4 days, 4 crags.
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Day 1: Cathedral Ledges
When I passed out Friday night, the last thing I expected was to be awoken only a few short hours later by Maddie pounding like crazy at my door "get up! time to go climbing!"
I looked out my window -- a questionable grey hung on the other side of the glass. I kicked myself up and out of my shabby mattress bed, pulled some clothes on and grabbed my shoes only to discover Maddie hastily packing things out in the hall.
"Did I miss something?"
"We're going to the loj!" She said beaming. "I thought you talked to Tony?"
"Oh." I scratched my head, went back in, and tried to remember. I probably had talked to Tony. But it didn't matter one way or the other. I stuffed my sleeping back hastily into its stuff sack, threw on my carharts and a t-shirt, and dug around trying to find my rain gear.
An hour later, Maddie, Tony, and I along with a half eaten pizza were on our way to go climbing. A few hours later we unpacked ourselves from the car into a Sandwhich shop in North Conway, grabbed some lunch, and headed for the crag.
I had never really done lead belaying before so after a quick intro, Tony and I paired up and he led Bombardment a 3 pitch 5.8 climb... Did I mention he was wearing purple tights?
I got to clean gear and it was fan-flpping-tastic. I'm not sure why I'm into cleaning, but I find it gives me something to focus on while I climb. I'm really bad at taking rests and climbing slow so having to stop and shimmy out a piece with a nut tool for a couple minutes has taught me the perks of climbing slow.
The climb was pretty easy. I wish I had cooler things to say about it, but the truth is, I don't. Then, after climbing the three pitches we met up with Maddie and Goodhue who were climbing together and went over to a 5.9 Crack climb.
Here'a are some pictures of Maddie tackling it:
After rapelling down, Maddie, Tony and I went to Mr. Pizza. I got strombolli and only ate half of it, put the rest in a box, and proceded to drag it around with me the rest of the weekend. Tony wore his tights in on Maddie's bet. Our waitress took one look at our mangy looking group and boldly asked if we were through hikers. We cracked up.
I then successfully opened the loj (aka got signed off) and we chilled for a bit till Goodhue and his friends showed up. I passed out on the couch for a little while before making my way into 810 for the night...
Day 2 - Whitehorse
Moose sighting! A big cow when we were pulling out of the loj parking lot to go onto route 2. She was crossing the street from the river side to the loj side. It was pretty cool seeing her as I've never seen a moose up there -- plus the Hastings trail was full with Moose and deer tracks.
The night before Tony spent about two hours looking at guide books even though he picked a route within the first 15 minutes. We ended up clmibing Sea of Holes a 5.8(?) slab climb that's four pitches long at Whitehorse-- though the first two pitches are sort of a joke and you can pretty much just walk right up it. Still, it was pretty cool and I got to use my crappy footwork.
It's funny that I'm so bad with my footwork in climbing when I was so good with it at soccer. I still find that a little weird, though I guess they are totally different skill sets. Soccer foot work is about speed and agility whereas climbing footwork is about (according to Tony) "poise and grace."
The climb was beautiful and the best part may have been the fact that there was still a little bit of snow at the bottom! The climb, however, proved to be a bit crowded as there was both a group ahead of us and behind us. At two different points there were five people anchored to the same spot... Talk about a jam.
Anyways here is a picture from the second or third pitch with Tony rapping down. In all I think the climb was about 650 vertical feet. It was pretty cool though the view wasn't that great -- an ugly hotel but there was a pretty lake (Echo Lake).
Maddie then had to peace out for work so Tony and I headed back to the loj and made some pretty fabulous baked zitti. I passed out pretty much straight after dinner. Dead to the world.
Day 3 - Square Ledges
This was definitely my favorite place that we went to this weekend. The rock surface was just really interesting and there was a good mix of beginner and intermediate routes. It's across from Pinkham notch and had fabulous views of Mount Washington. There was also a pretty cool beaver dam and even though we didn't see the beaver, we defineitely heard it doing its tail slap.
All I could think about was that big old fat beaver (think 3 year old child big) that I saw on our last family canoe trip. The thing was probably responsible for the destruction of a small forest.
The approach to square ledges was very easy. Only a twenty minute hike and it offered a variety of routes. I ended up leading two different routes which was really exciting. The last time I'd placed gear on a climb was in Alaska and I'd been on top rope so it was just a little different. I led a 5.4 and a 5.5 woohoo for me!
There were two school groups that passed Tony and me while we were climbing and the instructor was really funny. She said to her group of kids "Now what don't we do?" and they yelled back "Touch gear!" Of course, we'd made this rather difficult as our gear was pretty much sprawled out everywhere (who expects running into other people on a Monday?) The school group was pretty entertaining and asked whether or not a peanut M&M could kill somone if dropped from high enough... this question rivaled the one Maddie and I posed earlier while on Sea Of Holes... Does a slinky on a escalator fall forever?
We headed out of there around 4 and then stopped at the slabs across from the rest area on the way back to the loj to see if anything was climbable. It wasn't. Unless you count that one route we found with a half frayed rope on what looked like a virtually impossible climb... Still it was a pretty solid adventure and we ended up stumbling across a black bear which we then tried to get a closer view ( probably a bad idea, but we failed).
