Set a Date

Katie and I agreed to go climbing a week from this Saturday. She seems really excited about the opportunity. Not only is she going to go, but she is bringing her sister as well. I can't wait!

Got a New Member

Finally,

A new random member signed up for my climbing site at Massclimbers on yahoo (see the link on the right). Out of all the members in the group, only two are random people who I never knew. Ten of the members are friends. Two are me (yea, I signed up under two different names to add to the list) and at least four do not belong in the group because they are either not climbers or do not live in the area. All of whom are friends.

So please, if you are from the New England area and need a good climbing forum, the join the group. I have a lot going on on the site - database to keep track of your climbs, photos, a ton of good links and other stuff. So join up, it is free!

Colleagues are a climbing

Finally, after two years I have managed to get some of my co-workers to come climbing with me. Katie Mabie and Teresa Yan each want to go and check out the new climbing wall in Everett (Metro Rock Gym). This new gym blows away the other gyms in the area and it is creating interest in the climbing community. I love bringing beginners to the gym for the first time, it is always exciting to watch them successfully complete their first run. Once hooked, you never go back!

Is it possible to make that life change to climbing?

Believe me, I have thought about this many times. If I did not have the moral attachment to doing what is supposedly right in this world then I would be living off of recycled cans and caves somewhere. But I choose to remain loyal to my student loans, my professional ambitions (which are very real) and my hope that I will one day be able to raise a family and send my kids off to a good college. These dreams are not bad. I mean, some people would say these ambitions are a waste of time, but I believe that you can cut and paste my list with other ambitions to fit anyone. People have to make choices in their lives and they usually do so out of survival instincts (no, not the "living in the mountains on berries" survival instincts). Just because someone chooses not to go in one direction does not mean that they are wrong-headed.

Or does it?

Gunks

On Brat at the Gunks in New Paltz, NY. Not a lot of leading pics. Sorry folks but I just can't seem to recruit people to stick around long enough while I work my way up the route.

Is this a roof? Talk about using your abs!

Smearing away at Red Rocks in Gloucester, Mass

Good for the Soul?

I have been dreaming a lot lately about winning the lottery (don't we all). And I keep saying to myself that if I do win it then I am going to buy a Winnebago and travel the country climbing for a year. I'll recruit a couple of friends to come along and we can just move at our own leisure. Don't get me wrong, I can understand why buying an RV would turn people off. Camping and roughing it are supposed to be better for the soul and could provide greater freedom. But give me a break! Who would not want to live in luxury and climb year-round at the same time?

My itinerary would have me climbing in places like Joshua Tree this winter, moving east to hit the Southeast by spring and New England and the Northeast this summer. Late summer would have me trucking north to Jasper and the Canadian Rockies (got a good friend there), and I would end up at Yosemite for the remainder of the fall. Of course there will be side trips to Utah, Montana, Colorado and other places on the way. But that is a pretty general path to take. Can't wait!

My First Post

This is my first climbing post. I hope that you can check out my other blogs if you get a chance, but please remember that they are not about climbing.

I am itching to get back out there after a 7-week absence. The last time I got out was at Crow Hill in Leominster. Had a good time leading but the tenderness of my elbow got to me. I had hurt it bouldering a week or so earlier in Bar Harbor. Bryan took me out to Monument Cove (just before Otter Cliffs on the Ocean Drive) and there were some pumpy problems that had compact starts. A lot of lunging and grasping for holds that would have been better used without a good body jolt. Most of them had sit start, unless you started on the mini roof, then you started on your flat back. It was the roof that got me I think. Pretty easy to twist your way up to the next hold, but if you have lost a lot of upper body strength as I have the past eight months or so you end up lunging more than twisting calmly. As a result, my elbow took a lot of the impact that my back and shoulders should have absorbed.

But I am feeling better. I think my elbow may finally be getting back into shape. At least it does not feel as tender as it had before. I gave a good rest, not even lifting in the gym. And now that a new gym has opened up in Everett (across from Target) called the Metro Rock Gym, I am hoping to get a good winter's worth of climbing in.

Of course this means getting a new job. This job just does not pay enough for me to get a membership, and the winter hours (70+ from February through July) are simply not flexible enough to allow me to get anywhere beyond my small world. Having Penny not wanting to climb anymore really takes wind from my sails, but I can find new partners. After all, I did find Donna and Danny (though I have not heard from them in a while).

Well, that is my first post. Please feel free to comment or add to the conversation. If you post something that is worth repeating, I will re-post it for all the world to see.