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

Tag Archives: Trad Climbing

A Slab-tastic Thanksgiving at Stone Mountain

A Slab-tastic Thanksgiving at Stone Mountain

  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 →

Share

Guidebook Work Day: Enjoyment High, Productivity Low, Sans Cragbaby!

Guidebook Work Day: Enjoyment High, Productivity Low, Sans Cragbaby!

While admittedly that title might be a little extreme, the Moore’s Wall Guidebook Photo Extravaganza certainly did not go as planned. The original plan was to meet up with my favorite photographer, Manuela, on Thursday morning at Moore’s Wall. Our goal was to photograph as much of the cliffline as we could and spend the night with family in Winston-Salem, so that we could not only wrap up route photos on Friday, but also walk the cliff with Carolina Climbers Coalition president Scott Gilliam so that he could show us some undocumented lines. Our plans started unraveling long about Wednesday…Read the rest of this entry →

Share

Rocktober-fest at the New River Gorge

Rocktober-fest at the New River Gorge

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 →

Share

Birthday Bonanza at the New River Gorge!

Birthday Bonanza at the New River Gorge!

  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 →

Share

The New Never Gets Old

The New Never Gets Old

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 →

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