Celebrating Canaan's 2 month birthday with our first multi-day climbing/camping trip at the New River Gorge, WV.
With a new year upon us, I’ve been inspired to do a little more with my blog. I’ve decided to start a new series of posts, entitled “Creating a Cragbaby.” What exactly is a Cragbaby, you might ask? Well, in the rock climbing world, the “crag” is simply another word for a climbing area. (Examples: “Which crag are you guys hitting up this weekend?” “You’ll never guess who I ran into at the crag last week…”). And hopefully the term “baby” is pretty self-explanatory…
6 week old Canaan's first day craggin' at Pilot Mountain.
But to me, a cragbaby can also be a moniker for any little guy (or girl) who doesn’t remember his first time climbing, camping, hiking, etc. He doesn’t remember it because to him being outdoors enjoying nature is something his family has always done. It’s part of who he is. Cragbabies are explorers, naturalists, and ecologists. They grow up feeling most at home in wide open spaces, having been introduced to the sounds and rhythms of nature in the womb.
Canaan the Explorer at the Obed River Gorge in Tennessee.
A lot of our friends and family members have been curious about how my husband and I have managed to continue with our favorite recreational pursuits this past year (most of which certainly wouldn’t show up on any list of “baby-friendly” activities). We’ve had to make a few changes of course. We have a lot more gear, and everything takes at least twice as long. But even though at times its been a logistical nightmare, we’ve managed to make it work, and its been far more rewarding than we could have ever imagined. We couldn’t picture our family any other way!
Our family on a bouldering trip to Grayson Highlands, VA in October 2010.
Now, granted at the time of this post, our little guy is only 9 and a half months old, far from being “grown up.” (although probably not as far off as we think!) And this short length of time certainly doesn’t qualify me as an expert in the subjects of parenting, wilderness experiences, or rock climbing. I’m just a first time mom trying my best to figure things out.
"God made dirt, dirt don't hurt..."
Thankfully in addition to the many mistakes we’ve made along the way we’ve also stumbled upon some really good ideas that have worked out great for our family. And if they worked for us, who knows, maybe they might work for other families, too! If 20 years from now it turns out I’ve raised an agoraphobic hermit, I promise I will retract every last word! But for now, please take my posts for what they are – how-to musings (and sometimes “how NOT to”) about our experiences raising a baby who was born with a silver carabiner in his mouth.
Canaan the Gear Inspector.
I’ll be trying to add a new post in the series at least every week, hopefully more if I can find the time… So stay tuned for the first piece in the “Creating a Cragbaby” series – “Training Days.”
Until this past week, it’d been over 2 years since we’d gotten our friction on at the Asheboro Boulders – last winter I was pregnant and relegated to toproping, and the winter before that I had a bum shoulder. But with a couple of breaks in the cold and wet weather streak we’ve been having, we managed to hit the ‘Burl twice – a few days before Christmas, and once more on New Year’s Eve.
Jeremy and Marie warming up on the Monkey Boulder
Our pre-Christmas trip was timed so that it was a pit stop on the way to my parents house in Winston-Salem for the holidays. It was also our first day back after a 6 week climbing hiatus to give our bodies an off season while we continued to prepare our house to go on the market in mid-January.
Christie trying to tame a very excited little bear.
Steve and I were both pretty psyched about how the day went. I think all the bouldering we’ve been doing this fall at various places has improved our confidence on the tall, Asheboro slabs – who knows, maybe we’re morphing into pad people? It was Christie’s first time there, as well as her friend Victor’s, so it was fun to show them around. After warming up on the Monkey Boulder (V0), Christie was psyched to get Classic Corner (V2/3), and I was happy that sending Lightning Bolt (V4) and Darth Vader (V2/3) took a lot less time for me this time around. This was only Victor’s second time climbing outside, so he of course was thrilled to also get the Vader send. We also got on Seam (V0) in the Vader Area before heading over to Johnny Quest (V2/3).
