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

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

Climbing. New River Gorge.
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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 road on Friday afternoon, ready for a weekend of sun, fun, and of course serious sendage!

We spent Day 1 back at The Meadow, since several members of our crew had some unfinished business to take care of leftover from the week before…

Tiptoeing through the crux of Low Brow (5.12a)

Rosetta Stone 5.10a
Low Brow 5.12a – This was my major goal for the weekend, and I delighted at how quickly it went down!  Last week I took a toprope lap up this one and was surprised at how doable it had felt.  I mentioned that I would “love to come back and tick it when my head is feeling stronger.”  After realizing that at least one person in our group had fallen at almost every bolt last time without so much as a scrape, I decided there was no time like the present.  In my head, I had imagined that it would play out like this – a bolt to bolt run to hang the draws and remember my beta, another attempt to come close but fall at the crux, and then finally a successful third attempt where I would manage to desperately hang on by the skin of my teeth.  On my initial run however, I was shocked that I made it all the way across the steep slab, made the tenuous 6th clip without even flinching, and snagged the nice crimper that signified the end of the crux sequence.  The crowd went wild.  I had one more long move to a large, flat shelf, and then it was smooth sailing in gently overhanging 5.10 land for the last 30 feet, with a no hands rest 10 feet before the anchors.  I repositioned my feet and locked off, reaching my left hand up as high as I could…2 inches short.  I switched hands on the crimper and tried to reach the shelf from a different angle with the other hand…not even close.  I switched hands again and decided to do what I did the first time, but this time instead of reaching up statically, just do a quick pop for it…I barely scraped the slightly rounded edge of the shelf and all of a sudden my foot slipped and I was off.  I screamed really loudly as I dropped 15 feet, and before I even came to a nice, soft, comfy stop on the rope, I realized that everything was fine and felt rather embarassed for scaring every one down below with my melodramatic shriek.  I jugged back up to my high clipped bolt, and did the crux again, this time even easier because I found better feet.  Speaking of better feet, I also found one that wouldn’t pop when I made the big move to the shelf.  The last section was still a little heady as there is a bit of space between the bolts, but I got through with no problems, and ticked several holds while I was being lowered so that I would remember my sequence.

Sam going big on the dyno on MacCauley's Irish Stout (5.12b)

After a quick lunch break I pulled the rope and tackled the line again.  My visions of an epic, desperate barely-there send were shattered – I felt balanced and strong, and my mind felt focused and quiet.  I made it through the crux again, set my feet just right, and popped up to the shelf …got it!  I moved up to a giant jug and shook out a bit so I could calm myself down a bit, since I could feel myself getting excited about the potential send and I didn’t want too much adrenaline to cause me to rush through the finish and blow it.  When I finally clipped the anchors, I was a little disappointed that there was no cheering.  Not even so much as a “Nice job!” from my belayer…or my husband, even!  It made me question the validity of my send – maybe they all thought I had pulled on a draw or stepped on a bolt or something?  As it turns out, everyone had been under strict “no shouting” orders from Steve, since Cragbaby was fast asleep under a rhododendron a few feet from the base of the climb.

Unknown 5.10c – A few interesting moves, but overall not that great of a line, with a reachy, hard to decipher crux up high. 
Disco 5.11a – Now THIS one was fun!  Just 3 lines over from Low Brow, but on rock that not only had a completely different character, but also looked entirely different!  This one had a little bit of everything – a bouldery start to a committing mantle, thin face climbing, with a pumpy and exciting finish.  Felt pretty sustained and difficult for 11a, and I was happy to get the flash.
MacCauley’s Irish Stout 5.12b – It was the end of the day and the rope was up, so I figured why not take a toprope lap?  Yikes this was hard!  A funky boulder problem through a series of huecos, then long moves between large, flat holds.  The crux is a dyno, which I gave 2 half-hearted end-of-day tries before pulling on the draw and continuing on.  Not only am I horrible at dynos, but my tummy was telling me it was time to hike out and make for Diogi’s before Cragbaby got cranky!

