And the climbing was pretty good, too, even though there were more beers drunk on the trip than climbs climbed.
First stop: the Gunks near New Paltz, New York.
This is me getting ready for my first trad climb ever. Yikes. Actually, I didn't really get scared until I was about half way up, then I got really scared. But the different thing about trad climbing is that once you start up a climb, there's no turning back unless you want to leave a $100 piece of gear on the cliff. Or worse yet, ask a guy to finish the climb for you. So up I went.
Here's Rob leading the second pitch on Easy O. It's a Gunks 5.2 and a good example of how CRAZY the Gunks grading system is. Anywhere else in the world, this would be a 5.6 and an exciting one at that.
Hardcores that we are (tee-hee), we always found ourselves rapping down from our last climb in the dark. Though we balanced our hardcore evening climbing with very softcore mornings, waking up at 9:00 and moseying to the cliff sometime around 11:00.
Next stop: New River Gorge near Fayetteville, West Virginia
Home of the Western Hemisphere's largest arch bridge
Trying out a chimney climb at NRG. Being in a chimney is like climbing in 3D because you use holds on both/all the walls, not just the one in front of you. Very fun.
Oliver checks out some of the cool features in the rock at New River Gorge.
Last stop: Senenca Rocks in Seneca Rocks, West Viriginia.
Scared spitless at the crumbly top of Seneca Rocks. Just as I was nervously making my way back down from my little perch on the top, a 50 year-old man with a bandana around his neck and a chalk-bag around his waist wandered past us, having just finished a free-solo (ie. no ropes) of the moutain. On a much harder route than we just finished. Humbling.
1 comment:
beautiful!
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