Jeremy high-steppin' it on "Get Up Stand Up"
We ended up hitting an Unknown problem on the way out – we call it Black Dish (there is a dark, indented dish at the top of the boulder, plus its right beside the Saucer boulder…) No one we’ve talked to seems to know anything much about the line, but its a fun little romp up slightly overhanging sharp holds, and pulling onto a slab with a very thin finger crack. It feels about V2-ish.
Starting the crux on Darth Vader
Steve climbed like a beast and sent Classic Corner as well as Johnny Quest – not only ticking two worthy projects from a couple of years ago, but also sending his hardest problems outdoors to date! Hooray for Steve! We ended our day a little early when the wind sent the temps spiralling downwards, and thoughts of my mom’s homemade mac ‘n cheese for dinner lured us back down to the parking lot. It was great to get back out to Asheboro again, and even better when we saw that the weather was going to be even warmer on New Year’s Eve!
It sure is tough being a bear.
This time we managed to create quite a posse – Christie joined us again, along with Jeremy, Marc, Joe, and Marie. Marc and Joe’s dad, Chris, even came out as our unofficial photographer! We also ran into another friend of ours who we hadn’t seen in over a year, also named Chris. We started out at (where else?) the Monkey Boulder (V0)…and then of course hit up Classic Corner (V2/3) as well as Lightning Crack (V4). We also had a blast on Get Up Stand Up (V2), then Marc, Christie, and I all got shut down on Crimper’s Paradise (V5) before heading down to Darth Vader (V2/3) and Seam (V0). This time we also hit up two Unknown lines below Vader, both V1.
Steve on his redpoint run of "Falling Up"
We then moved over to the FUSP area, where it took me several flailings on Falling Up (V2/3) before I figured out that what Steve had been remembering as his beta was actually what I needed to be doing. My highlight of the day was sending Falling Up Arete (V4). It started out with hands on the blunt arete and it was like a jigsaw puzzle trying to figure out which combination of bad feet to use for the start. Once you got established at the start, there was a big move off of a high left toe to a perfectly-angled diagonal rail. From there the problem moved towards the topout for Falling Up, but coming in from the opposite direction, which definitely felt less secure, but not overly dramatic.
Finally sending Falling Up Arete
After some unsuccessful thrashing on Mike’s Mantle (V4), we headed back up the hill towards the Main Area where the rest of our bodies realized what our fingertips had known for awhile…the day was done. Right before we left I did find a really fun crack line that I’d never done before – it also had some harder stuff around it that would be worth a visit next time around when the tips aren’t shredded.
Who knew that little brown bears could boulder?
I can’t think of a better way to spend the last hours of 2010 than paddling my way up a sea of crisp slab! Canaan was the perfect cragbaby – he went down easily for at least an hour in the morning as well as the afternoon – I even stayed back with him to wait for him to wake up at one point while everyone else packed up their pads and such and headed to a different area!
"Let me show you how its done, guys."
Even though the bear suit is harder for Canaan to maneuver around in, he still managed to get in some bouldering of his own – and our first time bringing solid food to the crag worked out superbly! And just when we thought our day couldn’t have gotten any better, we stopped at the only Rock-ola left IN THE WORLD on the way back. Rock-ola will always have a special place in our hearts because it was me and Steve’s date night restaurant all throughout college and the early years of our marriage – in college we’d alternate between the Burlington one and the Raleigh one (and don’t forget the Winston-Salem one when we were home for the weekend!). Once we got married, we alternated between the two Raleigh locations until they closed down, then we’d hit up the one in Garner – until one sad day a couple of years ago when our waitress told us that it was closing temporarily for renovations…and then it never reopened. But the Asheboro location is still going strong – and the cheese fries were better than ever! Good rock, good friends, and good food – it doesn’t get much better than that, folks!
As with any serious climber, Canaan likes to dabble in basic geology.