Disco (5.11a)

After stuffing ourselves with way too much Mexican food, we went back to camp, laid on our backs on our picnic table, and had a rather humorous time watching the stars come out of hiding – humorous because C easily “saw” three times as many stars as we did…constantly pointing excitedly and exclaiming, “Another star, another star!”  Eventually he mellowed into a glazed over stare, and we all headed back into our tent.  I awoke the next morning to the birds singing, where I quickly noticed that C was staring at me.  When I made eye contact it quickly turned into a game of peek-a-boo under our sleeping bags – a good start to the day, in my opinion!  Day 2 was spent at Fern Buttress.

Making a new friend - the millipede!

  

Leaves are ALWAYS fun.

Bennett getting started on (5.11d)

Chameleon 5.10b – Definitely though-provoking for the grade, this was on Steve’s tick list and I was hyped for him to send it.
Wild Seed 5.11a – Definitely a classic, I’d been on this once before, on our very first trip to the New with C, when he was 10 weeks old.  I one hung it then, and I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it felt this time around.  A few heady traversing moves down low to a cool hueco, then a couple of hard pulls on some crimpers lead to a rewarding jug haul finish.
Muscle Belly 5.11c – This one was personally frustrating for me, not because I climbed it poorly, but because I let self-doubt creep in and opted for the toprope based on what others were saying about the route.  I then toproped it clean without any problems, which bummed me out that I hadn’t led it.  This overhanging arete was ironically technical and balancy, on plated patina that was flaky enough to keep things exciting.  Due to the reach-around nature of some of the clips, this is definitely one that would be a good deal easier with the draws already hung.
Mega-jug 5.11b – I kept expecting to sink my hands into something huge and sinker, but the namesake hold evaded me.  This was a fun route, however, and far from my normal technical face climbing modus operandi.  Sustained movement on decent, flat holds to a definitive crux using tiny, plated crimps to pull a bulge. 
Spiderwalk 5.10c – Sam wanted to do this one, so I volunteered for clean up duty.  A beautiful line up a tall face that felt pretty cruiser until the very last bit.
First Person 5.10c – The guidebook makes mention of a tenuos 3rd clip.  We all agreed that must have been a typo, as no one had any qualms about that clip, but everyone of us foundthe 4th clip from precarious laybacks on insecure feet to be rather exciting.  A spicy way to end the weekend for sure. 

 It’s unbelievable the difference a week can make!  Last week I felt like my sharp end climbing was overly methodical, timid, and painstakingly calculated – whereas this time around I had no trouble committing to crux moves and dealt with very little hesitation due to fear.   I’m not entirely sure exactly what sparked such a dramatic change, but I’ll take it!  Although I still don’t think I’m quite functioning at full-capacity yet (for instance I shudder at the thought of stuffing my bad foot inside a crack while fishing around for gear), I’m definitely encouraged by how quickly everything is coming back.  This whole ordeal has definitely been a learning experience for me, and while this post is already long enough, I plan to delve into that more deeply in an upcoming post.

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Cragbaby the Dirty Hippie

Sentimental Snapshots.
10 Comments.

It started out innocent enough – just Cragbaby and the Mommy at Matthews-Sardis Park (which has been a long time family favorite – more on this park here).  It was a beautiful spring morning, and for the first 30 minutes we had the swings, slides, and tunnels all to ourselves as we listened to a chorus of songbirds equally as excited about the fresh air.  After a while though C’s fascination turned from the playground equipment to the tiny sliver of a creek separating the playground from the surrounding woods. 

 

Like most toddlers, C is enamored by water.  Favorite wet and wild pasttimes include a variety – from poking a stick into the water, splashing and stomping in it, to the ultimate – throwing items into the water and watching them go kerplunk.  On this particular day, the items of choice were rocks and gumballs – you know, those prickly balls that fall from the sweet gum tree and can wreak havoc on a bike trail.  At first he was just tossing the items in.  But eventually he realized that a bigger throw produced a bigger kerplunk.  Then I guess all that throwing to him tired, so C decided to take a load off…right in the middle, which made for the biggest kerplunk yet!  After resting long enough to soak through his diaper entirely, C decided that he’d had enough of the creek and took to the trails.  I could only smile as I trailed behind my little explorer, hobbling after him as fast as I could (at this point I still had my boot on) while he stopped every few feet to touch the moss and exclaim, “SOFT, Mommy!” 

