Bob at Rumney

It been over a year since Bob and I went to Rumney. Great climbing spot for all grades.

The route just behind Bob to his right (you can see a bolt just in front of his head) was a 5.3. It was very vertical but it climbed like a ladder.

I hope I can get a few people on a road trip next spring.

Next Project

I have my next project!!! Kim and I went out to Noobie Squeeze today. Both Noobie Squeeze and Ankle Biter climb well with the bolts (much better than before). Kim reminded me why I called the climb Noobie Squeeze. The first time she came out with us (5 years ago) she TR'd Noobie and kinda got stuck at the top of the corner section where it narrows. Today she made simple work of it. When she came down, Kim said that even after all the developing we have done in Manuels, Noobie is still her favourite climb (cool).

Between Noobie and Ankle Biter is this large bulging section of rock. I TR'd it today. It is a pretty thin sequence with little feet and slopers for hands. I think it will go at a hard 5.10. Next time out I will have to figure out the bolts but it may take some work to send...a project!

Flat Rock Fest

Kaleb has arranged the "Flat Rock Fest" for tomorrow Aug 14th. It will be a day to go down climbing at Flat Rock. Kaleb is sponsored by a rock shoe company (Evolve) and will have a couple of runs of different shoes for people to try out. It sounds like he is trying to get a BBQ down there and everything. It will be good fun for those who go down.

I hope to be out at Manuels putting up a route or two.

Rainy Weekend

Another rainy weekend! Everybody at work is talking about the summer that wasn't. Apparently the summer of 1993 was just like this. I could bitch and complain for hours about the weather. I have even been a bit tempted to look for a job on the mainland. But regardless, it looks like no climbing for me again this weekend.

Kaleb is going to Vancouver next spring for training in the culinary arts. Cooking has been a hobby of mine for years so I am a little envious. I saw an apron he might like while on my travels recently. Cheers man!

Climbing Thieves

Bob and I went climbing this morning. We had been talking about retro bolting a couple of routes we developed in 2007. They were long trad lines but to be honest, they were scary because of poor options for placements. We have put up a lot of sport lines since and looking back, we figured we should bolt them for safety. These climbs are Noobie Squeeze (5.7) and Ankle Biter (5.6). There are a couple other lines on this faces called Lady and the Ramp (5.5) which allows access to the top and Arborist (5.7). These are all on Noobie Squeeze Face, the one people pass belo

w to get to German Wall (before you go downhill into the cut line).

Somebody has stolen some fixed gear off the face!!! The first 3 hangers have been taken off Lady and the Ramp and the rap anchors were taken off the top of Arborist. I really hope who ever took those hangers were not climbers, that would be a slap in the face. If it is climbers, I really hope this doesn't happen again and this is something that should be strongly discourage in our community.

Anyhow, we spent the morning bolting and now Noobie Squeeze and Ankle Biter are 90 foot sport climbs. They both took about 13 bolts plus top anchors. Much more terrain to develop on this face. So this face has three 90 foot sport climbs under 5.7. The next line I am looking at here will probably be in the 10's.

If you hadn't noticed, Bob and I can't make up our mind what to develop. We are currently working on 4 walls in Manuels: Upper Face, Baby Face, Wall of Possibilities and Noobie Squeeze. Maybe Kim will straighten us out (not likely!!).

Routes for mid level climber

Mike left a comment on the last post about routes for mid level climbers. Flatrock is a must because of its location. Look into Candy (5.7), and consider TR Yellow Fever, Seascape. Spanky's Playground has a couple of cool moderates. I can't remember the names but there are 4 routes that ascend in difficulty, 5.7, 5.8, 5.9 and a 5.10. I am sure one of them is called Taming the Shrew.

Personal favorites found on this blog include:

Tach Auch

German Engineered

Obsession

Noobie Squeeze

Delayed Gratification

Grateful Dead

Before and After

I came across these two pictures looking for something else. I thought it was a fairly impressive contrast. These are pictures of the route Candy. The first is from 2009 and the second from this summer.

I got an email from an Ex-pat Newfoundlander, Karen. Her and her boyfriend are coming back to NL in August for a visit. He sounds like he is a seasoned climber and she will be doing a lead course prior to their visit. So here is the question: If you had a climber friend visiting from away, what would be the ideal day to get a taste of Newfoundland climbing? What routes would you suggest? Send me your comments.

I'm Back!!!

Sorry for not posting but I have been on vacation. I spent one week in Barcelona and one week doing a European Cruise thru Italy. Absolutely awesome except the kids wold not stop fighting.

I will post a few pics when I download them.

I was talking to Leo and Phil before I left. We will try to arrange some retro bolting in Flat Rock before they go out west climbing. Keep tabs for more info.

Hire A Student

Are you a student who needs a little extra cash on the side? I have a few things that I need help with. I would rather hire someone from our own climbing community.

I will need one or two people this thursday and friday (regardless of weather). It will be basic landscaping stuff; digging out an area then back filling it with dirt and mulch. 15$ an hour!

Likely have some more stuff to do in August.

If you are interested, leave your name and phone number under the comments. I will not publish them. I will not contact anyone until thursday morning.

The Apocalypse

I have had this forbidding sense of doom. You hear all the bullsh!t about 'the end of the world' and the whole 2012 thing. But I am beginning to think there might be something to it.

Dec 21, 2012 is the supposed date for the end of time. There are several arguments to why this date. One is the Ancient Mayan Calendar which was created centuries ago. It has been incredibly accurate despite the fact it was created in a civilization that sacrificed virgins to the Gods (can't be all bad ;). Anyhow the calendar ends on Dec 21, 2012. Some believe that the calendars accuracy is 'other worldly' and there must be a reason it finishes on that date (spooky).

Others believe we are going to get sucked into a black hole and be crushed to the size of a pea. And then there are all the religious zealots who are looking for any excuse for the end of the world. Obviously I don't believe one shred of any of that crap. I am a man of science not conjecture.

