Category Archives: Adventures

Stories of adventures, both big and small – from epic destination trips to simple backyard fun!

A Trip to the Zoo!

Mar 11 2013

“I saw an alligator. He was sleepytime and he did NOT say RAWR!” Just one of the many snippets of conversation I overheard between my toddler and and a random woman sitting beside us on the tram. It all started when she asked him if he was having fun at the zoo…she then got a full dissertation on every animal we’d seen so far that day. I kept my mouth shut and just listened to his renditions of our experience, as his perspective is always fascinating. He informed her that the baboons had pink-bottoms, the elephants have dirty ears, and that he saw camels…Read the rest of this entry →

Strategies for Rainy Day Climbing (with a Toddler!)

Mar 07 2013

In just a few short weeks it’ll be springtime again. I can picture it now – buds will begin to sprout up in the garden, the birds start singling a little louder, and the days start getting a little longer. Oh yeah and it rains. All the time. Actually that’s not true. It doesn’t rain ALL the time. The typical m.o. in the Southeast is for the skies to be bright and sunny all week, with clouds moving in on Friday afternoon, just in time to thoroughly soak your newest objective at the local crag. But before you’re tempted to cancel that…Read the rest of this entry →

Adventuring with Toddlers – In a Nutshell Why It’s Worth It

Feb 28 2013

A lot of times I get asked what makes it worth it. Why do I put forth so much effort to continue down such an adventurous path now that I’ m a mom? Maybe because it seems so natural to me that I can’t imagine life any other way, but I sometimes have trouble finding the words to answer that question on the spot. But as I look back and reflect on how much our family has been able to share together, I know that those memories speak louder than any words ever could…so here’s my attempt to (briefly) address…Read the rest of this entry →

Guidebook Update – With a Sneak Preview!!!

Feb 20 2013

After turning in a giant lump of manuscript to Earthbound Publishing at the end of the summer last year, my work on the guidebook has been pretty sporadic the past few months. Mostly I’ve just tweaking a few revisions here and there and wrapping up some interviews. However there has still been one large item on my punch list that had remained unchecked for a long time, mostly due to logistics…The North Face. Not the jacket company (although one of those would have come in handy!), but the North Face of Stone Mountain. For most climbers, it’s always been…Read the rest of this entry →

Hidden Wall: Where the Party’s At…

Feb 06 2013

A lot of folks climb for years at Crowders Mountain without ever venturing over to the “dark side.” Accessed from a completely different parking lot than the Main Area, Hidden wall is a small sport crag with a handful of short, classic lines, along with about a dozen link-ups and variations. Most of the routes feature bouldery cruxes with long, burly moves on barely-there feet. Local developer Wade Parker likes to refer to these scrappy grunt-fests as “blue-collar routes” – ie, for the working man (or woman ). No room for dainty, tiptoe-ing technique – you’ve gotta be willing to fight for a send…Read the rest of this entry →

An Equal Opportunity Climbing Weekend

Jan 22 2013

“I have a dream that one day bolt-clippers, boulderers, and tradsters will come together on my birthday and climb and eat pizza,” – The Crag Daddoo Well, maybe those weren’t his EXACT words, but in the spirit of the MLK holiday weekend, it was a reasonable paraphrase…and with that in mind we invited our friends from far and wide to celebrate Steve’s birthday this past weekend. And we couldn’t have asked for more perfect weather - highs in the 50′s without a cloud in the sky! DIXON: We kicked the 3 day weekend off on Saturday by converging at the Dixon School…Read the rest of this entry →

Jetflow Hydration System: Hydration Evolved

Jan 17 2013

There’s a lot of different types of hands-free hydration systems out on the market now - with the grandfather of them all being the well-known CamelBak. Of course there are plenty of companies that design special backpacks with the purpose of hydration in mind, and they can come in a wide variety of forms (over-the-shoulder pack, “fanny pack,” under-the-bike-seat pack, etc). But the common theme of these specialty hydration “vehicles” is that the method by which they deliver water is always the same. A soft, polyurethane bladder is connected to a tube that is secured somewhere close to your mouth, usually via a shoulder strap…Read the rest of this entry →

New River Gorge (in January?!?) and Climbing “Tall”

Jan 16 2013

The cool thing about living in the Southeast is that rock climbing can be a year round endeavor. In fact, some south-facing, friction climbing areas are pretty much only good in the winter (Stone Mountain, Rumbling Bald, and the Asheboro Boulderfield come to mind). If the sun is shining and the wind is calm, you can have a very pleasant day with relatively warm rock even with high temps in the low 40′s. But despite the abundance of winter climbing opportunities, our family always makes a definitive shift into “cold weather climbing mode.” We spend more time jumping down onto crash pads than…Read the rest of this entry →

Two Happy Hikers on a Simple Adventure

Jan 13 2013

“I don’t want Daddy to go to work tomorrow,” said a sweet little Cragbaby the Sunday after New Year’s. He’d grown quite comfortable with the idea of having Daddy around to play with him all day over the holidays (and to be honest, I had too!) I knew that the good-bye at breakfast Monday morning had the potential to be kinda rough. So I decided to plan a fun adventure for just the two of us, hoping that any lingering sadness about Daddy being gone would be counteracted by enthusiasm about our special day. Since C has had so much fun trekking…Read the rest of this entry →

A Little Bit of Holiday Crankin’

Jan 09 2013

Back in my pre-kiddo days, I was an elementary school teacher, and was accustomed to having a lot of time off over the holidays. My hubby is blessed to get a decent amount of vacation days at work, so he grew accustomed to taking off the same days that I had for Winter Break. Now that I’m not working outside of the home anymore, he’s STILL accustomed to getting lots of time off at Christmas, so he saves up enough vacation days every year to take a full two weeks off over Christmas/New Year’s. That means we have plenty of…Read the rest of this entry →

Hit List for 2012 – The Year in Review

Jan 03 2013

Well, another year has come and gone, which means another Hit List has drawn to a close. This was the second time I’ve put my year-long goals out there in cyber space (for 2011 Hit List click here), and once again, it was a wild ride, with plenty of bumps (and bruises) along the way! After an unexpected injury started the year off on the “wrong foot” (sorry, couldn’t help myself…), I found a lot of my mental battles this year revolved around fear. Fear in trusting my ankle again, fear in getting my lead head back, along with an…Read the rest of this entry →

Cragbaby Highlights for 2012

Jan 02 2013

It’s been a big year for C, who went from a curious, craggin’ toddler to a big boy with his own agenda at the crag (which may or may not have anything to do with climbing…). So in honor of Highlight Week 2012, here’s a look back at some of C’s favorite moments from this year (from his perspective, of course!)… 5. Big Boy Climbing Gear – This year I had my very own climbing gear – shoes, chalkbag, harness, and helmet. Just like Mommy and Daddy! Even though I don’t always use all of it, having my own gear…Read the rest of this entry →

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Dec 25 2012

From our house to yours, hope you have a wonderful spending time with family and loved ones!

Tis the Season to Try Something New! (How about Ice Skating?!?)

Dec 13 2012

When most people think of the holidays, they think about the familiar comfort of family traditions. In fact the predictability of such traditions is probably one of the reasons we are drawn to them – after all, nothing lets you settle into your comfort zone quite like doing the SAME thing at the SAME time EVERY year, right? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not insinuating you do something crazy like having Christmas LUNCH instead of DINNER, or bringing a new fruit cake recipe to Great Aunt Sally’s soiree. Rest assured, your traditions will most certainly be honored here. This post…Read the rest of this entry →

A Rendezvous in Red Rock Canyon Sans Toddler

Nov 28 2012

What do you get when you combine the lights of Vegas with the sandstone of Red Rocks? A perfect weekend with just me and my hubby! I flew in to meet Steve late Thursday night (he’d been at a conference all week for work…so he says anyway ). One of our main objectives for this trip was to take advantage of being sans toddler and do some multi-pitch trad routes. (Non-climber note: Routes that are longer than one rope length are divided into smaller chunks, usually around 100-150 feet apart, called pitches. Sometimes each pitch will vary in difficulty, with…Read the rest of this entry →

Surviving a Toddler’s First Overnighter

Nov 26 2012

This post could just have easily been titled “Surviving a MOMMY’s First Overnighter,” because I feel like this milestone was just as hard for me, if not more so! As many of you know, my husband and I just recently took our very first trip away from Cragbaby last week…and since our family never does anything halfway, we decided to spend it enjoying the sandstone of Red Rock Canyon, just 30 miles outside of Las Vegas! (Stay tuned for the trip recap in a couple of days…) We did a lot of different things to prepare C for our time…Read the rest of this entry →

Hey Baby Let’s Go To Vegas…Without the Baby!!!

