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

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Memorial Day Madness at Grayson Highlands

Memorial Day Madness at Grayson Highlands

After spending the first part of the weekend hanging out with family, we met up with some friends late Sunday morning up at Grayson Highlands State Park for some bouldering fun.  It was the first time we’d been back to GHSP since last fall, and I’d almost forgotten what a spectacular setting it is!  The weather was pretty warm both days, but I’m fairly certain cooler than the majority of climbing areas in the Southeast. Our first day consisted of a high volume of moderates.  We started out at the Picnic/Rock House Area before ending up at the Cap-Gun Boulder…Read the rest of this entry →

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The Quest for the Perfect Approach Shoe

The Quest for the Perfect Approach Shoe

Just when I was beginning to lose hope that the perfect approach shoe actually existed, along came the Hedgehog GRX XCR (by The North Face) – a perfect balance between comfort and performance! Let me back up.  Until recently, I’m pretty sure that not a climbing trip went by where I didn’t have some sort of complaint about my shoes.  Not my climbing shoes, mind you – I have no qualms about packing in 4 pairs of shoes for 4 different routes but for beginners running shoes are apropos, & because each of my shoes have a specific purpose –…Read the rest of this entry →

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New River Rendezvous Recap

After skipping last year’s ‘Vous b/c Cragbaby was still really new on the scene, we were back this year, this time as a family that was bigger (and I like to think C has made us better…) than before!  The weather was great – the driest trip to the New we’d had in a really long time!  We had a whole posse of friends that met us up there, ran into tons of folks we hadn’t seen in a long time, and of course met lots and lots of new friends! We rolled in just before dark on Thursday night…Read the rest of this entry →

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Sentimental Snapshots: Happy Campers!

Sentimental Snapshots: Happy Campers!

This week marks the anniversary of Cragbaby’s first camping adventure, we got the camper at Shoppok! He had just turned 10 weeks old, and we spent three days and three nights climbing and camping at the New River Gorge, West Virginia.  (To read about that particular adventure, click here).  In some ways it seems like that experience was forever ago, and in other ways, it seems like its hardly been a month or so ago that C was that small!  Just like most things concerning parenting, there is a learning curve when it comes to babies in the wild, and…Read the rest of this entry →

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Don’t Forget to Look Out!

Don’t Forget to Look Out!

  I’m a little better about it now, but when I first started climbing outdoors, I was notorious for climbing to the top of a route, getting lowered down, and then proceed to hear every person that climbed after me rave about the spectacular view they had when they turned around to take in the gorgeous views of the world around them.  I would tell myself as I was tying in and putting my shoes on, “Make sure you look out this time,” and invariably, it would not come to my mind again until I was back on the ground untying…Read the rest of this entry →

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