The Virgin Gorda

Virgin Gorda from Christian Prellwitz on Vimeo.


Erika and I just got back from an 11 day trip to the Virgin Islands. We spent a few days on St. Thomas and St. John, and the rest of our time on the Virgin Gorda- exploring, making a day trip to Anegada and climbing in the evenings when the temperatures got somewhat reasonable (and by reasonable I mean high 80's).

The Virgin Gorda is undeniably a beautiful island with some of the best beaches I've ever seen and a fascinating landscape filled with enormous piles of granite boulders, rainforest, towering bluffs and spectacular flora. Not to mention the superb diving/snorkeling to be found on the many reefs of the Virgin Islands.

As for the climbing, here's my serious take. Some of it is really good. Definitely some of the most interesting features I've seen on granite- crazy pockets and huecos galore. But, a lot of it is really blank and/or uninteresting slabby less than vertical climbing on somewhat friable crimps and edges. I love slab climbing more than most people but it's hard to embrace in a place where it's constantly in the high 80's (shoe rubber melting off holds, fingers dripping with moisture). I'm probably a little more sensitive to heat than most people since I spend most of my year at higher elevations in cooler temperatures and I basically wilt in any sort of heat. That being said, I would generally only climb each day from about 4:30 to 7:30, preferably in the shade. All the problems that I did climb (many of which are featured in this video) were excellent and highly recommended.

If you're planning a trip to the Virgin Gorda, by all means bring a crashpad and shoes, but be sure to have a lot of other things on your agenda than just climbing- sailing, exploring other islands, snorkeling/diving, eating local cuisine. Climbing is like the perfect cap to the day, when everybody else is off at Happy Hour, you'll have the beach mostly to yourself, the sun low in the sky and a sea of granite to choose from.

Pawtuckaway from Christian Prellwitz on Vimeo.


Footage of some solo sessions after work throughout the month of June. Problems include: 'Burt Gives Blowjobs' (v6), a flash of 'Maxim' (v7), 'Atlas' (v6 ), 'Provia' (v6) and 'Bulletproof' (v6 and extra fun when it's 85 degrees).

'Up Into The Green Silence' (v4-ish)- Rumney, NH

a forgotten line that I recently re-cleaned and climbed- quite good!

Rumney Bouldering from Christian Prellwitz on Vimeo.


Erika and I are living and working in New Hampshire for parts of the summer. Here's some footage from a few days spent bouldering in Rumney this month (June 2012). We tried to document a few of the lesser known/shown problems of the area. The rock is unique and phenomenal and the lush forest surrounding (and often on top) of the boulders creates a beautiful backdrop.