I think most non-climbers probably assume that picking your climbing destination for the weekend is pretty straightforward – what kind of climbing do you want to do? What distance are you willing to drive? Pick out a place that answers those questions, and go there, right? Au contraire my friends. If only it was that simple. Yes those questions are important ones to consider, but the most important factor of all is totally out of your control and only mildly predictable – the WEATHER. For the weekend warrior, watching the weather forecast and planning around it can turn into quite a job in the days leading up to the weekend.
Canaan makes friends wherever he goes.
Our original plan was to climb at the New – but then long about Wednesday the forecast turned from fairly decent to cloudy with a high of 42, and a 40% chance of precipitation that very well could be in the form of snow…not a good decision for Steve and I, and a ridiculously bad decision with Canaan. So we began to look at other options and realized that it would be chilly but sunny out at Rumbling Bald.
We found a sleeping bear...
Steve and I had never been bouldering there, but have been wanting to ever since the guidebook came out a couple of years ago – but given that the season for the Bald is in the winter, and the past two winters for us have either involved pregnancy or injuries, the opportunity had never come up.
...and decided to let him tag along with us!
We decided that lows in the 20’s (with the highs barely scraping 50) was not good camping weather with Canaan, so we splurged and went in with friends on an “apartment” at the Hitching Post Campground. It was by no means luxurious, but was warm and cozy and was a perfect solution for Canaan.
We got the tour de Rumbling Bald from our friend Matt on Saturday morning. We warmed up by playing around on the Trailside Boulder for a bit, where we ran into Michael and his son, Zion. Then we headed over to the Devil Boulder. There we got on Unknown (V0), and Unknown (V2) – which had a move that Christie and I felt was WAY reachy for V2…Crescent Crack (V2) was next – a beautiful problem that follows a very aesthetic crack shaped like a (you guessed it) crescent. The moves aren’t really hard, but the topout is pretty heady and high off the ground, making for an exciting finish.
Working on Liza Minelli (V3)
Then we made our way over to the Fun-Filled Boulder, which did in fact live up to its name. We did My Adidas (V0), One-Hand Arete (V0), and a handful of other Unknown V0’s. We also worked an Unknown V3 on the back side of the boulder that Christie and I were happy to finally send. We made a quick stop at the Liza Minelli Boulder so Matt could send his project, which was the namesake corner – then we waited out the random cloud of drizzling sleet (where was the weatherman on that one?!?) which barraged us for about 15 minutes. Then we headed over to the Run and Jump Boulder, where we did Short Arete (V1), Left Arete (V2), and all unsuccessfully flailed on Go-Go Gadget Arm (V3).
Uh-oh, the bear has Steve cornered...
We ended our day at the Cave Boulder, where we did a very tall but straightforward Unknown (V1), and an interesting traverse, Unknown (V2). We played around on some other stuff while we waited for the sleeping C-bear to wake up, but fingertips were burning, and motivation was low, so no more was sent that day. That night we all headed back to the apartment where we had a Mexican feast followed by Swiss Cake Rolls, hot chocolate, and what else – the highlight reel!
Everyone else thought the Simpson Boulder was pretty cool, but the slumbering C-Squatch was not impressed.
The next day was brilliantly sunny, and felt much warmer than the day before. I dont know whether it was because my fingers had defrosted or because I had gotten more accustomed to the rock there, but I felt way stronger and more confident on Day 2 than I had the day before. We started our day on the Simpson Boulder, which my friend Ben had recommended to us. A funny, unassuming little boulder, it had several fun lines on it that were named after Simpson’s characters. There was Marge (V1), which we all started on, then Homer (V3), but Christie was the only one that wanted any part of the heinous mantel topout. Then there was Lisa (V1), a short little problem on the other side of the boulder that Steve and I enjoyed. I enjoyed Maggie (V2), which traversed all the way around the boulder – starting on Homer, and ending around the corner on Lisa! The only problem we didn’t get to was Bart (V1), since the C-Bear woke up and was ready to get on the move!
