Training for Mount Washington - Part Two

Today was #doublesummitday in my (sadistic?) plan to train for Mount Washington. Simone and I had not seen or talked to each other since our last training session, so we had so much to catch up on! It was awesome. Even though we work for the same company, we work on different brands & rarely see each other these days. We both have 1/2 day Fridays during the Summer months, so we planned to leave work at 12:30pm and headed out to Mount Wachusett. The 50 minute drive to the mountain seemed to evaporate in no time as we caught each other up on recent work and personal events.

At a peak elevation of only 2,006 feet, I hesitate to call Wachusett a "mountain". What is the definition of a mountain, anyway? I just googled it... a mountain is "typically at least 2,000 feet elevation". Ok, so it's officially a mountain... but just barely. The plan was a double summit. Which, honestly, is more of a mental challenge than a physical challenge. Having completed this challenge last year, I knew that I could do it. Simone, however, was walking into this challenge blindly. This was her first double summit & it was *my* job to coach her through it mentally. We pushed through the challenge together & both felt stronger in the end.

After today, I officially feel ready for Mount Washington. Thank god! It's still going to be a #painfest for me, but I definitely feel much better about it.  I'm happy, healthy & ready to push myself mentally and physically to my limits. We've been blessed with gorgeous training days so far. I'm hoping for a bright, clear day for our planned ascent in 2 weeks. 

Training for Mount Washington - Part One

About a year ago, my co-worker Simone asked me if I would hike Mt Washington with her this year. She was turning 40 and wanted to do something big to commemorate it. I would definitely not advertise myself as a hiker, but Simone knew I was a rock climber. Mt Washington sounded like a badass challenge, so of course I was in.

We decided the best time of year would probably be at the end of the summer. So, a few weeks ago she stopped by my desk and we sat down to map out a training plan. Based on schedules, we were able to plan two sessions together to train for our challenge. Last weekend was our first training session!

My alarm went off Sunday morning at 7am.  I had tossed and turned for most of the night on an uncomfortable mattress, so I got up feeling pretty grumpy. I cranked some music and hopped into the shower, trying to shake it off and get myself psyched up for the day. That seemed to work & all of my prep the night before in packing and laying out my clothes got me out the door on time. Except, I forgot to put on my deodorant. Let's just say that I was pretty ripe by the end of the day.

I picked up Simone from her house in Concord at 8am with light rain falling. No worries I told her, it won't be raining in Jaffrey, NH. Shortly after we got on Rt 2 to head West, the rain stopped. After passing our exit on the highway because we were too engrossed in girl chat & then stopping for gas, we pulled into the Mt Monadnock parking lot around 9:45am. So did the rain. We decided to wait it out in the car, checking the weather radar on our cell phones. It passed in about 10 minutes & we jumped out of the car to start putting on our hiking boots and packs. After a quick stop at the toilets, we were on the trail by 10am.

I chose the white dot trail for our ascent. It was about 1700 feet in elevation gain & the cardio kicked my butt. Cardio is my nemesis. Of course, it didn't help that I hadn't eaten anything for breakfast. Who does that? Me. Mt Washington will be about 4200 feet of elevation gain. Can't wait. Sufferfest.

The hike was pretty cool, I remembered some of the views and details of the trail from my hike there 3 years ago. This was the first mountain that I've ever hiked or summited, so it holds a special place in my heart.

We reached the summit & found a spot to sit and eat some snacks. I brought blueberries & a granola bar. Normally blueberries make me very happy on a summit. However, their magical powers were just not working that day. There were a lot of stagnant water puddles on the summit, so it wasn't long before the bugs were ushering us back down the mountain.

To mix it up a bit, we took the white cross trail on our descent.  It was a little longer, but it was supposed to be less steep overall.  Still very hard on the body though. Simone started to feel it in her knees first. My knees are fairly strong, but after awhile I could feel it in my hips.

30-40 minutes into our descent, I felt something buzzing around my sweaty hair and swatted it away with my hand. I didn't get a complete visual on it, but I think it was a wasp & it sank its stinger into my hand near my first knuckle. I shook my hand violently to try to shake it off of me, but it just held on pumping its venom into me. I can't remember the last time I was stung. My hand hurt severely and immediately started swelling.

