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

Tag Archives: soapbox

Toddlers and Helmets – From Bike to Crag…

Toddlers and Helmets – From Bike to Crag…

My husband and I have always been fans of the brain bucket.  Climbing, biking, horseback riding, driving down I-77 during rush hour (one of these might be an exaggeration)…when it comes to adventures in the outdoors, many of our family photos involve a collage of hard hats.  In the climbing world, this sometimes makes us seem a little bit dorky – while there are some climbing situations where I don’t wear my helmet, 90% of the time I’ve got one on if I’m more than 15 feet off the ground (for a more detailed version of my helmet stance for…Read the rest of this entry →

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Climbing Rules! …and Regulations

Climbing Rules! …and Regulations

  Recently I was asked about how our family handles Cragbaby’s enthusiastic climbing skills in and around the house – and more specifically, in areas that aren’t safe to practice heel-hooks and fist jams.  In non-climbing families, its probably easiest to implement a few hard and fast rules.  For example – NO CLIMBING.  For obvious reasons that mixed message would cause a lot of confusion in our house.  Though we are definitely learning as we go, here are a few concepts that have proved to be helpful for us – by all means they aren’t gospel, and I am very interested…Read the rest of this entry →

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PETZL Helmet Campaign – Round 2!

PETZL Helmet Campaign – Round 2!

Those of you that have been loyal readers for a while now may remember a post I did last October about my stance on helmet usage, as part of a Helmet Campaign from Petzl and their marketing guys over at Pemba Serves.  It certainly got quite the response – 107 comments even!  While I’d like to assume it was my literary prowess and creative wordsmith-ery that compelled such a reaction, in truth I must admit that it probably had more to do with the fact that Petzl was giving away a free helmet to one lucky commenter.  Excerpts of my post were melted into…Read the rest of this entry →

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An End to Winter Recreation in our State Parks?

An End to Winter Recreation in our State Parks?

So I usually tend to stay out of politics, but there’s been a recent issue that’s come up that I just can’t ignore.  A lot of you North Carolinians may have seen it already, but there’s been a nasty report going around social media circles recently about NC State Parks, and the government’s latest and not-so-greatest budget-cutting ideas.  The whole report can be found here, while a short synopsis can be found here.  But for the gist of it, and my (fairly strong) opinion, read on.  (And feel free to comment – I’d love to hear everyone else’s thoughts). Basically,…Read the rest of this entry →

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Guidebook Update: Pilot Progress

Guidebook Update: Pilot Progress

Although my attempts to work on route descriptions at Stone Mountain were waylaid by the storm front that moved in on Thursday night, my day spent at Pilot Mountain on Thursday was well worth the drive on a variety of levels!  Originally Bill Webster (aka guidebook publisher) asked me to join in on a meeting he had lined up with the park staff to talk about access.  He figured some of the information discussed would be prudent to the guide, and also said we could work together on double-checking my descriptions and taking pictures when the meeting was finished. I’ve…Read the rest of this entry →

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