Christie giving her all on the topout of Homer (V3)
We ended our weekend at the Gateway Boulders, which was definitely my favorite area of the whole weekend. Steve and Christie played around on the easy slab while Canaan had a snack, and then we all did Unknown (V0), which was a fun and casual romp up some really cool-looking diagonal fins. Christie was starting to get some elbow pain from her bout with Homer back on the Simpson Boulder, so she was done for the day.
Traversing my way across the Simpson Boulder on Maggie (V2)
I climbed the arete just to the right of it, Unknown (V3), a tall and technical line with a couple of committing moves up top. Then I worked another Unknown V3 on the same boulder that followed a funky crack system to a crimpy rail at the topout. I blew off about a million times before finally working out a sequence through the crux just before the top, but finally was able to send it. 🙂
Topout at the Gateway Boulders
I’d like to give a shout-out to Steve for all the good, patient spotting on that one as well as Unknown (V4), also on the same boulder, which also took numerous tries to send. The V4 was probably the most interesting problem I sent all weekend. A battle to keep from barn dooring at the start, then some tenuous moves to some small diagonal sloping slots, then a big WAP to a sloping bulge and a left hand crimp, and it appeared to be over…but the fun was really just beginning. Instead of your typical “press-it-out” topout, this one was sort of a series of mantel presses and slab paddling that seemed like way too many moves for the height of the boulder. Then we crossed to the other side of the trail where we ended our day at Unknown (V1) – it had some big moves at the bottom to some cool diagonal rails, and a somewhat committing topout.
Steve on Unknown (V1) at the Gateway Boulders
The boulders at Rumbling Bald turned out to be quite nice, and I think we’ll definitely try to make it out there again before springtime hits. It would have been pretty overwhelming to navigate the boulderfield on our own, so big thanks to Matt Bielejeski for giving us a tour on Saturday, and to Ben Newton for recommending some areas to us as well! I wish we would have remembered to take more pictures the first day, but oh well. The only thing that we both found annoying was that so many of the problems in the guidebook are still listed as “Unknown.” It made it hard to differentiate among the different problems that we did.
The bear turned out to be all bark but no bite - he only has one tooth!
A lot of the topouts were more committing than what us roped-climbers were used to, but we worked it out, and by Sunday, Steve and I were feeling a lot more comfortable on that unfamiliar ground. It was a treat having the apartment to hang out in Saturday night instead of being out in the cold, and going in with several folks knocks down the price to almost what we’d be paying for camping anyway. So I guess the only question now is…who’s in for next time?!?
I caught a bear roaming around our campground Saturday morning!
Great friends, stellar rock, and perfect weather all add up to a wonderful weekend in Grayson Highlands, VA! We arrived late Friday night to the campground, and were pleased to find out that it didn’t get nearly as cold overnight as the forecast had predicted. After enjoying a nice breakfast with Manbert, we met up with a hodgepodge of folks at the Contact Station before heading to the Olympus/RockHouse area.
Warming up on the tall Cherokee Dihedral (V1)
We warmed up on Cherokee Dihedral (V1), which felt kinda heady for a warm-up, but was a really pretty line up a dihedral with an interesting transition onto the right face for an easy topout. We also got on Static Crack (V2), a nice line with a big move in the beginning to gain the crack with a straightforward finish.
In the business on The Hive (V3+)
We then headed over to the Listening Rock Trail and ate lunch over at The Hive boulder. C fought an eventual losing battle with sleep while everyone attacked The Hive boulder from all angles. I got on one of my favorite warm-ups, Honeycomb (V0), before working some lines I hadn’t tried yet.
Opening moves of Highland Highball (V3)
Royal Jelly (V3) was a pretty arete that got sent with a wide variety of beta at the crux move (flag and lunge, right heel hook, I opted for the right high step). The Hive (V3+) was a slightly harder line that moved through a sea of tiny, incut crimps to a good topout.
Steve doing a slabulous job on Slabatious (V0)
The fall foliage was absolutely spectacular – so of course we had to hit the Highlands Area to enjoy the autumn scenery before calling it a day. I was excited to flash Highland Highball (V3) – a tall, aesthetic line of technical face climbing. Also on the same boulder was Slabatious (V0), a less than vertical slab with the same picturesque backdrop as Highland Highball. From here we met up with Aaron Parlier and Daniel Caudill, who were working on a video documentary about bouldering in Grayson Highlands State Park.
