Roadside fun

Spring is here!  In some ways, not a lot has changed for me these past few months.  We're still mostly staying at home, and I still haven't been to the gym in over a year.  Part of that caution, though, was in preparation for one thing that actually did change, since little girl number two joined us in mid-February.  It's been a busy month of figuring out new patterns, and while my climbing hasn't been as adventurous, it's been just as fun.  Rather than long walks through the woods (okay, I still sneak in a couple of those), climbing days have more frequently meant taking the girls to a relatively roadside boulder, letting everyone play around for a couple hours, and then having a picnic afterward.  Not a bad place to be.  

For a couple weeks we were going to a spot downhill from Bushwhack, within sight of the road.  I don't know what any of it is, but there were some fun short slabs and one boulder with a short overhang on the downhill side.  While I was initially drawn to the mantle up the center, my favorite line was bumping out to the right arete and then compressing until I could get my feet over the lip to walk up the slab.

This week we've been visiting the Westview parking boulders at Sugarloaf, which I hadn't climbed for years.  The slab there is as much fun to play on as I remembered, though I'd forgotten just how much I enjoyed the Secondhand Smoke arete.  If I had to name the best V2 I'd climbed, this thing would easily be in the top few.

Yesterday I got on something that I don't remember doing before, starting to the left as for Third Degree Burn, but finishing more or less straight up instead of traversing right to the arete.  

As my paternity leave is wrapping up, our weekday climbing/picnic sessions will be on hold until summer, but I'm hoping to get in some good afternoons at Northwest Branch.  Back in January I went down there and checked out the little boulder by the river behind Hobo Cave, and I can't believe it doesn't get way more traffic.  The right arete was fun, and the left slab exit was okay, but going from the low crimp rail straight out to the point was one of the better lines I've climbed at NWB, with solid holds and really fun movement all the way.

Speaking of Northwest Branch, Dana and I put together a guide for Gunks Apps, which we plan to keep updating.  While a lot of it is information that you can find elsewhere, we're hoping some people will find it useful.  If you check it out and notice any mistakes (there have been several), let us know and we'll fix them in future updates.

Until next time! 

Out with the old, and... in with the old?

New Years Eve!  I'm sure everything will be magically different once it's officially 2021, right?  As optimistic as I'd like to be, I'm bracing myself for more of the same, and at least from a climbing standpoint I guess that's not entirely a bad thing.

I still haven't ventured into the gym since sometime in early March, and probably won't for a while still.  I'm still climbing more on my deck than anywhere else, but for the past couple months I've gotten back to getting out bouldering at least once a week most of the time.  Mostly local, and to places where I'm not likely to be around other people if I can help it, but at least it's consistent.  While I haven't really climbed much that I haven't already climbed before, it's been fun having the chance to revisit some old favorites.  It's also been interesting to get out when my strength is shifted more to overhung compression than the thin slab I spent so long gravitating toward.

Who knows where my climbing will be in a few weeks, a few months, or a year from now?  Honestly I'm not all that worried about it.  With so much changing so fast, I find myself in a position where I don't take it as much for granted as I now realize I did, and aside from the fact that I really miss climbing with my friends as much as I used to, I think I'm enjoying being out on the rocks more than I have in a long time.

Wishing everyone a safe and healthy new year!

As local as it gets

Normally this is about the time of year when I'd be crossing my fingers for a few more random cold climbing days, and heading out to those few places that aren't yet completely engulfed in poison ivy and deer ticks.  If I had somehow made it through the winter and prime bouldering conditions uninjured, I would probably be struggling to adjust back to the time of year when getting out climbing is more about just being outside than about actually expecting myself to climb well.  Sometimes that actually works in my favor.  Sometimes I go out on a summer day with absolutely no expectations other than just to climb on something other than plastic or wooden holds, and I surprise myself with how well I can still climb in swampy conditions.  Days like that are made even better with the realization that conditions are only going to get better once things cool down again.

These days, all of my climbing is outside, and I've actually been getting out to climb three days a week.  Sort of.

