Last Friday I had a blast with the amazing girls from Camp Robindel. This is the 2nd year this camp has sent a group of campers to us for some rock climbing instruction and I’ve been lucky to guide them both times. These 11 year old girls spend 7 weeks at this camp, and despite having only been there for about a week I could tell how quickly camp builds friendships and bonds. They were super supportive of each other while climbing, belaying, and rappelling. I look forward to seeing the next group they send us!
Last week I got to spend the day with an AMC camp group at Cathedral Ledge. We started over on the Thin Air face with a few top-ropes, then had a scenic lunch at the top of the cliff, followed by a rappel from “the classroom”. The kids liked rappelling so much they wanted more, so we headed down to the Barber Wall for an airy rappel before wrapping up the day.
A little over a month ago Laura and Chris joined me for a self-rescue course and today they returned for some slab climbing instruction. We met at Whitehorse and cruised up to Lunch Ledge via the Quartz Pocket variation of Standard Route.
Laura working her way up pitch 2 while Chris waits down at the first anchor
With each pitch we focused on body position, technique, momentum, and our responsibilities at each belay to help keep the party moving. We reached Lunch Ledge in under 2 hours, and did 3 double rope rappels back to the ground.
After a quick break we made our way over to Ethereal Buttress and climbed Beezebub corner, and excellent lesson in layback technique.
Chris works the opposing forcesLaura enjoying some good holds
We then dropped a rope on “Seventh Seal”, an excellent slab climb disguised as a crack climb. Chris was eager to have a go at the harder rated climb, and made smooth progress up to the thin crack.
Chris scopes out the upcoming thin crack
Here his perception of what constituted a decent foothold was challenged, but he preserved (after a couple hangs) and made it to the top.
After battling it out a pic at the top
I have a feeling it won’t be the last time he climbs this route. Feeling like we had accomplished the goals we set out for we called it a day and coiled the ropes.
Chris & Laura’s enthusiasm for their new hobby motivates me and reminds me of my early years in the climbing world… it’s an insanely fun sport and the first few seasons can be quite exhilarating, and dangerous, at the same time. While already lead climbing on their own Chris & Laura have recognized there’s a lot to learn to be a well rounded safe climber and I’m certain they are on the right path of self-study, practice, and occasional guided trips to reach what ever goals they might set for themselves. They definitely are eager students of the craft, and I look forward to our next adventure together!
An avid back-country skier and aspiring mountaineer, David’s gone on some pretty inspiring adventures through-out the Cascades and up in Alaska. With strong ties back East he took the opportunity to get out for some multi-pitch climbing with us this past Friday. After chatting about his experience and desires for the day I mentioned a new route that had recently been put up on nearby Whitehorse Ledge, The Cormier-Magness Route.
This route was established on 8/31/2012 by locals Paul Cormier and Chris Magness, and is an excellent moderate line up a section of the Whitehorse slabs that most would have considered picked plenty clean of new route potential. A bit of “hidden in plain sight” if you will.
We started at about 9am and quickly scrambled up the easy first pitch.
Scrambling up the easy 1st pitchLooking down the classic 2nd pitch areteClimbing through the summit slabsGreat view of Guides Wall, Cathedral, Humphrey’s Ledge, and Carter Notch in the distanceNear the topTopped out with Echo Lake and Cranmore in the background
I had climbed the first 4 pitches with a client a week or so ago, and it was great to finish the whole route this time. If you are solid on 5.6 slab then this is a great route for a new leader, despite some run-out bits it protect’s pretty well. Both the 2nd and 3rd pitches have 5.6 cruxes on them. The 2nd pitch is a bit more of a mental crux with some well spaced protection, and the 3rd pitch is a well protected 5.6 slightly awkward step. The upper pitches can be a bit hard to follow, though I admittedly got off route on the 5th pitch by climbing the flake to the right, not the flake directly off the anchor as I should have. It was an easy fix, but it pays to read descriptions carefully!
David was a pleasure to climb with and given his interest in learning to ice climb and in taking a formal avalanche course this winter I have a feeling I’ll be seeing him again!