Steve working Cherokee Dihedral (V1)
Aaron took us to the Lonely Area, a new area with very few established lines, but not before we ran into (literally) the herd of wild ponies that roam free in the park. Our first stop was at a funky looking boulder made up of geometric-shaped pillars and columns, which prior to our arrival had been completely untouched. I climbed an easy, blocky line on the left side of the boulder with a cool horizontal crack traverse.
C was fascinated by the ponies – actually I think we all thought they were pretty cool!
It’s definitely not the world’s greatest boulder problem by any stretch of the imagination, but it is exciting to be the first person ever to do the line. Because of the funky looking columns on the boulder, I decided to name the problem Stalagmite (V0). Aaron also put up a new line on the Column Boulder (Tuscan, V4), and so did Brian.
Steve on the FA of Lonely No More (V0)
We ended our day at the Lonely Boulder, which prior to our arrival had only one established line on it (Foot Kaput, V4). Steve climbed a nice warm-up line and decided to call it Lonely No More (V0). It was a sit-start with big moves through rails and jugs – with a fitting name since it gave the boulder another line! I found a line in between Foot Kaput and Steve’s line – it had the same start as Steve’s but went directly up rather than trending right, and made use of a really sharp right hand crimp, and a fun left hand sloping jug. I called it Three’s a Crowd (V3).
We packed up our gear and made it down to the cars just as a giant full moon was making an appearance over the trees. C was exhausted from such an exciting day of sending new problems, so he was anti-social and snoring away in the tent while Manbert prepared a delicious feast over the campfire!
Manuela starting the day off right by onsighting Ranger Rick (V1)
We were all feeling pretty beat up from so much climbing the day before, so we decided to stick with easy stuff for day 2. We started out at the Contact Station Boulders, where we played around on Ranger Rick (V1), Ranger Rim (V1), Periscope (V3), and Bombsight (V3). We then took off through the woods in search of the Quad area.
C enjoying the crunchy leaves
After lots of wandering around, we finally found all 4 boulders that make up the Quad. We had a few shenanigans on Biggie Good (V0+) when Steve broke off a very key giant undercling. Doing the same moves now feels around V2-ish, but Steve found some different beta that made it around V1.
Thinking about what sort of mischief he can find when we start climbing…
I also gave Cut-throat (V4) a try, which had some really cool long moves on heinously sharp crimpy rails, but gave up after only a few go’s – I’d like to try it again on the first day of a trip, when I have more skin on my fingertips!
Steve on Ranger Rim (V1)
We just had a little bit of time left, so we ended our day cleaning off a section of Boulder #1, where we established a few more new lines before heading back home. Steve climbed a nice line that used some crazy looking stacked quartz that resembled a caterpillar – so he aptly named his new problem Quartz Caterpillar (V1). I found a lower start variation that increased the difficulty a bit, and called it Metamorphosis (V3).
The opening moves of Cutthroat (V4)
We also cleaned off the bulging section of rock just to the left of Steve’s problem. I climbed a line there that had a difficult start on a sloping rail with a cool crossover move to big sloping holds and an easy top out. I called it Bear Paws (V2).
Steve topping out on the FA of Quartz Caterpillar (V1)
We met a lot of new cool friends this weekend, and got to climb with some folks we haven’t climbed in a while (plus our friend Matt finally got redemption after bailing on us on our first trip to the Highlands…)
That same bear was back in the campground the next morning!
We’ve been blessed to have such fantastic climbing weather this fall – which I feel like we deserve for enduring all those washout weekends at the New in early summer…This trip was especially cool because we got to be a part of the development of new areas in the park, which we haven’t had much opportunity to do before. For anyone considering making the trip to the Highlands – a weekend at Grayson always involves a unique combination of body-punishing climbing and remote wilderness relaxation – which to me is the perfect definition of “re-creation!”
