Lead, er, Fall
Despite my siblings taking the cars and a mild chance of rain, Jon and I finally made it on our planned Memorial Day trip. Weds afternoon, my parents picked us up at the train station. My father was being ornery so we had to stop at their house and then we had to play with my niece. My mother sent us off with a pile of food, but we still stopped at Cracker Barrel, bc it's not a road trip without Cracker Barrel. Pro-tip: if you go to Cracker Barrel after 9, you can get in and out in 40mins. The bleary-eyed StMac and tGR put us up and we fell gratefully asleep. Sans alarm clock, we woke at 7, got a hug, and headed to Rumney. Ordering Dunkin Donuts coffee when you haven't had coffee yet is hard!
We'd planned to resume where we left off, but Dirtigo and the 5.2 next to it were under a streaming waterfall. Wimpy-Gilman, being on the opposite wall, was basically dry, so I lead that so we could climb Preppy's Crack (5.7+) again. The hardest part of the latter was avoiding the wet spots and a slug. Rainbow, the 5.6 around the corner, felt easy this time, possibly bc I'm back to climbing in my elven climbing shoes in hopes they will stretch. I really do believe the slightly more aggressive build gives me an extra grade of climbing.
I'd watched a few people climb Men in White Suits, the 5.9 next to Rainbow. The hardest route I'd ever led was Nuthatch, a 5.7, but I knew MiWS's crux was a roof and I'm a Gunks climber so I figured the roof might be over-rated. I'm so glad I gave MiWS a try: I used everything GMac and JBeau had told me about resting. I'd frantically clip a bolt, yell "Take!" to Jon, and hang while figuring out the next section. I've never hung like that from a lead before. I got to the ledge just before the roof, eyed the last bolt before the anchor, and with misgivings, made all the moves to clip that bolt. All that was left was the roof to the anchor. Several times, I'd start climbing, get to the level of the bolt or just beyond, get scared, and down climb back to the ledge. I found all sorts of solid hand holds and I'd heard there was something to grab in the crud above the roof, but I didn't see it. Finally, I told Jon, "I'm making it to the top or I'm falling off." I went up, looked desperately for the promised hold - and fell. I wasn't far from the bolt and had time to yell to Jon so he was taking in slack, so it was a very small, very controlled fall, but it was still my first. I tried again, more aggressively, more determined to make it to the top -- and fell further. The third time I fell, Jon wasn't really prepared for it, I took an honest-to-goodness whipper, falling 8, maybe 10 feet. It was enough and besides, my rope is only rated to catch 8 of those before it has to be retired. I came down and watched a young man struggle on it (while retrieving my gear). They offered me a ride on the rope once it was set, but after two moves, I realized I didn't have the strength, so I bailed. All in all, it was still less scary than my fall at Brooklyn Boulders last September, probably bc it was expected and I knew Jon would catch me.
We moved down the cliff and ended up on Maltese Falcon, a 5.8 so new, it's not in the guidebook. It's a very facey climb, requiring good friction moves on teensy holds, and after MiWS, I was grabbing every piece of gear to make sure I didn't fall. Part of it was that while the crux of MiWS was a roof, if I fell on Maltese Falcon, I'd get banged up on the positive angle wall. I made it to the top, frantically clipped the anchor, and told Jon to give it a shot. Despite last year's visit to Rumney, he's still not confident in friction moves and his feet are bigger than mine, so he had a lot of trouble. I was getting a little rained on and worried that I wouldn't be able to make it up the climb in the rain to clean the gear, so after he'd been stuck in one spot for a while, I suggested he come down so I could quickly clean the anchor. The climb was SO MUCH EASIER on top rope, although my anchor was not as tidy as it could be, so it took some careful belaying to get it all sorted out. The rain was done by the time I was down and it was only 4:30, but Jon said he'd had enough, so we walked to the car. On the way, we passed a swimming hole and hopped in to the river to cool off. It was a perfect moment.
We got to George's Seafood at just the right time. We shared a bowl of clam chowder, a foot long lobster roll, and a basket of fried haddock and fried shrimp. We skipped dessert -- until we got outside and I remembered they have ice cream and "Wild NH Bear Tracks" is essentially Raspberry Garcia. Oh, and it tastes great in a sundae. We waved to the nice lady making it fo us in the window.