After ten weeks of rarely leaving my house, of not going more than five miles from home, and not moving my car more than four or five times, I feel like I should be itching to get back out on the rocks.  Oh I miss it for sure, but with no idea how things are going to continue to play out, I also feel like it's not hurting me to wait a while longer.

And maybe this is just wishful thinking, but in the meantime, I feel like I'm getting stronger.  I feel like I'm becoming a better climber.  Yeah, that sounds a bit strange from someone who only ever climbs the side of his deck anymore.  The stronger part isn't really a surprise though, since I have glassy plastic for hands and bicycles or heel hooks for feet.  But better?  Well, as time went passed and I found new ways of climbing the same surface to keep it interesting, I initially focused on harder and harder movements.  Most of the time those movements gradually felt easier as I got stronger, but every once in a while something would happen to make a strenuous movement suddenly feel almost effortless.  And somehow the longer I do this, the more frequently those "aha" moments arrive.  Maybe that's just because I've adjusted to the larger mechanics and can now focus on the details, but I also feel like in giving myself something to climb that absolutely doesn't matter, where there isn't even any concrete "success" that I can work toward, I more fully free myself up to learn and enjoy the process.

So yes, I miss climbing rocks.  And yes, I have boulders that I think about frequently, looking forward to the day when I can see whether I've gained as much strength and knowledge as I feel like I have.  But I'm in no rush.  For now, I can walk five feet out the door and have a place to climb that challenges me, and have it all to myself under the shade of 80 foot trees.  Not a bad place to be.

Northwest Branch access alert

What an interesting week it's been.  Last Thursday I was climbing at Northwest Branch when I found out that my school system would be closing for two weeks, though at the time I couldn't even imagine how quickly the situation would continue to change, and probably will for the foreseeable future.  At first I thought I would be spending more time at Northwest Branch to avoid the gyms.  Then the gyms closed, and with Northwest Branch experiencing near record crowds of climbers as a result, I've been avoiding going there as well.

In an update to their statement on COVID-19, Montgomery Parks has asked users to avoid touching any surfaces that are likely to be touched by other people.  As much as we may wish this to mean otherwise, we shouldn't be bouldering at Northwest Branch anytime soon.  The boulders will still be there later, so for now let's do our part in limiting the spread of the disease, as well as showing the park service that climbers continue to be a user group that is interested in working alongside them.

That being said, I'm hoping to use some of this time to finally put out an updated mini-guide to the boulders at NWB, since I lost the file I had been working from and had to start a new guide from scratch.  If anyone has "clean" photos of any boulders there (no climbers, crash pads, bags, etc.) and wanted to send some my way, I'd be grateful for any help speeding the process along.

Stay healthy and safe out there!

Fun Size

It's been a good winter.  On top of whatever climbing I can manage on weekends, I've been consistently getting hour and a half long sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays before I pick up the girl from daycare.  Still not a ton, but way more than I was getting in last year at this time.  Mostly it's been Tension Board sessions, with quick trips to Northwest Branch when things are dry enough.

As the weather got cold, I had intended to make Ultimate Doom at Northwest Branch my winter project.  It wasn't something I wanted to spend long days working on, but figured if I spent some time working it on each of my short weekday sessions, eventually I'd piece it all together.  After my third session, I got a message about a variation on the Anklebiter boulder that looked interesting, and figured it would be a nice diversion for a couple days.  Seven sessions and almost two months later, I finally managed to finish it, in the end using a totally different sequence than when I first started working it.

Fun Size, a slightly less awkward name than Anklebiter Far Left High Start No Pedestal or something like that, is a variation of Anklebiter Far Left.  It starts on the good sloping rail a move into the regular problem, and follows the same path left around the corner, but without using the big pedestal below for feet.  While it's technically still an eliminate, it definitely doesn't feel like one.  In fact, the movement is intricate, sustained, and enough fun that I'll gladly keep getting on it for a long time to come.

