My 5.12 beer and Sasha DiGiulian

When my alarm went off at 8am on Sunday morning, I had no idea what I was in for.  After indulging in a couple of snooze buttons,  I finally got up, showered & ate a light breakfast (a nectarine & some Chobani pineapple yogurt - double yum!). A new rock climbing gym just opened up in the Boston area this past week & I wanted to check it out along with a group of my friends.

We had all made plans to meet at the gym @ 10:30am, but only one of my friends had arrived with me on time. After filling out our waivers & taking the belay test, we looked around for an easy 5.7 climb to warm up on.  I tied into what I thought was a 5.7 rope, but then realized that I had tied into a 5.12 rope by mistake. I looked at the route & decided to just give it a try, not expecting to make it too far.  It was crimps the whole way up, but I did it - my first 5.12 climb!  It felt great!

That set the tone for the rest of the day for me. I felt like I could conquer anything.  After this climb, I jumped on a 5.11, which kicked my butt for 20 minutes, but I didn't give up.  My poor belayer... She ended up ripping off a callous on the palm of her hand belaying me on this route. I climbed mostly 5.11's and 5.10's for the rest of the day.  At one point, one of my friends said that there were some pro-climbers working out in the gym.  I honestly didn't know who they were, but watched in awe as they lead 5.11 routes on the lead wall like they were 5.6's.  It was only after we had left the gym did I realize that the girl that I had been watching was the best female sport climber in the world - Sasha DiGiulian!  C-R-A-Z-Y!  She was in town for the weekend for a competition. We all had so much fun that I hardly noticed how long we had been climbing.  I was shocked when we left the gym & I realized that I had been there for 5 hours.

Every new accomplishment and experience leaves me loving this sport more and more everyday.  Of course the day had to end with a 5.12 beer (Allagash).  Cheers! 

West Virginia - Part Two - Summersville Lake

5.6 Unnamed Trad lead at Orange Oswald Wall

We arrived at our cabin on a Monday afternoon. One of the first things I did was take a shower.  I didn't mind camping out at Seneca Rock, but after a couple of days and nights sans shower, it was pretty much the first thing on my mind.  The cabin was awesome & the perfect size for 4 adults. I think it was described as being able to accommodate 8, but this would have been too cramped.

After relaxing for a bit, we ventured out to find a supermarket and liquor store.  I don't remember if we heard the news about the Boston Marathon bombing before or after we ventured out.  Since we're all from the Boston area & Jess is a part of the running community, this news was quite shocking & odd to experience from far away.  We made a pasta dinner in the cabin that night, watched the news until they kept repeating the same information & then tried out the hot tub.

On Tuesday morning, some of us more hung over than others, we packed up and headed to Summersville Lake.  We got a little lost trying to find the Orange Oswald Wall, but we made it there eventually. When we finally reached the crag, I warmed up by top roping Hippie Dreams 5.7 and then trad lead the Unnamed 5.6 corner route just to the left of Hippie Dreams.  This climb was the highlight of my climbing at Summersville Lake.  It was a long route (about 60 ft?) and had a couple of tricky gear placements.  I never felt like I was in any real danger of falling, but still felt challenged by the climb.  I loved the sandstone feel of the rock.

Tuesday night we went out for Latin food & margaritas.  There was another group from Boston that we had met at the crag that day who recommended Diogi's in Fayetteville.  I had the fish tacos and a strong margarita.  Perfect refuel from a solid day of climbing and bush whacking.

Amazing view of the New River Gorge bridge

Wednesday morning was rainy, so we decided to take a rest day and go for a hike along the New River Gorge.  It was a much more interesting & dramatic view with the fog lifting off from the river.  Then after our hike, we went into Fayetteville for some shopping and a visit to the Cathedral Cafe for lunch.  For dinner, we went to Pies & Pints and ran into our fellow climbers from Boston.  Oh, and we played credit card roulette for the tab.  It was my first time playing this, as well as our waitress, who had just as much fun playing as we did!

Thursday was a perfect day for climbing.  We had enjoyed the Orange Oswald Wall of Summersville Lake so much that we returned there again to try a couple more 5.7 routes on lead.  On this day, I sport lead Hippie Dreams 5.7 as my last climb.  I had watched everyone else lead this route on Tuesday, so I had to try it again on lead.  So much fun!  Also on this day, Jason taught us all how to set-up a self-rappel.  Thursday night we had an elaborate Mexican meal in the cabin- so yummy!

Friday we checked out of the cabin and headed towards our final destination of the trip - Philadelphia.  This had randomly worked its way onto our itinerary out of a need to stop 1/2 way on the long road back. 15 hours was going to be a long ride back home without a stop, so Lu had recommended Philly with the promise of experiencing the best Moroccan restaurant that she's ever been to. We had a hotel room at Le Meriden and after checking in, we grabbed some drinks & then headed to the restaurant for our meal.  Knowing for months that this was on our itinerary, I had tried to work in some meat to my pescetarian diet, which was met with much revolt from my stomach.  I gave up on working it back in & just decided to go-for-it that night.  I gorged on chicken & lamb (which tasted so good!) and surprisingly had minimal reaction from my stomach.  It was the perfect end to a memorable climb trip with good friends.  Can't wait to plan our next trip!