Friday we were third car in the lot, but there was still a crowd at the Parking Lot Wall. Most of the climbs were wet, but A Week with Pete, the 5.2 I'd planned to warm up on, was dry enough for the climber. It kinds looks like a ladder, but I needed something low-key after the day before. Last year, some climbers from the club had highly recommended Glory Jean (5.7), so we waited quite some time for that one to open up, instead of waiting for Easily Amused (5.6) next to it. Well, and also bc 2 French-Canadian girls climbed that to set Easily Aroused (5.9) and I don't understand why speaking French correlates with asshattery at Rumney. I got 40% up Glory Jean, only to discover the next move requires laybacking/frictioning over a chasm. Oh hell no, I thought, and got permission from the people on the climb next to me to temporarily use their anchor. I climbed around, scrambling on dirt and pulling on grass, but I got a bolt from my climb before downclimbing and clearing off their anchor and intervening bolts. I set the directional bolt, traversed to the last bolt -- and discovered the anchor was in a terribly awkward position. (spoiler) climbing it later, I think maybe if was taller I might be able to set the anchor, but it would be an awkward fall if I slipped. Jon lowered me from one bolt. He was going up with some extra draws: while he's never led before, I thought he might be tall enough to reach. He didn't quite make it to the top, but I suggested to the party next to us that we'd let them climb it if we could use their rope on the 5.6. They agreed. Easily Amused was non-trivial, but not particularly fun. Jon wanted to climb it again and we convinced a patient party to let us use their rope to set the 5.9. I went up the 5.6 and quickly set the 5.9 using an anchor I'd been staring at all morning. I climbed Easily Aroused twice, hanging the rope both times. It was crimpy, on sharp rocks, clinging to individual crystals while finding the next edge. The tips of my fingers were rubbed raw. The patient party included a mother and son who'd never climbed before, so they were very impressed at how comfortable I was just hanging in mid-air, glaring at the rocks. I took a ride on Glory Jean, decided it was not a move I could make on lead, and Jon and I agreed we were too toastified to climb anymore. We were driving out of Rumney when we saw a "Prime Rib Tonight!" sign at the Bear-None. The food was okay and the waitress was nice.
Sat morning, I woke Jon before 6 with coffee. We drove to Polly's Pancake Parlor, which was very quiet. Jon seemed to like his pancakes, although we were there so early, the whoopie pies were still in the oven and I was too billious to look at food anyhow. Getting gas was harder than expected and the drive to Pinkham Notch was longer than expected - we had to park in an overflow lot and didn't get started with the hike until 10:20am.
Somehow climbing Mt. Washington is always more meaningful to me, possibly bc of my family history with the mountain: my father used to take dates to hike up it and I remember as a child looking at Polaroids of my smiling parents in hiking gear. Now I have ghosts from last year’s hike, as well as my winter ascents. It took us 3hrs, 15mins to hike to the top of the Tuckerman’s Ravine trail, with weather and navigating just murky enough to keep me on edge. Jon gamely listened to me pontificate on how to hike mountaineering-style, how you manage your warmth, as we sweated buckets on the hike. At the top, we scarfed down (fork-and-knife) chili dogs and chocolate milk. I’d’ve liked to stop in the museum, but it was 3:20pm before we were done with postcards and souvenirs. We took the Lionshead Trail: the ranger explained that it’s pretty similar to the Tuckerman’s Ravine trail, but the steep part is in the woods, rather than on exposed rock. I was glad of that, but somehow it still took us 3.5hrs, i.e. longer than to go up. There were multiple sections that Jon later commented he wished we’d had a hand rope for. During the last section in the woods, we got horribly bitten by tiny little black insects: they weren’t mosquitoes, but we spent a good hour whining to each other how itchy and miserable we were. With all the rain they’ve had, Crystal Cascades was extra lovely. We kissed before scurrying to the car on our sad, tired feet. I discovered the rubber is falling off my boots which I bought to climb Kilimanjaro, such a symbolic sign of the passing of an age. I’m sure the food at May Kelly’s was as good as usual, but after I ate half a salad, I was too tired to eat anything more but buttered bread and a little of my Guinness.
When Jon woke up on Sunday and saw me moving decorative pillows, he suggested a mercy killing might be nice. It was worth everything though to see his face when he encountered the breakfast at the Merrill Farm Resort, including 5 varieties of homebaked muffins, including corn muffins so shortly out of the oven, they were almost too hot to touch. We had two apiece while discussing Tough Mudders and fiancés who tear their ACL with a nice couple from southern NH. It felt so unoptimal not to go whitewater kayaking or at least tubing with all the rainfall, but instead we went shopping. IME has a great consignment area and I discovered a like-new pair of Trangos in my size. Considering we couldn’t go winter hiking last year bc I lacked shoes, it was a no-brainer, even though I later discovered I can’t use them with my current crampons for a warm day of ice climbing. I also found multiple pairs of hiking shoes in my size and while they were slightly worn, which is a little gross, I decided I wanted cheap hiking shoes more than I wanted new ones. The Mount Washington Observatory “Weather Discovery Center” turned out to be fascinating and we both loved the geology exhibit in the basement. We had quick sandwiches at the Front Side Grind, with phenomenal coffee, but a few drops came down as we pulled into the mini-golf parking lot and we decided discretion was the better part of valor. Which is good, bc it took us 8hrs of driving, with only 2 gas stops, to get back to the car rental place. By the time we got back to Manhattan at midnight, we were both zonked beyond words. I bet Jon is glad to be back at work today.