We made it off the mountain about 20 minutes after my sting & I was able to pop some Advil and buy an ice pack. But, by this time, the venom had already worked its way into my knuckle. I drove us home one handed while icing my wound. 6 hours later, I was still icing the affected area. Throbbing, relentless joint pain.

When I'm on Mt Washington five weeks from now feeling like I can't go on, I want to remember the pain I felt from that wasp sting. I think summiting Mt Washington for me is going to be 50% physical & 50% mental. Physical is either there or it's not... this is what I'm training for. Mental is a whole different game. I think that wasp gave me the mental edge I'm going to need to push through to the summit.

Acadia the Beautiful

The past couple of months have been so crazy, I feel like I fell off the blog wagon & now need to catch up. I've been so sick with Strep throat over the past two and a half weeks that I haven't been able to climb or do much of anything but read and write. Let's rewind back to Memorial Day Weekend...

My friend and climbing partner Deb decided last minute that she wanted to do a climb trip for Memorial Weekend and asked me if I was interested. Sure! We decided on Acadia. Acadia was my very first climb trip two years ago. I had gone with a couple of close friends and did a 3-day intense rock climbing course. It was an awesome trip, but I didn't get to see a lot of the park besides the two major climbing areas (Precipice & Otter Cliffs). This time around, the plan was to spend one day each at Precipice & Otter Cliffs and then two days of exploring and hiking in the park. I was actually more excited about the hiking than the climbing!

Day One had a significant chance of showers in the afternoon, so we decided to do some hiking inland. We fueled up first with a nice breakfast of blueberry pancakes. The trails were mostly wooded and led us to rocky summits with 360 views of the park. We summited Mount Sargent and Mount Penobscot. I didn't think I had a second summit in me, but Deb is a great motivator.

Summit of Mount Penobscott

Day Two was mostly sunny and we decided to climb a 5.6 multi-pitch trad route in the Precipice called Story of O. Deb had led this route before and remembered each pitch having a heady crux, but she felt up to the challenge & I was happy to follow. This was hands down the hardest 5.6 I've ever climbed. Super fun, but I'm glad I didn't try to lead any of the 3 pitches. My calf muscles were also pretty stiff from all of the hiking that we did the day before.

Story of O (5.6)

Day Three was cold and mostly cloudy, but no rain in the forecast. It was 40 degrees when we woke up, but we decided to layer up and brave Otter Cliffs for the day. We made it to the cliffs around 9am and anchored 3 ropes. One of them was our escape route on an easy 5.7 called The Flake and the other two were hard 5.10's: Peak Performance (5.10) and A Dare by the Sea (5.10d). The last time I was at Otter Cliffs, we were belaying from the top of the cliff, but I liked this set-up better. We rapped down to the base of the cliff and belayed from there. I got the two 5.10's mixed up and started on the 5.10d first. It was super pumpy and technical, especially when you got to the 10' long finger crack section. I worked that section for awhile, but couldn't get through it and lowered down. I was a little discouraged, but determined to try it again. I worked the other 5.10 first, which had an awkward crux, but the rest of the climb was fun. Feeling a little more accomplished, I tried the 5.10d again and managed to pull through the finger crack section. It wasn't pretty, but I finished it and it felt great! I'd love to rework that route again someday with tape on my fingers.

3 Ropes set-up on Otter Cliff

Day Four was a little rainy in the morning, but it was supposed to clear up by afternoon. It was our last day in Acadia and we decided to head down to the most southern point of the island to check out the Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse and do some exploring around that area. We did a couple of small trails near the lighthouse that lead to the ocean and by then the sun was out. Deb really wanted me to climb the Beehive on this trip & we managed to squeeze that it in right at the very end. With the sun out, the rock and iron rails were dry & we summited just before dinner time. For someone used to climbing with a rope, it actually felt pretty sketchy. One slip or stumble, and you could fall 500 feet to your death. After scrambling down the back trail, we grabbed one final meal before the long drive back to Boston. It was an action packed, exhausting, but fun 4-day adventure.

Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse

Climbing the Beehive

I Heart Kentucky

I just got back from Kentucky a week ago & I couldn't have asked for a better week!  The weather was perfect, the company was priceless & the climbing was amazing.

I rented the big house on Miguel's property and shared it with six of my friends.  We divided into two carpools for the ride down from Boston and arrived on the Saturday evening before Easter. My carpool did a straight shot on Saturday (alpine start) & the other carpool broke up the drive between Friday & Saturday.

I knew what to expect as we arrived at the big house, having had the private tour from Miguel on my last visit. It's not the fanciest of places, but given our limited options in the Red, I think it was well worth the $40/night each. I was a little anxious to see if my friends agreed with my assessment. Other than some plumbing issues, I think we were all fairly happy

We all took turns preparing group dinners & managed at least one group breakfast as well. With a larger group, meal planning can be fairly difficult, but I think it all worked out well. I was the only one with a dietary restriction (vegetarian), but I relaxed this for the week & ended up eating chicken for three of my dinners and bacon with one of my breakfasts. It all tasted delicious & I was quite happy not to have Miguels pizza for every dinner (although we did eat Miguel's twice).

We managed to climb for four days while staying in the Red, with one rest day in the middle. Perfect. I lead 13 climbs on this trip, one of which was my first 5.10a! This was definitely the highlight of the trip for me. I ticked this off on my first day. We were climbing at the Chocolate Factory in the Motherlode Region & after top roping Sugar Rush, I decided that it would be my first 5.10a lead. Why is a climb so much more difficult on lead? I flew up this climb on TR, but only managed to make slow, steady progress on lead. The remaining three days were all spent at Muir Valley. Such a beautiful place! I could have spent everyday climbing there, but was glad to venture out to a new area from my previous trip. I repeated some climbs from my previous trip at the Bruise Brothers Wall, but also climbed in the Boneyard, Practice Wall & Guide Wall.

Can't wait to go back... If only I had more vacation time!
 

Boston Lead Certified

I recently completed my last lead certification for all of the Boston area gyms. There are 4 lead-worthy gyms in the area & it's taken me about a year to get certified in all of them. It finally happened last Thursday night. I didn't plan it... I was sort of guilted into doing it. A friend that I've been training with for the past few months had been really eager for me to test at the gym we train at together so that she could have a lead belay partner.  It was the last gym that I needed to test at & the leading in this gym is pretty intimidating to me with steep overhangs & technical moves. I showed up that night feeling pretty strong, so I decided to go for it. I top-roped my route twice on a loose rope, practicing my clipping as I went & then tested on it. Everything went well except for my fall. Why do I always hurt myself on lead falls? Ugh. It was a clean fall until I somehow bounced one of my legs off of the rope instead of the wall. No problems passing the test, but now I have a huge, nasty purple bruise the size of my hand on my calf. Tonight I went back to the gym to try their lead roof. I wasn't brave enough last week & pretty sore after the test. I made it about 3 clips from the end of a 5.10- route before falling off. Not bad for my first try. I managed to hurt myself on ths fall too, but not as badly. I pinched the back of my heel above my shoe on a heel hook & got a small bruise with some minor swelling. I'm hoping it will look better in the morning. Leaving for Red River Gorge this weekend & feeling ready to push my limits. I'm hoping to get on some more 5.9's and maybe lead my first 5.10. Also hoping to get on some trad routes this time!

Joshua Tree

About 10 weeks ago, my friend Maria sent me a random text message asking if I'd be interested in going to Joshua Tree. She didn't expect me to say yes, but she also didn't know that I had been unsuccessfully trying to make plans of my own to get out there. We decided to link it up with a few extra days in San Diego for some sight seeing and beach time. Maria doesn't trad climb, but I figured she could follow my lead & we'd find a way to set some top rope anchors to get on some harder routes. We flew into San Diego on a Wednesday night and spent two days in the city checking out the Zoo, Bolboa Park & the beaches. On Saturday, we headed up to Palm Springs and did some shopping, hiking & relaxing at a quaint B&B in the middle of the desert - complete with a hot tub under the stars and a gourmet breakfast. I can't remember if they were duck or goose eggs, but they were amazing and accompanied by smoked salmon, paprika potatoes & the most delicious homemade bread. We stuffed ourselves, as Maria reminded me "it's peanut butter and jelly sandwiches from here on out!"

