Madame G, Wild Horses, Raunchy, Dry Heaves-ish
Thurs night was my third date of the current series with 008. My objectives for the night were to find out if he lives in Manhattan (as I thought, no, with a funny look like wasn't that clear) and what he does for fun. The former was important bc many vanilla NYC men think the third date is when they are gonna get some. 008 even commented on it, but in the end, we had a long talk and decided that neither of us was quite comfortable doing that yet, WHICH IS SO WEIRD considering some of the things I've done. I did admit my hormones were screaming at me for such madness and he pretty much said the same :) I'm a little worried that, postponed once, it's never going to happen now.
He answered the second question too and likes basketball and movies, which is so mellow. When I answered the question, I said, "You know I climb and hike," and mentioned running and lifting. He was very surprised at the latter and made a comment on my arms when he had his hands on them later in the night. Teehee.
The reason you got no book report this week is that the only reservation I could get for swimming on Fri was 6am. After getting home at 11, I wasn't going to go, but my body woke me at 4:30 and 5:30, so eventually I caved and went swimming. It was surprisingly cardiotastic - swam an IM ladder of 1-3 length IM, 2-2 length, and 3-1 length.
Fri night, ex-NavyBoy and I caught up on a year of stuff while I cooked frijoles negro a la Kate, which I'll write about in the other place.
It was a lovely day in the Gunks. GSkeletor bought me breakfast/lunch at The Bakery and we went to the surprisingly uncrowded cliffs. We started with Madame G, one of the best 5.6s in the Gunks. It was delightful and a new favorite of mine. We then did the first pitches of Wild Horses and Raunchy, which were both very facey with thin holds requiring thoughtful footwork.
We then went through a little rockpile-cave to Dry Heave and GSkeletor commented, "Haven't done this one yet." Considering he's been climbing two days a week every weekend for 7 years, that's something. He started up the crack, put in three pieces, and then traversed out on the crux. I was very concerned - I could see the protection was dodgy and he was concentrating on climbing, not placing gear, but if he took a leader fall, he'd swing out a considerable distance. He placed it, I sighed a breath of relief, and he finished the pitch.
I started up the crack, cleaning gear. I pulled the piece before the traverse, started out, and realized I wasn't high enough and would have to go back to the crack. I asked him for some slack, which he gave me, and I walked back to the crack. I couldn't get up to where I needed and fell; because of the rope's elasticity, I hit the ground and bruised and scraped my knee. He was horrified and started lecturing me about how I should never be climbing on that much slack. I still maintain there was no way to climb it without that much slack. Anyhow, I ended up climbing the face (since I couldn't get back on the traverse and quite frankly didn't want to) which was unprotectable but easier, and made it up without further incident.
He asked if I wanted to keep going, and I did, just to make sure I didn't lose my nerve. He wouldn't check the guide book I'd carried up, so we just went up. We got to the top and there was no rap station - actually, it was full of bushes and grass, which is generally a sign no one climbs there. It took us a while and we ended up carrying the ropes to a so-so rap station with so many ledges, we had to do it in three stages, with all the time consumption that implies. It was pretty dark by the time we got everything together and went through the cave, but it wasn't quite full dark by the time we got to the car. Unfortunately, by then I'd missed my bus back to the city and the next one wasn't until 11, so I didn't get home until 1 :(
GSkeletor is an absolute gentleman and leads harder than many of the regulars in the club (which is why I'm so sore), so I'm very glad to climb with him, but spending 15 hours with anyone is rough. We spent the last 2 hours waiting for the bus talking about other places he's climbed and he gave me good info on Black Canyon of the Gunnison (a staple of my planned Colorado road trip) and Yosemite. Bottom line? I don't climb well enough to go to either :( On the plus side, he's also really looking forward to ice climbing this winter and wants to take me to the Catskills, so I'm glad I decided to buy boots; he also even offered to take my sister rock climbing with us sometime, which I thought was very sweet.
I recognized that it's more important this week to rest my ankle than to go hiking :( so I'd planned to sleep in, but my stupid phone rang at 7am, so I didn't get much sleep and I spent my morning being sore and then my facial took forever. I went to my usual place on Mott and my skin is ever so much happier now, but I've decided that I can't really kill half a day for this sort of thing - the difference in price is less than the value of 2 hours of my time. Bought banh mi, jack fruit, and lychees; did laundry for my trip; and made bbq chicken. mmm...
