Category Archives: Climbing

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

Rock Climber’s Training Manual Part 1 (Base Fitness and Strength)

Mar 04 2015

When I first started climbing, I didn’t bother with any sport-specific training of any sort. My formula for improving was to just climb. However, once Cragbaby #1 came into the picture, our midweek climb time was greatly decreased, which meant the time we did have needed to be a little more efficient. I started keying in on my weaknesses and choosing routes/problems/techniques that focused on those (for example, adding some off-set pull-ups and movement drills to increase lock-off strength.) Then I broke my ankle in February of 2012. I knew I’d go nuts if I didn’t do SOMETHING, but I couldn’t…Read the rest of this entry →

Sauratown and The Amazing Joe (5.12b)

Feb 10 2015

After hangdogging my way up The Amazing Joe a few weekends ago, I’d been chomping at the bit to get back on it before I forgot all the beta. Thankfully I only had to wait a few weeks, and my patience was rewarded with a beautiful sunny day in the 50’s! Sauratown is a unique crag in that it is only open for climbing during the months of January and February (click here for more info), and it’s guarded by a hike that i can’t bring myself to make my 4 year old tackle, which means there’s a child care logistic that…Read the rest of this entry →

A “Fashion-able” Day of Climbing

Jan 26 2015

Great times were had this weekend as we celebrated the Crag-Daddy’s birthday! Our usual modus operandi is to gather as many folks as we can to climb at Dixon by day, then come back to our house and party by night. After 4 consecutive years, however, this is the first time that the weather didn’t cooperate, and our day plans turned into a gym day for Steve, and a get-ready-for-the-party day for me (cue sad trombone.) Click here for our awesome photoshoot of climbing at songsforromance . Thankfully the weather dried up in time for Sunday though, which allowed us…Read the rest of this entry →

MLK Weekend Climbing

Jan 21 2015

Last weekend’s adventures almost came to an abrupt end before they even began, thanks to a weird tummy bug that was indiscriminately making the rounds through our house. It started out innocently enough with a mild case of upset tummy for Baby Z (which initially we thought could be teething-related), then climaxed in the middle of the night on Thursday when both Big C and the Crag-Daddy were doing a synchronized barf bucket routine. Amazingly enough, the bug was apparently extremely short-lived because everyone, though weak as kittens, was finished with the involuntary stomach emptying by Friday morning. That meant that by Saturday…Read the rest of this entry →

Family Climbing to End/Start the Year

Jan 05 2015

Last week there were two gorgeous sunny days in a row smack dab in the middle of the week, which amazingly enough fell on days that the Crag-Daddy had off work – New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. And what better way to spend the END of 2014 and the START of 2015 than at the crag with family and friends? NEW YEAR’S EVE: We wrapped up 2014 with a day at Rocky Face, which was an outdoor staple for our family during the latter stages of my pregnancy . For obvious reasons – the routes start less than 50 feet from…Read the rest of this entry →

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