Yesterday I spent the day with Christopher and Laura at Cathedral Ledge covering the topic of self-rescue. By taking this course they’ve started a process of becoming self-sufficient and self-reliant climbers. Access to climbing gyms and to climbing clubs in almost every state has allowed people to learn the basis of rock climbing quite quickly, but often new (and old) climbers don’t take the time to master a few basic skills that could get them out of jam much faster than waiting for a professional rescue to take place. The actual skills one should be fluent with if they aspire to be self-sufficient are;
Laura utilizing a 3:1 improvised haul to help Chris through a crux moveReady to haulWe also covered some belay station management issues during the dayLearning a counter-balance rappel after ascending the rope to get the mock-injured leader after an accident
Knowing these skills can prevent chilly nights on ledges while waiting for help, and increase your climbing proficiency as you add some tricks to your bag.
The methods I use to teach these skills are practical, hands-on, comprehensive, and adapted to your own pace. If you have any questions about the real-life applications of these skills or the course in general, please let me know.
I met Jon 2 years ago when he took a Level 1 Avalanche Course with me. Last winter he took the Level 2 course with me, and has become quite active with his local AMC Rock Climbing chapter in MA. He joined me for two days of climbing on Cathedral and Whitehorse with a focus on self-rescue, and multi-pitch efficiency.
Yesterday we started at “the classroom” on the top of Cathedral Ledge. There we reviewed building gear anchors and extending anchors out over an edge. We set-up a mock-rope rope system and covered belay escapes and leader rescue topics. After lunch we headed down and climbed Upper Refuse, Jon’s first Cathedral Ledge climb.
Jon on the first pitchJon on the 3rd pitch
We only took a little over an hour to climb Upper Refuse so with some time left we made our way down to the North End and climbed Child’s Play and Kiddy Crack to work on our crack technique a bit. Jon took an extra lap on Kiddy Crack and we wrapped up around 4pm.
The following day we met at Whitehorse Ledge. A new route had been established just 10 day earlier and Jon was happy to check it out. We climbed the The Cormier-Magness Route’s first 4 pitches (660 feet), then rapped back to the ground for a quick lunch break.
Jon on a really nice “Wheat Thin Arete” pitch, 190 feet 5.6Jon at the steeper bulge at the end of pitch 3
The first three pitches of this route were highly enjoyable. While there are more pitches above the 4th pitch we did we wanted to get in another classic full length route so we wrapped from the top of pitch 4 and made our way over to Standard Route. We raced up that, and despite a small surprise on the 5.7 direct finish pitch, topped out in about 2 hours total.
Topped out, 1,600 feet of slab climbing in the bag
An excellent 2 days of climbing and instruction, with a highly motivated partner… I’m definitely looking forward to our next adventure together Jon!
Eric, Carol, Jack, and Sam decided to spend the last day of their summer vacation doing something truly memorable… rock climbing! We met at that climbing school and geared up.
Ready to go!Whitehorse Ledge, Echo Lake State Pack, New Hampshire!
We started the day off with a quick 2 pitches on the slabs. 300 feet up the boys decided that was high enough for their 1st climb and we headed back down.
Carol and Jack heading back down from “The Toilet Bowl”Eric and Sam heading back down from “The Toilet Bowl”
After a snack we headed over to the Echo Roof Area for some fun top-roping.
Sam finding his way up “Holy Land 5.6” at the Echo Roof area…Carol belays while Eric and Jack strategizeJack finds the next foothold while Echo Roof looms overheadSam takes a breatherJack shows off his climbing gearIs that Sam way up there?Eric gets his turnThe boys enjoy the impromptu swing I created
Perfect weather, motivated family, great climbing… it doesn’t get much better. A couple times during the day Carol inquired about what they should do next in order to continue their new found family sport of rock climbing. After suggesting books and logical steps I decided I needed to add something to this blog to help address that question, and will be adding some helpful links in the near future. I created this page to address that question, of “What next?”, along with some shameless self-promotion. I’ll add a “continued ed/suggested reading section” in the near future as time allows. Until then, I leave you this short clip of 6 year old Sam enjoying the joys of rock climbing;
Laurel and Geoff drove up yesterday morning from Boston to get a little outdoor rock climbing experience before a trip to the Italian Dolomites next week where they are planning on doing some Via ferrata. Since Via ferrata is not very common in the US (almost non-existent) I showed them a via ferrata rig in the climbing school and the basics of use before we headed off to Whitehorse Ledge for some free climbing.