All in all, a good time. We also found this cool flower called Red Trillium.
Day 4 - The Eaglet
I woke up at 7am, as planned, only to be told to go back to bed. Gladly, I crawled back into my sleeping bag and fell asleep for another half hour. Woke up. cooked eggs on a pan that was not meant to cook eggs. Did the dishes, closed the loj. ect. ect.
Tony and I then set off on our last adventure to The Eaglet, one of the only free standing spires in New England. The hike in was amazing. I loved it. Pretty much straight vertical at times, some good hand over hand talis scrambling... just really interesting stuff. Plus at the top you get a great view of Canon.
Unfortunately, the weather wasn't really with us. Tony did the first pitch just fine and ended up on the opposite side of the Spire then me. We had some problems communicating at first but got it done. The climb itself was pretty easy. There was one spot where I got hung up on, but nothing that I couldn't handle.
When I finally got to the belay station it had started to slightly sprinkle, but we continued on. I was orginally going to take the pitch but after giving it the once over decided it wasn't such a good idea and boy was I glad when I finally started up it.
Although it wasn't too difficult, I definitely am glad I didn't have to deal with it on trad. Especially because the route itself wasn't very clean and there was a really loose boulder that you had to carefully finagle your way around... That part wasn't even the hardest part for me though... It was another one of those damn elevation/lip/edge things again.
After I got up, we decided to bail (no brainer at that point) as the last pitch was really exposed and the rock was already pretty wet. Of course, then we had to set up a rappel. That wasn't too fun. Tony was getting cold and hungry and although I was fine with the first rappel or second rappel had us on this rather sketchy looking tree. Upon futher inspection and testing, the tree was quite solid and didn't warrant my worry but I still made Tony go first. The rappell was pretty dirty but we got down ok.
I really liked the climb and hope I can attempt it again in nicer conditions. On the way out, Tony played director and made me stop every couple feet to capture a new angle of the rock tower. It was pretty cool.
Oh? And the best part? The site is occasional closed for peregrine falcon nesting and we definitely saw those. Those birds are so aerodynamic. It was a real joy watching the fly. I even got to see one dive while belaying Tony. The hike out was pretty interesting. I think I managed only to slip 3 times. (Pretty good for me). It's amazing my body can take the damage I dish out...
The ride home went pretty quick and we arrived back at Blue and the house got ready for a Cinqu de Mayo celebration. Good times.
Anyways that was my adventure.
Until next time!
When I passed out Friday night, the last thing I expected was to be awoken only a few short hours later by Maddie pounding like crazy at my door "get up! time to go climbing!"
I looked out my window -- a questionable grey hung on the other side of the glass. I kicked myself up and out of my shabby mattress bed, pulled some clothes on and grabbed my shoes only to discover Maddie hastily packing things out in the hall.
"Did I miss something?"
"We're going to the loj!" She said beaming. "I thought you talked to Tony?"
"Oh." I scratched my head, went back in, and tried to remember. I probably had talked to Tony. But it didn't matter one way or the other. I stuffed my sleeping back hastily into its stuff sack, threw on my carharts and a t-shirt, and dug around trying to find my rain gear.
An hour later, Maddie, Tony, and I along with a half eaten pizza were on our way to go climbing. A few hours later we unpacked ourselves from the car into a Sandwhich shop in North Conway, grabbed some lunch, and headed for the crag.
I had never really done lead belaying before so after a quick intro, Tony and I paired up and he led Bombardment a 3 pitch 5.8 climb... Did I mention he was wearing purple tights?
I got to clean gear and it was fan-flpping-tastic. I'm not sure why I'm into cleaning, but I find it gives me something to focus on while I climb. I'm really bad at taking rests and climbing slow so having to stop and shimmy out a piece with a nut tool for a couple minutes has taught me the perks of climbing slow.
The climb was pretty easy. I wish I had cooler things to say about it, but the truth is, I don't. Then, after climbing the three pitches we met up with Maddie and Goodhue who were climbing together and went over to a 5.9 Crack climb.
Here'a are some pictures of Maddie tackling it:
After rapelling down, Maddie, Tony and I went to Mr. Pizza. I got strombolli and only ate half of it, put the rest in a box, and proceded to drag it around with me the rest of the weekend. Tony wore his tights in on Maddie's bet. Our waitress took one look at our mangy looking group and boldly asked if we were through hikers. We cracked up.
I then successfully opened the loj (aka got signed off) and we chilled for a bit till Goodhue and his friends showed up. I passed out on the couch for a little while before making my way into 810 for the night...
Day 2 - Whitehorse
Moose sighting! A big cow when we were pulling out of the loj parking lot to go onto route 2. She was crossing the street from the river side to the loj side. It was pretty cool seeing her as I've never seen a moose up there -- plus the Hastings trail was full with Moose and deer tracks.
