Guidebook: Gunks - Baby (5.6), Blistered Toe (5.7), Filipina-Boldville Link-up (5.7), Shit Creek (5.7), Drunkard's Delight (5.8-),

Baby P1

Baby (5.6) - Two pitches - Trad - Mixed anchors

Approach: Take the trail up left immediately before the rescue box. Stay left at the split. Baby is the crack that comes out of the broken rock at the bottom and has a pod about 35 feet up.

Pitch One (5.6) - 80 feet - Bolted anchor: Climb the broken rock up to the pod. Clear the pod (crux - a #4 camalot works really well here if you're short), and follow the crack up right to the bolted anchor on the ledge below a left-facing corner system.

Review- Stone Summit Climbing Gym

The Stone Summit

Stone Summit is the talk of the town. Ok, maybe not the entire town, but you get the picture. Every climber I speak with, even if I haven't seen them for months, only wants to talk about one thing, Atlanta's new uber gym, the largest in America. At first I was dismissive. Despite evidence to the contrary, I prefer not to view myself as a gym climber, and I certainly don't want others to think I am some sort of plastic junkie. My default response to the topic was always, "If I am going to drive over an hour to climb, I am going to actually climb, and there is no way I am going to drive and then pay to climb." The elitism was thick as molasses. However, one can only be so resolved in their quest to seem above the plastic pulling masses, and my disdain became slowly replaced by curiosity.

Guidebook: Rumney - Rise & Shine (5.7), Bolt Line (5.8), Dung Beetle (5.8), Easy Terms (5.8), Hippo's Parade (5.8+), Lies & Propaganda (5.9), Easily Aroused (5.9+), Egg McMeadows (5.10a)

Rumney

Meadows / Parking Lot Wall

Approach: From the main parking lot, if heading to the Meadows first, walk to the far end of the lot (past the kiosk if walking from the toilets and / or fee station), and head straight up the path. The path will come out at the left side of the Meadows. For the Parking Lot Wall, head up the path directly behind the kiosk. A path connects both walls at the top. The approach is less than a couple of minutes each way.

Routes below are listed from left to right, first by climbing area and then by route. All routes noted are bolted with bolted anchors at the top and require only a 60m rope to go up and down. Please do not top-rope through the anchors. Lowering through them when finished is acceptable. The number of bolts listed does not include the anchor.

The Body Fights Back

In summary, I got sick bad a few weeks ago on my final day in Acadia. It was Lyme disease, and I fought what I thought was a feverish flu for five days until I finally went to the emergency room in search of help. The comeback has been slow but noticeably progressive. I started with slow 30-minute swims every other day and, over the course of a couple of weeks, have built up to medium-paced 60-minute swims every day now. I've only tried cycling once, and that was a near disaster (I almost passed out when I finished due to the dizziness). I'm going to wait until next week to bike again. Hopefully things go better then. Yesterday, however, was my first day climbing since getting sick.

Warming Up Is Hard To Do

It was a trip that had been bouncing around my head since I got home from the Gunks. According the the guidebook, the North Face of Whiteside is the premier summer crag in all of North Carolina. The 5000 foot elevation, due north facing cliff sounded like a paradise compared to Athens. For the last month, the thermometer had flirted with the hundred degree mark every day without fail. Opening the door of my apartment was like opening the door of a hot oven. Even the short walk to the mailbox seemed risky at times. If I let my imagination roam, it was hard to believe that I would not catch on fire if I stayed outside too long. 

The view from the Catwalk