Tag Archives: rock climbing

Bouldering Bliss

Three days in California is not enough. It was time enough, however, for a great adventure planned out for us by our friend David, who Catherine and I met in person for the first time as he and Paul picked us up from SFO late Friday night, grabbing In and Out on the way to Sacramento. Catherine and I have both been to California before, since she’s hiked the Lost Coast and I lived there when I was much younger, but this was our first trip together to CA.

We left for Lake Tahoe the next morning, trading the 110 degree heat in the city for bluebird skies and 80 degrees in the mountains. Our goal was to go bouldering at Bliss. Catherine provided photo documentary for most of the trip.

Awesome bald peaks surrounding us on the drive up.

We arrived without a guidebook and only a general idea of where to go. We pulled over, grabbed the bouldering pad, and walked right up to some incredible boulders strewn about the high Sierra terrain. We spent the afternoon clambering all over them, scouting new boulders as we went.

I captured some of our bouldering on my goPro, and sped it up. I’ve tried in the past to leave goPro on while camping, etc, but always screw it up, so it’s great to have something to look back on.

If you don’t care for video, I also snapped a few photos of the fun!

Catherine heading up a fun problem.

Paul’s turn.

David showing us how it’s done in Vans.

Ian with the hand-jam.

We climbed both sides of the big boulder, and though the crash pad wasn’t much use it was Type I, truly fun climbing, not grit your teeth, always about to fall climbing.

Paul gets rad boulder jumping.

David on some prime rock.

Me, trying my hand at the route.

As our fingers tired and we were done baking in the sun, we headed down to the lake and jumped in. The water was crystal clear, almost Caribbean. We weren’t quite done climbing and jumping off rocks, so we wandering down the shore a ways and found a secluded spot to test the waters.

As the evening crept in, we drove down out of the mountains, though we all wanted to stay. David had other plans for us the rest of the weekend. The next day we headed for the coast north of San Fran, and stopped to boulder at a creek along the way. This time the rock was volcanic and blocky, and the water was even colder and more refreshing.

Catherine at our second hang out, under the bough of a shade giving tree.

Time to cool off! It was over 100 again.

Paul won for best leap.

We swam out to a rock filled with swallows nests.

Later that afternoon we were at Mt. Tamalpais, and drove down for dinner on Stinson beach.

, Mt. Tam environs.

Our awesome tour guides and bouldering buddies for the trip, David and Paul.

We camped out on top of Mt. Tam, and hung around for a bit in the morning. We considered trying to rent some surfboards since a number of people were tout on the water, but decided better of it. Instead, we headed back to San Francisco for a bit of city tourism before our flight out. Thanks David, Paul and Ian, for a great trip!

A Bit Of Everything in the PNW: Day 2

After earning some turns, we set off the next morning for Vantage, WA to climb at Frenchman Coulee. I’ll be writing this entry since Sweeney has a backlog of his own adventures to catch up on, so stay tuned for that. Vantage was quite a change of environment, by leaving spring in Seattle, driving up over Snoqualmie Pass, through winter and into arid flat lands. Catherine has a great photo post of the trip, but I’ll try to add some details about the climbing itself.

Frenchman Coulee was pretty impressive upon arrival. There was tons of routes and plenty of climbers out already.

First we ascended a ridge to get to the other side of the canyon. Descending through a chimney,

Which lead us down to the routes.

After staring at the guidebook on the Sunshine Wall for awhile, we picked a rote that wasn’t listed but looked fun and doable, considering I hadn’t lead climbed for about a year. Nearly all the climbing in Vantage is sport, or trad.

We suited up, and I started leading.

A little rusty at first, it was a good first route to lead on, maybe 5.6 or 5.7?

Roughly everyone who passed us with a real guidebook asked us which route this was (just right of the chimney). I think it was in the Stems & Seeds section, but we couldn’t answer their questions.

Catherine on route.

With Sweeney on belay.

Catherine un-clipped the ‘biners, with finesse, and next up Sweeney climbed and cleaned the route.

And once cleaned, got the fun of rappelling off.

Afterwards we prospected some more routes.

But ultimately decided for a lunch break and choosing a campsite. Back up through the chimney we saw a lot of climbing going on at a tower and on the Feathers, our afternoon objective.

A prime camping location was chosen, and the lunching commenced.