Nov 13 2012

We’ve got a big milestone coming up in our household. Any guesses? Nope…not potty training (unfortunately). You probably won’t guess, so I’ll just tell you – my first overnighter away from Cragbaby! For the past 2 years and almost 8 months I’ve woken up every morning in the same house as C (and for a good bit of that time, in the same bed!) And except for the occasional date night for New Year’s Eve and extended family vacations where C’s grandparents give us a night off from the bedtime routine, I’ve been there to give a good night kiss…Read the rest of this entry →

An “Experience Gift”…and the Need for Speed

Nov 11 2012

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been the type of person that values a meaningful experience more than tangible luxuries. I’d rather have a giant birthday bash with friends than open a ton of presents. Family vacations rank higher on the to-do list than replacing kitchen countertops. And gift cards are always more enjoyable to spend on a shopping date with the giver. That being said, when Cloud 9 Living introduced themselves to me as a company that offered “experiences rather than stuff,” I knew this was my kind of company. Founded in 2005 in Boulder Colorado,…Read the rest of this entry →

Tenaya Shoe Demo and Family Craggin’ Program

Oct 29 2012

A couple of weekends ago we got the chance to head back to our oldie (but a goodie) climbing gym – Triangle Rock Club! Although we came up Saturday afternoon to get in a little climb time with some dear friends, the main events were scheduled back to back on Sunday – a Tenaya Shoe Demo, and a Family Craggin’ Workshop. For those of you non-climbers out there, a “shoe demo” is just like it sounds – it’s a chance for Tenaya to “demonstrate” what their shoes can do. For three hours only, the entire fleet of Tenaya shoes…Read the rest of this entry →

Cragbaby’s Photo Shoot: Anatomy of a Good Jump

Oct 26 2012

As many of you know, I posted up some of the leftover photos from some of the recent Trango shoots last week…but what you probably didn’t know is that during one of those Trango shoots, Cragbaby was involved in a photo session of his own! My favorite climbing photographer (who also happens to be one of my favorite people period!) knows firsthand just how much my little guy enjoys hamming it up for the camera. So when she started snapping photos of C jumping off a boulder, his efforts went from casual to full throttle in about 1.4 seconds! …Read the rest of this entry →

Some Climbing Pics…plus VOTE FOR CRAGMAMA!

Oct 16 2012

I posted last week about the highlights from ROCKtoberfest, the annual climber’s festival that benefits the Red River Gorge Climber’s Coalition. In that post I mentioned the fact that the whole scene was so busy I hardly had time to even think about taking any photos, never mind actually digging my camera out of my pack. Ironically, however, part of the reason I was being pulled in a million directions was because of photos – one of my fellow Trango teammates, Dan Brayack, was hard at work shooting images of all of us climbing routes. The photos will be use…Read the rest of this entry →

Red River Gorge ROCKtoberfest…aka TRANGO-fest!

Oct 11 2012

When it comes to the age old climber’s debate between the Red and the New, our family has always sided with the New – for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that it is 3 hours closer to our house. But that’s not to say we can’t have fun at the Red every now and then. Usually we make the trek up to ole Kentucky once or twice a year, when we’ve got an extra day or two to climb tacked onto our weekend. This past weekend was one such weekend, although it was…Read the rest of this entry →

New River Gorge: The SEND Train has left the station…

Sep 26 2012

And I managed to hop on it this time. (It’s about time…) SEND TRAIN: The extreme sending phenomenon that occurs when a group of climbers are projecting together and one person finally has a breakthrough – the rest of the crew feeds off of that psych, and all of a sudden everyone is crushing left and right. In last week’s trip report I alluded to the fact that I had felt like I had been in somewhat of a climbing slump for the past few weeks. It seemed like no matter how hard I tried, I was always coming up…Read the rest of this entry →

The NRG Craggin’ Classic…

Sep 20 2012

This weekend marked an exciting milestone for the American Alpine Club, as well as any climber frequenting the New River Gorge (which is probably the majority of us in the Southeast…) The “Craggin’ Classic” event gave climbers a chance to get a sneak peek at the latest progress on the new AAC climbers’ campground. It’s pretty bare bones right now, but from the sounds of it, it has the makings to become a staple part of the NRG! The crowd was small, but the camaraderie was high, and it seemed as though everyone was relieved to finally see some fall temps again!…Read the rest of this entry →

Dixon Bouldering: All’s Well That End’s Well

Sep 13 2012

This weekend marked 7 months (almost to the day) since I broke my ankle on a funky lead fall last winter. I paid my dues in a boot for 6 weeks, worked my butt off on the hangboard, and got back on the sharp end of a rope the second I was given the green light. I waited a good long while before bouldering in the gym again, and when I finally got back to it I mostly kept it to problems I had wired and could use for 4×4 training sessions. Because the hubs and I take turns…Read the rest of this entry →

Progress (Not Perfection) at the Obed

Sep 06 2012

The Obed Wild and Scenic River is our family’s favorite crag to hit over Labor Day weekend – it’s nice to have an extra day with the longer drive, and we’re able to avoid all the crowds that are swarming at the New and Red River Gorges. However this time probably could have been talked into going just about anywhere had the forecast been any better, but it appeared that the entire Southeast was being held hostage by Hurricane Isaac. We weren’t too worried about the climbing – because of the steep terrain and enormous roofs, the Obed is a…Read the rest of this entry →

10 Things You’ll Find at Ocean Isle…

Aug 29 2012

Most people have a firm allegiance to either the mountains or the beach. Although our family casts a no-brainer vote for the mountains, I think its healthy to change things up a bit every now and then, especially for Cragbaby. That being said, when the grandparents planned a coastal rendezvous for the whole family, we were all in and looking forward to a good time! And a good time we had indeed! In fact, we encountered a good many things at the beach that we never would have run into in the mountains. So rather than bore you with…Read the rest of this entry →

Cragbaby Gets a Camera!

Aug 16 2012

Ok ok I know everyone is probably tired of hearing about our family’s trip out west. But it didn’t seem fair to end the trip reports without mentioning Cragbaby’s newfound perspective – behind the lens of a camera. Even though he hadn’t seen her in months due to business travels, C certainly hadn’t forgotten his favorite climbing partner, Manuela, and he stuck to her like glue for the entire trip. It’s a good thing that she’s a beautiful person and I don’t mind him imitating her, because he wanted to do EVERYTHING that she did – which of course included…Read the rest of this entry →

Back to the New River Gorge

Aug 15 2012

My affair with Ten Sleep Canyon sure was great while it lasted, but like so many good things, it had to come to an end. Lucky for me I had the world-class climbing of the New River Gorge to come back to. And this weekend was not just any old weekend at the New – one of our partners in climb just moved up there a couple of weeks ago, and our crew descended upon his new digs in full force. Day 1: Endless WallOrdinarily Endless Wall would not be what I would consider a “go-to” area for summer,…Read the rest of this entry →

Custer State Park for Non-Climbers

Aug 13 2012

Our whirlwind tour through South Dakota and Wyoming was our first “big” climbing trip with Cragbaby. And although we definitely maximized our climbing time, we also managed to squeeze in a lot of non-climbing activities as well. Pre-Cragbaby we would tend to try and climb all day – a good m.o. for us would be 2 days sport, 1 day long (easy) trad, and then alternate from there. Since we used the trad days as “active rest” days, we could usually end up climbing 7 or 8 days in a row, at which point it was time to go home…Read the rest of this entry →

Nothing Like the Needles…and Our Moves Like Jagger.

