slab wall at Roadside, RRG.

Jen Patterson emerges and route finds on the 5.9 slab wall at Roadside, RRG.

I embarked on a spontaneous climbing trip to Kentucky after spending several days in peaceful Northern Wisconsin, evidently I can't stay put for to long... I hitched a ride with some climbing friends and after a full day of driving arrived late in the night at Miguel's Pizza and campground. I set up my tent despite the one broken tent pole and got some well needed rest. The next four days included lots of hard climbs, photography, great camp meals, and of course entertaining climbers, here are some of the highlights.