We'd planned to resume where we left off, but Dirtigo and the 5.2 next to it were under a streaming waterfall. Wimpy-Gilman, being on the opposite wall, was basically dry, so I lead that so we could climb Preppy's Crack (5.7+) again. The hardest part of the latter was avoiding the wet spots and a slug. Rainbow, the 5.6 around the corner, felt easy this time, possibly bc I'm back to climbing in my elven climbing shoes in hopes they will stretch. I really do believe the slightly more aggressive build gives me an extra grade of climbing.
I'd watched a few people climb Men in White Suits, the 5.9 next to Rainbow. The hardest route I'd ever led was Nuthatch, a 5.7, but I knew MiWS's crux was a roof and I'm a Gunks climber so I figured the roof might be over-rated. I'm so glad I gave MiWS a try: I used everything GMac and JBeau had told me about resting. I'd frantically clip a bolt, yell "Take!" to Jon, and hang while figuring out the next section. I've never hung like that from a lead before. I got to the ledge just before the roof, eyed the last bolt before the anchor, and with misgivings, made all the moves to clip that bolt. All that was left was the roof to the anchor. Several times, I'd start climbing, get to the level of the bolt or just beyond, get scared, and down climb back to the ledge. I found all sorts of solid hand holds and I'd heard there was something to grab in the crud above the roof, but I didn't see it. Finally, I told Jon, "I'm making it to the top or I'm falling off." I went up, looked desperately for the promised hold - and fell. I wasn't far from the bolt and had time to yell to Jon so he was taking in slack, so it was a very small, very controlled fall, but it was still my first. I tried again, more aggressively, more determined to make it to the top -- and fell further. The third time I fell, Jon wasn't really prepared for it, I took an honest-to-goodness whipper, falling 8, maybe 10 feet. It was enough and besides, my rope is only rated to catch 8 of those before it has to be retired. I came down and watched a young man struggle on it (while retrieving my gear). They offered me a ride on the rope once it was set, but after two moves, I realized I didn't have the strength, so I bailed. All in all, it was still less scary than my fall at Brooklyn Boulders last September, probably bc it was expected and I knew Jon would catch me.
We moved down the cliff and ended up on Maltese Falcon, a 5.8 so new, it's not in the guidebook. It's a very facey climb, requiring good friction moves on teensy holds, and after MiWS, I was grabbing every piece of gear to make sure I didn't fall. Part of it was that while the crux of MiWS was a roof, if I fell on Maltese Falcon, I'd get banged up on the positive angle wall. I made it to the top, frantically clipped the anchor, and told Jon to give it a shot. Despite last year's visit to Rumney, he's still not confident in friction moves and his feet are bigger than mine, so he had a lot of trouble. I was getting a little rained on and worried that I wouldn't be able to make it up the climb in the rain to clean the gear, so after he'd been stuck in one spot for a while, I suggested he come down so I could quickly clean the anchor. The climb was SO MUCH EASIER on top rope, although my anchor was not as tidy as it could be, so it took some careful belaying to get it all sorted out. The rain was done by the time I was down and it was only 4:30, but Jon said he'd had enough, so we walked to the car. On the way, we passed a swimming hole and hopped in to the river to cool off. It was a perfect moment.
We got to George's Seafood at just the right time. We shared a bowl of clam chowder, a foot long lobster roll, and a basket of fried haddock and fried shrimp. We skipped dessert -- until we got outside and I remembered they have ice cream and "Wild NH Bear Tracks" is essentially Raspberry Garcia. Oh, and it tastes great in a sundae. We waved to the nice lady making it fo us in the window.