Aug 09 2012

We couldn’t have scripted a better ending for our trip than the spindly little spires surrounding Custer State Park, also known as the Needles. The tiny, airy summits provided more than enough reward and motivation for 4 (and a half…) climbers to get off the ground one more day. And the long runouts over moderate terrain was ideal at the end of the week when lead heads were secure but our bodies were tired. The word that best sums up the climbing at the Needles is FUN! For me, it was an experience with a distinctive child-like quality to it.…Read the rest of this entry →

An Affair With Ten Sleep Canyon

Aug 07 2012

Dear Ten Sleep Canyon,Thanks for the amazing time. Were it not for geography I would definitely make cheating on the New River Gorge a regular occurrence with you. But the long-distance thing is gonna be hard, so we’re gonna have to settle for a rendezvous every year or two. Love you long time,Cragmama Over the top? Not really. This place was that good – a summer sport climbing paradise I tell ya. First of all, the canyon was ridiculously impressive, making Spearfish look like nothing more than a small trench in the foothills. The approaches were long but rewarded…Read the rest of this entry →

A Devilish Rest Day: Devil’s Bathtub and Devil’s Tower

Aug 06 2012

After 2 days of crankin’ in Spearfish Canyon, our crew was ready for something a little more low-key. The only must-do on our agenda was to make our way 3 hours west to Ten Sleep, Wyoming, but nobody said a rest day had to be boring…We had found out from some locals about a surreal swimming hole along Sunshine Creek in Spearfish Canyon, which seemed like a great way to pass by the morning. It was about a 2 mile hike round trip, along a well-worn trail that was mostly flat and often meandered back and forth across the creek.…Read the rest of this entry →

Wild West Whirlwind Round 1 – SPEARFISH CANYON

Aug 02 2012

As most of you already know, our family just got back from a whirlwind climbing trip to South Dakota and Wyoming. To say that the trip was a success would be an understatement – we had a fabulous time, and as I look outside at my droopy, hot backyard as I type this, my only regret is that we’d had more time to spend out there! This trip was a far cry from our usual weekend excursions, and in a lot of ways, it was somewhat of a “luxury trip” (for us anyway…though it probably doesn’t fit most people’s definition…Read the rest of this entry →

Little Wilson – A Mid-Summer Cragger’s Dream

Jul 04 2012

So after spending the past two (unseasonably mild) weekends catching up around the house and enjoying time with family, the heat was back in full force this weekend. Our original plan was for the New River Gorge, but with temps hovering at 100 and humidity almost as high, no one was psyched on sleeping in a tent in a pool of sweat. We instead opted for a day trip to a shady little crag off the beaten path in the western part of the state – Little Wilson. This was actually our first time going there. We actually attempted to…Read the rest of this entry →

Messy Marvins Art Camp: Indoor Fun!

Jun 21 2012

Every now and then Cragbaby and I do play inside. A couple of weeks ago C spent a week at Messy Marvins Art Camp at The Art Room, a kids art studio in the Dilworth neighborhood of Charlotte. The best part for Cragbaby was that he got to get messy with one of his favorite people, Miss Liz. The best part for me was that it was a drop-off class – which meant I got to play the role of brooding, introspective writer at a coffee shop in the mornings – and it was pretty well-timed actually since my guidebook…Read the rest of this entry →

Trad is Rad at the North End of Moore’s

Jun 19 2012

Out of all the areas I’m covering in the Piedmont Guidebook, Moore’s has been one of the trickiest for hands on research. Although I climbed at Moore’s quite often pre-Cragbaby, pregnancy and a baby made for a too-long hiatus. (Due to the nature of the typical descent options we’ve found other areas to be much more kid-friendly, since a day at Moore’s means a day at the cliff sans Cragbaby). Thankfully we have two sets of grandparents nearby, but we certainly can’t take advantage of them every weekend (nor do we want to – climbing is a family activity for…Read the rest of this entry →

Say It Loud! The New Doesn’t Get Old.

Jun 11 2012

But I do. And it sucks. Not sure why, but this weekend made me feel old. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I twisted my ankle (the one that I used to consider my “bad” ankle until I broke the other one…) just hiking into the crag on Day 1. Thankfully it seems to be nothing more than a minor inconvenience, along with an annoying, rainbow-colored reminder that my Earth-Suit ain’t what it used to be. Or it could possibly be related to the fact that I realized that not one but several of my climbing…Read the rest of this entry →

Good Times at The Dump

Jun 06 2012

There’s a small collection of bolted lines right off highway 221 coming out of Blowing Rock in Western North Carolina. It goes by several other names besides The Dump, but regardless of what you call it, conditions were darn near perfect for it this past Saturday. Most of the climbing there hovers just less than vertical and features very technical and sequential moves on itty bitty holds. Although the cliff sees sun for the majority of the day, the elevation generally puts it a good 10 degrees cooler than us down here in Charlotte, making for a sweet escape from…Read the rest of this entry →

Obed: To Crush or To Be Crushed?

May 31 2012

If that were the question, then the answer would most definitively be YES to both, which is great since our plans almost got squashed before we even left the house because of a poor, sick Cragbaby. Thankfully though he started feeling better just in time (when we asked him if he wanted to get in Mommy’s car and go sleep in in a tent he started jumping up and down shouting, “TENT! TENT!”). Despite a later-than-planned start, we made it to Tennessee only slightly worse for the wear. This trip was an interesting balance of both success and failure…Read the rest of this entry →

Pilot Projects – aka The Day of Reckoning

May 23 2012

If you’ve been following the blog for the past few weeks, you’ll probably remember that my friends and I have all been on a search for significant sendage on some of the best lines at Pilot Mountain. My climbing partners have thankfully been gracious enough to allow me to pick their brains a bit so that I can share multiple perspectives on projecting strategies. Since Steve (aka Crag-Daddy) was the only one that scored a send on our last visit to the area, the rest of us couldn’t stay away. So two weeks later we returned with guns blazing, ready…Read the rest of this entry →

A 5.12 for Mother’s Day (and a bunch of other awesome stuff…)

May 16 2012

The build-up to this weekend at the New was admittedly a bit chaotic. But despite last-minute partner bailing, a forgotten ankle brace, and a moody weather forecast, this Mother’s Day ended up being the best yet! I had two goals in mind – to send as many hard .11′s as I could, and to get redemption on a 5.12 project from last summer… Day 1 Routes (Butcher’s Branch and Seven-Eleven Wall): The Greenpiece (5.10b): I’d only been to Butcher’s Branch one other time, and it was almost exactly 4 years ago. I remember having an epic almost-onsight of this route…Read the rest of this entry →

The Art of Projecting (Continued)…

May 10 2012

Last week I went into detail about the art of projecting a route, and included the perspectives of three of my climbing friends who were also on the quest for a meaningful send. Well, our crew reconvened again, same time, same place, this past weekend, each of us ready for a rematch with our own personal nemeses. Here’s how we fared… OVERHANGING HANGOVER (5.11b) Steve: I got right down to business and warmed up on my project. I was feeling a little jittery before starting but once I got going I was locked in and felt really strong. The lower section…Read the rest of this entry →

A Weekend of Projects – Part 1 (Moore’s Wall)

May 02 2012

This weekend was pretty varied on all counts – weather, climbing, accomplishments (or lack thereof). But regardless of what sort of hodgepodge it was, it was certainly fun as well as productive, and a good one-word sum-up would be PROJECTS. Our journey began Friday night at my parent’s house (aka Paw Paw and Gaga) near Winston-Salem, where Cragbaby hung out all day Saturday so Steve and I could get our gear on at Moore’s Wall. This is my second time at Moore’s in the past 2 weeks – the last time I spent the day in the Hanging Garden, and…Read the rest of this entry →

New River Gorge: Round 2 (aka Let’s Stop Playing Games)

Apr 18 2012

Considering our history with rainy weekends and the New River Gorge, we are all too aware of how fickle spring weather can be – so another weekend of sunny ad 70′s was too tempting to pass up, even though we were just there last weekend! It also didn’t hurt that our family has been in real rock withdrawal over the past 6 weeks due to me and that ugly black boot (which is currently perched high upon a shelf in the garage, hopefully to never be resurrected again!) So once again, we loaded up the car (this time we weren’t as rusty!), and hit the…Read the rest of this entry →

A New Season at the New River Gorge

Apr 10 2012

As we packed up our climbing and camping gear as a family on Thursday afternoon, I realized that it had been quite a while since we’d done this. Our last family camping trip had been at the New last October, our last day multi-day climbing trip had been at the Red just before Thanksgiving, and our last day trip at the crag as a family had been at Hidden Wall 8 weeks prior when I fractured my ankle. To be honest, I was feeling a bit rusty. Family Packing Hour used to work like a well-oiled machine – but this time…Read the rest of this entry →

Just a Touch of Redneck

Apr 05 2012

Dear Trango, “Sorry I haven’t been able to send in any videos yet. I’ve been too busy catching cutting edge footage of my 2 year old son being hauled by a giant radio-controlled truck.” This post shows that our family can have fun doing more than just climbing. Unfortunately it also proves that our family also has a bit of a redneck side, which I hadn’t really been all that aware of until I found myself agreeing that this seemed like not only a great family activity, but also a perfect video opportunity. But what can I do? I might…Read the rest of this entry →

Guidebook Update…Sans Boot!

