Emily and I met up in Rumney for a few days. I drove most of the way there on Tuesday, but had to sleep around 1am in Vermont. We met early Wednesday morning. Went to Main Cliff and climbed Metamorphosis (5.9). Next we climbed Armed And Dangerous And Off My Medication (5.10b) one of the best climbs at Rumney. Got the redpoint then climbed it again on toprope. Also did Clusterphobia (5.10d) on toprope. Then we both led Fat Man (5.7) and Supersize Me (5.6) on the short cliff below Underdog. We finished the day with the very steep hike up to G-Spot where we both led Kegels and Lox (5.7+).

The forecast was for rain on Thursday, so we woke relatively early and went straight to Parking Lot Wall. There we climbed Glory Jean's (5.6); Easily Amused (5.7) to Rubicon (5.10b) which I did a second time on toprope; and Easily Aroused (5.9). At that point the rain arrived. We retreated to ice cream and movies... X-Men First Class. We also played a game of scrabble where I nearly bingoed a triple triple. That probably would have been the highlight of my entire life. Missing it by one letter really hurt. And poor Emily had to suffer through hours of my whining about the near miss.

Friday we woke to flawless weather. We hiked to the Hinterlands where we got on the stellar climb Jolt (5.10b); then Dolt (5.9+) which had lots of loose rock; Hinterland Highway (5.6+) which Emily led; Electric Socks (5.8+); and we finished the trip by both leading Cold Feet (5.7). Back to the car where we ate a final lovely dinner, then stayed up way too late watching The Invention of Lying...

...which made waking at 4:45am particularly difficult Saturday morning. I had to drive to Albany to pick up Tina, and from there drive to New Paltz for a wedding at the Mohonk Mountain House. All these years climbing at the Gunks and I have now finally been to the Mountain House (I have been to the Mountain?). It is a very impressive hotel. Not that I'm ever going to spend $1000 to stay there for the weekend. But if anyone ever wants to rent a room in exchange for some climbing lessons...

With hurricane Irene moving in, all plans of Sunday climbing were dashed. Everyone bailed out of New Paltz as soon as the wedding ended at 5pm. I decided to prop my eyes open and drive back to Ithaca. Not because I needed to get home for any particular reason, but because I wanted to listen to the end of The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest. Too bad Stieg Larsson died before any more books could be published, I really want to read all ten of the books he is supposed to have planed.