My biggest accomplishment of the weekend though was sleeping 8 hours last night despite copious dozing during my 2.5hr facial and waking up to pee in the middle of the night. YATTA!
He answered the second question too and likes basketball and movies, which is so mellow. When I answered the question, I said, "You know I climb and hike," and mentioned running and lifting. He was very surprised at the latter and made a comment on my arms when he had his hands on them later in the night. Teehee.
The reason you got no book report this week is that the only reservation I could get for swimming on Fri was 6am. After getting home at 11, I wasn't going to go, but my body woke me at 4:30 and 5:30, so eventually I caved and went swimming. It was surprisingly cardiotastic - swam an IM ladder of 1-3 length IM, 2-2 length, and 3-1 length.
Fri night, ex-NavyBoy and I caught up on a year of stuff while I cooked frijoles negro a la Kate, which I'll write about in the other place.
It was a lovely day in the Gunks. GSkeletor bought me breakfast/lunch at The Bakery and we went to the surprisingly uncrowded cliffs. We started with Madame G, one of the best 5.6s in the Gunks. It was delightful and a new favorite of mine. We then did the first pitches of Wild Horses and Raunchy, which were both very facey with thin holds requiring thoughtful footwork.
We then went through a little rockpile-cave to Dry Heave and GSkeletor commented, "Haven't done this one yet." Considering he's been climbing two days a week every weekend for 7 years, that's something. He started up the crack, put in three pieces, and then traversed out on the crux. I was very concerned - I could see the protection was dodgy and he was concentrating on climbing, not placing gear, but if he took a leader fall, he'd swing out a considerable distance. He placed it, I sighed a breath of relief, and he finished the pitch.
I started up the crack, cleaning gear. I pulled the piece before the traverse, started out, and realized I wasn't high enough and would have to go back to the crack. I asked him for some slack, which he gave me, and I walked back to the crack. I couldn't get up to where I needed and fell; because of the rope's elasticity, I hit the ground and bruised and scraped my knee. He was horrified and started lecturing me about how I should never be climbing on that much slack. I still maintain there was no way to climb it without that much slack. Anyhow, I ended up climbing the face (since I couldn't get back on the traverse and quite frankly didn't want to) which was unprotectable but easier, and made it up without further incident.
He asked if I wanted to keep going, and I did, just to make sure I didn't lose my nerve. He wouldn't check the guide book I'd carried up, so we just went up. We got to the top and there was no rap station - actually, it was full of bushes and grass, which is generally a sign no one climbs there. It took us a while and we ended up carrying the ropes to a so-so rap station with so many ledges, we had to do it in three stages, with all the time consumption that implies. It was pretty dark by the time we got everything together and went through the cave, but it wasn't quite full dark by the time we got to the car. Unfortunately, by then I'd missed my bus back to the city and the next one wasn't until 11, so I didn't get home until 1 :(
GSkeletor is an absolute gentleman and leads harder than many of the regulars in the club (which is why I'm so sore), so I'm very glad to climb with him, but spending 15 hours with anyone is rough. We spent the last 2 hours waiting for the bus talking about other places he's climbed and he gave me good info on Black Canyon of the Gunnison (a staple of my planned Colorado road trip) and Yosemite. Bottom line? I don't climb well enough to go to either :( On the plus side, he's also really looking forward to ice climbing this winter and wants to take me to the Catskills, so I'm glad I decided to buy boots; he also even offered to take my sister rock climbing with us sometime, which I thought was very sweet.
I recognized that it's more important this week to rest my ankle than to go hiking :( so I'd planned to sleep in, but my stupid phone rang at 7am, so I didn't get much sleep and I spent my morning being sore and then my facial took forever. I went to my usual place on Mott and my skin is ever so much happier now, but I've decided that I can't really kill half a day for this sort of thing - the difference in price is less than the value of 2 hours of my time. Bought banh mi, jack fruit, and lychees; did laundry for my trip; and made bbq chicken. mmm...
My biggest accomplishment of the weekend though was sleeping 8 hours last night despite copious dozing during my 2.5hr facial and waking up to pee in the middle of the night. YATTA!