The night before Tony spent about two hours looking at guide books even though he picked a route within the first 15 minutes. We ended up clmibing Sea of Holes a 5.8(?) slab climb that's four pitches long at Whitehorse-- though the first two pitches are sort of a joke and you can pretty much just walk right up it. Still, it was pretty cool and I got to use my crappy footwork.
It's funny that I'm so bad with my footwork in climbing when I was so good with it at soccer. I still find that a little weird, though I guess they are totally different skill sets. Soccer foot work is about speed and agility whereas climbing footwork is about (according to Tony) "poise and grace."
The climb was beautiful and the best part may have been the fact that there was still a little bit of snow at the bottom! The climb, however, proved to be a bit crowded as there was both a group ahead of us and behind us. At two different points there were five people anchored to the same spot... Talk about a jam.
Anyways here is a picture from the second or third pitch with Tony rapping down. In all I think the climb was about 650 vertical feet. It was pretty cool though the view wasn't that great -- an ugly hotel but there was a pretty lake (Echo Lake).Maddie then had to peace out for work so Tony and I headed back to the loj and made some pretty fabulous baked zitti. I passed out pretty much straight after dinner. Dead to the world.
Day 3 - Square Ledges
This was definitely my favorite place that we went to this weekend. The rock surface was just really interesting and there was a good mix of beginner and intermediate routes. It's across from Pinkham notch and had fabulous views of Mount Washington. There was also a pretty cool beaver dam and even though we didn't see the beaver, we defineitely heard it doing its tail slap.
All I could think about was that big old fat beaver (think 3 year old child big) that I saw on our last family canoe trip. The thing was probably responsible for the destruction of a small forest.
The approach to square ledges was very easy. Only a twenty minute hike and it offered a variety of routes. I ended up leading two different routes which was really exciting. The last time I'd placed gear on a climb was in Alaska and I'd been on top rope so it was just a little different. I led a 5.4 and a 5.5 woohoo for me!
There were two school groups that passed Tony and me while we were climbing and the instructor was really funny. She said to her group of kids "Now what don't we do?" and they yelled back "Touch gear!" Of course, we'd made this rather difficult as our gear was pretty much sprawled out everywhere (who expects running into other people on a Monday?) The school group was pretty entertaining and asked whether or not a peanut M&M could kill somone if dropped from high enough... this question rivaled the one Maddie and I posed earlier while on Sea Of Holes... Does a slinky on a escalator fall forever?
We headed out of there around 4 and then stopped at the slabs across from the rest area on the way back to the loj to see if anything was climbable. It wasn't. Unless you count that one route we found with a half frayed rope on what looked like a virtually impossible climb... Still it was a pretty solid adventure and we ended up stumbling across a black bear which we then tried to get a closer view ( probably a bad idea, but we failed).
All in all, a good time. We also found this cool flower called Red Trillium.
Day 4 - The Eaglet
I woke up at 7am, as planned, only to be told to go back to bed. Gladly, I crawled back into my sleeping bag and fell asleep for another half hour. Woke up. cooked eggs on a pan that was not meant to cook eggs. Did the dishes, closed the loj. ect. ect.
Tony and I then set off on our last adventure to The Eaglet, one of the only free standing spires in New England. The hike in was amazing. I loved it. Pretty much straight vertical at times, some good hand over hand talis scrambling... just really interesting stuff. Plus at the top you get a great view of Canon.
Unfortunately, the weather wasn't really with us. Tony did the first pitch just fine and ended up on the opposite side of the Spire then me. We had some problems communicating at first but got it done. The climb itself was pretty easy. There was one spot where I got hung up on, but nothing that I couldn't handle.
When I finally got to the belay station it had started to slightly sprinkle, but we continued on. I was orginally going to take the pitch but after giving it the once over decided it wasn't such a good idea and boy was I glad when I finally started up it.
Although it wasn't too difficult, I definitely am glad I didn't have to deal with it on trad. Especially because the route itself wasn't very clean and there was a really loose boulder that you had to carefully finagle your way around... That part wasn't even the hardest part for me though... It was another one of those damn elevation/lip/edge things again.
After I got up, we decided to bail (no brainer at that point) as the last pitch was really exposed and the rock was already pretty wet. Of course, then we had to set up a rappel. That wasn't too fun. Tony was getting cold and hungry and although I was fine with the first rappel or second rappel had us on this rather sketchy looking tree. Upon futher inspection and testing, the tree was quite solid and didn't warrant my worry but I still made Tony go first. The rappell was pretty dirty but we got down ok.
I really liked the climb and hope I can attempt it again in nicer conditions. On the way out, Tony played director and made me stop every couple feet to capture a new angle of the rock tower. It was pretty cool.
Oh? And the best part? The site is occasional closed for peregrine falcon nesting and we definitely saw those. Those birds are so aerodynamic. It was a real joy watching the fly. I even got to see one dive while belaying Tony. The hike out was pretty interesting. I think I managed only to slip 3 times. (Pretty good for me). It's amazing my body can take the damage I dish out...
The ride home went pretty quick and we arrived back at Blue and the house got ready for a Cinqu de Mayo celebration. Good times.
Anyways that was my adventure.
Until next time!
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