I have heard of something else that we should all be very concerned with. It also happens to be based in science. There is proof that this will occur, and it will very likely happen before Dec 21, 2012. Sorry, but you may just have to get your affairs in order.

Can you say thermonuclear reaction! Ya, no shit. A freakin nuclear reaction. But no regular nuclear reaction, that would be child's play. We are talking a nuclear fusion reaction. Using the same amounts of material, it can release 10's if not a 100 times the energy of a nuclear bomb. In other words, the bomb that took out Hiroshima could fit inside a water bottle. The worst part is that we are surrounded by the stuff required for a fusion reaction, hydrogen. That's right, hydrogen in equal weight is much more powerful than plutonium when used in a fusion reaction.

Okay, now I now what you are saying, they have been trying to utilize nuclear fusion energy for decades and just have not been able to develop the technology to create a sustainable, controllable fusion reaction. Well that is the scary part, it already exists. From what I understand , this reaction is so huge that the entire earth is going to be bathed in the radiation. It will confuse and disorientate most of us. Once exposed, there will be no hope at all. The searing heat will bake our flesh and make us turn away because it is so intensely bright. It may happen anytime so be careful. The first sign will be a break in the tropospheric water formations and then it will happen, an amazing burst radiation. It will look like a huge ball of fire and I believe they call it the sun.

East Coast Road Trip

I don't know if many of you are Gripped readers. If you are, you may have come across an article in the most recent edition. The section was entiled "East Coast Road Trip". I thought it may touch on our climbing scene, but it did not. I have noticed that this is not uncommon for Newfoundland to be left out of article pertaining to the "East Coast". I felt I should reply so I sent the following letter.

Letter to Gripped.

Gripped does a great job of highlighting the climbing scene in Canada and I have always found your articles well done and interesting. I was looking forward to reading “East Coast Road Trip” because, being a climber from Newfoundland, that article must have something about our climbing scene.
I almost instantly had my doubts when the first article about the East Coast was bouldering on the shores of Georgian Bay, Ontario, over 2000 kilometers west of St. John’s. That didn’t give me an “East Coast” feel at all.

“Go East Young Man” gave a nice vignette of climbing in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. It discussed their colorful climbing community and classic climbing areas. Unfortunately there was no mention of our climbing community, which is truly unique.

Several of our crags are perched on the edge of the North Atlantic. The sound of crashing ocean waves is always at your back, punctuated by the occasional whale surfacing for a breath of air. We have a great range of climbs from the moderates to stiff sport climbs. Over 200 routes spread over 7 crags all within 30 minutes of St. John’s. We have big wall climbing at Devils Bay with granite unfolding for over a 1000 feet. And that is just one of hundreds of cliffs that plunge into the ocean on our shores. They don’t call us the rock for nothing.

We have an ever growing climbing community with some of the friendliest people you could have the pleasure to meet. An interesting mix of Irish, English and French heritage developed into a wonderful culture that is different from anywhere else in Canada.

So, come on out on your next ‘road trip’ and find out what Newfoundland has to offer, you just might be surprised.

I have no idea if it will get any attention or not but I thought I would share it with all of you. At least someone might read it.

Upper Face

This is a temp topo of the Upper Face as of June 2011. As previously mentioned, this is a new area and there are loose rocks that we have not found yet. WEAR YOUR HELMETS!

Not sure of actual grade of deminshing returns since I have not climbed it since last year.

OCD 5.5 PG Trad

Went climbing tonight in Manuels. I have not received my bolts from MEC yet so I was unable to do any developing. I have always thought that a nice trad line followed to the right of Obsession up to a set of bolts we use for access to the top of the upper faces.

I started at the bottom and clipped the first couple of bolts prior to getting to the belay bolts at the bottom of Obsession. I clipped the first two bolts on obsession before moving out to the right. I was kinda wet after all the rain we have had. Plenty of good placement. A couple spots with vegetated ledges. I came to one in particular that was quite wide, but with a lot of moss. On the left was a crack that split the face and continued left. On the right was a broken face with what looked like bad placements. I was unsure how far it was to the anchors and I was pretty sure I was now going to go sharply left. I wanted to avoid the rope drag, so I built an anchor and brought Kim up.

Once Kim was at the anchor, I went on belay again and tried the crack at the left. I thinned out to nothing very quickly and lead up to a blank slopey face. I re-examined going to the right. I found a good placement or two before I got to the shitty, broken face. I put a #1 C3 at the base (not awe inspiring) and putz around for a few minutes. There was a small relief in this face where I was able to slot a substantial nut (#9 BD Stopper). I was wet and mossy but I had a good piece. I climbed up thru the relief up onto a mossy and brush covered face with the anchor only 20 feet above. I trudged up and got to the anchors. After clipping in, I saw a place or two that probably could have taken some gear but I had run it out.

Because of the shitty placements to the right of the moss covered ledge and how I had run it out at the top I figure I should give it a PG rating. There was some loose rock and wet ledges. It was more heady than if it would had been dry. From the anchor, you can rap on a 60 meter rope to the scree slope below. Be careful, this is not a cleaned route! It shares it start with Obsession so I figure it name should have a common route. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or OCD for short. With a name like OCD, you would figure it would be sparkly clean really soon.

This is the 3rd route on the Upper Face and I still have several more planned for it.

This Time Last Year

Bob and I were climbing at Rumney, New Hampshire. 24 to 27 degrees everyday with excellent climbing. 5 days straight! Not that I am bitter or anything but please God let this weather improve.

This is Bob seconding a climb called "Clip a dee do da".

Fly Dope

Back in town now. I had to go to Ottawa for the week.

Got a comment from 'Abseil' who was out on German Face on the weekend past. (S)he said that were a ton of flies and they really needed fly dope. Tis' the season!

