Reflections Along the Way

Last summer Steve and I won a day of private guiding at Seneca in a raffle during the “Playing for the Payoff” comp at the Triangle Rock Club, a fundraising effort to help buy the property of Laurel Knob in Western North Carolina.  This past weekend we decided to cash in on our prize.  What a great introduction to a new area!  Our guide was Arthur Kearns, affectionately known as “ACK”, whom we had met last year at the New River Rendezvous.  He gave us the grand tour, and put us on a variety of climbs to help us get a feel for the rock and style of climbing there. 

Steve cruising up the first half of Pollux

Day 1 Climbs ~
Triple S – 5.8+
The Prune – 5.7 (first 2 pitches only)
Back to the Front – 5.9
Pollux – 5.10a

Day 2 ~We kept the grades low today, but the exposure high! Today was a fabulous example of how easy climbing can still be really fun. We enjoyed spectacular scenery all day, and got to sign the summit register for the second day in a row!

Steve at the start of Gunsight to S. Peak Direct (EXPOSURE!!!!)

Working up the south side of the Gunsight Notch

Day 3 ~ Since we had a long drive ahead of us, we had only one route on our tick list for the morning – a mega classic that always has a line.  We got up really early to break down camp, and found ourselves first at the base of the route – another party showed up when I was about 15 feet off the deck, so we were glad we had gotten up so early!
Ecstasy – 5.7 (3 pitches)
This route was SPECTACULAR!  I’m so thankful that everyone at the Gendarme encouraged us to get on it.  I will say that although there were no moves harder than 5.7, it was very steep and sustained for the grade – add in all the exposure and the traverse, and it made for a very heady lead.  If 5.7 was my limit, I probably would have been pretty sketched on this route!

This trip did wonders for my confidence on gear.  I didn’t have any trouble finding placements or building anchors, even though the routefinding got a little tricky at some points.  I’m at the point now where getting a solid piece in feels ALMOST as secure as clipping into a bolt.

Working hard on Lieback and Enjoy It. One of the funnier expressions Steve has caught on camera...

The New River Rendezvous was this weekend. This was our third year attending, and it seems like it gets better and better each year! We left Raleigh around 3:30 or so and arrived just in time to see a crazy slide show by Dave Chancellor from SoIll Holds. Friday dawned a beautiful day. Steve and I convinced Norbert and Manuela (whom I will affectionately refer to as “Manbert” ) to get up at the crack of dawn so that we could beat the crowds down at Sandstonia. A lot of stuff was wet from all the rain from the previous week, but we still have enough to keep us occupied and having fun.
Geisha Girl – 5.8
Mrs. Field’s Follies – 5.8
Shady Lady – 5.7
Lieback and Enjoy It – 5.10d (still waiting for the redpoint on this one…)
The Good Book – 5.10a

It was Norbert’s birthday the day before, so Manbert wanted to take us all out to eat at Smokey’s on the Gorge for dinner. Yeah, so Steve and I usually cook pasta or something on the camp stove when we go to the New, b/c we’re cheap. Every now and then we’ll splurge and go to the local pizza joint, Pies n’ Pints. This was AMAZING!!! A giant all-you-can-eat-buffet filled with all sorts of fresh veggies, fruits, breads, pastas, and some of the best salmon I’ve ever tasted! After we had refueled on all that goodness, we headed back to the Burnwood campsite where we checked out the sponsor booths for a while, and then were first in line for…….DESSERTAPALOOZA!!! A wonderful gluttonous feast, its one of the few times a year that I let myself loose and GORGE (no pun intended ) on all of those succulent sweets. My strategy is known as the “Sampler Platter”, while Steve tends to get big slices of just 2 or 3 things. Afterwards we felt sick…

Before...

After...

