Event Reports
Thursday
November 15, 2007
Mike Doyle climbing training clinic
photos and 2 short videos.
Overview can be found on
Mike's website.
Sunday October 14, 2007
This is the last day for the Petzl Roctrip and Roctoberfest here at
the Red River Gorge. I had many options for climbing today but
opThis is the last day for the Petzl Roctrip and Roctoberfest here at
the Red River Gorge. I had many options for climbing today but
opted on a rest day up at The Chocolate Factory where some Petzl
athletes and Mike went to try an overhanging dihedral that had yet
to see an ascent.
Daniel Dulac
Steve McClure
Katie Brown
Whitney Boland
Sonnie Trotter
Lynn Hill
and, of course,
Mike Doyle
were there to attempt a send. Daniel was brave to go up first and set the gear, tearing down massive spider webs and knocking down the half a dollar sized spiders. It was too much work to tear down the gear each run so everyone else just queued up and went for the pinkpoint in turn.
Steve McClure was the first and only one to flash the route with Mike Doyle getting the second send (2nd attempt), Sonnie and Daniel followed. Lynn made an impressive attempt, but backed off on the
last move. Katie and Whitney both made a strong showing.
Nearby was another unsent project that had only this summer been
bolted. Chris Linder pulled all of the moves and made two solid
attempts before packing it in for the day. He appeared psyched to
come back and try it again another day.
After The Chocolate Factory, I made my way back to the parking lot while Mike and Steve went on to climb at Bob Marley. I met up with friends Craig and Noell (from Tennessee) who relayed the days' events at the Motherlode. Apparently, Chris Sharma decided to make an appearance at the crags that day and was climbing at the 'Lode and then Bob Marley.
I also ran into JJ Mah and Marshall German, two Canadian boys who used to be on the Canadian Jr team that Mike coached. They apparently were hanging out waiting on a ride so I drove them to camp and came back to get Mike.
When I got back, I ran into Sonnie and Daniel who relayed a tale of adventure that happened just after I left. Apparently, while cleaning the dihedral crack, Jim (who was top roping the line to clean it) yarded on a questionably loose block. It broke free gashing the back of one hand and hitting him on the head where it broke into 3 solid chunks. These chunks fell towards the unsuspecting group underneath only nearly missing Daniel and Lynn's son, Owen. It was a scary moment, they each recalled. Luckily, everyone, including Jim, was fine.
That night at Miguel's pizza, many of the athletes made an appearance, including Sharma whom I finally got a chance to officially meet. :) Now that the weekend's events are over, many people are leaving but quite a few are hanging out longer, too. I have been quite fortunate to have had as much exposure to these athletes as I have had. I owe it all to John Evans and Chuck Odette, both of Petzl.
This concludes my event reporting for Roctoberfest and the Petzl Roctrip.
Saturday October 13
Today was the flash competition at the Motherlode. I've never seen so many people at the Motherlode! Many of the Petzl athletes climbed in the competition, including a good number of locals for the open competition. The weather couldn't have been more perfect for sending routes. It started off cool, but the sun was out and as it slowly made it's way into the 'lode, the air warmed but never got hot. It was also a dry day, making it very suitable for climbing.
The run down of the results:
Men's Professional
Said Belhaj
Steve McClure
Sean McColl
Women's Progessional
Emily Harrington
Martina Cufar
Liv Sansoz
Men Open
Ryan 'Future' Roden
Mike Doyle
Jason Forester
Women Open
Kasha Pietras
Audrey Sniezek
Karissa Dunbar
Tomorrow is the end of the Petzl Roc Trip and Roctoberfest.
Friday October 12
Today was clinic day for Mike and myself. Both of us volunteered to help our friends, Kevin Wilkinson and Alli Rainey, with their clinics, naturally sponsored by Petzl. Alli and I were slated for this crag called The Shire, where the climbs were easy to moderate. The women in the clinic were of varying abilities, but for the most part, the crag suited our needs. We opted to teach what the girls wanted and ended up spending a bit of time on technique. At the end of the day, we hung out at the tents below the Red River Outdoors until movie time that night. We watched a few films with the feature being a Big Up Production called King Lines. Chris Sharma made an appearance and signed posters at the end of the film.
The only news I heard that day was that Mikael Fuselier made a first ascent of 50 words for pump (rated 8c+/14c?). You can watch the video here: http://www.petzlteam.com/.
