I had high hopes for this trip to Seneca Rocks with George... The last time I climbed with George was our ice climbing trip to the Adirondacks. I always enjoy spending time with him, and I had heard that Seneca Rocks was nothing short of amazing for trad climbing. I wasn't disappointed. 

Friday was a driving day, as it usually is for my road trips. It took my roughly 9 hours to get down to West Virginia on Friday and I met up with George in the early evening. We set up camp, lit a fire, and had a few beers while catching up and plotting our adventure for Saturday. The plan: gain the south summit (the only summit east of the Mississippi that requires technical climbing).  Read more »

I got awesome news at work... I had to be in Edmonton right after the May long weekend for a conference. I booked my flight out for Sunday afternoon, which left Monday free for some climbing with my good buddy AJ, who now lives in Edmonton. We researched climbs online in the Jasper area and found a few areas with route descriptions, but no guidebook (it's out of print). AJ found this beta on SummitPost, so that's what we used. 

AJ picked me up at the airport Sunday night. We picked up a six pack and headed straight for Jasper. The drive was a real treat for me... It was SO good to spend time with AJ again (I really miss him since he moved), and it was fun being on a drive with someone else instead of my usual solo road trips. It's a good thing AJ was driving, because I saw a sign for the "Scenic Route to Alaska"... I'm not sure I would have been able to resist taking that exit.

We got out to the Pocahontas Campground around 11:30pm, and quickly set up camp in the rain (I've been rained on while camping a lot this year). We killed the six pack and shared a few more laughs while enjoying to fresh Rocky Mountain air.

Monday morning we got up and headed into Jasper for a quick breakfast before trying to find the Rock Gardens. Finding the parking lot was easy. We broke out the makeshift guidebook and started hiking in. About 20 minutes in we realized that we had missed a turn on the trail. While we should have been at the crag already, we were instead following the winding river. So we turned around and started the approach for a second time. This time we found the crag without any problems.  Read more »

I arrived at the Multi-Use Area at the Shawangunks around 2pm on Friday. Jeremy and Liz had already arrived and had set up camp. Liz saw my Ontario license plate as I pulled through the parking lot, and she yelled out to me. Perfect timing!  I hopped out of the car, set up my camp, and we decided to head to The Trapps for a few afternoon climbs. 

We started out on Rhododendron. I was pretty excited to climb it since I didn't get to climb it last time I was at the Gunks, and it looked like fun.  Jeremy led it, Liz followed, and I top-roped it. It felt good, and I wanted to learn to lead trad, so Jeremy let me mock lead it, tied off the belay to counterbalance me, and then reviewed my gear placements as I lowered off the climb. Some were good, some not so good... overall, not bad for my first attempt at placing any gear.

Liz's friend Dean joined us as we were wrapping up on Rhododendron, and we moved over to Laurel. I love this route... the first move or two is pretty awkward for some people (it's not uncommon to see some really strong climbers fumble through the opening of Laurel), but I really enjoy it. It's a fun climb.

We finished the afternoon climbing a variation of Red Cabbage, and head into town for some food and beer at The Gilded Otter. We were hoping to meet up with a few other people (@climbwithkids was at the Gunks too, but we missed her). Read more »

In March I found myself in Sydney, Australia. It was a completely unexpected and unplanned trip, booked on very short notice. The trip itself was hectic too... we landed at 9 am on Tuesday and were in meetings by noon that same day. Most of what I saw in Australia was either on an evening walk or from the back of a cab. Sunday was the exception.

As soon as I found out that I was headed to Australia, I started looking for someone to climb with while I was there. I tried Climbfind and found a couple of people to climb indoors with during the week but my weekday schedule didn't allow it. I had more luck with Twitter; Richard (@SoldierBeetle) and I chatted, and he made arrangements to hit the Blue Mountains on Sunday, weather-permitting. The weather threatened to stop us, but we got a dry window Saturday evening and Sunday morning... just long enough to get a few climbs in.

Richard picked me up at the hotel early Sunday morning (which was conveniently a block away from his other friend who was coming with us) and we hit the highway. On the way out we made a quick stop at Maccas (What Aussies call McDonalds). I had a Rosti Brekkie Wrap and sent a quick tweet with their free wifi. We made another stop to pick up some food... A loaf of bread, a couple packages of ham, and some Power Snakes (similar to gummy worms). Richard told me that Power Snakes are a tradition in the Blue Mountains... so much so that the grocer once put a sign out front indicating that they were sold out of Power Snakes they recommended climbing anyway).

The Dam Cliffs is a neat crag. The road in is pretty rough, and had a couple of giant hold-your-breath-and-cross-your-fingers-as-you-drive-through puddles. From the parking area, it's a short easy hike to the base of the cliffs. There's a really cool swimming hole with a couple of rope swings and a cliff on other side for free water soloing. It was definitely not warm enough for that though. The rock had a really interesting texture, and the foliage was unlike anything I've seen in North America. Read more »

At the end of February I was finally able to get my plans together to go meet up with my friend George for some ice climbing in the Adirondacks. We first started talking about an ice climbing trip back at the Nor'Easter, and we'd tried a few times to put something together but my schedule just wouldn't accomodate an ice climbing trip. 

George put a lot of effort into planning this trip. He picked the climb, arranged the cabin rental, coordinated meals and gear rentals... Every detail was taken care of. I pretty much just had to show up. 

I took Friday off work for the drive down. I left around 10am, got an oil change, and then hit the highway. For some reason I chose to take the US-based route, crossing at Buffalo and then driving I-90 across New York and up into Lake Placid. This was definitely a mistake. The road conditions weren't ideal. I counted 7 collisions on the QEW between Burlington and the border. Most of these involved at least one other car, plus a flipped minivan. On the other side of the border there were another 8 cars and trucks in the ditch, but nobody flipped, nobody hit anything, and nobody was hurt. 

All told, what should have been an 8 hour drive, took just over 11. I got a bit nervous in the Adirondacks when I drove through 4 full on whiteouts, but I made it.  Read more »