Category Archives: Climbing

Posts about…you guessed it – climbing! Trip reports, anecdotes, and musings about my favorite recreational pasttime.

The Tick List for 2016

Jan 05 2016

For our family this year, the holidays have involved sharing a little more with each other than we had intended – our winter break started with a stomach virus that violently ransacked it’s way through our entire household in a matter of hours. The next two weeks were a blur of family, friends, and Christmas cookies…LOTS of Christmas cookies. As far as climbing goes, we did manage to squeeze in a few days at the gym here and there, as well as a laidback day outside on the first day of 2016. But overall the ratio of Christmas cookies to climbing…Read the rest of this entry →

Climbing in 2015 – The Year in Review

Dec 29 2015

For many of us, the end of a year marks a time to reflect on the goals we had for the previous year, as well as make new ones for the next year. With regards to climbing, I’d left my goals for 2015 fairly open-ended, so as not to get bogged down with all the crazy logistics that go hand in hand with family craggin’. I basically had 3 items on my list – take a “big” family climbing trip, find some 12c/d routes that played well to my strengths, and send some 12a/b’s that forced me to work on my weaknesses. Overall I’d…Read the rest of this entry →

The Blessings of Jesus and Tequila

Nov 23 2015

A lot of people tout that Jesus and Tequila 12b (aka “J ‘n T”) is the best 5.12 in the New River Gorge (and I wouldn’t disagree.) Some people even argue that it’s the best route in the Gorge, period. I’ve even heard more than one person say it is the best route they have EVER touched. Well, with that introduction, you know it’s not gonna be a gimme for the grade, right? While grades are of course highly subjective, J ‘n T has a pretty solid consensus that 12b is a big fat sandbag (unless you are my one friend that downgrades…Read the rest of this entry →

Sendless at Endless

Nov 17 2015

Catchy title, but will probably make for a rather lackluster trip report! Conditions were prime for sending…I guess my only excuse is myself! Fortunately, however, our weekend in West Virginia was still “wild and wonderful.” Saturday was spent at Snake Buttress. After warming up on Muckraker 11a, I had hoped to tick New World Order 12a, which I had started working on a few weeks ago. To be honest, heading into the weekend I’d been feeling less than confident, and with questionable motivation. The crux for me on New World Order is a big deadpoint move that requires (for me, anyway) a LOT of precision…Read the rest of this entry →

A Crag-Date in the High Country

Nov 10 2015

This past Sunday the Crag-Daddy and I got a chance to do something we hadn’t been able to do since some time in 2012 – climb outside together without kids!!! We’d been looking forward to out crag-date for months (years?), and we actually ended up having to wait even longer than anticipated. The original plan was for us to climb together sans kiddos at the Hound Ears Bouldering Competition on October 3rd…but then that, as well as the make-up day on October 4th got rained out. No worries, it was rescheduled for a month later, on November 7th…but as the…Read the rest of this entry →

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