Going West

I guess we left the blog dangling a bit at the end of our spring trip. Rest assured we made it back to Ottawa in one piece at the end of April, after Kristal unexpectedly landed a job teaching. With the end of the school year looming we were anxious to hit the road again and decided to head west for the summer.

As usual the long drive wasn't all that interesting, although we did manage to stop for a nice swim in Lake Michigan and saw this cool sunset in North Dakota.

Our first stop was at Lake Diefenbaker in Saskatchewan, where Kristal's family were congregating to enjoy the Canada Day long weekend. The weather was awesome and we enjoyed a weekend filled with good food, good company, a mini beach volleyball tournament, fireworks and a lot of fun on the lake.

One of the highlights for Kristal and I was paddling around on her dad's stand up paddle board. Super fun.

After a week of driving and hanging out at the lake we were anxious to do some climbing though. Our first stop was some bouldering at Frank Slide in southern Alberta. We spent a few days there and were stoked to be joined by Kristal's brother Mark and his wife Beth (we also enjoyed the luxury of staying at their place in Lethbridge for a few nights).

Sitting around after bouldering we were discussing the blog and it was suggested that we should have guest writers. And so, in a Ropeless blog first, Beth is hopefully going to talk about something related to the day they spent bouldering with us. Take it away Beth!

Thank you Jason! Mark and I are super excited to be contributing for the first time.

While Jason and Kristal were in Lethbridge we popped out to Frank Slide for a few days with them. Even though we have toured the area many times, K and J schooled us with their insider knowledge they had picked up in their few days camping there a few days beforehand. Pro Tip: The bathrooms at the Bellevue campground are much nicer than those at the local gas station.

On our first joint outing, we did a classic tour of Franks’ south side, starting at the brawny Snakebite boulder. After a few non-warm up burns on the V5, we decided that we should probably start slower and found the Tidal Volume boulder. Below is Mark pulling hard on the boulder’s namesake problem.

Also in an excellent showing, Jason snagged Serial Killer, the especially reachy problem on the same boulder which is nigh impossible to begin if your less than 5’10. Kristal, I, and even Mark can all attest to the lengthiness of that initial move.

The last boulder we visited at Frank was the super sloping Vlad Slab, which features a number of low-angle, fun problems. Shown below are Kristal and I scampering up the V1s and V0s.

Ice cream and hail capped the day. Pro tip: Bellevue has an amazing ice cream shop with dozens of flavours.

We managed to make it back to Lethbridge before a crazy hailstorm hit, raining down ping-pong sized pieces. From the safety of the basement, we watched the ice ricochet off homes and cars.

The New

The New River Gorge has long been on our list of places to climb, but up until this road trip a visit here just hasn't worked out.  We've been here for a week now, and we've climbed every day since we arrived.

The routes here are mostly single pitch, with a good mix of sport and trad, that climb a short cliff band running along the top of the gorge.  Getting to the top of a route often gives you a stunning view of the New River or the impressive New River Gorge Bridge.

Not surprisingly we've been mostly seeking out the awesome crack climbs. Here is our new friend Martin leading the impressive New Fangled Dangle 5.11a.

Kristal at the top of the first half splitter crack of Ritz Cracker 5.9.

Me heading up Springboard 5.10b.

The weather has been hit and miss, with scattered showers and some hot weather for the last few days.  Thankfully there are so many routes here that there always seems to be at least something that can be climbed.  Even in the pouring rain, some routes are capped by enormous roofs that keep them dry.

Though the hot weather doesn't make for optimal climbing conditions, it does make cooking and camping much more comfortable.  Kristal has been making some awesome meals, including this delicious chicken Quinoa salad with freshly baked Bruschetta.

We've really been putting our new camp stove oven to a lot of use. I even managed to bake a cake for Kristal's birthday with it.

Granite Domes

Over the last week we finally managed to tie into a rope and climb up some of the impressive granite domes of North Carolina.  First up was the 500-ish foot Stone Mountain.

Here I am on The Great Arch 5.5, which climbs an impressive continuous corner for several hundred feet.

We were told it was one of the best 5.5's in the country, and we can't really argue.  Here's Kristal approaching the top of it.

Aside from two large corner systems, the climbing at Stone Mountain mostly involves climbing friction slab, with very little in the way of anything to actually hold onto with your hands.  Here's Kristal on some nice runnout slab near the top.

And the few from the top.

After getting back into slab climbing shape we were psyched to go climb Laurel Knob, a huge dome (1000+ feet high!) hidden in Cashiers Valley and plagued by a long history of access issues.  The cliff is now owned by the Carolina Climbers Association, but is surrounded by private property.  It's a bit odd to have to hike for an hour and a half to access the cliff when there is a nice private road going right up to the base.  You also lose that remote climbing feel when you are surrounded by million dollar mansions, especially when construction crews are building a new one right below you.

Regardless, it turned out to be an excellent day.  We got an early start to try to beat the soon to be sweltering heat of the day.

We decided to climb one of the many classic routes up the cliff, Fathom 5.10a, which came highly recommended.  Thankfully the cliff is somewhat west facing, so we were able to stay mostly in the shade for the first 5 pitches, which climbs up along this obvious diagonal crack/seem for 600-ish feet before climbing over the steep headwall.

