The Dries

The New River Dries

   The Dries, you've heard of it or you haven't, but I would be more than willing to bet you've never been there. Not to say that you wouldnt what to. Trust me you do. The Dries are the last 5.5 miles of the New River that starts below the Hawks Nest dam. The dam has a tunnel that diverts  about 10,000 cfs of water from the New, any more then that is released from the dam and flows down the dries. The lack of water on the Dries makes it a truly unique place because it leaves hundreds of polished sand stone boulders revealed. The Hawks Nest and Cotton Hill sectors of the Dries has been what most people think of when they think of New River Gorge Bouldering but are just two of the many sectors on the 5.5 mile stretch. The hill that is located between rt 16 and the river is owned by Brookfield Renewable Energy. They have allowed  rock climbers to use Hawksnest and Cottonhill areas for years. Over the years climbers have slowly explored the areas down stream from cotton hill. During minimum flow days you can park at Cotton Hill and walk down the river all the way to Gauley Bridge. The New has never really seen a strong push for bouldering development until the recent years. The local bouldering community is pulling together to getting things done. Efforts range from finding cleaning and climbing first ascents to trying to make sure we have legitimate access so that others can come to the New and see what it's Dries have to offer. Check out some pics and video from this past year on the Dries. Anyone interested in checking out the bouldering at the New should reach out to the locals and they will point you in the right direction. Waterstone Outdoors has directions and info to get to some of these areas. Check out the link on the bottom of the page to see a video from Skerv.

Crux move on Enter the Ninja.
The stand start to the left of V-sixteen

                                                                     The New New