Last week I got to spend 3 days with a great group of kids partaking in week long Teen Wilderness Adventure Summer Camp and finished my work week yesterday with a private Learn to Lead & Self-Rescue course with repeat client Spencer. First, some pics of these motivated kids:
T-shirt says it all!Abby enjoying the classic “Chimney”Our group on pitch 4 of Beginner’s RouteKevin’s group heading down Cormier-Magness routeTop of pitch 4 of Beginner’s RouteAbby on Kiddy Crack
Yesterday I got to head back out with Spencer. I’d climbed quite a bit of ice with Spencer at Mt. Willard, Frankenstein, and Cathedral, but we hadn’t climbed any rock yet together. Spencer had started to lead climb and wanted to work on his trad skills. We had an info packed morning session at the scenic “classroom” ledge before climbing Upper Refuse, and setting up some mock leads at the North End to round out our day. Despite questionable weather forecasts it was a perfect day!
Spencer finishes up Upper Refuse
Congrats to Travis D. who won the gear giveaway contest from my last post. He’ll be the proud new owner of an excellent harness knife by Colonial Knives!
Stay tuned tomorrow for my review on the Petzl Cordex Belay Gloves!
Yesterday I went out with 10 AMC Adventure Camp kids and a couple counselors to Square Ledge. It was your typical awesome day in the mountains:
Today I got to hang with 3 Eastern Mountain Sports Store Guides from our Manchester, NH location. All three had quite a bit of previous climbing experience so the focus was on leading skills, and therefore some self-rescue skills. We started at “The Classroom” and reviewed some anchor skills before learning belay escapes & leader rescue skills. After lunch we cruised up Upper Refuse with a focus on belay transfers & efficiency. Definitely a fun day out!
Mary works on the skills needed to escape a belayMary ascends the rope to “rescue” BillThe Manchester crew hangs out togetherMary & Matt close to the top
I’m heading out again tomorrow for another lead skills course, but I’m also itching to give away another one of these awesome Colonial Knives that I reviewed a few months ago. Stay tuned for how to enter to win one in my next post!
I was fortunate to spend the July 4th holiday with yet another awesome couple. While Hardy has dragged Kat along on some long fly fishing trips this birthday present was all about Kat and reconnecting to her passion through a private rock climbing course. Given the expected crowds on a beautiful Saturday, July 4th, I decided to reverse the flow a bit and we started the day by rappelling down Barber Wall and climbing Upper Refuse first thing in the morning.
No question, she’s having a good time!Look at that face!This couple was so cute & supportive of each other through-out, it was really awesome hanging out with them for the day!Kat remembers how she used to coil rope
After topping out to a very crowded vista we enjoyed a bit of lunch over on Airation Buttress. For the afternoon we headed over to Whitehorse Ledge. It was the first time I’ve seen the rockfall from this past Spring near the Dike Route, quite impressive!
Recent rockfall below the Dike Route
Kat wanted to work on some gear placement skills so we set up shop on Beezlebub Corner. We did a couple of laps on that, one where Kat did a “mock” lead”.
Hardy liked climbs with big hand holds… if you got guns might as well use them!
Kat was also looking for a burn before wrapping up the day so I dropped a top-rope on the 5.10a test piece, Seventh Seal. With a tight belay and a few rests both made it up the route, a great ending to a full day!
Kat dancing up to Seventh Seal… having a past in competitive ballet definitely helps your climbing!
The connection these two share was quite apparent through-out the day. Between “atta-boy’s” and “go get it’s” they had just the right amount of loving encouragement without living inside a Hallmark card. It was a real pleasure to climb with them both and if I’m right about Hardy, and I think I am, I’ll be seeing them both this upcoming winter for a spot of ice climbing. and maybe a Mount Washington climb!
Today also concluded another Wilderness Navigation Course. Emily & Al joined me for the day while we covered the in’s & out’s of survival navigation, map skills, compasses, and bushwhacking. A bushwhack up Hurricane Mountain and some compass work out on Black Cap… It was a good day to tramp about in the woods!
Dillan and Cole have been putting in time in the climbing gym and chomping at the bit to get climbing outside. To that end they joined me for a 2 Day Private Rock Climbing course that ended today. It was my first rock guiding days of the season and the motivation was high all around. We covered a ton of info in just two days and I could tell they were hungry for more when they left. Here’s a brief recap of our two days:
Yesterday, 8:30AM
We met at EMS North Conway and after getting acquainted headed out to Cathedral Ledge. We drove to the top and spent a little time at “The Classroom” learning about traditional protection, anchoring, and rappelling.
Cole’s first rappelDillan’s first rappel
After a short practice rappel we made our way down to the Barber Wall and rappelled down Laytons Ascent/Chicken Delight.
Layton’s Ascent being descendedCole rappels
We then short-roped over to the classic Upper Refuse.
Top of the first pitch of Upper RefuseDillan finishing Upper RefuseCole looking relaxed
4 short pitches up that had us on top at noon, where we enjoyed lunch on top of Airation Buttress.
Family shot
We then headed down to The North End and learned a little about threading a sport anchor in preparation for lowering or cleaning a sport lead. We then worked on our crack climbing skills on Child’s Play and Kiddy Crack.
Working on crack climbing skills on Kiddy Crack
Back at the shop we reviewed some of the skills we had covered before calling it a day.
Today:
We drove up to Pinkham Notch and hiked up to Square Ledge. The focus was on building quality top-rope anchors but we also wanted to get some climbing in.
Learning the bowlineStill snow on that hillContemplating “The Brain”Attentive belayingWorking “The Nose”West Face multi-pitch practiceDillan closing in on the anchorChillin’ with a view
Couldn’t have asked for a better start to the rock season. These guys were 100% engaged in the learning process, asking questions, practicing skills, buying helmets! Seriously days like this remind me how lucky I am to be a climbing guide. I look forward to working with Cole and Dillan again… it’s obvious they have the climbing bug and I am sure I’ll see them in the mountains again!
BTW, 4 more days left to enter to win a sweet climbing knife! Details here!