Apr 04 2012

Well, it’s been quite a while since my last guidebook update, but rest assured it’s not from lack of progress. Since a fractured talus and a walking cast put my vertical research on hold for a while, I’ve chained myself to my computer the minute Cragbaby falls asleep, fervently finishing up route descriptions and working in all of the creative anecdotes so many folks have been so kind as to send/tell me. But there’s only so much work I can do without actually touching the rock, so as soon as my doctor officially de-booted me I hit the ground running…well,…Read the rest of this entry →

No Send Saturday (aka How I Scored a Sexy Black Boot)

Feb 16 2012

At the risk of spoiling the suspense, I’m just gonna go ahead and tell you that this story doesn’t have a happy ending. What started off as a jovial weekend with good friends ended pretty abruptly for me with a hard smack against the wall and searing pain in my left foot. The bad news kept rolling in over the next few days as my foot expanded to almost elephantitis status, and several X-rays showed a small fracture on my talar dome (or in layman’s terms, the pointy top part of my ankle bone that meets up with my lower…Read the rest of this entry →

A Sunny Corner in the Linville Gorge (and GIVEAWAY from CLIF!)

Feb 01 2012

We’d originally planned on spending our Saturday climbing in Boone, but when we got the offer for a grand tour of a newly developed area in the Linville Gorge, we jumped at the chance. The stomach bug had made a couple of passes through our house last week so we were more than psyched to get out and enjoy some fresh, new scenery. After a pre-dawn start, our posse convened just outside of town and made our way to the crag. After taking in some gorgeous views along the ridge on our approach, we arrived at our destination a little…Read the rest of this entry →

A Mid-Week Respite at Crowder’s

Jan 24 2012

One of the perks of having local rock is the ability to get out mid-week, so whenever any of my climbing partners can arrange to get out on a weekday, Cragbaby and I try our best to join in on the party. I was pretty psyched to be able to get out two days in a row last week, especially since by the time the weekend rolled around the unseasonably warm fair weather had turned frigid and rainy. We spent our first day at Hidden Wall, and our second at Crowder’s Main Wall. Oh…and sorry for the lack of pictures,…Read the rest of this entry →

Down and Out at Asheboro

Jan 18 2012

I apologize ahead of time for the lackluster content of this trip report…but I’ll claim the weak and injured excuse. This past Saturday marked our first trip of the season to the Asheboro boulders. I arrived psyched to explore some new problems as well as hop on some old favorites. After a quick warm-up, I hopped on Lightning Bolt Crack (V3/4), a unique finger crack that is (ordinarily) so fun that I make it a point to tick it every time I’m there. Sometimes it takes me a few tries to remember the right hand sequence, and this particular time…Read the rest of this entry →

Real Rock Tour de Charlotte

Jan 12 2012

Well, after a day at Pilot and a couple of days at Stone, we decided to round out our Holiday stay-cation by giving some dear friends from our old stomping grounds in Raleigh a tour of what our new locale had to offer, rock-wise. So last Friday we all took on Red Wall at Crowder’s Mountain. After warming up on Opinionated (5.9+), Steve and Sam explored Scramble My Feedback (5.10a), while Caleb and I tackled an unknown, obscure line that as far as I know isn’t listed in any published guide (yet…). Everybody took a lap on this one, and…Read the rest of this entry →

Cragbaby’s Year in Highlights!

Jan 06 2012

With all of the end of year Highlight Week talk that’s been going around our house, Cragbaby wanted in on some of the action as well. But considering that his verbage is rather limited still (actually its more untranslatable than limited….), I thought it would be easier to share his highlights in the form of pictures and captions… 5. An Adventure Suit - This spring Mommy got me an Adventure Suit so that I can play all day in the rain and not get wet! 4. Photography Lessons – Manuela let me be her special assistant. This will come in handy…Read the rest of this entry →

Highlight Week Continues…with the 2011 Highlight Reel!

Jan 04 2012

Our family is grateful to have had the opportunity to get a lot of time out on the rock this past year. In fact, we managed 5 trips to the New River Gorge, 2 trips to the Red River Gorge, 2 trips to the Obed River, 2 trips to Grayson Highlands, and of course numerous day trips to various crags across North Carolina. Its no wonder that loads of fun were had by all as 2011 played out. In keeping with the “Highlight Week” theme, and in honor of our family’s time-honored Highlight Reel tradition, our family decided to wade through…Read the rest of this entry →

4 Weeks Off = First 5.12a!

Dec 24 2011

I know I said I’d be taking a break from blogging until after the New Year…but our climbing trip yesterday was particularly noteworthy…This past week marked the end of our self-imposed 4-week climbing hiatus…we celebrated by promptly getting spanked at the rock gym on both Tuesday and Thursday. On Friday, however, it was a different story and we had a different reason to celebrate – my first 5.12a send! To be honest, my expectations hadn’t been very high – after 2 days of solid rain, we weren’t even convinced anything would be dry enough to climb. But the morning dawned…Read the rest of this entry →

A Slab-tastic Thanksgiving at Stone Mountain

Nov 30 2011

While the majority of the country was up at 4am (or never even went to bed…) for Black Friday sales, our household instead celebrated “Slab Friday” at Stone Mountain. Cragbaby’s Grammy graciously agreed to let him hang with her all day so that Steve and I could not only hit up the area that I am definitely the least familiar with guidebook-wise, but also have the chance to get our multi-pitch on together for the first time since an excursion to the Linville Gorge back when I was 5 months pregnant or so. Stone Mountain is one of those areas…Read the rest of this entry →

A Classic, A Project, and a Classic Video Project

Nov 23 2011

We’d been looking forward to the Dixon Crush-fest Bouldering Competition for a few months, and although we were disappointed when it got cancelled, we didn’t let it stop us from having our own crush-fest this past Saturday. Besides, Cragbaby and I were both sporting new gear from Icebreaker and we were anxious to put it to the test (more on that exciting partnership later!). What started out as a chilly morning turned into a great day – what we lacked in sunshine was more than made up for in friction! We spent the morning in the Lower Area,…Read the rest of this entry →

Red River Gorgeous…

Nov 16 2011

Last week our crew made a pilgrimage north across state lines, where we spent 4 days frolicking around on Kentucky sandstone. This marked our family’s third trip to the Red, but only the first in which we didn’t get rained on every single day. In fact, aside from a few passing showers in the car on the way up, we didn’t even see a drop! Since we had a fairly large group, we decided to all go in together and splurge on a cabin – considering that the lows were in the upper 20′s, it was well worth the extra…Read the rest of this entry →

Rocktober-fest at the New River Gorge

Oct 27 2011

After a small string of crappy weather trips a few weekends back, I was starting to think our rain curse was back…but au contraire! Despite both nights plummeting to a frosty 35 degrees, the daytime temps went from frigid to an ideal 60 degrees within a couple of hours of the sun rise, much to everyone’s delight. Although we had a pretty big crew with a wide range of skill levels represented, I think everyone managed to get their fair share of pump and exposure, along with a healthy dose of fall color. We spent Saturday at Endless Wall, which is probably…Read the rest of this entry →

A Day at Dixon

Oct 18 2011

We had a few things to get done this weekend (not the least of which involved taking Cragbaby to a pumpkin patch), but the weather was too good to pass up – so we ended up spending Saturday at our local bouldering area – Dixon School Road Boulders. We actually had spent a quick evening session there once back in the summer of 2009 – Steve was in Charlotte on business, and since I was teaching at the time and out of school for the summer, I’d gone with him. (It turns out I was also pregnant with C at…Read the rest of this entry →

Morning Drizzles in the Highlands: AKA Life in the Clouds

Sep 21 2011

From wallowing in the sunny, upper 90′s of the Obed a mere 3 weeks ago to bundling up with foggy mornings in the 40′s at Grayson Highlands this past weekend, one would think we skipped over autumn altogether and moved straight into early winter. Though the forecast across the Southeast was looking pretty grim, it appeared as though a lone bright spot was hanging over Grayson Highlands State Park with a mere 20% chance of morning drizzles. However,we soon learned that a lack of actual rain doesn’t necessarily equal dry conditions. It seemed as though the higher we drove in…Read the rest of this entry →

In the Name of Climbing…er, Research!

