After a busy weekend of poker games, daffodil-filled gardens, crab covered tater tots, and a fun performance by Emily's band, she and I got a leisurely start Sunday morning for her first trip out to Bushwhack in far too long, with some of the best weather in recent memory. Meeting up with Penny and Maitreya in Frederick, and joining Ryan at the rocks, the girls and I started off with some easy laps up the slabs of the Bird boulder while the boys played around up the hill on the Switch boulder.
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| Emily on Knights who say Knee |
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| Penny on Knights who say Knee |
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| Maitreya feeling out Flipping the Switch |
Eventually we made our way to the Tourettes boulder so Penny could check out the problems there. The first boulder I ever climbed there, and one I visit almost every time, and still it never gets old.
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| Emily on Rise and Shine |
Penny had to head out after that (something about watching people throw orange balls at circles), but the rest of us finished our day at the top of the talus were a couple of lines had caught Ryan's eye. The first shared the start of
Constructive Winter, then continued a few moves left around the lip rather than topping out at the first opportunity, making an already fun problem even better.
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| Robin on Constructive Winter Photo: Ryan Jones |
While Ryan immersed himself in a game of Pad Tetris over on the left side of the overhang, I played around on the short slab on the back of the boulder.
Before long, Ryan popped over the top, having flashed the problem he had spent probably fifteen minutes padding. I went around to check it out, and it was one of the most unique things I've climbed around here. In an area not known for obvious face holds, the left of the overhang had a series of deep incuts running up the hard surface layer of the rock. Thin but strong, they reminded me more of hardened desert rock, and Ryan had found a fun sequence through them to the undercling arete.
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| Photo: Emily Close |
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| Photo: Emily Close |
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| Photo: Emily Close |
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| Photo: Emily Close |
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| Photo: Emily Close |
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| Photo: Emily Close |
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| Photo: Emily Close |
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| Photo: Emily Close |
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| Photo: Emily Close |
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| Photo: Emily Close |
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| Photo: Emily Close |
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| Photo: Maitreya Sriram |
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| Photo: Maitreya Sriram |
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| Photo: Maitreya Sriram |
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| Photo: Maitreya Sriram |
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| Photo: Maitreya Sriram |
We were losing sun pretty quickly by the time we wrapped up there, but I was happy with the day. After a few sessions of too much standing around, I walked away feeling like I had actually done something, and had the stiffness the next day to prove it. One more day of climbing here before I'm off to sunny Baja for my sister's wedding, but will still have almost a week left of spring break after I get back. Fingers crossed for dry rock!
2 comments:
Hey man, you don't know me, but I've talked to Ryan several times about getting out locally and finding some boulders. Is this stuff in Frederick?
Yeah, Bushwhack is one of a few areas on the ridge directly west of Frederick, up Hamburg Rd. Lots of rock up there!
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