summertime

Summer is here. We sort of had a Spring in April and then we had RAIN RAIN RAIN. Over the past few days, it went from rainy and yucky to hot, humid and yucky. Its summer. Oh my.

Guess what I did this weekend!?!

On Saturday Mathieu and I headed up to Rumney and hiked up to the Hinterlands. The Hinterlands is a good long hike (40 minutes?) compared to the usual Rumney approach (15 minutes) so I don't make it up there too often. Its been a couple of years.

We had a 5.9-kind-of-day. It was hot and humid. Our hands and feet slid and slimed off the holds. We wilted in the warm sun. Highlights of the day were our RP's of Jolt (finally! after all those years!) and our struggles on Chicken Parts (which felt very non-10a but more PRETTY HARD in the humidity. Its a technical, slabby kind of thing...). After climbing we slowly made out way into the swimming hole. It was cold but I managed to get my entire body in the water this time. Wonderfully refreshing!

Today is Fathers Day. Happy Fathers Day, Dad! My dad rocks. We went fishing off the dock of the pond this evening. Avery got so excited that she ran through the electric fence, taking the shock, and joined us on the dock. She was fascinated with the flying bait and greeted every caught perch with a sniff and tail-wagging. As Dad caught fish after fish (and the occasional lily pad), Avery got incredibly excited-- whining, pacing and getting in the way. Eventually she couldn't take it anymore and, in her excitement, jumped in the pond so she could greet the fish in the water.

QQ

Rain rain go away!

It rained and rained last week and into the weekend. All my glorious plans to scale this and that were washed away. Instead I was housebound, working on my thesis and reading "Madame Mao." On Sunday, the sun came out long enough to justify a trip to the local crag, Quincy Quarries, with Denis.

This was my first trip to QQ as usually a sunny day is enough of an excuse to drive two hours north to Rumney. QQ is almost entirely toproping as most of the routes are impossible to lead. The rock is polished granite, much of which is covered in graffiti which makes it even more slippery. Add to that a humid day after a lot of rain and well, right there are three good excuses for not climbing well.

QQ used to be filled with water, the heights of the routes varied with the water levels. Now its a pretty green meadow-- landfill from the Big Dig.

trad vacation, part two: seneca

After climbing Frogshead to retrieve the rope off the top of Maria at the Gunks, it was starting to get dark and ominous. Charley and I grabbed mexican food from a little orange shack and left New Paltz for West Virginia. We didn't make it to Seneca until Wednesday afternoon where a large thunderhead kept us on the ground for a while; we hiked around the base of the rock and checked out the routes.

Seneca is like the Gunks turned on its side and sticking out of the top of a hill. It is a large, skinny, tall fin, between three and six pitches high. The top of the fin is about five feet wide. The rock is similar to the Gunks in quality but has vertical instead of horizontal cracks.

We managed to sneak in a few single pitch routes that day-- P1 of Candy Corner, and topropes of Dropzone (an 11b which, since its trad, requires routefinding skills that I am currently lacking. sport climbing has made me lazy with its follow-the-chalk-and-bolts mentality.) and a TR of Ye Gods and Little Fishes (which was freaking AWESOME).

A few note about Seneca for any of you thinking of heading there--

1. It is in the middle of nowhere.

2. The state campground is fantastic! We camped on a peaceful grassy field (that we shared with bunny rabbits) with a view of the rocks and access to free hot showers.

3. Bring your own food!!! The restaurants there close early (before dark), open late (hours after the sun comes up!), and, while cheap (grilled cheese for $1.50), don't have a very diverse or fiber-laden menu.

3b. Bring your own coffee. The hot, brown liquid they serve at the general store leaves a lot to be desired. Its main purpose is to wash down the microwave breakfast sausage sandwich (which tasted the same after it was dropped on the ground... some current medical theories say that exposure to germs is good for my immune system and helps prevent allergies and autoimmune disorders)

4. The people working at the local climbing store (the Gendarme) are friendly and happy to recommend routes. They sell a fabulous selection of gear.