Thursday October 11
Last night many athletes where thinking to give Bob Marley a rest and head to the Motherlode. Mike and I planned to climb at the Motherlode so it was no coincidence when we ran into a good number of athletes there. I worked Eight Ball, trying to get my Red River Gorge fitness up and Mike onsighted White Man's Shuffle (a 8b/13d).
Emily Harrington, Sean McColl, and Daniel Woods each got on Thanatopsis (8b+/c,14a/b). Mike walked everyone through the sequences and with Mike's beta, Sean managed to flash the route.
After the Motherlode, we went to Bob Marley crag where we watched other athletes working the bounty routes. Liv and Marietta sent No Redemption, Mike sent Milf Money and DogLeg, his nemesis climb of which Petzl was generous to put a bounty of $500 on (as part of the fundraising for the coalition). DogLeg is really hard or near impossible if you are under a certain height. Mike is about 5'4/5'5 and was able to do climbs like Thanatopsis, Lucifer (8c+/14c), and Transworld Depravity (8b+), and today Milf Money (2nd go, rated 8a+) but could not get DogLeg. John Evans, president of Petzl was witness to the send and to his word, donated $500 to the coalition for Mike's send.
That night, there was much celebrating at Miguel's. Miguel was gifted a Petzl logo shirt, a signed and framed Petzl Roc trip poster, and many thanks for his hospitality. The Red River Gorge Climbers Coalition was announced their receipt of $10,000 from Petzl France. Bentley and Morgan each received recognition for all of their efforts in organizing Roctoberfest.
Tomorrow starts Roctoberfest with clinics all day and the film King Lines showing at night.
Wednesday October 10
Today was a rest day for us. After running some errands, we went out to check in on the athletes at two crags where they might be climbing: The Chocolate Factory and Bob Marley.
At The Chocolate Factory we found only a few athletes. We spoke with Steve McClure about one of the routes and his final comment was something like it being 'nails hard'. It was inspiring to look up at the wall and think that he had just been up there working out the moves. Not being sure that it would go in the 2 days he had to work it to get the bounty (part of the fundraising for the Red River Gorge Coalition), he thought to mover on to other areas.
Most athletes were over at the Bob Marley crag and we made our way there after our brief stop to the Chocolate Factory. There were too many athletes there to name them all, but I can mention those that made impressive sends that day. Martina Cufar sent No Redemption, rated 8a; Emily Harrington got the women's bounty ascent of Ultra perm , rated 8b; and Sean McColl, Daniel Woods and Sonnie Trotter made the first 3 ascents of an open project, now called Milf Money, rated 8a+.
Petzl put a bounty on these and other routes to help raise money for the coalition and it was neat to see the athletes making quick work of some of them. Others, like 50 Words for Pump, did not go so easily and saw a stream of guys tackling the route throughout the day.
By the end of the night, there was a lot of buzz and chatter for the next day's climbs. Only 2 more days before the Flash contest on Saturday at the Motherlode.
Tuesday October 9
Today we climbed at the Motherlode. Mike got hooked up to help Bentley swap out the old worn draws with brand new Petzl draws on some of the climbs (like Thanatopsis, Transworld Depravity, and Cut
Throat). I finally got the chance to stretch out and test my Red
River fitness on climbs like Chainsaw Massacre (which I had
attempted once last year) and Eight Ball.
Jim Winn
was stretching his photography skills and snapped a few cool
pics of me on Eight Ball.
While hanging out at the 'Lode, I met the 8a.nu crew:
Jens Larsson, founder and owner
Jonas Emanuelson, webmaster
Thomasz Ratacjczak, design/production
Johan Svensson, editor in-chief
Per Ola Andersson, photo editor
As the day went on, a group of Petzl athletes moved through observing the cliff lines. I ran into Steve McClure, whose personal tale from Engineer to climber and his experience with repetitive stress symptoms encouraged me to stay my own course when making my transition from corporate to climber lifestyle and reaffirmed that I should evaluate what was important to me--corporate life or climbing.
3 French women arrived, one of whom reminded me of a woman I had met from Quebec. I looked at her with recognition before realizing I didn't really know who they where. It turns out it was Liv Sansoz from France, Martina Cufar from Slovenia and another woman I did not recognize, Marietta Udhen from Germany. They had just flown in from France the night before so I got to watch them do one climb each before they packed up and headed on.
Monday October 8
Mike and I arrived at the Red River Gorge last Friday. My sister and her
husband and 3 children came down to the Red for the
weekend, too. I spent a lot of time entertaining and taking the
kids out climbing. I wasn't sure how many
Petzl athletes would
be out and hoped the kids could see one of them, but we ran into
few people and no athletes. Despite this, they did get to
see some talent climbing the walls at the Motherlode, including
Mike showing off on Bohica. It was a good time.