Whitehorse Ledge
After gearing up we scrambled up to the Launch Pad and went over the basics of rope management in a 3-person climbing team. Minutes later we were off and climbing…
Ready to go at the “Launch Pad”Looking down pitch 2 while Laurel climbsAt the “Crystal Pocket” belay with Cathedral Ledge in the background
We caught up to a couple parties that had started before us at the spacious “Lunch Ledge”. Here we planned to rappel in order to spend the afternoon climbing some steeper crack climbs in the shade. After pre-rigging the rappel we began our descent.
Rappelling from Lunch LedgeRappelling down Slabs Direct
After we reached the ground we took a break for some lunch and water, then made our way over to the Ethereal Buttress area. We started contrasting the difference between friction slab climbing and crack/corner climbing on the fun short route, Beelzebub Corner.
Learning to lay-back on Beezlebub CornerSlingshot belay in the shade
After everyone got a run on that we had some time left so I dropped the rope on nearby Seventh Seal, the thin 5.10 finger crack nearby. That proved an excellent challenge to finish the day on, and we were all pretty happy when we pulled our last rope.
You were both great fun to climb with, and I look forward to hearing about the Dolomites trip. And the Norway ski trip that might become a reality! Looking forward to our next climb together!
7+ years ago Karen and Dan took a couple climbing lessons with EMSCS. It was either my 1st or 2nd season guiding and I climbed with them at Square Ledge and Cathedral that summer. Yesterday, after a 7 year hiatus (for good reason), they returned with their amazing 7 year old daughter, Catherine. A regular hiker, who preferred scrambling, and National Park Camper, Catherine was eager to try her hand at real rock climbing. We geared up, and after stopping by a very wet Whitehorse Ledge made out way over to Cathedral Ledge for some top-roping on the Thin Air Face.
Despite being a little intimidated by the wet steepness Catherine made multiple attempts on the 80 foot routeShowing off her knot tying skillsLooking for the next handholdKaren remembered the excitement from our climbs to the top of the cliff 7 years agoCatherine enjoyed swinging side to side while hanging from the rope the most
The weather remained nice with bits of sun poking through, and since Dan and Karen were eager to checkout Whitehorse Ledge we headed back over to that cliff hoping the sun had dried things out a bit. We were not disappointed.
Ready to go at the Launch PadDad and Daughter tackling the 1st pitch of Standard RouteHanging out at the “Toilet Bowl” belayVery comfortable 300 feet off the groundIt turned out that rappelling was actually the most fun part of the day
Heading back to the car, all smiles
It was a fantastic day with a great family that I hope to see again soon. I can’t wait to have adventures like this with my own son Alex. Keep an eye on my more personal blog, www.adventurewithalex.com, as I am sure he’ll be spending a little time at the cliff this Fall.
Yesterday I had the pleasure of climbing with husband and wife Eric and Elizabeth. This Pennsylvania couple was excited to get introduced to the sport with aspirations of caving and canyoneering out west in the near future. Throughout the day they had lots of good questions and were fully engaged in learning. Both were quick studies and despite a slightly late start we put in some mileage!
Whitehorse LedgeLooking down at the first belay on Beginners Route, Whitehorse LedgeLooking good!Looking down Pitch 2 of Beginners RouteErik rappelling from the top of pitch 3On our way downElizabeth learning about crack climbing technique on Kiddy Crack, Cathedral LegdeGlad to have reached the top of this one!Erik learning the power of the layback!Elizabeth getting one more climb in on the Thin Air Face
The weather was just perfect with enough overcast to keep us relatively cool. We even tried our hand at bouldering on the way back to the car. I could tell these 2 had found a new hobby to pursue and look forward to helping them reach their climbing goals in the near future!
