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Lead, er, Fall
Jul. 8th, 2013 12:50 pmDespite my siblings taking the cars and a mild chance of rain, Jon and I finally made it on our planned Memorial Day trip. ( boring logistics, food, Wimpy-Gilman and Preppy's Crack ) Rainbow, the 5.6 around the corner, felt easy this time, possibly bc I'm back to climbing in my elven climbing shoes in hopes they will stretch. I really do believe the slightly more aggressive build gives me an extra grade of climbing.
I'd watched a few people climb Men in White Suits, the 5.9 next to Rainbow. The hardest route I'd ever led was Nuthatch, a 5.7, but I knew MiWS's crux was a roof and I'm a Gunks climber so I figured the roof might be over-rated. I'm so glad I gave MiWS a try: I used everything GMac and JBeau had told me about resting. I'd frantically clip a bolt, yell "Take!" to Jon, and hang while figuring out the next section. I've never hung like that from a lead before. I got to the ledge just before the roof, eyed the last bolt before the anchor, and with misgivings, made all the moves to clip that bolt. All that was left was the roof to the anchor. Several times, I'd start climbing, get to the level of the bolt or just beyond, get scared, and down climb back to the ledge. I found all sorts of solid hand holds and I'd heard there was something to grab in the crud above the roof, but I didn't see it. Finally, I told Jon, "I'm making it to the top or I'm falling off." I went up, looked desperately for the promised hold - and fell. I wasn't far from the bolt and had time to yell to Jon so he was taking in slack, so it was a very small, very controlled fall, but it was still my first. I tried again, more aggressively, more determined to make it to the top -- and fell further. The third time I fell, Jon wasn't really prepared for it, I took an honest-to-goodness whipper, falling 8, maybe 10 feet. It was enough and besides, my rope is only rated to catch 8 of those before it has to be retired. I came down and watched a young man struggle on it (while retrieving my gear). They offered me a ride on the rope once it was set, but after two moves, I realized I didn't have the strength, so I bailed. All in all, it was still less scary than my fall at Brooklyn Boulders last September, probably bc it was expected and I knew Jon would catch me.
We moved down the cliff and ended up on Maltese Falcon, ( for one last climb ) it was only 4:30, but Jon said he'd had enough, so we walked to the car. On the way, we passed a swimming hole and hopped in to the river to cool off. It was a perfect moment.
We got to George's Seafood at just the right time. We shared a bowl of clam chowder, a foot long lobster roll, and a basket of fried haddock and fried shrimp. We skipped dessert -- until we got outside and I remembered they have ice cream and "Wild NH Bear Tracks" is essentially Raspberry Garcia. Oh, and it tastes great in a sundae. We waved to the nice lady making it fo us in the window.
Friday we were third car in the lot, but there was still a crowd at the Parking Lot Wall. ( I may not have lead head, but at least I could social engineer: A Week with Pete, Glory Jean, Easily Amused, Easily Aroused )
Sat morning, I woke Jon before 6 with coffee. We drove to Polly's Pancake Parlor, which was very quiet. Jon seemed to like his pancakes, although we were there so early, the whoopie pies were still in the oven and I was too billious to look at food anyhow. Getting gas was harder than expected and the drive to Pinkham Notch was longer than expected - we had to park in an overflow lot and didn't get started with the hike until 10:20am.
Somehow climbing Mt. Washington is always more meaningful to me, possibly bc of my family history with the mountain: ( my first time walking down without crampons ) I was too tired to eat anything more but buttered bread and a little of my Guinness.
When Jon woke up on Sunday and saw me moving decorative pillows, he suggested a mercy killing might be nice. It was worth everything though to see his face when he encountered the breakfast at the Merrill Farm Resort, including 5 varieties of homebaked muffins, including corn muffins so shortly out of the oven, they were almost too hot to touch. We had two apiece while discussing Tough Mudders and fiancés who tear their ACL with a nice couple from southern NH. It felt so unoptimal not to go whitewater kayaking or at least tubing with all the rainfall, but instead we went shopping. IME has a great consignment area and I discovered a like-new pair of Trangos in my size. Considering we couldn’t go winter hiking last year bc I lacked shoes, it was a no-brainer, even though I later discovered I can’t use them with my current crampons for a warm day of ice climbing. I also found multiple pairs of hiking shoes in my size and while they were slightly worn, which is a little gross, I decided I wanted cheap hiking shoes more than I wanted new ones. The Mount Washington Observatory “Weather Discovery Center” turned out to be fascinating and we both loved the geology exhibit in the basement. We had quick sandwiches at the Front Side Grind, with phenomenal coffee, but a few drops came down as we pulled into the mini-golf parking lot and we decided discretion was the better part of valor. Which is good, bc it took us 8hrs of driving, with only 2 gas stops, to get back to the car rental place. By the time we got back to Manhattan at midnight, we were both zonked beyond words. I bet Jon is glad to be back at work today.