While the sequence I used in the above video is almost the easiest way I found of getting through the climb, it's also possible when going around the corner to rock up on a heel and reach high for a right jug next to the tree rather than using the small crimp below.  This makes the move to the last left crimp a lot easier, though it does force an almost full-circle right hand movement to get around the tree and onto the horn on the arete.  For grading purposes, I'd probably base any number I gave on the easier moves using the jug, but personally I find the moves through the crimp to be much more satisfying.

I've started working on an update to my old NWB mini-guide, so if you get on this one and have any grading thoughts, let me know what you think.

Back at it again

I'm actually starting to feel like a climber again.  After I last posted on here, I went through almost three months of not climbing outside.  Mostly I just didn't have the opportunity, but when I did I usually got unexpectedly rained out, or in one case arrived to find the trail to the boulders closed.  At least I got on a couple fun trailside boulders while hiking in Colorado.

At the beginning of October my luck started to change, and I went from barely getting out to frequently climbing outside more than I did at the gym.  Most of this has been at Northwest Branch, since I can easily get there for a good hour and a half before I pick my daughter up from daycare.  I was especially excited to find the Foam Pit area accessible due to low water, and took the chance to get back on the ultra-slick Joes to Pros slab that Taimur and I climbed a few years ago.

Just for comparison, here's how the same spot looked a couple weeks ago.  Glad I got it while I could!

On a couple of my after-work sessions, I got in laps on Crimptastic and The Business.  With my fingers feeling weaker than they have in a long time after half a year away from hangboarding, I thought Crimptastic would give me more trouble.  As it turned out, all of the core strength I've picked up actually offset my decreased finger strength, and the moves felt better than ever.  Even the move to the lip, historically the crux for me, is no longer a low percentage move.

Today I woke up planning to go to Rocks and work on Moby, then got a later start than intended and headed toward Northwest Branch to go down to the Long Wall area.  Originally thinking I was going to work on Curtain Call, the massive log section sitting near the starting feet made me reconsider.

I ended up walking up to the Easter Egg boulder to warm up on Speed of Life, which I've always enjoyed for the delicate movement required.  The thing is, I've never quite been happy using the standard start, with the heel hook already in place.  To get my heel up there, I need to have a left hand up on a high hold for balance, then I basically feel like I'm climbing down into the start holds.  The rest of it is still balancey and fun, but it always seemed way easier then the V7/8 grade usually given.

Today I decided to try it without the heel in place, from a true sit start, something I'd never had any luck with in the past.  I tried toeing into a little chip about a foot down from the heel hook, intending to rock up on it hard enough to set a right toe hook that would let me get the left heel in place.  As soon as I rocked up, I realized that enough weight was off my left hand that I could just try going for the slopers.  After about an hour and several close attempts, I decided to try a foot about four inches higher than what I had been using, sticking the sloper right away, and easily finishing from there.  While I intended to switch into the heel hook before matching the slopers, the toe actually felt good enough that I never used the heel at all.

Climbing it this way felt harder than the heel-hook version for sure, but I still don't know that I'd call it an 8.  Maybe hard 6 or easy 7?  Normally I wouldn't even bother with numbers, but I've decided it's time to finally finish the Northwest Branch guide that I posted an incomplete version of several years ago, and am trying to get some of the grades firmed up.  More on that later though.

Hope everyone else is getting out there while the weather is good!

Summer days

Summer break.  I only feel about five years older than when I started teaching, but somehow nineteen have gone by.  Time is funny like that though.  People tell you that everything goes too fast when you're watching your kids grow up, but things that my daughter started doing three weeks ago feel like they've been that way forever, and yet I left home yesterday for the last day of school feeling like the previous school year had just ended.  

Maybe that's just a matter of familiarity though.  Maybe in designating a period of time as "the last day of school," or "Thanksgiving," or "Sunday," the brain seeks to link it to previous last days and Thanksgivings and Sundays, and that's where the feeling of "didn't I just do this" comes from.  Maybe the reason that time stretches out so much with my daughter is that she's always doing something new, and I'm focusing on the endless novelty, rather than an endless repetition.

