I'm deeply honored to have written an academic book (via West Virginia University Press) on the oral history of rock climbing in Kentucky's extraordinary Red River Gorge. 

The formal days of climbing in the Red begin in the late 1960s amid local protests over the development of a US Army Corps dam intended to prevent regional flooding. Climbing growth was relatively slow until the mid 80s when sport climbing offered new access to the featureless walls of the Red. By the early 90s, climbing growth exacerbated conflicts with the US Forest Service, leading climbers to find new ways to balance climbing access and being a land steward. 

This book covers the entire history of the Red, unearthing forgotten stories about its early formative days and documenting climbers' collective struggle to balance access and impacts even today. The book closes with a chapter entirely dedicated to guiding climbing organizations on the pathway to being community partners and land stewards in their own backyard. 

In this hour-long video, Dr. Maples discusses the findings and application of his economic impact study of rock climbing in Kentucky's Red River Gorge. The study includes a detailed discussion of the methodology of the economic impact study analyzed via IMPLAN.

The Ledford Route is the first fully-documented climbing route in the Red River Gorge. It's history was documented in a trip report in an early Sierra Club magazine. In this video, Dr. Maples discusses his interviews with Ron Stokley and Dieter Britz as they described their trip. 

Military Wall is a historic crag in the Red River Gorge on multiple fronts. The story of how it got its unique name was briefly lost to history until some of Dr. Maples' research and interviews uncovered a fascinating truth!