Sep 13 2011

This weekend’s mission was all about guidebook research…and by research I mean lots of climbing. On Saturday Steve, Cragbaby and I met up with knowledgeable local Eddy Ramirez, who was kind enough to give us a tour of some of the lesser traveled areas of Crowders Mountain – namely the Resurgance Walls. While sitting at home writing about climbing can get tedious at times, the cooler temps and low humidity levels have made my “research missions” a delightful escape. As if I’m not already motivated enough to explore my new local crag, Crowders is probably the one area out of…Read the rest of this entry →

The Perfect SEND-tember Combo: Tall Rock and Deep Water!

Sep 08 2011

With Hurricanes Lee and Katia closing in on all sides, we were extremely lucky to get 2 days of great weather on our Labor Day climbing excursion to the Obed Scenic River. This was substantial improvement over our last Obed trip, when we dealt with thunderstorms every few hours for the entire weekend. Our posse ended up being a fairly large group, with a wide variety of climbing abilities and goals represented, but what very easily could have been a logistical nightmare turned into a weekend filled with adventure, laughter, and of course – some serious sending! ***Note for…Read the rest of this entry →

From Gym Rats to Rock Hounds…

Aug 30 2011

It seems like a lot of our climbing recently has revolved around projecting some harder stuff, so it was nice to take a step back for a day with some local craggin’ on more moderate terrain with a couple of gym rats. The forecast was for temps in the mid-90′s, but with Hurricane Irene baring down on the east coast, it also called for lots of cloud cover and 25 mph gusty winds, which we figured would neutralize the heat a bit. Considering what folks just a few hours east of us at the coast were (and still are) dealing…Read the rest of this entry →

Birthday Bonanza at the New River Gorge!

Aug 25 2011

Its that time of year again where I get older and wiser, which in our family means we fly north to the New River Gorge to celebrate. In years past we’ve hit Summersville Lake (for the trip report on last year’s bash, click here), but this year we decided to stay in the gorge and climb away from the crowds. The weather was (for August), spectacular – temps below 90 with decent cloud cover, and the only rain was in quick passing showers on Sunday afternoon. Had we been able to lift off that smothering blanket of humidity, conditions…Read the rest of this entry →

Northern Michigan Road Trip: Great Lakes! 3 out of 5 Ain’t Bad!

Aug 09 2011

Despite two toddlers on completely opposite nap schedules and many miles and hours driving, not to mention a very special wedding, I think our family did pretty darn good to hit three out of the five Great Lakes over the course of our week in Michigan. Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, and Lake Superior are no longer on our bucket list – all we have left for another time is Lake Eerie and Lake Ontario. Lake Michigan – We spent a night in Traverse City on our way out to the Sleeping Bear Dunes , and decided to take advantage of…Read the rest of this entry →

Northern Michigan Road Trip: Mackinac Island

Aug 08 2011

Pronounced “MackiNAW,” this quaint little island that separates not only the upper and lower peninsulas but also Lake Michigan and Lake Huron was the next stop on our way to Marquette for the wedding. One of the unique things about the island is that motorized vehicles are not allowed, so we left our cars at the dock, and boarded the ferry with just our luggage. It was the first ferry ride for both Cragbaby and his cousin E, so the whole 20 minutes were filled with enthusiastic pointing and exclamations. Our accomodations were at the Hotel Iroquois, and it was absolutely…Read the rest of this entry →

Northern Michigan Road Trip: Sleeping Bear Dunes

Aug 03 2011

I’ve posted before on “fun-ctional vacations” – you know, the kind of travel where you take advantage of wherever your pre-set plans have taken you. Well, on July 30th our family had a date in Marquette, Michigan to celebrate my brother-in-law’s wedding – but we decided to make the most of our family time by flying up a week early and enjoying all of the natural beauty that Northern Michigan had to offer. Our journey began in Grand Rapids, Michigan, after an early morning of chaos in both the Charlotte and Cincinnati airports (and as expected, Cragbaby was uber-excited to finally get to ride in…Read the rest of this entry →

The New Never Gets Old

Jul 20 2011

Well its about time. We went to the New this past weekend and we had….wait for it….NO RAIN!!! The Lineberry Rain Curse is officially broken! Sure we’ve had a few sunny day trips here and there, but its literally been a year since we’ve roped up on a completely rain-free weekend. Conditions could not have been any better – low humidity, cloud cover, temps just barely hitting 80! And though I would never in a million years wish rainy conditions upon any of my climbing peeps, after hearing of two other crags that got dumped on (one with only a 10% chance of…Read the rest of this entry →

Over the River and Through the Woods…to Grandmother’s Boulders We Go!

Jul 06 2011

Slowly but surely I’ve been whittling away at my 2011 Hit List, and finally dragging my crash pad up to the Grandmother Boulders in Boone brings me one step closer to crossing off #7 from my list, which was about exploring new climbing areas. These quality boulders are sitting around 5000 feet or so, making for a welcome summer respite for NC climbers drowning in humidity at lower elevations across the state. There’s not guidebook of course, because thats the way NC bouldering rolls, so we were delighted that our friend Matt was up for showing us around. The temps were in the 70′s, and…Read the rest of this entry →

Tennessee = Thunderstorms and Composting Toilets

Jun 22 2011

We set off late Friday afternoon on another weekend climbing trip, this time to the Obed River, in Eastern Tennessee. The forecast called for a 30% chance of afternoon showers on both days – so of course that meant storms the majority of the day on both days (yet again). Although I’m relieved that we always manage to make trips more than worthwhile (thankfully once again we were still able to crank hard both days), I’ll be honest that the rain is starting to get old…fortunately this time we didn’t have to spend our evenings hanging out in a soggy campsite. …Read the rest of this entry →

A Day of Hot Flashes

Jun 14 2011

Don’t worry, this post has nothing to do with skewed hormones and ticking biological clocks. For those readers who are non-climbers, here’s a quick little lesson in climbing linguistics… Onsight – Completing a route from bottom to top with no falls or rests on the rope the first time you attempt it, without any prior knowledge about the route. Flash – Same as an onsight except that you had some helpful beta (info/tips) before attempting the route - such as observing someone else climb the route, reading someone else’s ascent notes, etc. Redpoint – Completing a route from bottom to top with…Read the rest of this entry →

Memorial Day Madness at Grayson Highlands

Jun 02 2011

After spending the first part of the weekend hanging out with family, we met up with some friends late Sunday morning up at Grayson Highlands State Park for some bouldering fun. It was the first time we’d been back to GHSP since last fall, and I’d almost forgotten what a spectacular setting it is! The weather was pretty warm both days, but I’m fairly certain cooler than the majority of climbing areas in the Southeast. Our first day consisted of a high volume of moderates. We started out at the Picnic/Rock House Area before ending up at the Cap-Gun Boulder…Read the rest of this entry →

New River Rendezvous Recap

May 26 2011

After skipping last year’s ‘Vous b/c Cragbaby was still really new on the scene, we were back this year, this time as a family that was bigger (and I like to think C has made us better…) than before! The weather was great – the driest trip to the New we’d had in a really long time! We had a whole posse of friends that met us up there, ran into tons of folks we hadn’t seen in a long time, and of course met lots and lots of new friends! We rolled in just before dark on Thursday night…Read the rest of this entry →

Hidden Projects

May 17 2011

Cragbaby making sure my ATC is in good working order while Daddy gets started on Top That Direct (5.10b)

After a long week of working our tails off unpacking boxes, moving furniture, hanging pictures, and organizing shelves and drawers, we decided to reward ourselves with some climb time at the crag on Sunday afternoon. One of my favorite parts about our new location is that we now have a local crag that is actually “local,” instead of 2 hours away! So Sunday morning we got up leisurely, headed to church dressed in our climbing clothes (which by the way I also love – a church without dress codes…), and then were out at the crag by 1130 or so. …Read the rest of this entry →

Rain and Rivers Raging at the Red!