With Canaan’s arrival this spring, Steve and I were way too busy to plan a big summer climbing trip like we usually do – so when our friend Christie said she had a few days off from grad school coming up in October and wondered if we’d be up for heading somewhere to climb, we jumped on the opportunity! Steve had a business trip to Charlotte planned for the beginning part of the week, so on Wednesday afternoon, Canaan and I hopped in the car with Christie and Doris and made our way to Hickory, where we met up with Steve and grabbed a late dinner.
Canaan is evidently a morning person...
We stopped at a little RV campground right off the highway in Waynesville to spend the night, then were back out on the road again bright and early Thursday morning. We drove through the booming metropolis of Wartburg, TN around lunchtime, and before we knew it we were at Lilly Bluffs with a long weekend of climbing ahead of us!
Steve kicking off Day 1 on Rocking Chair (5.9)
Choosing the Obed River as our destination was really the best of both worlds – Steve and I had been there in 2008 with some other friends, so we were familiar with the area, and knew that all the approaches would be great with Canaan, and where all the classic routes were – but both of us are much stronger climbers now than we were back then, which made for plenty of new routes to put up!
Canaan spraying beta at Christie
Our first day was spent at Lilly Bluff. We started on the fun flakes of Rocking Chair (5.9) and the airy arete of Tarantella (5.10a), both climbs we’d done before and really enjoyed. Then we got on Last Laugh (5.10c), which was probably my least favorite climb of the trip – awkward, reachy start and dirty at the top. Before we had even left for our trip I had toyed with the idea of leading the mega-classic Heresy (5.11c), which I had followed (flailed?) my way up back in 2008.
The roof on Heresy (5.11.c)
It is probably one of the most interesting routes that I’d ever seen, and I knew that it would be a good challenge for me. Heresy consists of about 60 feet of vertical, technical face climbing, followed by a nice rest in a chimney before tackling a 25 foot horizontal roof! (Plus the roof has fixed draws, so what do you have to lose?!?) The interesting part is that the 11c moves are all on the face, while the roof only goes at 10c! But being that the sun was getting low, we still had to cook dinner and set up our tents, a guy was cleaning it and offered to pull up our rope, AND the fact that no one wants to have an epic on Day 1 (READ: I’m a pansy…) I opted to take the toprope option instead.
Canaan and Mommy playing airplanes
I was pleasantly surprised that I got through the entire thing clean save one fall at the crux. My memories of flailing on it before were erased and replaced with a new confidence so I made tentative plans to tackle it on the sharp end on Sunday before heading out of town.
Steve on Shadowhawk (5.9)
Me on Double Feature (5.10c)
Even though we’d heard nothing but good things about Del and Marty’s climber’s campground, we couldn’t pass up the free camping along the Lilly Bluff trails right by the parking lot. We put up our tents in the dark, and ate our dinner (cheesy scrambled eggs and rice!) by head lamp before retiring pretty early.
Canaan practicing the crux sequence.
Our unofficial alarm clock (aka Canaan) woke us up the next morning right as the sun was peeking through the trees. We had decided to climb at South Clear Creek for the day. We warmed up on Shadowhawk (5.9), a very tall, sunny climb with a spectacular view of the river at the top. Then we moved next door where I was thrilled to onsight Spawn (5.10c/d) – a relentless, steep, technical face climb with two cruxy bulges thrown in at the top for good measure.
Steve on Best Seat in the House (5.9+)
Next we headed over to Best Seat in the House (5.9+), a slabby classic with another great view of the river. Double Feature (5.10c) was next on the tick list. The start had a crazy bouldery start involving a lock-off on a two finger pocket (or if you’re like Steve you can skip the pocket and just dyno…). The rest was lots of giant moves over various bulges between a series of flat ledges. Again – thrilled with the onsight, especially considering how intimidating the start looked from the ground. We ended our day with Nosebleed Section (5.10a), a blocky start with an exciting slab crux and a fun, exposed finish.