I did actually come one here to talk about climbing, but while we're on the subject of kids, people also tell you that having them is an adjustment.  It seems more accurate to say that having kids is a constant adjustment.  I'm back to climbing twice a week now, and am still fitting in good workouts at home, but something changes every few weeks and I have to figure out how to do it all over again.  Currently that means I do my core/stability workouts with my daughter in her Pack'n Play for as long as that lasts, and my pull-up workouts with her in my backpack, doing laps on the stairs between sets.  And now that I've typed that, I can almost guarantee I'll have to find a different way to do things next week, especially since she started walking yesterday.

Through the winter I was probably getting out on rock twice a month or so, and even though I didn't finish any of my projects, I definitely felt strong.  Moby might have happened if I'd gotten to it frequently enough that I didn't have to remember the moves every time, but I had a lot of fun working on it, and honestly it felt good just to let myself go out and push hard again.

On top of getting in some local bouldering whenever I could, I also made it to Sugarloaf in the spring for my first trad routes in almost two years.  I forgot how much I missed that!

                                                                                              Photo: Jeffrey Lash

Since spring break, I've still been getting to the gym regularly, but hadn't gotten a chance to climb outside aside from one route at Carderock while giving a clinic.  When I got out of work yesterday, it was right during my daughter's nap time, and I found myself with an hour and a half to kill before picking her up from daycare.  I felt the air outside my school, thought how good it would have felt as a climbing day if we hadn't been in school, and immediately went down to Northwest Branch to get in a quick session.  Even though I probably only climbed for 45 minutes, it was an unexpectedly perfect start to the summer.  Hoping there's plenty more where that came from!

Review: Evolv Rebel

After two weeks of wearing Evolv's new Rebels, the latest addition to their "performance lifestyle" lineup, I think I'm in love.  For me, they're a solid step up from the Zenders and the Cruzers, which says a lot considering the Zenders have been my everyday shoe this past year both at work and around town, and the Cruzers have been my shoe of choice for gym workouts.  Like their predecessors, the Rebels find that sweet spot of comfort, functionality, and style, while also addressing the few issues I've had with this style of shoe in the past.

For me, the thicker sole compared to previous models is a game changer.  I know a lot of people wear thin-soled approach shoes, and maybe this is just me being an old man, but my feet can't do it.  Ever since pulling a tendon in my foot five years ago, which kept me from climbing for a month and derailed any chance of cardio for far longer, I've been way more protective of my feet.  Like I said, I loved the Zenders and Cruzers, but I also needed an $80 pair of insoles that I switched into whichever pair of shoes I was wearing at the time.  The added support of the Rebels has meant those pricey insoles are now unnecessary for me, and they've taken me through two weeks of long days on my feet with absolutely no discomfort.

Even better, I'm way more inclined to actually use these as approach shoes.  Just to clarify, most of my climbing is in Maryland and Pennsylvania, and our approaches aren't over nice desert sand or soft beds of pine needles.  We walk through dense woods, usually without trails, frequently over minefields of talus or fallen trees.  Okay, a few of our areas do have trails, though many of those turn straight to mud once it's above freezing.  And since my best bouldering happens when it's below freezing, I spend a lot of time running, jumping, and otherwise flailing about to keep my core temperature up so I can feel my fingers well enough to climb, again something that becomes difficult in thin shoes.  Add in the Rebels' water repellant upper, and finally I feel like I have shoes that can truly take me anywhere I want them to.

                                                           Photo: Mark Profeta

With dry weather in short supply recently, I tried climbing in the Rebels at the gym before I managed to get them outside.  I was amazed at how well they performed, and I think what impressed me most was how good they felt on one of the volume climbs.  I had already done in my favorite smearing shoes (oversized X1s), and when I went back to try it in my Rebels, I was shocked to find that they felt every bit as secure.  I also took them over to the system board (set at vertical) and they were able to handle even the worst of the footholds.  On top of smearing well, the sole of the Rebels comes straight down instead of at an angle, preventing the rubber from rolling away on small edges.