Apr 27 2011

Considering that the last time we climbed at the Red was when I was 11 weeks preggo and under a self-imposed toprope restriction, it was great to finally get back there, and this time on the sharp end! We headed up on Thursday afternoon to meet our crew of climbing partners at Lago Linda’s. The weather forecast was not good. In fact, it was downright bad. But I’m so thankful we didn’t let a few rain drops get in the way of our having a good time! Obviously with a large posse of climbers with varying abilities, no two people had the same tick list,…Read the rest of this entry →

All Sorts of “Newness” at the New River Gorge

Apr 13 2011

I’ve been to the New a countless number of times over the past few years, and the best part about it is that it never gets old! No matter how many times we head up there, no two trips are ever the same, and this weekend was certainly no exception. In fact, our weekend was chock full of “newness” – a new climbing season, a new drive, a new friend, lots of new routes, new gear, and of course a new hit list to work with. Our trip started on Friday afternoon, when Cragbaby and I picked Steve up at…Read the rest of this entry →

Pilot Mountain Trip Report

Mar 14 2011

The weather was stellar this weekend, so guess what we did – we went rock climbing! Surprise, surprise… Oddly enough, our first crag day since the move to Charlotte was NOT spent at local rock. Our plans were with a Raleigh partner as well as a Charlotte partner, so it made more sense to head to a halfway point, and since we just had one day free this weekend, Pilot Mountain got the winning bid! Even though the parking lot was pretty crowded and we saw lots of other climbing parties hiking around, the only route we had to wait…Read the rest of this entry →

Pilot-Palooza aka Cragbaby: Scene 2

Feb 17 2011

Sunny, highs in the 50′s in February…thats enough to draw a crowd at just about any crag. We’ve been doing a lot of bouldering recently, but this weekend we decided to rope up at Pilot Mountain. Incredibly enough, it was the first we’d done any roped climbing since October when we spent several days at the Obed in Tennessee. Today turned out to be a darn near perfect day - despite how much I enjoy bouldering, I’d forgotten that nothing beats tying into the sharp end of a rope! We met up with Jan and his wife Crystal in the parking lot. …Read the rest of this entry →

Skedaddle Kids “Adventuring Moms” Blog Series…

Feb 07 2011

A few weeks ago Lia Keller from Skedaddle (based out of Alaska) contacted me about participating in their new blog series on Adventuring Moms. She provided me with a list of questions relating to connecting kids to the outdoors. Since this is something I’m very passionate about, I of course didn’t hesitate to jump right in.

Falling Up and Falling Down at Asheboro

Jan 19 2011

Our house went on the market last Monday, and after a smattering of showings towards the end of the week, we got slammed with 5 requests for Saturday showings. We figured since we were banned from our house for all but an hour here or there, we might as well get outside and enjoy the weather. We decided to meet up with a few folks at Asheboro. Since it was a gorgeous day, lots of other people had the same idea, so we ended up making several new friends as well as a Charlotte connection! We didn’t get on…Read the rest of this entry →

One Last Friction Fest of 2010

Jan 03 2011

Until this past week, it’d been over 2 years since we’d gotten our friction on at the Asheboro Boulders – last winter I was pregnant and relegated to toproping, and the winter before that I had a bum shoulder. But with a couple of breaks in the cold and wet weather streak we’ve been having, we managed to hit the ‘Burl twice – a few days before Christmas, and once more on New Year’s Eve. Our pre-Christmas trip was timed so that it was a pit stop on the way to my parents house in Winston-Salem for the holidays. It…Read the rest of this entry →

Let’s Get Ready to Rumble…

Nov 09 2010

I think most non-climbers probably assume that picking your climbing destination for the weekend is pretty straightforward – what kind of climbing do you want to do? What distance are you willing to drive? Pick out a place that answers those questions, and go there, right? Au contraire my friends. If only it was that simple. Yes those questions are important ones to consider, but the most important factor of all is totally out of your control and only mildly predictable – the WEATHER. For the weekend warrior, watching the weather forecast and planning around it can turn into quite…Read the rest of this entry →

A Perfect Fall Weekend in the Highlands

Oct 27 2010

Great friends, stellar rock, and perfect weather all add up to a wonderful weekend in Grayson Highlands, VA! We arrived late Friday night to the campground, and were pleased to find out that it didn’t get nearly as cold overnight as the forecast had predicted. After enjoying a nice breakfast with Manbert, we met up with a hodgepodge of folks at the Contact Station before heading to the Olympus/RockHouse area. We warmed up on Cherokee Dihedral (V1), which felt kinda heady for a warm-up, but was a really pretty line up a dihedral with an interesting transition onto the right…Read the rest of this entry →

Four Days of Dirtbaggin’ in Tennessee

Oct 13 2010

With Canaan’s arrival this spring, Steve and I were way too busy to plan a big summer climbing trip like we usually do – so when our friend Christie said she had a few days off from grad school coming up in October and wondered if we’d be up for heading somewhere to climb, we jumped on the opportunity! Steve had a business trip to Charlotte planned for the beginning part of the week, so on Wednesday afternoon, Canaan and I hopped in the car with Christie and Doris and made our way to Hickory, where we met up with…Read the rest of this entry →

Hound Ears Competition 2010

Oct 04 2010

The beginning of October marks the start of one of my favorite times of the year – fall. Warm days, cool nights, pretty leaves…and the Hound Ears Bouldering Comp! For those of you that don’t know, Hound Ears is a private resort in Boone, NC filled with giant vacation homes. The woods surrounding these gorgeous homes also just happen to boast some of the best bouldering in the region. Though seldom taken advantage of by the residents, this rocky playground sits mostly untouched for every day of the year except for the first Saturday in October – when over 400…Read the rest of this entry →

Mama’s got a brand new bag (and Cragbaby’s packin’!!!)

Sep 08 2010

The past few weekends have been really busy for us, but long weekends with spectacular weather are just too tempting to pass up, so we were off to VA again for some more bouldering fun. After spending a fun evening with Canaan’s grandparents (both sets!) we were off bright and early the next morning to meet Manbert at Grayson Highlands State Park. The low humidity and highs in the upper 60′s felt amazing – and I sure was glad that I had bought Canaan some fall clothes right before we left! This was a landmark trip for us, since it was the test run with our…Read the rest of this entry →

Grayson Highlands Bouldering…..

Aug 30 2010

……is spectacular! I can’t believe we never knew about it til recently! Our journey started out on Friday afternoon with a small hiccup – as we were packing up the car, our friend that was supposed to be showing us around on Saturday texted us that he had to bail due to having kidney stones….hmmm, I GUESS that’s a reasonable excuse and we’ll let it slide… Anyway, we hurriedly printed out the problem descriptions from Mountain Project and jumped in the car, hoping for the best… And the best it was! Steve even said it was the most fun…Read the rest of this entry →

Can’t Get No “Satisfaction…”, so just “Lieback and Enjoy It”

Aug 19 2010

Finally! A weekend at the New that wasn’t soaking wet! After we indoctrinated Christie into Southern culture by taking her to Chick-Fila for the first time, we arrived at the Mountain Lake Campground in Summersville just after sunset. Everyone set up their tents while Canaan waited in his carseat on our picnic table. After about 10 minutes I realized he had fallen asleep gazing at the moon After a slightly overcast start to our day on Saturday, we ended up with a bright, sunshiny (and humid…) day at last! We had a great group – big enough to be really…Read the rest of this entry →

Rainy Mornings + Sunny Afternoons = More Than You’d Think

Jul 20 2010

Well, the weather forecast may have looked significantly better this time compared to the last time, but of course it isn’t a trip to the New without a little rain, right? Steve, Canaan, and I arrived 7 or so on Friday night, which gave us plenty of time to set up our tent and cook some dinner before it got dark. Canaan really enjoyed walking around the campground before bedtime – apparently he thought it was hilarious and cackled with laughter for at least 30 minutes. I’m still not really sure what was so funny, but of course a baby’s…Read the rest of this entry →

