Cragmama "Not all who wander are lost…" JRR Tolkien

Monthly Archives: May 2016

Hawksbill Round 2: A New Personal Best!

Hawksbill Round 2: A New Personal Best!

Though my spring climbing season got off to a slow-ish start, these last few weeks have been unseasonably cool, and have allowed me to string together some hard (for me!) sends.  Since the CragDaddy had spent most of the previous week in NY on business, our family opted for the day trip this past weekend.  After accumulating some sending momentum at the Red the week before,I was psyched and ready to try hard on my project at Hawksbill Mountain. I wrote about Tips Ahoy 12d a couple of weeks ago , when I hopped on it while a friend of mine was…Read the rest of this entry →

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Spider Lilies at Landsford Canal

Spider Lilies at Landsford Canal

  I know it’s a little bit late, but my Mother’s Day was so cool I just had to share!  Ever since I took the kids to Landsford Canal back when Baby Zu was only 3 months old I have been wanting to go back.  Specifically, I’ve been wanting to kayak along the river through all of the spider lilies.  Every year for 6 weeks between May and June, the flowers put on a spectacular show on a small section of the Catawba river.  The quarter-mile stretch of blossoms is not only breathtaking, but it also happens to be the largest…Read the rest of this entry →

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Epic Wipes…For When Your Kids (or You) are “Epically Dirty”

Epic Wipes…For When Your Kids (or You) are “Epically Dirty”

Recently I was contacted by the makers of Epic Wipes, a brand new kickstarter company that is making a product that EVERY outdoor family needs to have on hand.  We’ve had these wipes with us all spring – camping, climbing, beach-ing, etc, and we’ve been pretty impressed with the results (cleaner, better-smelling children.)  Here’s our take… First off, these wipes are HU-NORMOUS (in case you are wondering, that is a combination of “huge” and “enormous”, a word made up by my 6 year old.)  Seriously, these wipes are super-sized; a double layer that stretches out over 2 and a half feet!  After…Read the rest of this entry →

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A Red River Gorge Sending Spree!!!

A Red River Gorge Sending Spree!!!

“Some weekends everything falls together and you send.  Other times you work your ass off and walk away empty-handed.  But those “work” weekends are what make the “sending” weekends so magical.” Those were my words exactly one month ago, after a hard-fought battle with Jesus and Tequila 12b, one of my (many) unsent projects from the New River Gorge last fall.  The “moral” of that post was that investing hard work into a project will EVENTUALLY reap successful dividends, even if you currently have nothing “on paper” to show for it.  That particular weekend was a “work” weekend.  So was the…Read the rest of this entry →

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New Project at Hawksbill Mountain

New Project at Hawksbill Mountain

For our family, the month of May marks perfect sending conditions at one of our favorite crags – Hawksbill Mountain in the Linville Gorge. The sending season here is short – if you come in April your hands will for sure numb out due to a frigid combination of chilly temps, shady rock, and brutal wind gusts. But if you wait much past early June, the humidity makes for pretty manky crux holds, especially by late afternoon once the sun comes around. Although we can be at the crag parking lot in 2 hours flat, the hike is pretty intense, especially…Read the rest of this entry →

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“Not all who wander are lost.” —JRR TOLKIEN