                                                             Photo: Mark Profeta

I've only gotten them out on rock once so far, on a small riverside boulder near home.  While I won't say they felt as precise as the Kronos I eventually put on, the Rebels made easy work of an old circuit that I hadn't climbed in years.  The boulder I was on didn't have many edges, but as with the volumes at the gym, I felt like I could smear on anything.  Even the shallow dish/pockets felt totally solid.  So yeah, if I ended up climbing somewhere and didn't have my actual climbing shoes with me (as if there aren't at least five pairs in my car), I could still have a totally enjoyable day just wearing these.

                                                            Photo: Pennie Close

I feel like even if Evolv did nothing else new this year, the Rebel alone already has their 2019 going strong.  But that's entirely hypothetical, since they've already updated the Kronos and Kira, and their highly anticipated Phantom is still to come.  Yeah, it's gonna be a good year.

                                                                                           Photo: Pennie Close

*Note: Originally posted 3/10/19, and updated 3/17/19.

Seven months later...

Seven months into fatherhood, just past my 40th birthday, and still loving life every bit as much as last time I posted here.  Honestly I meant to get back on here sooner, but was just waiting for something big to write about, when mostly life has just been made up of a million little things.  With both Emily and me home for the summer, we tried to get out and around as much as possible as we adjusted to moving as a family, but we also spent a ton of time just reading and relaxing on the deck.  Little girl loves looking at trees!

We did do a little bit of traveling too.  On top of a couple drives to Ohio, we booked a semi-last minute flight out to Colorado in August to catch up with friends and family.  The flight went way better than we had anticipated, and the unexpected opportunity to spend time in the mountains was incredibly energizing for me.

Since then we've pretty much been local, just enjoying the fun of the Fall season, and getting to watch the baby take everything in for the first time.  Now that she's started daycare and Em is back to work, it feels like we're starting to figure out what normal is again.  Not that normal ever stays the same from one day to the next.

My climbing has started to pick up a little more now that our new routines are settling in, but mostly I'm still climbing just once a week to keep my movement from getting too rusty, relying on a good workout cycle at home to keep me strong.  In what little time I've gotten on rock though, I feel even stronger than I did in the Spring despite the less optimal weather.  At the end of September when temps actually dipped down into the 60s, I made a quick trip up to Gretna to see if I could finally finish Equilateral.  After warming up on the upper half, it took me a few tries to dial in the first couple moves, but overall the climb felt fantastic.  It was cool to see that the incut edges of the Tension Flash board I've been using had toughened my skin enough to keep me from slicing my tips open on the first crimp, and all of my home workouts have made me way better at holding body tension.

The morning of my 40th birthday, I got up to Rocks State Park to finally take a shot at Moby Dick.  That one's been near the top of my list for a long time, but by the time I started to feel strong enough to work it, my years of lower back issues made me think that it was never going to happen.  Even though I didn't stick "the move" that day, it felt damn good just to be out there trying it, especially as I started a new decade.  Yesterday I went back again and made a little progress.  After all last year of just trying to tick off as many climbs as I could from my list, I have to admit it feels good to be projecting something again.  I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed the process of figuring out all of the subtleties that make each move go from feeling impossible to effortless.  It might be a while before this one feels effortless though!

In other news, I've taken on the chair position of the Baltimore chapter of the American Alpine Club.  I'm still feeling my way around a bit, but I have a couple events in mind, and have been slowly getting things off the ground.  If you're an AAC member in Maryland and have any interest in getting more active, whether helping with tabling, event planning, social media, or anything else that fits your strengths, let me know and I'd love to have you aboard.

Okay, considering the fact that I first started writing this three months ago, I'm going to go ahead and post it before anything else distracts me.  Til next time!