Usually the next 2-4 weeks are pretty nasty for black flies on the inland crags. Don't let this dissuade you, I actually like using a 'bug shirt'. It is one of those shirts with made of fly netting. I wear it when I am belaying so I am not swatting when I should be belaying. You can get a cheep one like this at WalMart for about 20$. You can get better quality ones from MEC. The fly dope seems to be enough once I get off terra firma. Once July hits, the flies are not nearly as bad.

Winter 2011 Damage

There has been a lot of damage to Main Face over the last winter. The pictures don't do it justice. The access ramp has had about 2/3's of it washed out towards the bottom. It is still very passable but one more season like 2011 and it may be completely gone. This was a man made ramp to allow heavy machinery down to the Main Face Area to harvest boulders for the Flat Rock Town breakwater. It is all soft dirt and easily wash away with high wave action.

The next obvious area was when we came upon Iron Hand (Left of Candy). It climbs the corner Bob is looking at up to the large horizontal crack, traverse left and up from there. It is a good heady trad climb. The is no protection until you get to the first bolt. When it was bolted, the first move was to mantle up onto the flat ledge that come from the left side of the corner and slopes into the right side, about 15 feet above Bob's head (Bob is 6 foot). This could be reached from the ground. A balancy move would get you into the thin corner and with a back step you could reach the first bolt about 3 feet below the large horizontal ledge. That first bolt is now 25 to 30 feet off the deck with little to no chance to get gear in then so it is now a 5.9+ X trad route.

This is where 'No Freebies' used to be. The large boulders in the forefront are the rock that had the routes on them. The inverted staircase in the background is where it came off. This used to have 3 solid 5.10's on it. The anchors are still at the top.

Bob educated us on what happened. In the left of the picture, at the base of the wall you can notice a different color band of rock. That is a layer of relatively soft sandstone. Sitting on top are the massive cliff faces that make up Main Face. They are composed of a much harder conglomerate rock. When the base gets exposed like this, the sandstone erosion accelerates. Literally, the foundation of the cliffs above are being washed away. They loose support, fracture and fall away. Just hope you are not climbing when it does happen.

Expansion Bolts

I retro bolted Candy with expansion bolts. I known, all the bolts down on Main Face are glue-in bolts. So why did I use and expansion bolt?

The first part of the answer is why do we use glue-ins. The Marine environment is a brutal one, especially for metals. Any time you have 2 pieces of metal touching (hanger and bolt), especially if they are 2 different metals, there is a possibility of corrosion. Salt

water speeds this up because it acts as a conductor and speeds the chemical reaction that is corrosion. This was most notable in Thailand where burly 1/2 inch expansion bolts were placed in sea cliffs (much like Flat Rock) and were rusted out inside one year. There is a theory that the chemical composition of the rock lead to the corrosion. Using a one piece glue-in avoids this contact of two metal, and the glue makes a chemical bond with the rock so water can't get

in and cause trouble. It is the way to go for sea cliffs.

So why the hell did I use an expansion bolt? There are multiple pieces and are not as strong as a glue-in. Whats up? Well what I put in was a stainless steel Triplex Bolt from Fixe. Stainless steel is the least like to corrode and the Triplex has only 3 pieces (hence the name). What the real beauty of this bolt is that is is removable! I can easily pound this thing

in and pop it out anytime I want. It is a 1/2 inch bolt which is bigger that the standard 3/8's found in most climbing areas. It uses the same size hole as the glue-ins so when the time is right, I will pop out the Triplex and replace them with glue-ins. So when you see the expansion bolts on Candy, don't freak out. They are solid and can be replaced with glue-ins at any point. I am going to leave them for a while to see how they mature.

Candy Gone Retro

Kim, Bob and I went to Main Face tonight with the intention of fixing Candy. I figure I would climb the crack until I got to the first bolt and then finish Candy. Then I would lower off and pop in a bolt or two. Easy...Not Quite.

I brought mostly bigger gear remembering that it was a fairly wide crack. To my surprise, the crack is actually very narrow in the back. I happen to have my Black Diamond 00 C3 but I couldn't get it to sit. My second problem was that a lot of water was seeping down the crack and I couldn't get good feet. I just could not feel safe getting off the ground.

I ended up putting the C3 and another cam down low so I could lean out underneath the ledge. I put a bolt in over my head just above the ledge.

I clipped into the bolt and started climbing. I put another 2 pieces in the wet crack until I could get the first original bolt clipped. After looking at it, you could definitely still have a ground fall if you fell before that next bolt. I put a second between the two. Their approximate position is where the 2 black dots are. The red dots are roughly where the old bolts are.

We walked around the rest of Main Face to see the damage of the previous winter storms. It was remarkable. There is a lot of work that needs to be done. The biggest issue is that the ramp probably won't last too many more years. We will need another form of access. Just as a note, Kim (brown jacket) is standing below a route. There is a small horizontal crack just above the roof. That used to be the start hold, I would grab it standing on the ground. That is now about 10 feet above Kim's head. There has been a lot of erosion. Anyhow, Candy is ready to go again.

PS...DO you see an evil little kid in the rock from this picture. Find his head shoulders and waist. Cool!

Bolting Ethics

Candy is nasty! I know this because I am her daddy. She used to be kind and forgiving but now she is just rude and aloof. What a b!tch. By the way, I am not talking about my wife.

Candy is a route I set on Main Face about 5 years ago. It was the first moderate (5.7) sport climb in that area. It allowed fairly easy access to the top of other route. Over the last two years, there has been a lot of erosion at the base. Five to 10 feet of rock have been washed away by winter storm action. The first bolt on Candy is now around 20 feet off the deck. Not safe!!

Now, I have put my effort into developing another area for a number of reason. Candy is the only route I have put up in the Flat Rock Area. I am going to retro-bolt the route to make it safe, but by ethics, that is the only route I can touch. For those of you who are

unfamiliar with the ethics of developing, they are basically the unwritten for an area when putting up or maintaining routes. For example, the Gunks in New York State is a hard core trad area where only the people who are allowed to place bolts are the park rangers. The opposite would be Rumney, New Hampshire where sport climbing runs supreme and even long cracks are bolted. Obviously a different philosophy. This is the basis of "bolt wars" where a guy bolts a crack and a hard core trad climber comes by later and chops all the bolts...bad blood!