After seeing my family off at the Mountain Parkway, we opted to climb in the Northern gorge at a crag called Phantasia. This crag boasts one of the steepest 12a's at the Red called Twinkie. After getting in line for the climb, Dave Graham and Joe Kinder showed up. I was amused at the timing. We went on to Military Wall where we ran into Jean-Pierre (Peewee) Ouellet. Surprisingly the wall was empty of people, except for them. Granted, it was very warm out, but the parking lot was full of cars so I assumed there would be a mass of people there. Not long after, Chuck and Greg, from Petzl, showed. Dave and Joe made their round through and this time I had the chance to I meet Joe's girlfriend, Colette McInerney. She made a strong showing on Gung Ho before the whole group went on to another crag.
Sept 29 - 30, 2007
Women's climbing weekend
sponsored by Sterling Rope
New River Gorge, WV
This past weekend I volunteered to help out at the women's climbing weekend at the New River Gorge. With over 30 women signed up for various clinics and an enthusiastic sponsor, I knew this weekend was going to be a blast!
The weekend started Friday night, with volunteers and guides meeting at Burnwood, a National Park Service facility that was used for the new River rendezvous earlier in the year as well. Sterling provided the drinks, there was a nice fire, and everyone gathered to review the weekend schedule and safety instructions. Women were already arriving for the event and slowly joined the fireside conversations. The pre-weekend meeting went quickly and soon everyone was scattered off to their respective sleeping places: seven or 10, some in their vans, others leaving for other sites.
The following morning everyone met up at Water Stone Outdoors, the local outdoor shop in Fayetteville. There, the women registered, collected gear, met with their groups and prepared for their days clinic. The clinics offered ranged from intro to intermediate skills with various disciplines represented: trad climbing, technique, sport climbing, self rescue, anchors, etc. different groups picked different crags to meet their needs. The clinic that I was volunteering with, technique for the 5.7 climber, went to an area called the brain at Beauty Mountain.
The guides set up some routes and went over techniques such as accurate foot placement, body position, proper belaying and communication. During lunch we even went over some anchor equalizing techniques to show how to use a cordelette, which came in each girl's goodie bag that morning, and how to use a cordelette as a backup safety on rappel. I actually had never used a prusik on rappel before so I found this part of the clinic especially informative. As the girls climbed, the guides enforced the techniques taught earlier in the day. I was impressed by how well the girls climbed and how receptive they were to input and feedback on their climbing.
Back at Burnwood the girls gathered, after returning from various clinics, chatting of the day's events. The pavillion livened with the numbers growing and the excitement from shared stories spilling about. Everyone enjoyed a catered dinner from Joy (the local caterer), some satellite aired jazz, and a slideshow from photos taken during the day.
Sunday meet up went more quickly with groups getting out earlier than on Saturday. Sunday's clinic that I volunteered for was a lead sport clinic. For this, we chose Summersvill Lake and the Orange Oswald wall with climbs like Hippie dreams to teach on.
Again, the guides set up a few lines and taught the essentials. This time, the girls were on top rope back up with a lead rope tied into them. It was a harder way to teach lead belay, falling, etc, but for liability, we had to do it this way. The girls seemed to be relieved to know that they would have this top rope on them, which made it easier to break the news to them.
This clinic was the most fun and the most involved. Although we were climbing beachside on Summersville Lake, the guides couldn't take their eyes off of the climber, belayer, other belayer the whole time. There was always something to encourage, demonstrate, correct, or just reinforce. By the end of the clinic, I was exhuasted! I had to remind myself to get on the sand and touch the water before heading out, just to do it. :)
The New River Gorge, is gorgeous. The climbing is technical and often reachy with moves to pull, but the scenery is awesome and a place like Summersville had me thinking to take my bathing suit next time I'm out. I heard there was world class deep water soloing to be had nearby...
At Burnwood one last time was the final meet up to retrieve demo gear, swap emails, share stories of the day and just be with friends (new and old) one last time before heading back home. Personally, I was jazzed from the weekend and eager to share ideas for how to make the next year's event even better!
Sterling Rope organizes events like these periodically throughout the year. They held clinics in North Conway earlier in September and have one planned for Joshua Tree in April. They plan to be back at the New next year, but don't wait if another opportunity presents itself. Sign up, come out, learn something from experts in the field, and most importantly come out and climb with other women who share the same passion! It makes a difference..