Free to Climb! Independence Day at Pilot Mountain

Jul 08 2010

We decided to take advantage of the fact that we were in Winston-Salem by hitting up Pilot Mountain on Monday before heading back to Raleigh after the 4th of July festivities. We met up with our friends Danny and Tracey in the summit parking lot at 9, surprised to find that it was virtually empty! It was quite refreshing to be able to get on the routes we wanted without tripping over any red-helmeted boy scouts! We didn’t even have to endure any wild rapelling shenanigans from the amphitheater from the meet-up groups! This is what our day looked like!…Read the rest of this entry →

When it Rains, it Pours…

Jun 16 2010

Since Canaan did so well a couple of weeks ago at the New, we decided to get up there again this past weekend. We took our friends Marc and Marie, who are gym regulars that are relatively new to the outdoor scene. We thought it would be great fun to head a little further north to Summersville Lake, a pristine blue mountain lake that doesn’t feel like it should belong in as benign a place as West Virginia. The best part about climbing on a hot day in Summersville is the post-climb dip into the lake. I went out the…Read the rest of this entry →

C-Squatch and “The New” Invasion

May 31 2010

After several weekend weather woes, we were finally able to get Canaan up to the New River Gorge for his first multi-day climbing/camping trip. We decided it would be best to go up during mid-week as to figure out the logistics of bringing a baby to the crag without also having to battle all the crowds of Memorial Day weekend. We convinced our friend Scott to be our third man/guinea pig under the stipulation that we wouldn’t stick him with the job of baby-watching. So, with as rain-free of a forecast as you can hope for at the New River…Read the rest of this entry →

Craggin’ with the C-Squatch

May 03 2010

So if our hiking trips the past few weekends have improved my mental health dramatically, its probably safe to say that our first day out climbing with Canaan skyrocketed my psyche into the next stratosphere. A little fresh air, great company, and real rock sure can go a long way – if only there was a way to bottle it for future use during times of injury, sickness, or on rainy weekends! Anyway, after 9 months of “observation” in utero, and 6 weeks of training outside the womb, Canaan was finally ready to participate with Mom and Dad in one…Read the rest of this entry →

Falls Lake Trail – Crag Preparation Hike #3

Apr 19 2010

So we went on another hike this weekend, this time along a section of the Falls Lake Trail, which is a 23 mile trail that skirts around Falls Lake north of Raleigh. This trail is also part of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, which is a collection of connecting trails that extends all the way across the state of North Carolina from, you guessed it, the mountains to the sea. We did a 5 mile-ish section that started at Blue Jay Point Park, which is about a 30-40 minute drive from our house. This was the farthest away from our house that…Read the rest of this entry →

Preparation for Crag – Hike #2

Apr 12 2010

So we have a tentative goal to get Canaan out on a climbing day trip sometime towards the end of May. To do this, we figure we need to take lots of baby steps (no pun intended…:) ) in order to make sure he is ready for the long haul of a whole day out and about. We started out by taking a hike with BeBe and Papa Joe last Friday in celebration of his due date. It was a leisurely3.5ish mile hike along a smooth trail. It took us a little over an hour – so not really any…Read the rest of this entry →

Canaan’s Birth Story

Mar 27 2010

This is the story of how Canaan Ray Lineberry entered the world. On Friday, March 19th, I finished my last day at Chesterbrook Academy, and was ready to enjoy two full weeks off before my due date. Folks kept asking me what I was going to do with all that time off, and I jokingly would say that there’s no way the little guy was gonna let me have two weeks all to myself. Steve predicted that I would go into labor at 4:00 Friday afternoon, right when I got off of work. I was a little more cynical, and…Read the rest of this entry →

Showers and Surprise Alpine Conditions

Feb 23 2010

Steve and I headed west Friday night for the start of our fun-filled, but exhausting weekend. On Saturday morning our parents threw us a baby shower. There were about 50 people there and we got LOADED down with gifts! I got to catch up with lots of folks I hadn’t seen in a long time, including my roommate from college, as well as some old family friends. I feel like I ate my body weight (which at this point is quite significant…) in fruit and fondue, but had a blast! I also had to make a wardrobe change about halfway…Read the rest of this entry →

Winter Fun in Pictures!

Jan 31 2010

It started snowing right as we got back from Chick-Fila on Friday night, so it seems like our timing was perfect. We had an Open House scheduled on Saturday morning at school, but of course it was cancelled, so Steve and I had a nice day together at home. We slept in, worked in C-squatch’s room for a little while, and then took a break and did some ear candling. Yes, ear candling – Steve found them on Friday night at Earth Fare and figured that it would be a fun snow day activity. (We’d done them before, but it had been…Read the rest of this entry →

Spring in January?

Jan 21 2010

What are the odds that a sunny January day in the 50′s would line up with a day off??? We had no choice but to go climbing!!! We headed west before the sun came up and met up with our friends Marc and Marie, who we met at Triangle Rock Club. Steve had taken Marc on his first outdoor climbing excursion about a year ago at Pilot Mountain while I was rehabbing my shoulder, so it seemed only fitting that we also were there for his girlfriend Marie’s first time roping up outdoors! We had a cold start to our day –…Read the rest of this entry →

2009 – The Year In Pictures…

Jan 03 2010

I had intended for this to be a Highlight Reel of sorts, but realized that some events had a ridiculous amount of pictures, whereas other important events had come and gone without ever taking the camera out…so I guess you could say its MOST of 2009 in pictures…

Sweet Home (away from home) Alabama…and Atlanta…and Winston-Salem…

Dec 31 2009

So I haven’t been good about updating my blog recently with all the holiday hubbub, but I thought I would throw out a quick holiday sum-up as my last blog post of 2009… We started out our holiday with a doctor’s appointment for the J-bean on Monday, December 21st. All was well, so we hopped in our loaded down car and drove down to Sandrock, Alabama for a couple days of climbing before celebrating the holidays with family. Sandrock turned out to be really fun - by no means a must-do destination, but definitely fabulous for a side trip excursion! Since the…Read the rest of this entry →

A Hodgepodge of Fun!

Nov 29 2009

Our Thanksgiving holiday was a whirlwind of fun, filled with some traditions, a few new tricks, as well as some unexpected surprises! I guess I’ll start at the beginning. On Wednesday, me and the Bean had a prenatal appointment in the morning. I peed in a cup, got my vitals taken, my belly measured, and then we got to listen to J-bean’s heartbeat on the Doppler. For those of you that don’t know, the doppler is a nifty little piece of machinery that probes around the belly to detect the fetal heartbeat – once the doctor finds the right spot,…Read the rest of this entry →

Ode to Pilot Mountain…

Nov 23 2009

This just in – rock climbing is more fun than staying home raking leaves…even if it is at Pilot Mountain. For those of you that are not in the know, Pilot gets somewhat of a bad rap sometimes…okay a LOT of times. The rock quality can be questionable in places, the routes are short, and the base of the cliff is generally overrun by swarms of red-helmeted boy scouts and other groups of people on their first “extreme rock climbing adventure.” Not to stereotype or anything, but these newbies generally have entirely too much testosterone pumping through their veins, and they love to proudly grunt…Read the rest of this entry →

What happens in Vegas…shows up on Facebook.

Oct 31 2009

I’m now in what most consider the “feel good” stage of my pregnancy. At almost 18 weeks, I am no longer exhausted like I was in my first trimester, but I’m not huge and cumbersome yet (just big enough to feel like a small whale at times…) So this seemed like the perfect opportunity to take a vacation! Steve’s company sent him to Vegas all last week for a Microsoft SharePoint conference at the Mandalay Bay. The conference ended Thursday afternoon, so I used some frequent flyers to meet him out there Thursday night. We spent the first night on…Read the rest of this entry →

Briars and Scrambles and Gullies, oh my!!!