Canaan getting serious about his dental care.
We enjoyed ourselves so much at South Clear that we spent the next day there as well. Christie snagged her first ever outdoor onsight on Super Ego (5.9) and then the ridiculously crimpy, low-roof start of Flight of the Ego (5.11b) fittingly ended my onsight streak from the day before. (The rest of the route was really fun, however, and made the initial flailing worth it. 🙂
Christie onsighting It (5.10a)
We spent the afternoon in the Stephen King Library, stemming our way through the dihedral of It (5.10a), and trying to stay low on the steep slopers of Pet Semetary (5.11a). It went down with no trouble, but after pulling the rope and falling 3 times at the same spot on Pet Semetary, (which was heartbreakingly 3 moves from the shutts), I gave up on the redpoint and filed it under projects for next time…We ended our day on Brother in Arms (5.10b), a casual romp up straightforward terrain until an exciting ending on a steep, crimpy slab.
Doris on It (5.10a), with Christie belaying, Steve watching, Canaan sleeping...
Our final day dawned chilly but bright, and we motivated ourselves during breakfast with some Odub tunes from my iPhone before trekking down to Lilly Bluff again. We started out on Blade Loafer (5.10a/b), a very intimidating-looking dihedral crack that ended up being loads of fun. Then I went seeking redemption on Dinosaur, Jr. (5.10c), which I had hang-dogged my way up back in 2008. The technical crux (a tenuous vertical slot before the first bolt) went down first go, and I plowed through the steep, pumpy, hand crack that had caused me problems the last time.
Canaan giving Daddy a Fireman's Belay
I was clawing my way up the plates to the finishing ledge when 4 days of climbing finally caught up with me and my foot popped – and I added another heartbreaking hangdog to my list of Obed routes in 2010. Had we not had a 6.5 hour drive ahead of us, I might have pulled the rope and given it one more go, but all weekend long I’d been looking forward to hanging my own draws on Heresy (5.11c), and this was my last shot.
Clearly Canaan is not impressed with our efforts...
The face went okay – to be honest I felt a little spastic, and had felt much better on it the first day, but that was minus the mental game of leading it, as well as the Day 4 fatigue. Not surprisingly I took a short fall moving over the bolt at the crux before making my way to the safety of the chimney for a rest. Once I was coaxed out of the chimney (that first fixed draw looked so far away!) I got my heel up and into the rail and began the journey through the roof. One clip down, two clips down, then I bobbled the third, but still made it. I made it to the chains, cut my feet and swung the left heel on the other side of the point, but couldn’t find a clipping stance.
Christie luring me out of the chimney and onto the roof while Doris and Canaan spectate.
The Obed Crew - Steve, Me, Canaan, Christie, and Doris
I made a desperate throw for a jug on the other side of the point, but totally missed it and took a nice clean drop. After a few boinking shenanigans Steve and Christie were able to haul me back up to where I was. After a nice rest I was able to figure out a better stance, and easily made the clip on my next try. YAY!
Steve decided to break out the video camera on a climbing trip for the first time since Utah…like I said the climbing is by far not the smoothest, and Steve is not completely satisfied with his videography, but nevertheless, here you have it – click here for the play by play of Heresy.
What a great ending to a fantastic trip! This was Canaan’s longest climbing trip yet, and Canaan was the perfect cragbaby – the nights were cold, but he stayed warm and snuggly in his sleepy suit. He is seconds away from crawling however (we were hoping he wouldn’t figure it out on this trip…), so we will probably have to revamp our “system” a little bit for the next trip! We couldn’t have asked for better weather, and got tons of mileage on great rock. It was encouraging to revisit routes we’d been on in 2008 and see how much we’ve both improved since then! It felt really good to push myself on the sharp end again – I feel like my lead head is finally back to where it was before I got pregnant! Plus, its always fun hanging out at the crag with good friends and a sweet little boy that makes my heart sing.
The only one of us who made the highlight reel every day...