The two of us with Lisa Rands

Saturday we opted not to participate in the comp to take it easy on my shoulder. Even though its doing much better, and climbing outdoors doesn’t make it too angry, we figured that really pushing myself on day 2 of a 3 day trip probably wasn’t the best idea. I’m a big girl now I guess. Anyway, instead of the comp, we took a clinic from Lisa Rands out at Beauty Mountain! She was super nice and down to earth, and it was amazing to watch her climb. She put up an 11d for Steve and I to try so she could watch our technique (or lack thereof…) and gives us some tips.?
Brain Tweezers – 5.10b (one of my faves at the Gorge!)
M.E.N.S.A. – 5.11d (thanks Lisa!)
Out of Mind – 5.10a
You Want It, You Got It – 5.9
Guide’s Route, Right – 5.5

Saturday night the party was on! We enjoyed watching the pro climbers take on the lowly average joes in a tug -of-war mudfest, and I got flashbacks of my rotator cuff searing in two as I watched the dyno competition.

Manbert packed up and left, but the day was unexpectedly gorgeous, so we wanted to get in at least a morning’s worth of climbing. We headed out to Endless Wall and had a fantastic end to our weekend. We got on Muckraker, 5.10d, which was a great little slabby, techy route right beside the ladders. I had to hang once at the crux b/c I botched my feet, so after Steve went up, I pulled the rope and got the redpoint on the second go. Then we went over to Discombobulated, 5.11a, since John Wilson has been recommending this to me for what seems like forever. Wow, what a route! I feel really good about it, but was also really humbled. It took me a long time, and I did have to hang at 3 of the bolts, and it was a little scary with all the exposure at the top, but I finally completed it! But not before 3 climbers used the route right beside it (Legacy, also 5.11a) to warm-up before heading over to Quinsana Plus, 5.13a…but I could have cared less! They may have been able to run up it, but I’m pretty sure that I got the more full-value experience

My orange friend

Near the start on Muck Raker

Steve and I had a blast today, and it was the most random day I’ve had in a long time, so I thought it was worth noting. In preparation for the upcoming family trip to Yellowstone, I decided I wanted Steve to teach me how to fly fish. Since his experience has been limited to the annual “guy’s trip” with his brothers and dad, Steve felt like he might need a refresher himself, and certainly didn’t know the good spots to go to in Raleigh. So we met up with our friends the Touseys, Tim and Jenn, and their two kids, Sam and Charlotte. Tim is an avid fisherman, and had been wanting to try out a new spot his friend had told him about in the middle of Umstead Park.
We had agreed to meet at 9:00, however, we got sidetracked by a situation that required my immediate attention. There in the middle of the road, at the corner of Lynn and Leesville Rd, sat a HUGE Snapping Turtle! Now, as some of you may know, I have had some run-ins with rescuing turtles in the middle of roads before. This turtle, however, was BIG and PISSED!!! I got out of the car and some other lady had stopped also. She tried to pick him up from the front as his mouth was wide open and he was hissing (hmmm, perhaps not the smartest move?). The turtle literally jumped at her, and the lady screamed…so I picked him up from behind (he was HEAVY!) and carted him off across the road to safety, with him scratching and clawing the whole way. He was kind enough to pose for one picture with his mouth closed.

So with all that excitement out of the way, we met the Tousey’s and hiked down to the lake. Its kind of off the beaten path, and there was not another soul in sight. The weather could not have been more perfect. Tim proceeded to give me a wonderful lesson on the basics of casting, while Steve brushed up on his tying on techniques. While Sam was attempting to “catch a dolphin” from the docks, Steve and I found a nice little nook in the lake in the shade. Throughout the morning Steve caught 4 fish, and I caught 3! I think my favorite part was putting them back in the water and watching them swim away After lolling the morning away, dreaming of backpacking/fishing expeditions we could take, we were starting to get hungry, so we headed over to Lake Crabtree with our bikes for a nice picnic lunch by the lake. With the nice breeze coming off the lake, and our nice spot in the shade, it didn’t even seem to matter that we had no hand sanitizer to wash the fish slime off our hands before we ate We ended our afternoon with a lazy, laidback ride thru the mountain bike trails at Crabtree, but NOT before we came across another small box turtle in the middle of the bike trail. He was a scaredy cat, but we saved him anyway.

 So that was my day. Just goes to show that you don’t have to travel to some mystical, remote place to enjoy the outdoors. Keep your eyes open, and you just might surprise yourself with all the fun you can have in the little corner of Creation that you call home!