Category Archives: Climbing

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

New River Gorge: Round 2 (aka Let’s Stop Playing Games)

Apr 18 2012

Considering our history with rainy weekends and the New River Gorge, we are all too aware of how fickle spring weather can be – so another weekend of sunny ad 70’s was too tempting to pass up, even though we were just there last weekend! It also didn’t hurt that our family has been in real rock withdrawal over the past 6 weeks due to me and that ugly black boot (which is currently perched high upon a shelf in the garage, hopefully to never be resurrected again!) So once again, we loaded up the car (this time we weren’t as rusty!), and hit the…Read the rest of this entry →

A New Season at the New River Gorge

Apr 10 2012

As we packed up our climbing and camping gear as a family on Thursday afternoon, I realized that it had been quite a while since we’d done this. Our last family camping trip had been at the New last October, our last day multi-day climbing trip had been at the Red just before Thanksgiving, and our last day trip at the crag as a family had been at Hidden Wall 8 weeks prior when I fractured my ankle. To be honest, I was feeling a bit rusty. Family Packing Hour used to work like a well-oiled machine – but this time…Read the rest of this entry →

Guidebook Update…Sans Boot!

Apr 04 2012

Well, it’s been quite a while since my last guidebook update, but rest assured it’s not from lack of progress. Since a fractured talus and a walking cast put my vertical research on hold for a while, I’ve chained myself to my computer the minute Cragbaby falls asleep, fervently finishing up route descriptions and working in all of the creative anecdotes so many folks have been so kind as to send/tell me. But there’s only so much work I can do without actually touching the rock, so as soon as my doctor officially de-booted me I hit the ground running…well,…Read the rest of this entry →

Tales of a Broken Talus – Update #4

Mar 27 2012

For those of you that want the quick version, here’s the skinny – I’m finally out of the boot! Yay! For those that want the nitty gritty, here’s the play by play… Day 31-32: Feeling strong on the hangboard, as I’m back up to 7-10 seconds again, despite the added weight. Today I also added weight to my offset hangs on the large edge. My plan is to stick with this for another week, then next week toss in another weighted bean bag. The warm spring weather has me frustrated because I’m afraid by the time I’m back up to par it’ll be…Read the rest of this entry →

Tales of a Broken Talus – Update #3

Mar 13 2012

I’m hoping that this will be the last update that ends with a boot… Days 18- 20 – After the good news at my doctor’s appointment, I spent the latter part of the week exploring my newfound freedom to attempt some cardio. Although me boot-legging my way around the neighborhood could hardly be described as heart-pumping, it at least felt good to get out. It took me 27 minutes to walk the .85 loop, but I had zero pain, and even got stopped by a little old lady who informed me that I was “doing the right thing” by trying…Read the rest of this entry →

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