To help avoid this kind of conflict, developers should respect the local ethic and the general ethics in regards to bolting.

If a person puts up a route, the assumption is that it was done in a certain spirit with a lot of thought and effort. They are the 'author' of that route. It may have meant to be run out in places to keep it spicy...who knows. If the author wants to change it later, that is their prerogative. But if you want to put in a bolt or two, you need to check with the author and get their permission (to avoid bad blood).

Flatrock currently has a lot of routes that could use a bolt or two to make them safe. Throwing in bolts haphazardly could create friction within the community. The people with the FA's (author) of the routes that need a bolt should be contacted before it is placed.

To make a long story short, I can fix up Candy but I won't retro-bolt any other route unless their is some sort of consent. I hope to get to it in the next week or two.

German Face Topo

Blue- German Engineered 5.8

Black- Core Shot 5.9+

Green- Tach Auch 5.9

Yellow- Photophobia 5.10b

Red- Hat' Shit 5.9+

Purple- Sick Like Dog 5.7

Yellow- German Access 5.5

Baby Face

Just in case you were not clear what face I was talking about. This is a overview of the area. I have Baby Face with a square around it. It is the small face you pass as you hike into the German Face.

The next image is a 'blowup' of Baby Face. I have the bolts we placed approximated by the 'dots'. Bob is working on a route just to the right of Boston Mantle. We can probably get about 4-7 routes on this small face. They will all be 5.8 and lower. The top of the face is very easy to access. The new path we put in for the upper faces pass just above it.

Boston Mantle 5.8

My first time out doors this season. It was about time!


Bob and I had been talking about what we were going to work on this season as last year was a bit of a bust. We have a few things in mind; continue working the upper face, open up Noobie Squeeze area or putz around around on a short wall just before German Face. The short wall got our undivided attention today.



Anyone who has been to German Face knows exactly where this small face is. You pass it on your left just before you go up the hill to the bottom of German Face. It is about half the size in both height and width. The reason we went here is that the access is really easy to the top and bottom and we can quickly put up a number of moderate climbs. Bob was fartin around here 2 weeks ago and put in a set of top bolts. I put in 1 safety bolt and then put in a set of top bolts. After top roping it a couple of times, I put in 5 bolts to cover the 30-40 foot route.

It starts in the middle of the face behind a pine tree. The opening sequence is on fairly thin fingers but good feet. The route goes straight up to where I had to pull out a large loose block (left obvious scar). Use a couple of side pulls to clip a bolt just below a ledge. There is a large side pull to the left but very little else to help you get on up on the ledge. It requires an awkward mantle move. I would have been fairly heady move so a placed a bolt to protect that sequence. once the ledge is made, it is only a couple of moves to the anchors. If one were to fall there, it would be a bad ledge fall so one last bolt went in just before the anchors.

A lot of the bolt placement was secondary to the ledge in the middle so I thought that move should be integral to the name. I am off to Boston tomorrow so that was also on my mind hence...Boston Mantle. I goes about a 5.8 knowing the route. If you miss a couple of key holds, it will make it fell harder.

We figure that this will be a great learning area. We have yet to name it. We have thought about Baby Face, or the Elementary Wall. I don't know. Anybody have any thought to name an area that is specifically help introduce people to sport climbing? Leave a comment.

Tri WOD: Long Bike and Long Run Wk1

A little make up today.

Thursday was a rest day.

Friday: Long Bike- 1hr at a moderate pace

Sunday: Long run- 30min at moderate pace.

If training for the sprint triathlong, if you can only do three work-outs per week, they should be the long easy ones.

Cl-WOD Endurance

Had about 1hr and 45 minutes at Walnuts.

Called each route one pitch. Each pitch about 25 feet.

The goal was to see if we could get to 1000 feet.

Bob and I alternated with 4 pitches each. We went crescendo-decrescendo starting on easy 5.6 got to laps on 5.10 at the hardest and then back down to 5.6

We got in about 600 feet or 24 pitches. Good work out but not close to the goal of 1000 feet. Try again next time.

Note about endurance:

Endurance is relative and the training therefore can be different. If you boulder, then endurance may be getting to the top of that 20 foot highball. Bigwall climbers need to be able to climb pitch after pitch hauling packs with them. Two very different goals.

I am a sport climber! I expect that my longest climb will be less than 100 feet. As with any endurance sport, you train beyond the expected duration of the race. The best example I can think of is running. I was training to do a 10km run in under 45 minutes. The long easy runs all exceeded 10km. In fact the longest run was 21 km, the length of a half marathon. It helps to make sure you have gas in the tank as you approach the finish line.

With climbing, there are many benefits to endurance climbing. I can't knock doing 30 minutes of continuous climbing but it is mind numbing. I already have an aerobic base which I augment with the Tri training. I am mostly concerned with getting to the top of a stiff 100 foot route therefore most my endurance training intervals will be between 100 to 200 feet. Judge it for your own goals.

Tri- WOD Wk1 Bike Short & Run Long Brick

Bike:

5 min easy warm-up

5 min moderate

Intervals

2 min hard (HR 80% max)

1 min easy

5 intervals

Results

Max HR 160

Average 142

Cal 245

Run:

25 Min moderate pace

Average HR 130

Cal 161

Easy stretch 5 min.

Cl-WOD Endurance 45 minutes

10 minutes light bouldering.

30 minutes of continuous climbing.

Ended up being about ten 40 foot traverse across the bottom of my bouldering wall. Had to rest after each to avoid getting a burn. You DON"T want to get burning forearms doing this.

10 intervals of:

Medium 3 finger edge- 4 pull-ups (on the 0:00).

