Cragmama "Not all who wander are lost…" JRR Tolkien

Tag Archives: projecting

Pudd’s Pretty Dress 12d: Pretty Close, But Not Close Enough…

Pudd’s Pretty Dress 12d: Pretty Close, But Not Close Enough…

If you’ve been following me at all on social media, you’ve probably seen videos of me taking whippers on various parts of this beast of a rock climb at the New River Gorge. While this route has taught me so much about the art of projecting as well as myself as a climber, I was holding off on posting about it until I was for sure done with it for the season. With the arrival of snow across the mountainous areas of the East Cost, fall sport climbing season has officially ended for me. Unfortunately (spoiler alert), it did NOT…Read the rest of this entry →

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An Addendum to the Spring Sum-Up

An Addendum to the Spring Sum-Up

When I wrote a re-cap of my spring climbing season 2 weeks ago, it was 95 degrees, and jungle status humidity.  Today feels similar.  But this past Saturday brought a rare respite from both heat and humidity.  And I don’t mean an “it was a few degrees cooler” kinda thing.  I’m talking, lows in the 50’s, high’s in the 70’s, and 30-40% humidity.  Such a shocking departure from the norm that it seemed almost providential that CragDaddy and I rearrange our schedules to be back at the New on Saturday – because by Sunday it was going to be summer…Read the rest of this entry →

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Gettin’ Sendy on Green Envy

Gettin’ Sendy on Green Envy

I am quick to profess my love for the New River Gorge.  It is the gold standard by which I measure all other crags against.  I’ve been climbing there since 2007 and it just never gets old.  But for all that love, there’s just as much frustration, as the nature of NRG climbing seems to know just how to expose both my strengths and weaknesses, sometimes even on the same route.   Generally speaking, the New is known for being “reachy,” and is stereotypically harder for shorter climbers.  This is the major reason why the really strong climbing team kids mostly…Read the rest of this entry →

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Breaking the 5.13 Barrier!

Breaking the 5.13 Barrier!

This past weekend I hit a huge personal milestone for me.  Though my climbing journey has more or less featured slow and steady improvement over the last decade (“more” during times of focused training, “less” during times of pregnancy/newborns), it has been FIVE WHOLE YEARS since I have broken into a new number grade.  But that all changed this weekend!  It actually started this past spring on our kid-free anniversary weekend at Hidden Valley, VA.  We had decided that sans kids was the perfect opportunity to test out the hardman(woman) waters, so we went project shopping.  I was drawn to…Read the rest of this entry →

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Hidden Valley Sendage

Hidden Valley Sendage

Lately the Southeast has felt more like “June-tober” than “Rock-tober,” much to the chagrin of every climber that I know.  What’s up with this?!?  This is supposed to be our prime time, with conditions cool and crisp…but instead we all feel like gorillas in the mist.  That said, we knew that the elevation at Hidden Valley would make for cool(er) temps than the surrounding areas, and considering we’ve spent the past four weekends at the New, we figured we could use a change of pace.  And it turned out to be awesome! Our plan for Day 1 was for CragDaddy…Read the rest of this entry →

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