Mike Doyle climbing training clinic
photos and 2 short videos.
Overview can be found on
Mike's website.Sunday October 14, 2007
This is the last day for the Petzl Roctrip and Roctoberfest here at
the Red River Gorge. I had many options for climbing today but
opThis is the last day for the Petzl Roctrip and Roctoberfest here at
the Red River Gorge. I had many options for climbing today but
opted on a rest day up at The Chocolate Factory where some Petzl
athletes and Mike went to try an overhanging dihedral that had yet
to see an ascent.
Daniel Dulac
Steve McClure
Katie Brown
Whitney Boland
Sonnie Trotter
Lynn Hill
and, of course,
Mike Doyle
were there to attempt a send. Daniel was brave to go up first and set the gear, tearing down massive spider webs and knocking down the half a dollar sized spiders. It was too much work to tear down the gear each run so everyone else just queued up and went for the pinkpoint in turn.
Steve McClure was the first and only one to flash the route with Mike Doyle getting the second send (2nd attempt), Sonnie and Daniel followed. Lynn made an impressive attempt, but backed off on the
last move. Katie and Whitney both made a strong showing.
Nearby was another unsent project that had only this summer been
bolted. Chris Linder pulled all of the moves and made two solid
attempts before packing it in for the day. He appeared psyched to
come back and try it again another day.
After The Chocolate Factory, I made my way back to the parking lot while Mike and Steve went on to climb at Bob Marley. I met up with friends Craig and Noell (from Tennessee) who relayed the days' events at the Motherlode. Apparently, Chris Sharma decided to make an appearance at the crags that day and was climbing at the 'Lode and then Bob Marley.
I also ran into JJ Mah and Marshall German, two Canadian boys who used to be on the Canadian Jr team that Mike coached. They apparently were hanging out waiting on a ride so I drove them to camp and came back to get Mike.
When I got back, I ran into Sonnie and Daniel who relayed a tale of adventure that happened just after I left. Apparently, while cleaning the dihedral crack, Jim (who was top roping the line to clean it) yarded on a questionably loose block. It broke free gashing the back of one hand and hitting him on the head where it broke into 3 solid chunks. These chunks fell towards the unsuspecting group underneath only nearly missing Daniel and Lynn's son, Owen. It was a scary moment, they each recalled. Luckily, everyone, including Jim, was fine.
That night at Miguel's pizza, many of the athletes made an appearance, including Sharma whom I finally got a chance to officially meet. :) Now that the weekend's events are over, many people are leaving but quite a few are hanging out longer, too. I have been quite fortunate to have had as much exposure to these athletes as I have had. I owe it all to John Evans and Chuck Odette, both of Petzl.
This concludes my event reporting for Roctoberfest and the Petzl Roctrip.
Saturday October 13
Today was the flash competition at the Motherlode. I've never seen so many people at the Motherlode! Many of the Petzl athletes climbed in the competition, including a good number of locals for the open competition. The weather couldn't have been more perfect for sending routes. It started off cool, but the sun was out and as it slowly made it's way into the 'lode, the air warmed but never got hot. It was also a dry day, making it very suitable for climbing.
The run down of the results:
Men's Professional
Said Belhaj
Steve McClure
Sean McColl
Women's Progessional
Emily Harrington
Martina Cufar
Liv Sansoz
Men Open
Ryan 'Future' Roden
Mike Doyle
Jason Forester
Women Open
Kasha Pietras
Audrey Sniezek
Karissa Dunbar
Tomorrow is the end of the Petzl Roc Trip and Roctoberfest.
Friday October 12
Today was clinic day for Mike and myself. Both of us volunteered to help our friends, Kevin Wilkinson and Alli Rainey, with their clinics, naturally sponsored by Petzl. Alli and I were slated for this crag called The Shire, where the climbs were easy to moderate. The women in the clinic were of varying abilities, but for the most part, the crag suited our needs. We opted to teach what the girls wanted and ended up spending a bit of time on technique. At the end of the day, we hung out at the tents below the Red River Outdoors until movie time that night. We watched a few films with the feature being a Big Up Production called King Lines. Chris Sharma made an appearance and signed posters at the end of the film.
The only news I heard that day was that Mikael Fuselier made a first ascent of 50 words for pump (rated 8c+/14c?). You can watch the video here: http://www.petzlteam.com/.
