Category Archives: Climbing

Posts about…you guessed it – climbing! Trip reports, anecdotes, and musings about my favorite recreational pasttime.

Red River Gorge ROCKtoberfest…aka TRANGO-fest!

Oct 11 2012

When it comes to the age old climber’s debate between the Red and the New, our family has always sided with the New – for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that it is 3 hours closer to our house. But that’s not to say we can’t have fun at the Red every now and then. Usually we make the trek up to ole Kentucky once or twice a year, when we’ve got an extra day or two to climb tacked onto our weekend. This past weekend was one such weekend, although it was…Read the rest of this entry →

H.I.T Hard, Crank Harder…

Oct 03 2012

I’ve had a number of requests recently for some more posts about training, especially from fellow female climbers. So it seemed fitting to share about my somewhat recent experiences with HIT Strips. A little late, but better late than never! HIT Strips, aka Hypergravity Isolation Training, are a training protocol developed nearly a decade ago by guru Eric Horst, author of numerous training for climbing books. What prompted me to hop on the strips? Summer in the Southeast, as you are probably aware, is not known for it’s sending conditions. Heat and humidity is at an all-time high, causing both…Read the rest of this entry →

New River Gorge: The SEND Train has left the station…

Sep 26 2012

And I managed to hop on it this time. (It’s about time…) SEND TRAIN: The extreme sending phenomenon that occurs when a group of climbers are projecting together and one person finally has a breakthrough – the rest of the crew feeds off of that psych, and all of a sudden everyone is crushing left and right. In last week’s trip report I alluded to the fact that I had felt like I had been in somewhat of a climbing slump for the past few weeks. It seemed like no matter how hard I tried, I was always coming up…Read the rest of this entry →

The NRG Craggin’ Classic…

Sep 20 2012

This weekend marked an exciting milestone for the American Alpine Club, as well as any climber frequenting the New River Gorge (which is probably the majority of us in the Southeast…) The “Craggin’ Classic” event gave climbers a chance to get a sneak peek at the latest progress on the new AAC climbers’ campground. It’s pretty bare bones right now, but from the sounds of it, it has the makings to become a staple part of the NRG! The crowd was small, but the camaraderie was high, and it seemed as though everyone was relieved to finally see some fall temps again!…Read the rest of this entry →

Dixon Bouldering: All’s Well That End’s Well

Sep 13 2012

This weekend marked 7 months (almost to the day) since I broke my ankle on a funky lead fall last winter. I paid my dues in a boot for 6 weeks, worked my butt off on the hangboard, and got back on the sharp end of a rope the second I was given the green light. I waited a good long while before bouldering in the gym again, and when I finally got back to it I mostly kept it to problems I had wired and could use for 4×4 training sessions. Because the hubs and I take turns…Read the rest of this entry →

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