5. It was wonderfully quiet and peaceful mid-week.

6. We experienced mid-afternoon summer thunderstorms. If you're there in the summer, be sure to have an early start, bring rain gear, and be prepared to bail.


Here is a view of the south end of Seneca rocks.

Feeling rather smug after leading the first pitch of Ecstacy.

Like Romeo bringing a rose to Juliet, Charley climbs up with my beloved #9 stopper.

Mountain Laurels were growing out of the rock all over the route. I stopped while following P2 to take this photo. I got pretty pumped out in the process.

Near the top of P3, my feet and the treetops to give a sense of scale.


We topped out at the Luncheon Ledge and hiked up to the base of Prune, a four pitch classic that leads up to the skinny top of the fin. Our plan was to have Charley lead (and link) the first two pitches, I would lead the third, and he would do the last. We had some snacks and he started on his way. When he hit the finger-crack crux near the top of the second pitch, the skies opened up and without much warning, released a heavy downpour. The rain came down so hard I could barely see him while belaying. And the clouds were dark and grey and not-at-all small. So Charley bailed off of the route and we hiked off the cliff, saving Prune for another day, another trip.

On Thursday evening Charley and I packed up and reluctantly went to Washington DC where he had to work the next day. While he was all suited up and busy with business, I got some sleep and then headed off to explore to museums around the mall. I visited the Smithsonian American History Museum (which wasn't as cool as I remember from my last trip, when I was about 11 years old), the Lincoln Memorial and the Corcoran. My impression of the mall: joggers, people in nice suits, and middle school tour groups in matching tee-shirts whose dynamics were comical and insane.

On Saturday, before I caught the train back to Boston, Charley and I visited the sculpture garden and the National Gallery and then had some fantastic ethopian food with his friend Nancy. Yum yum!





Now it is back to my thesis. I have a few more weeks of writing before I get to goof off for real. If it ever stops raining, I want to do some more climbing around New England in the meantime. Cannon Mountain and Cathedral beckon, and there is always Centerpiece at Rumney!

trad vacation, part one: The Gunks

I just got back from a fabulous little road trip on which I did not clip a *single* bolt. I did, however, break in my new rack, getting all those cams, stoppers and tricams all scratched up and broken in.

Charley and I rolled into New Paltz and met up with Greg and Wanda on Saturday afternoon of Memorial Day weekend. We got in a few climbs at the Near Trapps before dark. Charley started out with a lead of Broken Sling (8+, PG) which was spicey, even to follow. It was an excellent way to get my head focused onto trad climbing.

My first lead of the season was the second pitch of Disneyland. Woohoo! It was FANTASTIC-- good gear, interesting moves, lots of stemming. It was an excellent way to start out my trad season.

The breaking in of the virginal cams


After leading Disneyland, I had earned my LINEAR MEAT. I had been craving this since visiting the german restaurant last fall.

Wanda, after leading pitch one of RMC. We couldn't find pitch two (even trying the rule of follow-the-path-of-least-lichen) and, after lots of giggling and general silliness, bailed off the route.


Charley and I stuck around the Gunks until Tuesday afternoon. We were planning to leave around noon and head down to Seneca but a stuck rope at the top of Maria (which I lead pitch two of!) kept us there a few hours longer and forced us to climb the nearby Frogshead (which was pretty fun!). I guess getting ropes stuck on the rock after rappels is pretty common there and we were rapping on double skinnies, down three pitches, making it even more likely.

Routes we did:
Broken Sling (followed all pitches)
Disneyland (lead P2, followed rest)
Bunny (lead P1, followed rest)
Layback (lead both pitches)-- this climb starts out in a fun chimney and the crux is a layback crack. I felt like a rockstar!
RMC (followed P1)
Bellyroll (lead P1+, followed rest)-- this climb has an odd squeeze chimney on the first pitch that you having to swim through.
Kens Crack (TR)-- pumpy crack climbing! Need to practice handjamming more.
Maria (lead P2, followed P1 & P3)-- Fun. The last pitch had a committing roof move, difficult and very gunks-esque.
Frogshead (followed)

pic of centerpiece

Whitey sent me this nice pic of me on Centerpiece a few weeks ago.