Yesterday Keith and I took Don’s family out to Cathedral Ledge for some fun family climbing. We did a few top-ropes on the Thin Air face in the morning, and spent some time at the top of the cliff building anchors and rappelling from the scenic “classroom”. A great day out with a great family!
Day 1 at Lost Horizon, Day 2 rained hard so we played in the Cathedral Cave learning to jug lines, build anchors, and boulder some slabby stuff. Day 3 multi-pitch climbing on Whitehorse with fantastic weather. Great group of kids!
Had the pleasure of taking Rhode Island native Manny out for a day of private rock instruction. Manny had climbed with us last year and returned to dial in some of his multi-pitch skills. We started over at Whitehorse Ledge and quickly polished off 600 feet of climbing getting up to Lunch Ledge in just over one hour. We then rappelled back to the ground and headed on over to Cathedral Ledge. A quick rappel down the Barber Wall and a short walk found us below an empty Upper Refuse. We cruised that in style with plenty of time to work on some crack climbing skills at the North End by climbing both Child’s Play and Kiddy Crack.
Outstanding weather, a great partner, 10 pitches of climbing, over a 1,000 feet in total… what’s not to like?
Yesterday I got to spend the day at Square Ledge with a great family from Ontario. We got lots of climbing and rappelling in just before some storms blew in!
What a fantastic two days! It was obvious from the beginning that Mel & Kyle have a serious adventure streak (Kyle proposed to Melanie on Mount Washington after a summit climb), and they select birthday and anniversary vacation destinations based on what outdoor sports they can do while there… my kind of people! We started off on Day 1 working on Slab/Multi-pitch technique over at Whitehorse Ledge. We climbed 4 pitches of Standard Route before rappelling down, grabbing some lunch, then working on some crack climbing on Beezebub and Seventh Seal.
Day 2 brought us over to Cathedral Ledge where we rappelled the Barber Wall then climbed a very memorable Upper Refuse, followed by a scenic lunch atop Airation Buttress and some top-roping/gear clinics down at the North End to finish the day.
It was a perfect 2 days of climbing, and I’m pretty sure Mel & Kyle are hooked as they were checking our shoes and harness from the store while I was heading home. I’m pretty sure I’ll see them back on the cliffs in the near future!
For information on the Fast Track Program go here: http://www.emsexploration.com/climb/accelerated-intro-to-rock-climbing/
I got to spend Monday at Square Ledge with this awesome group of kids and today at Cathedral Ledge assaulting Upper Refuse. So much fun!
Last week I had two great camp groups to work with at Square Ledge, and AMC Teen Adventure Camp and Camp Robindell. Both groups had amazing kids who pushed each other higher & higher through-out the day!
Yesterday had some fun up at Square Ledge with a hardy crew of AMC Leadership Program teenagers. These 10 backpackers got to spend the day drying out from a soggy week of backpacking in the Whites with EMS Schools!
The Simonds family from Massachusetts joined EMS Schools this past Friday for a picture perfect day of climbing. Forecast-ed heat and humidity had us heading to Square Ledge in Pinkham Notch. Almost 2000 feet higher than North Conway, we caught some steady cool breezes off of the eastern side of Mount Washington and pretty much had the crag to ourselves except for another EMS Schools/YMCA camp group. Definitely the nicest day of climbing I have had recently with a super fun-stoked family!
After that we rappelled down the West Face to finish the day.
I had an excellent time sharing climbing with you guys. Given your past-time of back-country skiing I’m certain I’ll see one, or all, of you in an avalanche course this winter!
This past week 8 kids and 2 counselors from YMCA Camp Frost joined EMS Schools in North Conway for a few days of rock climbing. I got to join them both Tuesday and Thursday and had a great time sharing our sport at both Square Ledge and Whitehorse. Tuesday was a bit foggy/rainy but we still had fun at Square, and we got a few pitches in Thursday on Whitehorse followed by some air-conditioned bouldering back at EMS No. Co. Below are the photos from their trip!