Here is Kristal coming up the spectacular 6th pitch.

And at the top of pitch 7, after sucking it up and climbing the fun, but full of running water, water groove.

Sadly the top of the cliff is also private property, so none of the routes officially climb to the top anymore.  After rappelling down in the heat of the sun, on what can best be described as a large granite frying pan, we were excited beyond words to find this beautiful waterfall/swimming hole on the long hike back to the car.

Bouldering Crusade

It's been almost 6 weeks now since we left Ottawa, with every intention of immediately starting to climb some long routes in North Carolina. Looking back now, it's a little hard to believe that we have spent that entire time bouldering.

It all came to an end yesterday though, when we finally packed up our home/camp at Rocktown. After 14 days of bouldering there over the last few weeks it almost felt like we were locals, helping people find boulders and showing them cool problems. But with some warmer weather rolling in we are finally making our way to North Carolina to tie into a rope. Hopefully we won't be too terrified!

We had a lot of fun at Rocktown, climbed a lot of awesome problems and met a lot of really great people. Here are some pics from the last week.

Me starting up the Little Bad Boulder V5.

Kristal with one of her many heel hooks on Full Circle V5.

Me executing some super cool tall man beta on Drug Test Policy V7.

Kristal on Super Mario V3.

Me on the classic Golden Shower V5, on one of the most beautiful boulder faces anywhere.

Kristal on the cool Blue V6.

Me on the awesome Campus Punks slab V5.

Kristal catching the swing coming out of Red Belly, V4.

and working Contrail V5 on the beautiful Comet boulder.

Cold Weather

Over the last week the weather has been, let's say, less than ideal.  With a tornado warning, below freezing temps, perpetual overcast and full on snow flurries, we decided it would be a good time to take an extended rest and move into a motel for a few days. We headed up to Pigeon Forge again, not because the town itself is very interesting (it's like a family rated version of Las Vegas), but because the motels are cheap.

We also had another errand to run up in Asheville. Last year I was invited to be on one of a series of trading cards featuring various LEGO artists. I was being sent 25 of 'my' card to sign and return, but with us being on the road, I had them sent to a post office in Asheville to pick up.  Here I am signing my cards in a cafe across the street from the post office.

Pigeon Forge wasn't all bad though. In addition to all the run of the mill clothing outlet stores, it also happened to have a Coleman outlet store. We bought this cool collapsible stove-top oven for our camp stove. In the past we have had various degrees of success in trying to bake on the stove or in our small barbeque.  Here is Kristal with some awesome fresh-out-of-the-oven corn bread. Delicious!

We also did manage to get some bouldering in over the last week. Here I am honing my inverted off-width technique on Aunt Fanny's Amazing Ass Crack, V5.

Today we decided to check out another nearby bouldering area called Zahnd.  Due to the snow and cold we decided to leave the climbing gear behind, but still couldn't resist pulling onto a few cool problems.

On the way back into town we stopped by to check out the Blue Hole, a really nice looking natural spring and swimming hole. If only it was about 30 degrees warmer we would have jumped right in.

Rocktown

Our next stop was another classic south east sandstone bouldering destination: Rocktown, Georgia. The last time we were here was almost three years ago, just as we were beginning our first big road trip, and we were excited to get back. We were also excited to move into our brand new big tent!

Our old big tent finally saw the end of its days last fall when we were camping in the Adirondacks, and over the winter we kept putting off buying a new one. We finally ordered one two days before we left, and had it shipped to the REI in Asheville, where we picked it up after our cabin weekend in Pigeon Forge.

We've met a lot of great people as usual, and ran into Marcie again before she reluctantly made her way back to Ottawa. We'll miss you Marcie!

The biggest excitement so far was seeing the aftermath of a brush fire as we made our way back to the parking lot one day.

Had the wind not been blowing away from the boulders it may have made for an interesting climbing day. We still haven't heard anything about what may have started it.

Aside from that the bouldering has been awesome as usual.  Here's Kristal on Jug Surfin', V4.

Me about to embark on the heinous slopers of Tau, V8.

Kristal airing it out on the aptly name El Classico, V0.

Me pulling onto the classic Paint Can, V2.

And again on Alien Writing, V3.

Which gets its name from these really cool iron bands in the rock.

Enough of Winter!

So a couple of weeks ago we decided we’d had enough of winter, and that a climbing trip was in order. We packed up the car and headed south down to Tennessee. We’ve spent the last couple of weeks bouldering in Stone Fort which has been, as always, amazing. And to make things even better we ran into Dave and Julie from Montreal and have been climbing and camping with Marcie.

Marcie on the balancy Fortune, V6.

Jason on Pancake Mantle, V2. This photo was stolen from Marcie, completely without her permission.

Me, warming up in the Back Nine while Marcie spots attentively.

It’s been a bit chilly, but thankfully we found out that Chester Frost State Park is actually open in the winter (despite what the original guidebook says) and has an awesome cook shelter, internet, and heated bathrooms.

Our typical post-dinner routine.

Last weekend, we drove up to Pigeon Forge to meet up with Sharon, an old friend from undergrad. She and her friends had rented a super posh cabin for the weekend. We thoroughly enjoyed the hiking, board games, moonshine, and company. Thanks for your hospitality, Southerners!