Jugs- 5 hanging leg lifts (on the 0:30).

Takes 10 minutes to complete.

Light stretching.

Strong for Summer

Here is a novel idea...I am going to get in shape for the climbing season. I know what you are thinking..."don't we train all winter to get in shape for summer?". Well I am more stunneder than your typical climber. I train all winter to get in great climbing shape for March (ie Rock Fall). Then the routine falls to sh!t, summer comes and I try to get outside as much as possible. What ends up happening is that I develop (routes) on the weekend and stop climbing thru the week. I get as fit as the Pillsbury Dough Boy.

Well Leo is great at training people and I owe him a lot. I have learned from him and have done considerable research on training for climbing myself. I am going to start a training cycle to get in shape for the summer. I usually record my training sessions on an online webpage. I figure I can just put my workouts on my blog. If you are looking for a little structure to your climbing, this may help. I am going to do it more for myself than anything.

Where I am older (42) and a bit heavy for a rock climber (188 lbs at 5'9"), I really need to work on slimming down and improving my aerobic capacity. I am training for a Sprint Triathlon to cover that aspect. Ideally I will train 4 times per week for this. These work outs I will mark as Tri- WOD (Work Out of the Day).

The climbing workouts will be marked as Cl- WOD. The cycle will be a 3-2-1. Three weeks endurance, 2 weeks power and one week power-endurance. I will be training for climbing 3-4 times per week. Climbing will take priority over Tri training. My workout can be anywhere from 45 minutes up 3 hours. My rest days are usually when I am on call and if I have a bad night, I may miss two days in a row. Some days I may have two workouts.

A basic minimum would be 3 climbing work outs, two aerobic and two antagonistic workouts per week. Modify the workouts for yourself.

I will start posting about our development of stuff outdoors as soon as the weather permits.

It has been awhile.

It has been 7 months since my last posting. I think that has been the longest stretch yet. I don't have much to post in the off-season as most my posts are about the developing we have done. I also will post odds and ends but it usually pertains to the outdoor scene.
We have had another stormy winter and the damage to MainFace has been significant. I haven't been down there myself but it sounds bad. The access ramp is almost completely washed out! It is only a couple feet wide in places. One more winter and that will likely be gone. For those of you unfamiliar with this area, Main Face is our best developed area. It has over 60 routes of sport, trad and mixed. It has some of the best climbs in the province. It is on a sea cliff with a nice wide ledge at the base. The best access was a wide ramp built by the military long ago so they could get heavy equipment down there to harvest boulders for a breakwater. That is what is washing away! Without it, the only access is to rap in and climb out.
Aside from that, a lot of ground has been washed from the base of most climbs. The starts have been extended by 5 to 10 feet of polished rock. Not very good if the opening moves on every route are about 5.12 before getting to the first bolt 20 feet up.
There has been a significant rock fall as well. The bottom half of the 'No Freebee's' wall has come off. The routes used to have a small roof about 12 feet up, then a bolt within 3 feet of that roof. About 8 feet above that was a long horizontal crack that would take a piece of pro. One more bolt above that and then the anchors at the top. Everything from the crack down has come off. Three 5.10's were on that section and the upper part doesn't appear stable. So it has been a hard winter on Main Face. I would think that Manuel's is fine where it is inland but Igor did some significant damage last fall...we will see.

Mr and Mrs Trevor and Nadine Harris

Congrats to Trevor and Nadine who became man and wife on Saturday (Aug 28). They had a beautiful ceremony followed by their reception at the Geo Center. I was an amazing venue for the evening and Leo certainly helped out with lights and music. I have no pictures to show as I was a little busy through out the reception.

Best of luck guys and have a "Happily Ever After".

Loosing Battle

I thought my finger was healing pretty well. I was wrong. Today the skin from the top of my finger pealed back. Candace almost puked. There is healthy scare tissue underneath but it is a little shorter. Hell...I am deformed!!!!!

Tips

It doesn't look like much but I would like to keep it.

Climbing Season Over?

I had an unfortunate accident. While pruning my trees I almost pruned the top of my left index finger off. I cut about 2/3's the way through my finger about 1/2cm from the tip. There is a chance i could loose the tip if it doesn't heal well. I guess that means I shouldn't ground it into the dirt for awhile. My outdoor season usually wraps up in Sept. I guess I won't buy that next batch of bolts. Sorry.

Life at Work

I couldn't help myself. Someone brought this to my attention and I had to post it. There is always a running joke between anesthesia and surgery, paticularly orthopedics, about trying to get cases done in people who are not not healthy.

The Upper Face

We finally did it! We have a couple routes on the Upper Face. They are rope stretchers so read carefully. Do Not Climb these routes without a 60 meter rope and even then be very careful not to belay your partner off the end of the rope. The bottom apron was a bit of a issue. The climbing there was very easy and not consistent with the climbing above. We decided to split the route into 2 pitches. The bottom route is a 5.3 or 5.4 up to the rap anchors noted in the photo by the blue dots. We shall call it 'Cake Walk'. The next 2 routes start at the top of Cake Walk and are meant to be belayed from these anchors. Both routes can be belayed from the bottom but have very little rope to spare. If there is a concern, stop at the rap anchors and lower in 2 stages.

The route in blue on the right is called Obsession 5.8. This route moves through the little ceiling I have been staring at for the last year. It was fun and challenging to bolt. The route has really cool movement as it moves over 2 small ceilings. It may seem a bit intimidating but the climbing is solid. Just when you think you have gotten through the hard stuff, you get to the hard stuff...it is a little blank but I am sure you will figure it out. It finishes on some easy slab terrain. It lowers off onto the apron and terra fir-ma can be reached with rope stretch.
The route in red (on left) is called Juggernaut 5.9. It is fun right off the ground with very consistent climbing. It follows some great features that appear to be just seams in the rock. Sometimes you just get tips and sometimes your whole hand falls in. You never know if it is going to be a jug or not. I brought the top anchors down a bit so the finish was more consistent and the lower should be fine now.
Note: if you do intend on belaying from the bottom, bring an extended sling to clip the belay anchor on your way up.
Post some feedback for me. I would like to hear.