We rolled into Joshua Tree on the Sunday morning of Presidents Day weekend. We had plans to camp in the park that night, but were greeted with a "camping full" sign. Apparently, the park waives it's visitor fees on this weekend and it was crazy. Huge let down, but we ended up finding a campsite about 10 minutes away from the park. After setting up camp there, we headed back to the park to check out Intersection Rock. I had read about a couple of moderate trad routes on this formation and wanted to check them out. Feeling pretty intimidated & uncertain of myself, I chose an unnamed area on the rock to scramble up and practice placing my trad gear. It was probably a 5.1 route, but I had fun just getting a feel for the rock and warming up.

Wanting to explore the park more, we decided to drive around a bit and check out one of the overlooks. The view here was incredible and so easily achieved with a car ride. Wanting a bit more of a challenge, we decided to hike up Ryan Mountain. We had just enough time to do this and make it back down to catch the sunset in the park. I ran around the base of the trailhead snapping pictures from all angles, trying to get the perfect shot. And when I say ran, I was literally leaping over plants. Maria thought I was crazy and just sat back on a rock soaking it all in. Being in the moment is great, and I definitely took a couple of minutes to soak it in myself, but I was determined to get the perfect shot. For an amateur with an iPhone camera, I'm pretty happy with what I was able to capture. We celebrated that night with pizza, beer & a campfire.

                                   

The next morning, we decided to pack up camp and try to get a spot in the park. Hidden Valley is the climbers campground and we were hoping to find a spot there. But, before heading into the park, we stopped at a small organic vegan coffee shop and had a great conversation with an older couple who were probably in their mid to late 50's. They were adorable. The husband recommended a trad route called The Eye, 5.4. He also gave us a good tip on an area where we could set a top rope - Thin Wall. We took both of his recommendations and set out to start our day. We headed straight to Hidden Valley and struck up a conversation with the first camper we saw. With the park still claiming to be full, we were hoping to share someone's campsite. The camper we spoke to suggested that we pitch our tent on his neighbor's lot & just leave them a note. This seemed pretty ballsy to me, but apparently he knew that they had obtained the lot by sharing it with the couple that had booked it before them. Without a writing instrument, we crafted a friendly note with eyeliner and placed it on a table outside their tent with a rock on it. I was skeptical that this scheme would work, but it was our only shot. We pitched our tent in a secluded corner of their lot and took off for the day.

We found The Eye fairly easily and started setting up for the climb. I only had a 60 meter rope & was a little concerned about running out of rope and rope drag. After checking it out, I decided to free solo the first portion of the route which lead to a nice flat belay area. My partner, not having much trad experience, was too uncomfortable belaying me from anywhere but the ground. Not having communicated this clearly prior to my ascent, she followed me up the first portion of the route with the rope and then I had to belay her back down to the ground. The tension between us was not ideal for my first real trad lead in Joshua Tree, but I kept focused and pushed through. It was an awesome climb. I had no idea what to expect, just a map of the rock face with a line showing where my route was supposed to go. I made it to the top of the climb in the eye of the rock and belayed Maria up. We hashed out our miscommunication one more time and then scrambled our way down the backside of the rock.

After the drama of this climb, we were ready for some straight forward top roping. We headed over to the Thin Wall and decided that Maria would be the one to scramble to the top to set the top rope while I organized my trad rack. It looked fairly easy from the ground and she grabbed a bunch of gear, leaving behind her climb shoes. Fairly close to the top, she realized that it was much more than a simple scramble and ended up doing a V1 bouldering problem in her Chacos with the rope tied to her back. I was confident in her climbing abilities, but she was pretty shaken up by this. Next, she had to create our top rope anchor for the 5.9 climb that we had selected called Count on Your Fingers. This took awhile and we were losing daylight quickly by this point, but she did it and successfully rapped down. After getting to the ground, I tried to pull one side of the rope and it was stuck. Luckily, the other side moved more freely, but clearly the anchor wasn't far enough over the edge. Maria decided to top rope it first and fixed the anchor when she got to the top. I top roped it second and cleaned the anchor, rapping from a set of rings a few feet away. We finished just as the sun was setting and stayed a few minutes to enjoy it before hiking back to the car in the dark.

