Dillan and Cole have been putting in time in the climbing gym and chomping at the bit to get climbing outside. To that end they joined me for a 2 Day Private Rock Climbing course that ended today. It was my first rock guiding days of the season and the motivation was high all around. We covered a ton of info in just two days and I could tell they were hungry for more when they left. Here’s a brief recap of our two days:

Yesterday, 8:30AM

We met at EMS North Conway and after getting acquainted headed out to Cathedral Ledge. We drove to the top and spent a little time at “The Classroom” learning about traditional protection, anchoring, and rappelling.

After a short practice rappel we made our way down to the Barber Wall and rappelled down Laytons Ascent/Chicken Delight.

We then short-roped over to the classic Upper Refuse.

4 short pitches up that had us on top at noon, where we enjoyed lunch on top of Airation Buttress.

We then headed down to The North End and learned a little about threading a sport anchor in preparation for lowering or cleaning a sport lead. We then worked on our crack climbing skills on Child’s Play and Kiddy Crack.

Back at the shop we reviewed some of the skills we had covered before calling it a day.

Today:

We drove up to Pinkham Notch and hiked up to Square Ledge. The focus was on building quality top-rope anchors but we also wanted to get some climbing in.

Couldn’t have asked for a better start to the rock season. These guys were 100% engaged in the learning process, asking questions, practicing skills, buying helmets! Seriously days like this remind me how lucky I am to be a climbing guide. I look forward to working with Cole and Dillan again… it’s obvious they have the climbing bug and I am sure I’ll see them in the mountains again!

BTW, 4 more days left to enter to win a sweet climbing knife! Details here!

See you in the mountains!

NEAlpineStart