Would have never thought.

We out at Manuels today.  There were some people on German Face.  Be we were on the Upper face and couldn't see how many.  We were quite surprised to see this many cars (8).

Rumney Day 3

Day 3 was a very good day. We went up to Jimmy Cliff which was about a 45 minute hike up Rattlesnake Mountain. The hike was really cool because we passed 2 really cool faces; Darth Vadar and the famous Waimea. Waimea is described as the Crown Jewel of Rumney with more 3 star routes than any other at Rumney. It holds the hardest route in the North-East, Jaws 2 going at 5.15a. It also has 7 5.14's and 23 5.13's among its 47 routes starting at 5.10d. The picture can not do it justice, it was freakin awesome. Just look at all the fixed draws and how they hang from the wall. So cool.

Once we got to Jimmy Cliff, we went straight to 'Clip a Dee Doo Dah', a classic *** 5.3 2pitch sport climb that almost goes to the top of the mountain. Bob had read about this climb weeks before we ever left for Rumney and wanted to do it. I felt the same way, it had to be done. It was a very cool climb, all slab and well bolted. There were enough features to make the climb easy but for a slab novice, it was no give away. I took this picture of Bob while I was climbing the 2nd pitch. He is at the belay anchor. The walk down was quite easy and from there we went to the next area of Jimmy Cliff.
It was Bob's turn to do some lead. He led 3 climbs being a 5.5, 5.6 and a 5.7. One was particularly heady but Bob took his time and worked through it. I followed him on it and was quite surprised about how quirky the route was. Bob's lead head was really starting to come around.
Myself, I want to try a couple things that might have been a bit over my head. I got to the bottom of a 5.10b that followed and arete to a set of anchors. It was slightly overhanging with a traverse. I finished it with a bit of hangdogging but I knew I could get it clean just not on this trip. The anchors I finished on were directly over a 5.10c. I TR'd that route. I had to sit back 3 times but knew that with a little work I could get that one too. This answered one of the questions I had before going to Rumney...Could I really climb in the hard 10/ easy 11 range. The answer was yes and that made me a pretty happy guy.

Jan is a Dad!

Jan and Kelly just had their baby. They had a baby boy at 8 pounds and 11 ounces. They have named him Magnus. All are doing well as far as I know.
Now the work really begins!

Rumney Day2

Bob and I decided to try and get some milage. On day 2 we went to a big face that can be easily seen from the road. Of course it is called Main Cliff (similar to our Main Face). It has 57 lines most of which are moderate sport routes. We chose to go to a gully that had believe it or not, had a 5.1, 5.2 and a 5.3 sport route. They were actually very good routes. The 5.3 was called Wimpy Gilman Ridge and it followed a very thin arete to the top of another route called Preppy's Crack (5.7). Bob couldn't decide which route he liked more.

There was an interesting 5.6 just around the corner called Rainbow, so I decided to give it a shot. It starts off a ledge and goes up a steep juggy wall. That was cool but then I almost got shut down by GD slabby runout. I noticed a series of holds off to the right that allowed me to finish the climb. That was definitely my highlight of the day. The top of the climb looked over into the gully we had been climbing in earlier. The pic is of Bob at the top of Rainbow cleaning the anchor and I went back into the gully to take the shot.
Well I didn't think the day could get better but of coarse it did. We went over to have a look at a climb that was a 'must do'. It was called Metamorphosis (5.8). The guide had a big warning to only use a 60 meter rope and don't lower your partner off the end. The climb follows a left facing corner and then under a BIG overhang to the headwall to the top. Looking at it from the base, it scared the hell out of me. Then along came Lenka and Mike. Lenka had climbed it a few times in the past and wanted to lead it. Her boyfriend, Mike, followed the climb and set up our rope as a TR. It was an absolutely awesome climb. Logically I know I could have led it, but as I was doing the TR, I was thinking about how the lead would be...intense and exposed. Another day...maybe. You can see the rope following the route and Bob is at the anchor above.

While Bob was TRing Metamorphosis, Mike was climbing a really cool looking overhanging route to our left. I snapped this pic of him. It turned out to be Cereal Killer (5.11c). Again, we met some really great people.

We bailed after that climb and got the BEST burger ever at a local bar and grill called Panthers, after the local university sports team.

Rumney Day 1

Bob and I got back last night. We had a great trip but very tiring. My fingertips are shredded and Bob's elbow needs a lot of TLC. Last time I did a trip, I created a 'diary' of sorts but not on my blog. I figure this time I will try to publish something.

The town of Rumney is nothing more than a rural blip on the map. It has one intersection with a Cafe and a stretch of highway that goes by Rattlesnake Mountain. The climbing area of Rumney is spread over 15 to 20 individual crags on the Southern slopes of Rattlesnake Mountain. Access can be quite easy with a short jaunt up to an hour slog up the freakin mountain. The rock type is Schist which was way different than what we are used to.

We stayed at a motel in Plymouth, NH which was only about a 10 minute drive. We arrived late Tuesday night and were ready to climb Wednesday morning. We knew the weekends get crowded so we decided to climb the easily accessible crags during the week and the deeper ones one the weekend (less crowded).

The first crag we went to was called the Parking Lot wall, for obvious reasons, it was directly above the main parking lot. It had a good range of routes from 25 to 75 feet in height. I have no intention of boring you with all the details of every single climb but I will mention the highlights.

Glory Jeans (5.7) was a highlight for me. This climb was about 70 feet and the notable part was that it had a traverse with great feet but poor hands right near the top. It was a heady lead but because on 3 clips you were worried about the pendulum whipper. Really cool climb.