Finishing business

The past few weeks have marked a big shift in my climbing focus, and in life in general.  Whereas all winter long I had focused on training at the gym during the week to take maximum advantage of winter bouldering conditions on weekends, the knowledge that I had only a few more weeks before fatherhood made getting outside at every opportunity that much more of a priority.  Gym days became outside days whenever weather allowed, whether to go out and cross things off my ticklist that I hadn't made it to all winter, or just getting out and enjoying time on old favorites.  As Justin told me when we were at Honey Go Go, "this, right now, is what you're training for."

Last Friday, with our due date coming closer and closer and me feeling more and more nervous about being too far from home, I made the decision to give myself one last day on the rocks before switching gears and enjoying the newly reset bouldering walls at the gym for whatever time I had left.  Looking at my list to see if there were any easier climbs that I could put down quickly and end my season on a good note, I realized I had somehow never finished The Business at Northwest Branch.

It took me a couple minutes to remember what sequence had been working for me when I tried it a few years ago, but then I knocked it out in just a few tries.  For something that wasn't nearly the hardest thing I've climbed in these past few months, it was definitely one of the most satisfying.  On top of being something that I've wanted to do for a long time, it was just so different from anything else down in that area, with tight moves around big slopey bulges instead of just pulling on rough crimps.  After topping out, I went back and did it a few more times just because it was so much fun.

Later that weekend, my wife went into the early stages of labor, and after a long couple days my daughter was born.  So now here I am at the next stage of my life.  True, it might be a few weeks before I actually get back out climbing again, but my plan at least is to keep my workouts up at home with the goal of coming back even stronger.  Kinda hard to put into practice when all I want to do is just stare at her all day.

Still, I remind myself of what a few good climbing dads have told me... that they want their kids to grow up with the example of dads who are strong and still following their passions, even when logistics make it harder than it used to be.  They want to be around for their kids for many many years, and know that staying strong and healthy is such a huge part of that.  And that's what I want for my little girl, not to mention being able to take her out and play without constant fear that I'm going to injure myself.

Yesterday I got back into my morning stretching routine, which felt especially necessary after how tight my back became during our first night with her.  Today I started my first ring workout since she's been born, even though I had to stop for an hour after warming up when she wouldn't let me put her down.  Which is how I started typing this.

Now she's upstairs eating, and I'm running back and forth between my rings and my computer, typing during my rests.  Maybe not the ideal workout plan, but for now it's what I've got.  And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Weighing in

I've felt really heavy the last few times I've gone out bouldering.  Okay, maybe what I've been eating has a little bit to do with it.  But also, and this isn't just me making excuses, I've been doing a lot of this.

Mostly that extra weight in my chest and shoulders, without dedicating the time to finger strength to make up for it, has made me struggle more than I've wanted on overhung crimps.  Holds that used to feel good now make me work to hold on to, leading me to pump out way faster.  On the other hand, my slab climbing feels stronger than ever, with the core strength and hip and shoulder stability I've gained from the rings making it even easier to hold tight balancey positions.  And with that ring strength added to the overhanging terrain of my new gym, and my back feeling more stable than it has in a long time, I've finally started to feel good on steep climbs outside again.

                                                                  Honey Go Go, Gunpowder Falls, MD                                     Photo: Justin Piteleski

This past Tuesday, wanting to sneak in another day outside to make up for the bad weather during what passed for my spring break, I drove straight to Gunpowder after work to take a shot at Honey Go Go.  I had gone there to try it four years ago, and whether I wasn't strong enough or just wasn't warmed up enough, I couldn't get myself to pull on to the start.  And that's almost what happened this time too.

Justin Piteleski on Honey Go Go 

By the time Justin and Mark arrived, I had felt the start holds again and was already starting to talk myself out of even trying.  Fortunately, they weren't having any of my nonsense, and five tries later I was topping it out. 

                                                                                                                                                                   Photo: Justin Piteleski

I never expected it to go so quickly, and I might even have flashed it if I'd tried Justin's sequence the first time around instead of insisting on my own way the first four times.  In any case, it was nice to go out and get on a climb where my extra weight (or the source of it anyway) was actually an advantage.