I'd watched a few people climb Men in White Suits, the 5.9 next to Rainbow. The hardest route I'd ever led was Nuthatch, a 5.7, but I knew MiWS's crux was a roof and I'm a Gunks climber so I figured the roof might be over-rated. I'm so glad I gave MiWS a try: I used everything GMac and JBeau had told me about resting. I'd frantically clip a bolt, yell "Take!" to Jon, and hang while figuring out the next section. I've never hung like that from a lead before. I got to the ledge just before the roof, eyed the last bolt before the anchor, and with misgivings, made all the moves to clip that bolt. All that was left was the roof to the anchor. Several times, I'd start climbing, get to the level of the bolt or just beyond, get scared, and down climb back to the ledge. I found all sorts of solid hand holds and I'd heard there was something to grab in the crud above the roof, but I didn't see it. Finally, I told Jon, "I'm making it to the top or I'm falling off." I went up, looked desperately for the promised hold - and fell. I wasn't far from the bolt and had time to yell to Jon so he was taking in slack, so it was a very small, very controlled fall, but it was still my first. I tried again, more aggressively, more determined to make it to the top -- and fell further. The third time I fell, Jon wasn't really prepared for it, I took an honest-to-goodness whipper, falling 8, maybe 10 feet. It was enough and besides, my rope is only rated to catch 8 of those before it has to be retired. I came down and watched a young man struggle on it (while retrieving my gear). They offered me a ride on the rope once it was set, but after two moves, I realized I didn't have the strength, so I bailed. All in all, it was still less scary than my fall at Brooklyn Boulders last September, probably bc it was expected and I knew Jon would catch me.
We moved down the cliff and ended up on Maltese Falcon, ( for one last climb ) it was only 4:30, but Jon said he'd had enough, so we walked to the car. On the way, we passed a swimming hole and hopped in to the river to cool off. It was a perfect moment.
We got to George's Seafood at just the right time. We shared a bowl of clam chowder, a foot long lobster roll, and a basket of fried haddock and fried shrimp. We skipped dessert -- until we got outside and I remembered they have ice cream and "Wild NH Bear Tracks" is essentially Raspberry Garcia. Oh, and it tastes great in a sundae. We waved to the nice lady making it fo us in the window.
Friday we were third car in the lot, but there was still a crowd at the Parking Lot Wall. ( I may not have lead head, but at least I could social engineer: A Week with Pete, Glory Jean, Easily Amused, Easily Aroused )
Sat morning, I woke Jon before 6 with coffee. We drove to Polly's Pancake Parlor, which was very quiet. Jon seemed to like his pancakes, although we were there so early, the whoopie pies were still in the oven and I was too billious to look at food anyhow. Getting gas was harder than expected and the drive to Pinkham Notch was longer than expected - we had to park in an overflow lot and didn't get started with the hike until 10:20am.
Somehow climbing Mt. Washington is always more meaningful to me, possibly bc of my family history with the mountain: ( my first time walking down without crampons ) I was too tired to eat anything more but buttered bread and a little of my Guinness.
When Jon woke up on Sunday and saw me moving decorative pillows, he suggested a mercy killing might be nice. It was worth everything though to see his face when he encountered the breakfast at the Merrill Farm Resort, including 5 varieties of homebaked muffins, including corn muffins so shortly out of the oven, they were almost too hot to touch. We had two apiece while discussing Tough Mudders and fiancés who tear their ACL with a nice couple from southern NH. It felt so unoptimal not to go whitewater kayaking or at least tubing with all the rainfall, but instead we went shopping. IME has a great consignment area and I discovered a like-new pair of Trangos in my size. Considering we couldn’t go winter hiking last year bc I lacked shoes, it was a no-brainer, even though I later discovered I can’t use them with my current crampons for a warm day of ice climbing. I also found multiple pairs of hiking shoes in my size and while they were slightly worn, which is a little gross, I decided I wanted cheap hiking shoes more than I wanted new ones. The Mount Washington Observatory “Weather Discovery Center” turned out to be fascinating and we both loved the geology exhibit in the basement. We had quick sandwiches at the Front Side Grind, with phenomenal coffee, but a few drops came down as we pulled into the mini-golf parking lot and we decided discretion was the better part of valor. Which is good, bc it took us 8hrs of driving, with only 2 gas stops, to get back to the car rental place. By the time we got back to Manhattan at midnight, we were both zonked beyond words. I bet Jon is glad to be back at work today.