Thursday October 11
Last night many athletes where thinking to give Bob Marley a rest and head to the Motherlode. Mike and I planned to climb at the Motherlode so it was no coincidence when we ran into a good number of athletes there. I worked Eight Ball, trying to get my Red River Gorge fitness up and Mike onsighted White Man's Shuffle (a 8b/13d).
Emily Harrington, Sean McColl, and Daniel Woods each got on Thanatopsis (8b+/c,14a/b). Mike walked everyone through the sequences and with Mike's beta, Sean managed to flash the route.
After the Motherlode, we went to Bob Marley crag where we watched other athletes working the bounty routes. Liv and Marietta sent No Redemption, Mike sent Milf Money and DogLeg, his nemesis climb of which Petzl was generous to put a bounty of $500 on (as part of the fundraising for the coalition). DogLeg is really hard or near impossible if you are under a certain height. Mike is about 5'4/5'5 and was able to do climbs like Thanatopsis, Lucifer (8c+/14c), and Transworld Depravity (8b+), and today Milf Money (2nd go, rated 8a+) but could not get DogLeg. John Evans, president of Petzl was witness to the send and to his word, donated $500 to the coalition for Mike's send.
That night, there was much celebrating at Miguel's. Miguel was gifted a Petzl logo shirt, a signed and framed Petzl Roc trip poster, and many thanks for his hospitality. The Red River Gorge Climbers Coalition was announced their receipt of $10,000 from Petzl France. Bentley and Morgan each received recognition for all of their efforts in organizing Roctoberfest.
Tomorrow starts Roctoberfest with clinics all day and the film King Lines showing at night.
Wednesday October 10
Today was a rest day for us. After running some errands, we went out to check in on the athletes at two crags where they might be climbing: The Chocolate Factory and Bob Marley.
At The Chocolate Factory we found only a few athletes. We spoke with Steve McClure about one of the routes and his final comment was something like it being 'nails hard'. It was inspiring to look up at the wall and think that he had just been up there working out the moves. Not being sure that it would go in the 2 days he had to work it to get the bounty (part of the fundraising for the Red River Gorge Coalition), he thought to mover on to other areas.
Most athletes were over at the Bob Marley crag and we made our way there after our brief stop to the Chocolate Factory. There were too many athletes there to name them all, but I can mention those that made impressive sends that day. Martina Cufar sent No Redemption, rated 8a; Emily Harrington got the women's bounty ascent of Ultra perm , rated 8b; and Sean McColl, Daniel Woods and Sonnie Trotter made the first 3 ascents of an open project, now called Milf Money, rated 8a+.
Petzl put a bounty on these and other routes to help raise money for the coalition and it was neat to see the athletes making quick work of some of them. Others, like 50 Words for Pump, did not go so easily and saw a stream of guys tackling the route throughout the day.
By the end of the night, there was a lot of buzz and chatter for the next day's climbs. Only 2 more days before the Flash contest on Saturday at the Motherlode.
Tuesday October 9
Today we climbed at the Motherlode. Mike got hooked up to help Bentley swap out the old worn draws with brand new Petzl draws on some of the climbs (like Thanatopsis, Transworld Depravity, and Cut
Throat). I finally got the chance to stretch out and test my Red
River fitness on climbs like Chainsaw Massacre (which I had
attempted once last year) and Eight Ball.
Jim Winn
was stretching his photography skills and snapped a few cool
pics of me on Eight Ball.While hanging out at the 'Lode, I met the 8a.nu crew:
Jens Larsson, founder and owner
Jonas Emanuelson, webmaster
Thomasz Ratacjczak, design/production
Johan Svensson, editor in-chief
Per Ola Andersson, photo editor
As the day went on, a group of Petzl athletes moved through observing the cliff lines. I ran into Steve McClure, whose personal tale from Engineer to climber and his experience with repetitive stress symptoms encouraged me to stay my own course when making my transition from corporate to climber lifestyle and reaffirmed that I should evaluate what was important to me--corporate life or climbing.
3 French women arrived, one of whom reminded me of a woman I had met from Quebec. I looked at her with recognition before realizing I didn't really know who they where. It turns out it was Liv Sansoz from France, Martina Cufar from Slovenia and another woman I did not recognize, Marietta Udhen from Germany. They had just flown in from France the night before so I got to watch them do one climb each before they packed up and headed on.