Two weeks out from the baby's due date, so hopefully enough time for a couple more good days like this, but if not at least I've ended my pre-parenthood climbing phase on a strong note.  And after doing a 12 hour route competition with my 69 year old mom yesterday, and finding out that she went climbing with her usual crew this morning while I was home recovering, I don't think the parenthood phase will make me any weaker!

Review: Evolv Nighthawk

Having posted a review of the Oracle, the new top of the line shoe from Evolv, it only seems fair that I give a little love to their new "low end" lace-up shoe, the Nighthawk.  Coming in at only $79, they edge out the Defy as Evolv's cheapest model, and while it's often true that you get what you pay for, the Nighthawk is certainly proof that good quality doesn't always have to be expensive.

I actually picked up two pairs (sized 10.5 and 11) to have as comfortable options for a 12 hour route comp that's coming up next month, remembering how painful even my least aggressive shoes became by the end of the event last year.  The smaller of the two pairs (my street size, and the size I use for other Evolv models), felt totally comfortable as soon as I put them on, though the leather has already started to stretch enough that going down half a size might have been a good idea.  Using them for routes at the gym, I've worn them for over an hour at a time without any discomfort.  

While they obviously don't perform as well as the Oracle, they can handle far smaller holds on slab to slightly overhanging terrain that I had anticipated.  Whether on gym plastic, Maryland quartzite, or Pennsylvania diabase, they've consistently held me on 2-3mm edges, and the low angle makes smearing easy.

Bitterness and Shadows, Frederick, MD

God of Thumbder, Mt. Ephraim, MD 

   God of Thumbder, Mt. Ephraim, MD

Highball Slab, Mt. Gretna, PA

So what are the tradeoffs?  Aside from the flatter shape obviously making steep terrain more difficult than aggressive shoes would, the biggest issue I've found is that the less tapered toe (compared to my other shoes) is harder to fit into thin slots.  On one boulder I tested them on, this meant consistently popping out of a starting slot foot, even though they would have held the thinner edges above that I could have stepped directly down on.

Overall, I'd highly recommend the Nighthawk for newer climbers looking for a good all-around shoe, or for experienced climbers who want something they can wear all day on non-steep terrain without overly sacrificing precision.  Give 'em a try!

Spring?

Spring is here!  Well, sort of.

Despite the official change of season today, our school system let out three hours early for an ice storm that wasn't even supposed to hit until after midnight tonight, with enough snow forecast tomorrow that my climbing will probably be limited to plastic for a few days.

The last month hasn't been as productive for climbing as I'd wanted, primarily due to getting what turned out to be the flu toward the end of February.  I did manage to make it down to Northwest Branch when I was sick, getting in a couple laps on Crimps if nothing else.  

Even after I felt better and was back to work, it took a long time for my energy level to rebound, with both gym and outdoor sessions being depressingly tiring.  I managed a trip up to Gretna at the beginning of March, perhaps not the best choice after being out late for Emily's gig the night before and having missed dinner because the bar's computer system was down.  While I didn't send anything new, I did get on Adjuster for the first time since hurting myself on it a couple years back and having to be carried back to the car, so at least that was progress.  Mostly I just got in a little bit of therapeutic slab time.

Last weekend I went to Mt. Ephraim with Dana and Srieng to work on a project that a couple of us had tried last year, then went across the road to White Rocks to play on God of Thumbder for a bit.  That thing feels easier every time, but I still love it.

A couple days ago, after two previous attempts being blocked by weather, I made my 69 year old mom skip her usual Sunday gym climbing session to ride the three hours up to Sourlands with me, where I proceeded to drag her through mud pits and up what was basically a ski slope before another half an hour of rock and snow hopping to the boulders.  Son of the year.

As with the last time I went there, the highlight of the day was definitely From NY with Love, one of the most gorgeous slabs I've ever experienced.  So delicate, and a little intimidating with an awkwardly tiered landing, but worth it every time.

                                                                                          Photo: Pennie Close

A little over a month left until our daughter is due, so hopefully I'll get a few more dry days between now and then, but I'll take what I can get.  Happy spring!