Bob soon after had a highlight of leading Easily Amused (5.6). It was important for Bob to get on the sharp end as soon as possible. He dealt with a mental crux on this one not because the climbing was hard but because there was a 15 foot runout over the last bolt to the anchors.

You can't experience accomplishment without experiencing defeat at some point. I had been having a great morning after climbing several routes including Glory Jeans and Curly for President (5.8) just a stellar line. Some one had recommended another great line called Bolt Line (5.8). Being on a high I thought 'Hell ya!'. To quote the guide "Excellent sustained low angle climbing (ie -slab route)" "This originally had only 3 widely spaced bolts. However, even with the added protection (total 7 bolts now) there is enough of a runout at the top to maintain that warm traditional feeling." "The direct unprotected start is about 5.10". Okay so it is a 5.8...how bad could it be. Well the first bolt was really high over a bit of a roof. After some farting around Bob and I managed to get the first bolt stick clipped. So then I get on lead. I manage to get over the bolt that was clipped and with a few dicey moves I can clip the next bolt. Well shit, the 3rd bolt is at least 15 feet away and all I can see are a few ripples and divots on about a 15 degree slab. This wasn't even the run out part. Waves of nausea and panic washed thru me as I thought about the cheese grater of a fall and the though of climbing higher. I felt pretty defeated as I lowered off one of my biners on the second bolt (pic is before I pulled the rope). Spanked!

We bailed soon after and came back that evening to a place called the Meadows. Again it had very easy access with a good number of moderates. I finished that night by sending a 5.10a (Mr.Popular) that finished on a small roof, really cool. Bob lead a 5.7 called False Modesty. Overall we had an amazing opening day. I lead 10 different routes and Bob lead 3 over 8 hours of climbing.


The other climber that were around for the most part were great. As mentioned before, I had lost my route guide and two sets of other climbers helped us out. Matt and Marie showed us a couple of other worthy routes. Katie and Chris were also really helpful. Chris actually helped look for the guide and then they invited us to climb with them for the rest of the day so we could use their guide. Good people.

We ate supper at about 9pm and were passed out by 10:30pm. That was our first day at Rumney.

Conway

Drive back and we are passing Conway.  We could see 2 teams on the face.  Probably 5 pitch stuff.

Last day

Back to Parking Lot wall for last day.

Waimea Wall

Bob and I went to Jimmie's Face which has a 2 pitch 5.3 slab route.  We then went on to climb a few other routes.  We had to pass Waimea on the way.  Waimea is probably the hardest and most notable face in the North-east.  It has Jaws II at 5.15a, one of the few 5.15's in North America.  Most of the climbs are in the 5.13's.  The whole face is around 30 over hanging with bulges and corners.  Really cool to see in person.  I think there are a couple of routes with Janes name on them.

Metamorphosis 5.8

We went to another section of the face to climb Metamorphosis.  Some one highly recommended the climb.  It is a full half rope and in fact people have lowered their partners off by accident.  Somebody was on it and offered to bring up our rope.  Thank god because it would have shit my pants.  Great climb.

Main Wall left side.

Needed to work on Bob's lead head so we came to this gully which has 4 climbs under 5.7.  He lead them all.

Friendly Natives

I lost my guide book after our first couple routes.  I have no idea what happened to it and I got pretty pissed off.  Two sets of climbers were around when we lost it.  Matt and Marie are a couple of locals who we got talking with.  They showed us a few cool routes to keep us busy for a while.

What the Schist!

Bob and I spent our first climbing in Rumney...wow!  I lead 11 routes today ranging from 5.6 to 5.10a.  Bob is working on lead and did a 5.6 and a 5.7.  The lower grades seem run out.  The picture is of Bolt Line (5.8) which is a widely spaced.  It originally had only 3 bolts.

IMG00044-20100630-0800.jpg

Just got to Parking Lot wall.

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Down in Old Montréal. 

Stranger Things

Bob and I managed to get out climbing at the last minute tonight. We decided to go out to Cemetery Face because of the evening sun and easy approach. Now we have been climbing out there for over 3 years and have never come across another party. With the popularity of the German Face I figured that Cemetery Face was all but forgotten. We were kinda blown away when we got there to find 7 other people already climbing in 2 separate parties. I guess a few other people went out there for the same reasons we did. Phil was out there with some friends and the other party were 2 guys who had read about the area on RockClimbing.com. Cool.

More Than Last Time

The four of us got out to Manuel's today...this morning (5am). It was windy and it was cold! Bob brought his own source of natural gas to keeps himself warm but unfortunately it was an open system and he contaminated the rest of us with his retched stink. At least the wind was good for dealing with that.

I am finding developing this face is harder than the German Face. We had to cut a new trail but it is steeper. When we got there, we discussed potential lines. It was decided that we needed to have the top anchors lower than where we were so you could climb it with a 60 meter rope. So we had to get to the top, lower on rap, drill two top anchors, pull the rope and then set up top ropes. That only took 2 hours leaving only 30 minutes to climb (we cleaned a lot of moss off the face). Kim was at the top for quite some time and when she came down, she was really cold. She needs some more meat on her bones.

The plan is to keep these two routes as a two pitch. Bob's top anchor keeps the rope short by 10 feet. On rappel you can get enough rope stretch to get to the ground. The one Jan and I were on will have to be two pitch, a 60 meter is definitely short. I placed a second set of top bolts at the bottom of where the face goes vertical. The bottom section will be EASY sport (5.2) just to gain the belay ledge. I think that we have 2 potential lines off that set of top bolts, both real cool climbing. One on the left is dead vertical with great features. Good jugs just when you need them. The other one I didn't climb but it is really quite thin. I was on Bob's line last week and that is looking pretty cool as well.

We have spotted 3 or 4 trad lines in the face but we haven't brought our racks to try them out. The next time out we should be putting up routes. Unfortunately for me that will not be until July, I have to go to Rumney!

