Pre-Spring video roundup

The equinox is still a couple weeks away, and a few stray snowflakes are drifting past the window, but Spring is on the way for sure.  Birds singing, trees budding, and I'm especially excited to see my bulbs rising in the yard, knowing they'll soon explode into the vibrant purples, pinks, and yellows that I found my neighbors crowding around on more than one occasion last year.  I'm also excited to know I'll be back to climbing soon. Oddly enough, after over a month of pain and limited motion in my shoulder, I did three sets of dips last weekend and instantly found it restored to full function.  Still taking a couple weeks just to be safe, but traversing and hangboarding both feel great, and I almost feel like I'll come back stronger than I left.

In the meantime, the videos keep rolling in, especially important now that I've run out of Doctor Who to watch on Netflix.  Sykesville local John Brunson is staying busy in Patapsco and Morgan Run, both of which I'm looking forward to revisiting soon.  It was also great to see a new Great Falls video from Brian Spiering, whose creative eye has found so many "hidden in plain sight" problems over the last couple years.

While not actually a climbing video, Indy finally finished the Maryland Nights II project that has consumed so much of his life recently.  Having seen plenty of videos like this from out west, it was refreshing to see how much beauty could still be captured in an area where light pollution is so hard to escape.

The video I was most excited to see was one from Shawn Seifert, whose Virgin Gorda and Hueco videos I credit as being the biggest influences in my wanting to go to those places.  Although Maryland has no shortage of climbing videos, most are in the 3-5 minute range, with only a few reaching even the 10 minute mark.  I've been wanting to see someone take it into "short film" territory for a while now, and with Shawn's travel videos getting better and better, I was thrilled to hear that he was finally turning his attention locally.  In his latest video The LC, Shawn examines the idea of the local crag, especially important in an area like this where many climbers prefer to stick to the gym during the week and escape to bigger destinations on weekends.  He focuses on Rocky Gorge, Northwest Branch, High Ridge, Mount Gretna, and Carderock, where I make a little cameo appearance.  In addition to emphasizing that time on rock is valuable in any setting, he manages to contrast some of our less than picturesque rock with tranquil water shots and gorgeous foliage that remind us just how special these areas really are.

I hope this is the first of many short climbing films our community will put out, and have a couple ideas of my own that I'm so much more psyched about after seeing this.  We have the rock, the climbers, the filming and editing talent.  Time to step it up!