When we arrived back at the campsite, there was a camper parked in the lot with a couple starting to prepare their dinner inside it. Maria greeted them with her best, overly friendly Ohio greeting and proceeded to beg them for the use of their site. At first, it didn't seem like they were willing to share it, but they eventually agreed & I thankfully gave them some money to make it worth their while. After the day we had, we decided to head back into town for some pizza. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches just weren't going to cut it for dinner. It wasn't the Joshua Tree experience that I had pictured in my head, but it was our experience. A real experience that I'll remember for a lifetime.

                      

Ice Climbing

I finally got the chance to ice climb for the first time last weekend! My friend Nate received a Groupon offer a few months ago and we had made plans to go in January, but were rained out by a freak storm.



The morning started early with a 6am alarm. Ugh, that was painful. It was the first time that I'd been out of bed before the sun in awhile. My body was not pleased with this. I was supposed to meet Nate at a drop off point near the Mass Pike so that we could carpool, but we both had trouble finding it and ended up following each other to the meeting point, a McDonald's in Auburn, MA. It wasn't hard to spot the other Grouponers, they were also dressed for a day of ice climbing.  We were a group of 10 with varied outdoor experiences. Nate and I were the only regular rock climbers. A few of the others had tried it once or twice before.  We quickly made friends and awaited the arrival of our instructor.



When Michael arrived, we took over the back corner of the McDonald's and tried on our rental boots and crampons while he gave us some tips for beginners. We were basically told to keep our heels down & don't hit ourselves in the face with the ice axes. All around solid advice. I assume Michael had a deal worked out with this McDonald's, as no one came over to ask us what the hell we were doing. The looks from the customers in the restaurant were priceless though.
 




Getting ready to hike in

Once everyone was geared up, we caravanned over to the parking lot that we were going to hike in from. I was a little nervous about the 30 minute hike in, not knowing what to expect. We started out with just our mountaineering boots on, but stopped to put on crampons before descending a wooded trail onto a mostly frozen river.  I've never used crampons before, so it was really cool to see how easily you can walk on ice with them. The river was only partially frozen, so we followed each other single file near the edge until we reached the Auburn Ice Canyon. It was an unseasonably warm day with temperatures rising into the upper 30's/low 40's, so there was some melting occurring in the sun.  Because of this, the climbs on the right side of the canyon were too dangerous to climb.





Descending the trail to the river

We dropped our packs on some solid ground in the middle of the canyon and began to get ready to climb. Michael lead the first climb to get to the top of the canyon, where he set a total of 3 top ropes for the group to climb on. After lead belaying Michael, Nate was the first to tie-in. He cleaned the route that Michael had lead. We had a bit of a scare on the start when he fell about 10-15 feet off the ground and gently landed on his feet. I was in awe, as I thought that I had him on a pretty tight belay with my GriGri. But, with a 60 foot climb there was a lot of rope stretch. He shook it off and got right back on. With the stretch taken out of the rope, the rest of the climb went much better & I lowered him down with a giant smile on his face.  He loved it!




Auburn Ice Canyon

Next, it was my turn. I was a little nervous trusting the tips of my crampons in the ice as foot holds. To solve for this, I tried to make some high step moves that just felt and looked awkward. After a few successful upward movements of trusting my feet, I began to relax a bit and started to get the hang of it. By the top of the climb, I was wishing there was more ice! It was beasty and my forearms felt the burn, but it was fun. Hard work, but very rewarding!

 

Nate and I switched off a couple more times and I ended up getting 3 climbs in - one lap on each of the top ropes. I was ready for more, but the weather wasn't cooperating at that point. It began to rain and the group decided to break down about an hour earlier than planned. I was lucky to have some willing photographers in the group to take pictures as I climbed. Looking back on the photos, I can really see the progress in my form. I can't wait to try it again, but I'll need to invest in some gear first.

 

Feeling comfortable on the ice