Feels Like Old Times

We had a foursome climbing on Saturday; Kim, Bob, myself and of all people Jan (where the hell has he been?). It had an eery feeling of last summer when we started developing the German Face. We bushwhacked to get into the face, we hauled a lot of loose rock off the cliff and we actually did a bit of climbing. Bob placed a new set of top anchors and Kim and him cleaned and top roped what will likely be a nice 5.5ish trad route (Red). It follows a feature that may take pro but they may choose to bolt it.

Jan and I set up a top rope on a set of anchors I placed last year. I new it was higher than 100 feet so we belayed from the top so we could lower more than 100 feet. We cleaned the face as we were lowered down, knocking off a few blocks and weeding some ledges. I came down directly over the small roof I have been thinking about all year. It was not nearly big as I was hoping (I have never heard that before...really). Regardless, the climbing above and below is really good. I had noticed some cool features on the left of my line. One was a continuous hand crack leaning out left. I mentioned this to Jan before he went down. I belayed him back up and his smile could not have been wider. The climbing was great and he figures something in the mid 5.10's.

So I think we have our first 4 or 5 routes figured out now we need to bolt them. Maybe next time.

Rumney Climbing Guide

Finally got my guide book for Rumney in the mail the other day. Getting that makes it REAL. Just flipping through the pages and seeing all the routes...awesome. Rumney is known for being steep and overhanging. It has a huge concentration of climbs in the 5.12 to 5.14X range and has one of the few American 5.15b's. I figure it will take a bit of work to put that one down!

There are actually a lot of bolted moderates. There is even a wall called the 5.8 wall. Most of the climbing is 100 feet or less so a 60 meter rope works well. One climb has already sussed out is called "clip-de-do-da", a 2 pitch sport 5.5. That will be fun

Office test

Just testing out blogging from my phone.

Fern Gully 5.2

Bob and I finally got out Saturday morning, before it got nice. We suffered for our art, BIG time. The hike in was brutal because all the crap we were carrying. Most of it is for cleaning routes and we leave at the base so it was not as bad coming back.

We started cutting a new trail only to find that it came out too far away from the Upper Face. It will be fine for the Wall of Possibilities. We were hoping to hike to the base of the Upper Face and start climbing. The brush was too thick to bushwhack through so we had to go to the German Face.

Bob climbed German Access and set a top anchor over Tack Auch. We then had to hoist our crap up the wall and then I followed, cleaning the gear. Finally we mad it to the base of the Upper Face.

I had one big goal for the day, and that was to put up a fixed line to get access to the top. I climbed up though the gully slinging a couple of saplings and the odd piece of gear to keep myself safe. I guess you could call it a route but it isn't anything I would ever clean for a real climb. Too much gardening for that.

I built an anchor and brought Bob up. Bob had one big goal for the day and that was to places top anchors for a new route. Bob bought a new drill over the winter and has been itching to use it. Unfortunately, by the time both of us were up we had to leave. Oh well!

The liken on the face very slippery and near impossible to remove. When it is dry it just flakes off. So all this rain is messing up both climbing and developing. God we need a break.

Aging Like a Rope

Once again I am wishing for the end of RDF. I could have been developing today if it weren't for the miserable forecast. I will not get out on the weekend so...training inside.

For those of you who care, I rotate through 3 ropes. I have a new rope that I keep full length and then as a rope ages, I will cut it in half. I find a 30 meter rope good for the gym and Flat Rock. When the half rope gets old I use it as a fixed line where ever I am developing. I am about to cut my Mammut Flash (a burly 10.5mm) which is 3 years old but only used for 2 seasons. One Saturday past we were using it on German Face and I noticed that it seemed stiff. It felt kinda like an older gym rope when it looses its play.

Wednesday we were climbing at Walnuts when I took out my 30 meter Beal Top Gun (10.5 mm). That rope is 4 years old with 2 years of significant gym use and abuse. It seemed a little limp, sort of like cooked spaghetti. I know that heavy use can cause a rope to become limp.

Then the irony hits, what rope am I more like? Am I like the Mammut, the older I get, the more damage I take leaving me stiff with kinks here and there. I just don't play like I use to. Or am I more like the Beal, limp and played out ready to be hung outside for the season. But then, who really freekin cares because if I was a rope, I would keep going until my sheath was worn down with core shots here and there. Even if I was only good enough to be used on 5.5's, it would still be better than being woven into a mat for the retirement home. So I guess it doesn't really matter what rope I am, as long as I am getting out.

But between you and me, I think I would rather be the Beal Top Gun...Kim always liked the way it felt in her hands;)

Aging

Strange Things in the Woods

Yeah!!! I finally managed to get out climbing with Kim this last weekend. I thought I was going to freeze at times but it was real nice to get outside again. It looks like German Face has survived the winter quite well (no major rockfall). I didn't have any gear with me to start developing the upper face.

A strange thing happened in the wood...with Kim! Now I have to set the scene. We met at the trail head at 6 am and hiked in. We had done a couple climbs when we were chatting while getting for the next lead. Then it happened! Something I didn't expect at that hour and in that place. It was an odor! Not strong but noticeable. I wasn't sure but it seemed to come from Kim. I leaned in (subtlety) and it got stronger. Okay...Kim stinks; but not of body odor or foot rot. She smelled good! What the #%#!. Who the hell can get up a 5am, hike for 1/2 hour and climb for another hour and smell like fricken roses. It is just not natural. Bob would smell like 5 day old road kill and Kim smells 'nice'. The things you got to put up with when you climb with 'chicks'.

Rain Drizzle and Fog

Last year this time I had already been out climbing a couple of times. Just bad luck (weather) this year. I have a bunch of bolts ready to place. I just bought a new 60 meter rope I can't wait to hang on. Every time the weather is good...my timing is not. Life gets in the way of life.

On a lighter note, Bob has confirmed that he is going to Rumney with me. I have been climbing with Bob for almost 8 years and this will be the first time we have done a trip together. Can't wait!