Friday we were third car in the lot, but there was still a crowd at the Parking Lot Wall. Most of the climbs were wet, but A Week with Pete, the 5.2 I'd planned to warm up on, was dry enough for the climber. It kinds looks like a ladder, but I needed something low-key after the day before. Last year, some climbers from the club had highly recommended Glory Jean (5.7), so we waited quite some time for that one to open up, instead of waiting for Easily Amused (5.6) next to it. Well, and also bc 2 French-Canadian girls climbed that to set Easily Aroused (5.9) and I don't understand why speaking French correlates with asshattery at Rumney. I got 40% up Glory Jean, only to discover the next move requires laybacking/frictioning over a chasm. Oh hell no, I thought, and got permission from the people on the climb next to me to temporarily use their anchor. I climbed around, scrambling on dirt and pulling on grass, but I got a bolt from my climb before downclimbing and clearing off their anchor and intervening bolts. I set the directional bolt, traversed to the last bolt -- and discovered the anchor was in a terribly awkward position. (spoiler) climbing it later, I think maybe if was taller I might be able to set the anchor, but it would be an awkward fall if I slipped. Jon lowered me from one bolt. He was going up with some extra draws: while he's never led before, I thought he might be tall enough to reach. He didn't quite make it to the top, but I suggested to the party next to us that we'd let them climb it if we could use their rope on the 5.6. They agreed. Easily Amused was non-trivial, but not particularly fun. Jon wanted to climb it again and we convinced a patient party to let us use their rope to set the 5.9. I went up the 5.6 and quickly set the 5.9 using an anchor I'd been staring at all morning. I climbed Easily Aroused twice, hanging the rope both times. It was crimpy, on sharp rocks, clinging to individual crystals while finding the next edge. The tips of my fingers were rubbed raw. The patient party included a mother and son who'd never climbed before, so they were very impressed at how comfortable I was just hanging in mid-air, glaring at the rocks. I took a ride on Glory Jean, decided it was not a move I could make on lead, and Jon and I agreed we were too toastified to climb anymore. We were driving out of Rumney when we saw a "Prime Rib Tonight!" sign at the Bear-None. The food was okay and the waitress was nice.
Sat morning, I woke Jon before 6 with coffee. We drove to Polly's Pancake Parlor, which was very quiet. Jon seemed to like his pancakes, although we were there so early, the whoopie pies were still in the oven and I was too billious to look at food anyhow. Getting gas was harder than expected and the drive to Pinkham Notch was longer than expected - we had to park in an overflow lot and didn't get started with the hike until 10:20am.
Somehow climbing Mt. Washington is always more meaningful to me, possibly bc of my family history with the mountain: my father used to take dates to hike up it and I remember as a child looking at Polaroids of my smiling parents in hiking gear. Now I have ghosts from last year’s hike, as well as my winter ascents. It took us 3hrs, 15mins to hike to the top of the Tuckerman’s Ravine trail, with weather and navigating just murky enough to keep me on edge. Jon gamely listened to me pontificate on how to hike mountaineering-style, how you manage your warmth, as we sweated buckets on the hike. At the top, we scarfed down (fork-and-knife) chili dogs and chocolate milk. I’d’ve liked to stop in the museum, but it was 3:20pm before we were done with postcards and souvenirs. We took the Lionshead Trail: the ranger explained that it’s pretty similar to the Tuckerman’s Ravine trail, but the steep part is in the woods, rather than on exposed rock. I was glad of that, but somehow it still took us 3.5hrs, i.e. longer than to go up. There were multiple sections that Jon later commented he wished we’d had a hand rope for. During the last section in the woods, we got horribly bitten by tiny little black insects: they weren’t mosquitoes, but we spent a good hour whining to each other how itchy and miserable we were. With all the rain they’ve had, Crystal Cascades was extra lovely. We kissed before scurrying to the car on our sad, tired feet. I discovered the rubber is falling off my boots which I bought to climb Kilimanjaro, such a symbolic sign of the passing of an age. I’m sure the food at May Kelly’s was as good as usual, but after I ate half a salad, I was too tired to eat anything more but buttered bread and a little of my Guinness.
When Jon woke up on Sunday and saw me moving decorative pillows, he suggested a mercy killing might be nice. It was worth everything though to see his face when he encountered the breakfast at the Merrill Farm Resort, including 5 varieties of homebaked muffins, including corn muffins so shortly out of the oven, they were almost too hot to touch. We had two apiece while discussing Tough Mudders and fiancés who tear their ACL with a nice couple from southern NH. It felt so unoptimal not to go whitewater kayaking or at least tubing with all the rainfall, but instead we went shopping. IME has a great consignment area and I discovered a like-new pair of Trangos in my size. Considering we couldn’t go winter hiking last year bc I lacked shoes, it was a no-brainer, even though I later discovered I can’t use them with my current crampons for a warm day of ice climbing. I also found multiple pairs of hiking shoes in my size and while they were slightly worn, which is a little gross, I decided I wanted cheap hiking shoes more than I wanted new ones. The Mount Washington Observatory “Weather Discovery Center” turned out to be fascinating and we both loved the geology exhibit in the basement. We had quick sandwiches at the Front Side Grind, with phenomenal coffee, but a few drops came down as we pulled into the mini-golf parking lot and we decided discretion was the better part of valor. Which is good, bc it took us 8hrs of driving, with only 2 gas stops, to get back to the car rental place. By the time we got back to Manhattan at midnight, we were both zonked beyond words. I bet Jon is glad to be back at work today.