Oct 09 2009

Finally the weatherman got the order right – an absolutely gorgeous weekend followed by a dreary, cold, and rainy Monday morning! This was the first weekend out of several that hasn’t been a washout, and Steve and I were not about to let it go by without taking advantage of it! We invited our friend Huck to go with us – one of the new folks we had climbed with at the Red a few weeks ago. Huck is somewhat of a new climber, and was eager to try out some new crags he’d never been to. Also, he’d never…Read the rest of this entry →

Red River Gorge – great climbing, but where’s the river?!?

Sep 12 2009

In the few years that I’ve been climbing, I’ve had the opportunity to climb in lots of different places, but I’d never made it up to the Red River Gorge until this past weekend. Steve and I had tried to go several times, but due to weather, schedules, injuries, etc., it seems as though the stars were never quite in proper alignment to make it happen. But when several friends invited us to go, and especially after being able to finagle an extra day off of work on Friday, spending Labor Day weekend in Kentucky at the Red seemed to…Read the rest of this entry →

Family Matters…3rd times the charm!

Aug 03 2009

No this is not about the mid-90′s TV show of the same name (although I did LOVE that show…) It’s about my latest adventure with my dad. So for the past year or so, my dad has been bugging me to take him camping, and I have been dragging my feet, not sure whether or not he was serious about wanting to go, or just trying to talk it up to see my reaction. A few months ago, I turned the tables on him and invited him to go on a camp/bike trip with me over the summer when I was off…Read the rest of this entry →

Endless Fun at the New

Jul 22 2009

So what started out as a random assortment of climbing buddies at the New, ended up being just me and Steve. Some folks bailed earlier in the week, one signed on AND bailed all on the day before, and others bailed after driving for an hour and deciding they were too tired to continue (not naming names though, Manbert…). Anyway, we spent our first day at Endless Wall, which is in my opinion one of the most beautiful places in the gorge. I realized that I had a few head issues to work through, but by the end of the day, things…Read the rest of this entry →

Maple Canyon and Closing Thoughts

Jul 02 2009

The climbing at Maple Canyon is probably the most unique climbing area I’ve ever been to. The rock is a conglomerate embedded with pebbles and rocks of various sizes. The routes are difficult to read from the ground, and require a lot of endurance to onsight, since you never know what kind of hold a cobble is going to be until you grab it, so you end up spending a lot of energy trying to find the right cobbles to use. However, b/c of all the cobbles, we discovered that Maple is also a place that rewards good footwork. No matter…Read the rest of this entry →

Big Cottonwood Canyon

Jul 01 2009

Day 1 ~ Outside Corner, w/North Face variation, 5.7 Pitch 1 – Steve led the first pitch, a fun wandering crack system that wandered up and out to an arete, and up to a ledge. We saw Norbert and Manuela driving up as we were just getting started. They spent the day at the Salt Lake Slips, where our line was in clear view all day. They were thoughtful enough to check on us throughout the day, and document our progress via photos Pitch 2 – Short, but sweet. I scrambled up a series of broken crack systems til I…Read the rest of this entry →

Logan Canyon

Jul 01 2009

We left the Idaho Falls airport on Saturday around lunchtime, and drove 2 hours thru southern Idaho to the city of Logan, just over the border in Utah. Our original plan was to drive east to the High Uinta Wilderness outside of Kamas, but apparently there was a lot of snow this year, and the melt off wasn’t quite as far along as it usually is this time of year, so most of the routes were running with water, with 10 foot snow drifts at the base. So, one could say that our Logan Canyon plans were sloppy seconds, but…Read the rest of this entry →

A Week in Yellowstone

Jun 29 2009

What a week! This section of cyberspace is not nearly adequate enough to share my experiences from the week, but I’ll try to provide a worthwhile synopsis. Our trip started out on Saturday, June 13th, at 3:40 am with a call from Orbitz alerting us that our 6:30 flight was on time. (thanks, orbitz…) We flew to SLC, where we met up with Steve’s parents (Joe and Beth), then flew on to Idaho Falls, where we rented a big blue van and drove a couple of hours north to our house about 30 miles east of West Yellowstone, near the…Read the rest of this entry →

Some days its a blessing just to make it out on two wheels…

Jun 02 2009

Geez, today was one of those days at Lake Crabtree…Steve and I met at 3:45. It all started when I stepped out of the car into the middle of August (not sure why I hadn’t noticed earlier how freakin’ hot it was today!) When Steve got out of the car, he discovered that his rear tire was flatter than a pancake. We both kind of gave each other a groaning look, and moved his bike into the shade, so that he could change the tube with the crappy emergency pump that he carries on the frame of his bike (we still don’t know why it…Read the rest of this entry →

Seneca Rocks Trip Report

May 30 2009

Seneca Rocks – N. Peak on the left, S. Peak on the right, Gunsight Notch is the dip in the middle. Standing on the South Peak Summit Last summer Steve and I won a day of private guiding at Seneca in a raffle during the “Playing for the Payoff” comp at the Triangle Rock Club, a fundraising effort to help buy the property of Laurel Knob in Western North Carolina. This past weekend we decided to cash in on our prize. What a great introduction to a new area! Our guide was Arthur Kearns, affectionately known as “ACK”,…Read the rest of this entry →

New River Rendezvous – Lucky #7

May 17 2009

The New River Rendezvous was this weekend. This was our third year attending, and it seems like it gets better and better each year! We left Raleigh around 3:30 or so and arrived just in time to see a crazy slide show by Dave Chancellor from SoIll Holds. Friday dawned a beautiful day. Steve and I convinced Norbert and Manuela (whom I will affectionately refer to as “Manbert” ) to get up at the crack of dawn so that we could beat the crowds down at Sandstonia. A lot of stuff was wet from all the rain from the previous…Read the rest of this entry →

Extreme Wildlife Adventures in Wake County

May 09 2009

Steve and I had a blast today, and it was the most random day I’ve had in a long time, so I thought it was worth noting. In preparation for the upcoming family trip to Yellowstone, I decided I wanted Steve to teach me how to fly fish. Since his experience has been limited to the annual “guy’s trip” with his brothers and dad, Steve felt like he might need a refresher himself, and certainly didn’t know the good spots to go to in Raleigh. So we met up with our friends the Touseys, Tim and Jenn, and their two…Read the rest of this entry →

Best of Climbing 2008…

Dec 30 2008

The Anguish of Captain Bligh 5.11c Ship Rock, Boone, NC Steve topping out on The Daddy 5.6, Linville Gorge, NC Steve and I at the summit of Table Rock Steve drying off after getting stuck on the Table Rock Summit in a downpour. Rapping off of Skip to My Lou, 5.6, Table Rock Lieback and Enjoy It 5.10d, Sandstonia, NRG Getting the gear ready for Jan Balster’s promo shoot in May

Squamish, BC Trip Report

Aug 17 2008

Trip Report – Aug 2-10, 2008 Getting there – So we ran into some problems getting there…we found out the day before we left that a huge rockslide was completely blocking HWY 99 about 10 miles away from Squamish. Other than by air or water, the only way to get from Vancouver to Squamish was to drive the looooong way around, turning what should have been a 45 minute meandering from the airport up the highway into a 6 hour re-route on curvy mountain roads. We stopped at a greasy little motel at the halfway point Saturday night around midnight…Read the rest of this entry →

El Potrero Chico Trip Report

Sep 27 2007

Trip Report – Oct 18-23, 2007 Accommodations – La Posada, Casita #5 We really liked Posada! Everything was very clean, and all the folks that worked there are awesome! Our room was only 2 feet wider than our bed on 3 sides, but aside from the mosquitoes it was great. We even had an extra loft up above to store all of our gear, and even had a private bathroom! The community kitchen was a fun environment – pots/pans and everything were provided, and they had a fridge and several stoves. We had brought all of our breakfasts and crag…Read the rest of this entry →

Journal Excerpts from our Backcountry Canoe Trip in the Everglades…

Jan 03 2007

Saturday, December 30, 2006 Well, everything was a bit touch and go there for a bit, but we finally got a wilderness permit out of Flamingo and set off this morning. We opted for the South Joe River chickee, based on availability and the weather… The first part of our journey was along a canal for just over 2 miles. The water was nice and flat, mangroves on either side. We saw a few wood storks and lots of herons and egrets. Then we got to Coot Bay…Coot Bay lasted for just under 3 miles. My first thoughts were surprise…Read the rest of this entry →

“Not all who wander are lost.” —JRR TOLKIEN