The Feathers were up next. Again the guidebook was falling a bit short in describing the numerous routes. We picked a good looking one, but the crux was a little tougher than anticipated at 5.9, we later found out.

We hung around the Feathers and then retired to our campsite for frisbee and dinner.

Afterwards we stayed up to watch the stars, although some clouds rolled in.

The next morning we headed out for day three, hiking and sightseeing!

The photos are a compilation of Catherine’s, Sweeney’s and mine. The square ones were borrowed from Catherine’s instagram. She was the main photographer for the day.

Whirlwind Acadia Weekend

I wasn’t sure it would happen, but this past August I managed to continue the tradition of making it up to Acadia at least once. I had to drive by myself both ways, but it was totally worth it for an amazing weekend on the island.

I drove up Friday and made it onto the island in time to settle in before it got too late. Saturday morning we put in my sister’s Kayak and rented another to head out into Somes Sound. The weather was perfect, blue skies, and glassy ocean without much wind.

Out in Somes Sound. Calm morning, and still water.

The sea life must’ve agreed with us, since we saw a few seals and several porpoises. Not pictured, unfortunately.

My sister in her personal boat. That I have no chance of getting into.

After being on the water for a few hours, we went to pick up a park pass and then drove in search of the glorious Jordan Pond house popovers, something I’ve missed out on the past few years.

Glorious.

The day wasn’t over yet though. A quick jaunt along Jordan Pond brought us to the southern ascent of the South Bubble, a great steep, short hike. I went for a brief jog to scope out the climbing in the area, and after a bit of scrambling determined where it was, but further investigation was for another day. We made it up to Bubble rock just as the sun began to sink low.

Hangin' out on top.

The view from South Bubble.

Afterwards we executed a mission to quickly pick up some beer and burritos, then went on a night hike to our preferred hang out to enjoy our plunder.

Sunday morning we got up early for some delicious breakfast, after which I headed to Otter Cliffs to meet up with Sukes for some climbing. The cliffs were bustling with guides, their groups, and a few other pairs of climbers. It was definitely busier than I’d ever seen. Luckily now that I have some pro, Sukes and I were able to quickly pick out a route we figured we’d have no problem getting up, and start setting up.

Sukes and his Dad, enjoying the great view.

Cordelette in action for a 3 piece anchor. The puddle is all part of it.

Close-up of our top-belay system. Use a second rope for rappelling down if you have it. We were shown this setup by some climbers on our first Otter Cliff outing. Black 'biner is for lowering, silver is for belaying.

We set on a fun 5.7 with big blocks, ledges and a fun crux. It was slightly overhanging with a few hidden pockets. Unfortunately we were both short on time, so after we lowered each other and ascended twice, we called it a day.

Sukes getting fully extended on the block-y ledges.

Me, right at the crux.

Second time around. Resting briefly before the crux.

After climbing I laid low at camp and enjoyed some quality family time. The drive home had the usual traffic, but it was totally worth it, as always.

Daytrippin’: Flume Slide and College Rock

Two weeks ago a group of us headed up to my friend Alex’s place in Lincoln for a NH brewfest followed by a trek up the Flume Slide trail which summits Mt. Liberty. It was every bit as steep as I remember, with the slide itself being about as steep as you would want to hike without some grippy climbing shoes.

It was a beautiful day and we managed to avoid a band of storms that swept across the more northern part of the Fraconia ridge.

The view from liberty to Cannon.

Group photo

Last weekend Sweeney and I revisited College Rock, about a year after Sukes and I first checked it out.

The left side of the college rock wall.

There was only one other pair of climbers there, probably because of 90 degree weather with 100% humidity. Still, it was tolerable under the canopy and we set on a 5.7-5.8 with a few variants. I think it was Send Money/More Money.

The More Money face, with rope set up. More TRs require 30-40ft of webbing.

Sweeney prepping for the climb, with the right side of the wall behind.

The climb was a little crimpy, but fun, and we both tried it a few times. However, as we were resetting the top-rope, a band of storms rolled through, so we decided to boulder for a bit instead. The right side of the wall is lower and flatter, which allows for some fairly safe bouldering despite the fact that I don’t have a pad.

Bouldering action

More bouldering.

I’m hoping to focus more on climbing over the next couple of weeks. I’d really like to do some more sport or trad in the near future.