By the time we were done with our mini-excursion and made it back to the playground area several more families had shown up to get a dose of sunshine.  As we performed our ending ritual of waving and saying good-bye to every piece of equipment on our way back to the car, I pretended not to notice the disapproving glances of the other (clean) mommies of children that weren’t wearing tie-dyed onesies caked in mud around the bottom.  I realized that most of those kids weren’t going to get a chance to get wet and dirty that day.  Some for probably good enough reasons – getting half submerged  in a creek probably isn’t the best idea if you are planning on stopping by the coffee shop on your way home, or if you just had the inside of your car detailed.  But I think a lot of times it comes down to the fact that it’s easier to just say no to things like creeks, puddles, and mud than to deal with the inevitable post-play messiness.  On days that I’m not up for it, I of course steer C away from potential disaster zones.  But I want to make sure that he has plenty of time to enjoy just being a kid and getting as messy as he possibly can – it may take twice as long to clean-up as it does to get dirty, but the ecstatic toddler giggles make it all worthwhile!  What’s everyone else’s stance on the messies?  God made dirt, so dirt don’t hurt?  Or cleanliness is next to godliness? 

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A New Season at the New River Gorge

Climbing. New River Gorge.
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Yay for climbing again!

 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 it took 3 times as long to pack, and I had to really sit down and think about what we needed to bring, as opposed to working on auto-pilot.  I was convinced we would leave behind something important (we didn’t), and I got an interesting, yet frazzled glimpse of why other people think we are  crazy for doing what we do on the weekends.  But regardless of the pre-weekend shenanigans, we rolled out of Charlotte at a reasonably early time on Friday bound for our home away from home – the New River Gorge.  Even though we’d had a few concerns that certain activities would be difficult for Cragbaby since it’d been so long  (like going to bed…) he seemed to remember the drill and slept like an angel both nights – so hard in fact, that we actually had to wake him up when breakfast was ready both mornings! 

Yay for new Trango gear!

We woke up Saturday morning to a frigid 30 degrees but a cloudless blue sky.  We spent the day at The Other Place, a sub area of The Meadow that has been developed in more recent years.  Here’s what I hopped on:

Day 1
D.D (5.10a) – Hmmm, glad everything got better from here as this was not a good start to the trip.  I guess my head wasn’t ready for a crux right above the 1st bolt…I bailed and then felt stupid after cruising it on toprope. 
Hundred Acre Wood (5.9) – Crux was a crazy-for-the-grade undercling move below the (stick-clipped) first bolt.  The rest of the climbing was a straight forward jug haul on slightly overhanging terrain.  I felt much better on this one. 
Flaming Pellets (5.11b) – Touted in the guidebook as a 4 star, must do classic, I felt like I owed it to myself to at least try it on lead, especially since the draws were already up, so I put my shoes on and got sprayed down with beta on all sides.  The crux was moving getting past some small incut crimps to a large jug just before the 2nd bolt.  After finagling my feet about 15 times I finally committed to getting my feet up on the crimps and hit the jug.  The rest of the bolts were not as closely spaced as I would have liked, but they were exactly where I felt like I needed them.  After an awkward “rest” and a heady clip at the last bolt, I felt a very brief flash of aggro as I pulled the roof and stood up to clip the anchors.  Flashing this one did wonders for the head, and I was really glad I decided to lead it.

Bennett looking smooth like Butta (5.11d)

Low Brow (5.12a) – A beautiful line that wandered up a steep sea of slabby eyebrows, this route looked like my kinda 12.  I didn’t really feel like pushing myself on lead at that level so I took the toprope option.  I was clean except for the crux, which was beta-intensive but not all that powerful.  It actually felt way easier than the other 12’s that I’ve sent, so I’d love to come back and tick it when my head is feeling sronger. 
Hope Pathology (5.10a) – A fun, technical romp up a vertical face.  Too bad it was so short!
Treeiage (5.10b) – Long jug-jumping moves packed quite a pump for the grade, but the climbing was really fun.  I didn’t get as pumped as expected, so maybe all of my boot-legged campusing is going to pay off.
Makes You Tigger (5.11a) – Almost left without doing this one-move wonder since it was starting to get late, but I’m glad I stayed.  This one had a well-protected but techy crux that was most obviously done with an insanely high left foot smear.  My ankle unfortunately couldn’t flex enough to get in that position (the only time all weekend I felt like I couldn’t do a specific move), but thankfully I had decent enough holds to hang on long enough to figure out another, more cryptic way to get around it.

