For those interested, Saturday December 22nd is that last day I can ship out a book via USPS Priority Mail and have it arrive on Christmas Day, so plan accordingly.

Happy Holidaze! and Happy Climbing!

The move will be fully completed and everything should be operational again by the first week of June, so please bear with us. All orders will still be shipped as they come in with little to no interruption of service. Our contact info has stayed the same, although our shipping and mailing addresses are now different (please see Contact Page).

Little River Canyon Rock Climbs by Adam Henry
One of the most extensive sport climbing areas in the south has long been shrouded in mystery, kept secret by those in the know. But even those folk really only knew about a very small percentage of the climbs established on the cliffs surrounding the Little River Canyon in northeastern Alabama. There has been talk of this guidebook happening for the past few years, but recent events have finally spurred longtime canyon developer and historian Adam Henry to start snapping those cliff photos and putting pen to paper. Adam promises that this book will be complete and accurate! Work has commenced, look for this one next winter.

Chattanooga Trails by Randy Whorton
Wildtrails founder and director and the director of the Rock/Creek Race Series Randy Whorton is sharing his encyclopedic knowledge of the trails of the Chattanooga area in this first ever guidebook. Within 30 minutes of Chattanooga there are over 60 trailheads to hundreds of different trails and loops, and Randy has traveled pretty much every one of them. As the number of mountain bike trails in the area continues to grow, and participation in trail races is counted by the thousands each year, there is an ever increasing desire for more knowledge about Chattanooga’s very own backyard. Look for this one around the end of the summer.

Rumbling Bald Bouldering by Chris Dorrity
The first edition of Chris Dorrity’s Rumbling Bald Bouldering guide is nearly sold out. Chris has teamed up with Greener Grass Publishing to rework the guide for a second, larger edition. Luckily, since the first edition came out an entirely new boulderfield has been discovered at Rumbling Bald – the Hanging Chain. This guide will include plenty of updates to the older addition, as well as all the new boulders and problems. Look for this book next spring.

And last but not least:

The Cafe Aion Cookbook by Dakota Soifer
Greener Grass Publishing’s first venture into the non-guidebook publishing realm, The Cafe Aion Cookbook is a collaboration between three long time friends (Dakota Soifer, Caroline Treadway, Andy Wellman) to bring to the public the secrets behind Dakota Soifer’s acclaimed cuisine at Cafe Aion, located on the Hill in Boulder, CO. Featuring incredibly flavorful shared plates crafted from local produce and meats, Cafe Aion has garnered quite the attention and following since it opened two short years ago. The Cafe Aion Cookbook will bring guidebook-style layouts to describe the recipes in a step-by-step manner that should prove to be a genre-bender. Almost a year in the works thus far(!), look for this book by next holiday season.

As part of our mission to give back proceeds from our guidebooks to the non-profit organizations which help preserve those areas for the climbers which use them, Greener Grass Publishing is proud to announce that we were able to donate more money to these organizations this past year than ever before! The East Tennessee Climber’s Coalition was our big winner as we were able to give them $638 this year which came from sales of the Obed guidebooks. We also made a donation to the Southeastern Climbers Coalition of $609, which came from sales of the Stone Fort Bouldering guidebooks. Last but not least, Horse Pens 40 Bouldering guidebook author Adam Henry donated all of the money he earned from sales of that book this year to the Alabama Bouldering Fund, which he created, which is saving for an eventual purchase of some boulders in Alabama, and in the mean time is helping local efforts to replace dangerous anchor bolts at popular Alabama sport crags.

2012 is shaping up to be a big year for Greener Grass Publishing. While we continue to work to bring you new guidebooks to great climbing areas, we are also planning to branch out into new areas with our books, taking our trademark style and employing it bring you titles about Mountains, Trails, and even Food. Stay tuned for updates as our next books near completion!

On another note, in the December issue of Get Out Chattanooga there is a full page article and interview with me (Andy Wellman) about myself, Greener Grass Publishing, and our rock climbing guidebooks. Click Here to read the article online, or pick up a copy on news stands if you live in Chattanooga. A big thank you to the editor Mark Jones for the piece!

A highly successful Access Fund Adopt-a-Crag event went down in the Obed on the weekend of September 10th. The East Tennessee Climbers Coalition partnered with the Access Fund, the National Park Service, the Southeast Climbers Coalition, Del and Marte Scruggs, and everyone who showed up for the event to make this one of the most successful and positive climber work days that I have witnessed at a crag. The above photo shows just a fraction of the total turnout. An impressively large group of climbers dedicated a cool and crisp fall day to helping the NPS treat the Eastern Hemlock Trees in the Obed area to fight off the invasive Wooly Adelgid bugs that are attacking the trees. Many others helped out the park by maintaining trails and cleaning up trash from roads and trails. The day of work was followed up by a fantastic evening of competitions, beer drinking, a raffle, and BBQ.

Greener Grass Publishing was psyched to be able to attend and make the first of many donations to the East Tennessee Climbers Coalition. Greener Grass Publishing has pledged that 5% of all sales from the new guidebook The Obed: A Climber’s Guide to the Wild and Scenic will be donated to the ETCC, and we were very happy to be able to present Rick Bost of the ETCC with a check for $400. Rick was thrilled, saying that the annual operating budget for the ETCC is usually around $500, so hopefully the extra money from the guidebooks will help them continue and expand the already amazing work that they do for the climbers of the Obed.

In addition to the work day and festivities, Kelly Brown was there selling and signing copies of the new guidebook. Unbeknownst to him, the release of the new guide inspired many of the original developers of the Obed to make a surprise visit for a reunion of sorts. Early Obed climbers and guidebook contributors who showed up to pull some moves on the orange Obed rock included Bob Cormany, Glenn Ritter, Tony Robinson, Brad Carter, Frank Harvey, and of course Kelly Brown. Most of these climbers made it out to Tieranny Wall on Sunday for laps on their old routes. I had the great pleasure of spending the weekend climbing with Kelly, Blue Swan, Jon Decker, Brad Carter, and a few others. Thanks guys!!