Rock Climbing --- 12/17/2006 - 12/21/2006 --- WV, VA
On Tuesday Jason and I went to Seneca. Temperatures were warm for late December. I was climbing in lightweight polypro. Our plan was to climb Conn's East with all of our gear. Ideally we would reach the summit just as the sun moved to the west face. We would then rappel the west face and do a climb there in the sun. It actually worked out almost as we had planned. We reached the top just as the sun moved off the east face. But the wind was really howling on the summit. And I wasted lots of time futzing with an anchor because I didn't know there was a pair of bolts around the corner. So we ended up rappeling from the top of Conn's East and calling it a day.
Wednesday Jason, Carla, Camile and I went to Hidden Rocks (Sylvan was at preschool). It was much colder and we were in the shade. We set a toprope on Bucketland, 5.5, as a warmup and expected to TR some harder climbs after that. But we never really did warm up. Fingers were just too cold to use on harder climbs. So we each did about three variations of Bucketland and were well satisfied.
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Please See Cashier For Details The Flying J is a gas station and convenience store in Gibson, PA. It is a gas station and convenience store with aspirations of being so much more. Homeland security threat level today YELLOW. Please see cashier for details. I thought about seeing the cashier for details. I thought about asking the cashier if YELLOW meant that I should stock up on duct tape, or if the government recommended that I simply buy consumer products to bolster the sagging economy. I thought about asking the cashier if YELLOW meant that travelers could no longer carry nasal spray and dental floss on commercial aircraft. I thought about asking the cashier if she expected that al-Qaeda operatives in Iraq had collected chemical weapons to use against civilians in the continental United States, or if the biggest threat was conventional attacks against United States citizens abroad. I thought about asking the cashier if YELLOW took into account the illness of Shiek Omar Abdel-Rahman -- serving life in prison for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center attack -- and his repeated calls for attacks in the event of his death. I thought about asking the cashier if she expected trouble in Gibson. After all, Gibson is just 20 miles from Carbondale, the fourth oldest city in Pennsylvania and home of the historic Gravity Railroad which was completed in 1822. Surely Carbondale is a terrorist target if ever there was one, and Gibson might just get caught in the crossfire. I thought about asking the cashier about the threat level of all the junk food in her store, especially considering that more Americans are killed by obesity in one month than by terrorism in... 230 years and counting. I even thought about asking the cashier if she felt the United States should be securing its borders, monitoring its ports, equipping its first responders, supporting its allies, and promoting peace in the Middle East; or if the United States should spend a trillion dollars and thousands of lives waging an unprovoked war. But I already knew the answer to that question. I'll bet even in Gibson they know the answer to that question. Gibson, PA -- 12/17/2006 |
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The climb in the right facing corner is Aloha. Bircham's Beach is the face climb just to the left. Franklin, WV -- 12/18/2006 |
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Blood, Sweat and Chalk Franklin, WV -- 12/18/2006 |
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Jason following Conn's East. Seneca, WV -- 12/19/2006 |
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Jason following Conn's East. Seneca, WV -- 12/19/2006 |
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Jason following Conn's East. Seneca, WV -- 12/19/2006 |
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Yes, I really clipped this broken 40-year-old homemade hanger on a rusted quarter inch bolt. Seneca, WV -- 12/19/2006 |
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The west face of Seneca at sunset. Seneca, WV -- 12/19/2006 |
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Jason in front of Seneca. Seneca, WV -- 12/19/2006 |
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The cliffs at Seneca are no bigger than Jason's head, so the climbing is pretty easy. Seneca, WV -- 12/19/2006 |
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In front of Seneca. I shaved my head the day before leaving Ithaca so I wouldn't have hair when climbing here and later in Joshua Tree. Seneca, WV -- 12/19/2006 |
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Jason holding Camile at Hidden Rocks. Harrisonburg, VA -- 12/20/2006 |
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Carla getting ready to climb Bucketland at Hidden Rocks. Harrisonburg, VA -- 12/20/2006 |