 Our second night was significantly warmer but the morning sky was a little more foreboding.  We actually caught a passing sprinkle at the tail end of breakfast, but fortunately it wasn’t even enough to warrant donning a rain jacket. 

Just before the crux on Flaming Pellets (5.11b)

Day 2
Brain Tweezers (5.10c) – Steve has had his eye on this one for a while, and since it’s one of my favorites, I gladly hung the draws and ticked a few key holds for him.  Although I’ve done this one many times and never had any problems, it’s got a couple of heady sections, so I felt like it was a good mental warm-up as well as physical.
Butta (5.11a) – This one supposedly goes at 11d officially, but the moves off the deck feel way harder than any 11d I’ve ever been on.  I gave the for real start a few half-hearted tries, but pretty quickly went for the also recommended 11a option that involves a couple of tugs on a quickdraw at the start.  The rest of the route had some committed traversing and a lot of exposure at the top.  I was feeling a little shaky in the head, so I hung on almost every bolt, but I got through it.
Brainstorm (5.8) – Since the other routes I wanted to get on were occupied, I decided to hop on this nearby trad line to take some of my new Trango trad gear for a spin.  Other than feeling a little disorganized since not all of the gear has come in yet, I was really happy about how I felt leading on gear.
Disturbance (5.11d) – Noted in the guidebook as possibly the best 11d in the gorge, I took one look at this line and knew I had to get on it, even though it was starting to get late in the day and we had a long ride ahead of us.  I toyed around with the idea of leading it, but I didn’t want to cause an epic if I wanted to bail and couldn’t get the gear back, expecially since there was a really powerful dynamic lunge about halfway up.  I wasn’t clean, but I worked out all the moves pretty quick, and actually nailed the deadpoint on the 2nd try.  Had this been earlier in the day I probably would have pulled the rope afterwards and tried for the redpoint, but I let some self-doubt creep in and set up camp for a while.
MENSA (5.11d) – Last line of the day and I could definitely tell I was tired.  I did all the moves (on toprope), but the crux took a lot of effort, and I felt ridiculously pumped the whole time.  A balancy,  technical line with all decent holds (but not a ton of “great” ones), this one would definitely only go for me if I was fresh AND had it dialed. 

Steve finishing up on Brain Tweezers (5.10c)

On the way back I did a lot of internal processing, trying to figure out where I was at in my recovery, since I was feeling a bit scattered – fairly strong physically, but pretty weak   mentally.  I had originally gone in to the weekend with no expectations, completely uncertain of whether my brain was going to allow me to lead anything at all, but hoping to be able to lead at least my warm-ups.  But by the end of the weekend I found myself fighting feelings of disappointment that I didn’t pull the rope and try for Disturbance on the sharp end, so obviously there was a mental shift made somewhere along the way.  Statistically speaking, I ended up getting in a dozen routes over the course of 2 days – and 8 of the 12 were on lead.  Of those 8, 6 were flashes, 1 was a redpoint of an old fave, and 1 was a bolt to bolt hangdog that wasn’t pretty.  I was able to work through a fear of getting above my bolt/gear pretty quickly, so long as I was feeling confident on the terrain, even when the moves were pretty committing, so I’m really proud of that progress.  But I also know I still have a long way to go, as the thought of my feet coming anywhere near the wall on a fall makes my stomach turn.  Because of that, I was climbing really inefficiently – slow, overcalculating, and painstakingly methodical.  There’s no way I can expect to send anything anywhere near my limit until I can trust my own abilities enough to get a hint of tenacity back. 

But that’ll come back when its ready to I guess.  I keep having to remind myself that even though it seems like its been forever, it’s really only been 8 weeks since the fracture, and I’ve been out of the boot for less than 2 weeks!  When I look at it that way I’m encouraged, but it’s still really frustrating having make up so much ground again.  In the meantime though, our family is going to continue to get out there and enjoy this spring weather!  One thing this weekend showed me was that I had missed the social aspect of climbing weekends just as much as the climbing itself.  Yeah, boot-legging up the wall on a Saturday morning was a good way to pass the time, but it can’t compare with touching real stone, good-natured banter with people I love, and of course a dirty but sweet little Cragbaby that sometimes I think has more fun than anyone else!  Even though my favorite climbing photographer was off gallavanting around the world, we amateurs did manage to get a few decent shots, so if you’re interested in seeing those, click here.