Monday October 8
Mike and I arrived at the Red River Gorge last Friday. My sister and her
husband and 3 children came down to the Red for the
weekend, too. I spent a lot of time entertaining and taking the
kids out climbing. I wasn't sure how many
Petzl athletes would
be out and hoped the kids could see one of them, but we ran into
few people and no athletes. Despite this, they did get to
see some talent climbing the walls at the Motherlode, including
Mike showing off on Bohica. It was a good time.After seeing my family off at the Mountain Parkway, we opted to climb in the Northern gorge at a crag called Phantasia. This crag boasts one of the steepest 12a's at the Red called Twinkie. After getting in line for the climb, Dave Graham and Joe Kinder showed up. I was amused at the timing. We went on to Military Wall where we ran into Jean-Pierre (Peewee) Ouellet. Surprisingly the wall was empty of people, except for them. Granted, it was very warm out, but the parking lot was full of cars so I assumed there would be a mass of people there. Not long after, Chuck and Greg, from Petzl, showed. Dave and Joe made their round through and this time I had the chance to I meet Joe's girlfriend, Colette McInerney. She made a strong showing on Gung Ho before the whole group went on to another crag.
Sept 29 - 30, 2007
Women's climbing weekend
sponsored by Sterling Rope
New River Gorge, WV
This past weekend I volunteered to help out at the women's climbing weekend at the New River Gorge. With over 30 women signed up for various clinics and an enthusiastic sponsor, I knew this weekend was going to be a blast!
The weekend started Friday night, with volunteers and guides meeting at Burnwood, a National Park Service facility that was used for the new River rendezvous earlier in the year as well. Sterling provided the drinks, there was a nice fire, and everyone gathered to review the weekend schedule and safety instructions. Women were already arriving for the event and slowly joined the fireside conversations. The pre-weekend meeting went quickly and soon everyone was scattered off to their respective sleeping places: seven or 10, some in their vans, others leaving for other sites.
The following morning everyone met up at Water Stone Outdoors, the local outdoor shop in Fayetteville. There, the women registered, collected gear, met with their groups and prepared for their days clinic. The clinics offered ranged from intro to intermediate skills with various disciplines represented: trad climbing, technique, sport climbing, self rescue, anchors, etc. different groups picked different crags to meet their needs. The clinic that I was volunteering with, technique for the 5.7 climber, went to an area called the brain at Beauty Mountain.
The guides set up some routes and went over techniques such as accurate foot placement, body position, proper belaying and communication. During lunch we even went over some anchor equalizing techniques to show how to use a cordelette, which came in each girl's goodie bag that morning, and how to use a cordelette as a backup safety on rappel. I actually had never used a prusik on rappel before so I found this part of the clinic especially informative. As the girls climbed, the guides enforced the techniques taught earlier in the day. I was impressed by how well the girls climbed and how receptive they were to input and feedback on their climbing.
Back at Burnwood the girls gathered, after returning from various clinics, chatting of the day's events. The pavillion livened with the numbers growing and the excitement from shared stories spilling about. Everyone enjoyed a catered dinner from Joy (the local caterer), some satellite aired jazz, and a slideshow from photos taken during the day.
Sunday meet up went more quickly with groups getting out earlier than on Saturday. Sunday's clinic that I volunteered for was a lead sport clinic. For this, we chose Summersvill Lake and the Orange Oswald wall with climbs like Hippie dreams to teach on.
Again, the guides set up a few lines and taught the essentials. This time, the girls were on top rope back up with a lead rope tied into them. It was a harder way to teach lead belay, falling, etc, but for liability, we had to do it this way. The girls seemed to be relieved to know that they would have this top rope on them, which made it easier to break the news to them.
This clinic was the most fun and the most involved. Although we were climbing beachside on Summersville Lake, the guides couldn't take their eyes off of the climber, belayer, other belayer the whole time. There was always something to encourage, demonstrate, correct, or just reinforce. By the end of the clinic, I was exhuasted! I had to remind myself to get on the sand and touch the water before heading out, just to do it. :)
The New River Gorge, is gorgeous. The climbing is technical and often reachy with moves to pull, but the scenery is awesome and a place like Summersville had me thinking to take my bathing suit next time I'm out. I heard there was world class deep water soloing to be had nearby...
At Burnwood one last time was the final meet up to retrieve demo gear, swap emails, share stories of the day and just be with friends (new and old) one last time before heading back home. Personally, I was jazzed from the weekend and eager to share ideas for how to make the next year's event even better!
Sterling Rope organizes events like these periodically throughout the year. They held clinics in North Conway earlier in September and have one planned for Joshua Tree in April. They plan to be back at the New next year, but don't wait if another opportunity presents itself. Sign up, come out, learn something from experts in the field, and most importantly come out and climb with other women who share the same passion! It makes a difference..