Someone needs their beauty sleep

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An Egg-straordinary Green Hour!

Toddlers at the Crag.
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Wow, who knew all the fun that could be had with a dozen hard-boiled eggs, a small blue bucket, and a few packages of food coloring?!?  Since we spent Easter weekend enjoying the perfect weather at the New River Gorge (stay tuned, trip report is on the way…), our family decided to partake in some egg-decorating festivities a few days early.  Of course Cragbaby had no idea what to expect when the Mommy laid out the official egg coloring kit (is PAAS the only company that has ever made that stuff, because I’ve NEVER seen another brand…), but he was enthusiastic all the same.  We managed to make it through the dye-ing process with only one big mess involving a cup of dark blue dye. 

 

The next morning C went outside armed with his little blue bucket, ready to load up on the eggs that his Daddy had “hid” (rather obviously I might add) all around the front yard.  At first we weren’t sure he’d figure out what to do, but the 3 eggs placed in plain sight on the steps got him off to a good start.  He delightedly went frolicking around the yard, giggling and adding eggs to his basket one by one until he had an even dozen.  Once he had gathered them all, he spent the next hour excitedly jabbering to the Mommy about the egg hunt, as well as sorting, counting, and inspecting the eggs. 

Got one!!!

  

All Done!!!

  

Egg Hunts are fun!

You can imagine his excitement when he awoke from his nap to find his bucket empty, and the yard filled with eggs again!  I feel like this could’ve gone on for at least another day or so…but we decided that hard-boiled eggs (especially colorful ones with stickers) would make the perfect snack for our weekend road trip.  By the time we got around to eating them, every egg was cracked except for one.  Lesson learned?  Keep the colored eggs for display and eating only, and find some plastic ones for the hiding and games!

Does anyone else have any egg-straordinary tales of outdoor fun from the holiday weekend?

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Just a Touch of Redneck

Sentimental Snapshots. Parenting. Reflections.
9 Comments.

Dear Trango,
“Sorry I haven’t been able to send in any videos yet.  I’ve been too busy catching cutting edge footage of my 2 year old son being hauled by a giant radio-controlled truck.” 

The Clodbuster. With a freshly air-brushed body, courtesy of a family project a few weeks ago...

This post shows that our family can have fun doing more than just climbing.  Unfortunately it also proves that our family also has a bit of a redneck side, which I hadn’t really been all that aware of until I found myself agreeing that this seemed like not only a great family activity, but also a perfect video opportunity.  But what can I do?  I might as well embrace it…At least one neighbor thought it was pretty funny too though (or maybe she was laughing AT us…).

So how exactly did this scenario unfold?  I’m not really sure, as my husband was the mastermind(?) with the brilliant idea.  All I know is that over dinner one night Steve says rather casually, “So I tried to pull C with the Clodbuster earlier today.”   What you need to know about Steve to fill in the blanks of this story is the history of the Clodbuster.  Steve was really into R/C cars back in his middle and high school years, and this particular truck was built from scratch in 1991, so some parts of it are over 20 years old.  His interest in R/C cars has waxed and waned during his responsible grown-up years, but since C is all boy and loves tinkering with tools, he’s gotten back into it in recent months.  Several times per week the boys will go outside after dinner and play – driving (and crashing) any number of old R/C cars, trucks, and even helicopters, much to the terror amusement of the aforementioned neighbor’s cat.  I’ve come to learn that it really is true what they about the only difference between men and boys being the size of their toys…

Anyway, when Steve mentioned his latest Daddy/Son activity, I knew that was a debacle that I couldn’t pass up.  So after dinner we went outside for Round 2, which was for the most part successful, except for the (edited out) part where the motor started to overheat pulling C up the slight incline in our yard.  There have since been some revisions to the equipment in the name of efficiency (like using a static piece of cord rather than a bungee cord) but the original video is priceless so I just had to share it.  So enjoy! (or be appalled at our hillbilly endeavors).

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