Review- Stone Summit Climbing Gym

The Stone Summit
Stone Summit is the talk of the town. Ok, maybe not the entire town, but you get the picture. Every climber I speak with, even if I haven't seen them for months, only wants to talk about one thing, Atlanta's new uber gym, the largest in America. At first I was dismissive. Despite evidence to the contrary, I prefer not to view myself as a gym climber, and I certainly don't want

Rain, Falling, Breathing, and Rope Burn

Friday evening was a late one for me. I've been on the Board of Directors of a small, non-profit farm for the past two years and Friday evening was our big, spring fundraiser (a silent auction). I didn't get home until about 11pm, and had to to make a couple of phone calls / e-mail checks before showering and heading off to bed. My inbox confirmed several folks were heading to Rumney on Saturday,

MetroRock Climbing League: WINNERS ANNOUNCED!!!!

You heard it here, folks, finishing in second place in the first ever MetroRock Climbing League is none other than your hometown climbing team: MASSCLIMBERS!!! WHOOP!I saw the announcement in the MetroRock newsletter:New Adult Climbing LeagueSession2 starts starting March 10th and ending April 20thWelcome to the MetroRock Adult Climbing League session II. This informal, casual league is a great

MetroRock Climbing League: Weeks 5 and 6 and Suggestions Going Forward

Well, after a couple of weeks without updates, Team MassClimbers learned it's fate today: solidly in fourth place but within spitting distance of third place. With a grand week in week six by us and a weak week by the third place team, we could have overcome them and finished one spot out of the money. Second was out of the question and, happily, fifth was also out reach.But we know how its all

MetroRock Climbing League: Week 4

Sorry folks, but there is nothing to report because the scores haven't been updated in about two weeks. Hopefully we've moved up with "TMR"'s mad dash into the 5.11s for the first time in a couple of years, but there's no way to say for sure. In any case, I'll be glad when it's over. I'm itching to start having fun again. I need to train, and not compete. Oh well, must be my pushover nature.

Metrorock Climbing League: Week 3

Well, as I sit here in the disparity of watching the Pats blow the chance at a perfect season, I can say that the difference between the MassClimbers climbing team and the leaders is 280 points; one great week's worth of climbing, and I'm not that worried about that gap.You see, the season is six weeks long and, because folks go on vacation and the organizers of the league understand this, only

MetroRock Climbing League: Week 2

Not going to say much except that we plummeted in the standings. "TMR" was trying to jump out of planes in 44mph winds in Florida for the week while "Gecko" was playing "too-dumb-to-know-that-I'm-snowboarding-with-killer-trees" in Utah at the same time. I was sick and thus scored a less-than-stellar 45 points (60 points per week is the goal - at least). I don't know how "RRC" scored, but he

MetroRock Climbing League: Week 1

I wish I could give you an update on the entire rankings, but I can only say that MassClimbers is situated nicely in third place, about 15 points behind the second place team, which, I think must have graded itself in a lower category than it should have. But hey, no one's bitter or anything.We did manage to get a clarification from the powers that be on the rule controversy I noted in the

Controversy in the Climbing League

Due to the snow storm that never stormed, I didn't get a chance to hit them gym on Monday to see how my team did for the first week of the MetroRock Climbing League. Actually, after reading the rules, I've realized that the scores are posted on Tuesdays. Oh well. In any case, the season has not started without some confusion regarding the handicap and when climbs can be climbed during the

Climbing League - Part One

We've all seen The Big Lebowski and heard of bowling leagues, right? Well, the local gym in my area has started a climbing league, and I joined with three of my friends from my MassClimbers Yahoo climbing group (see the link to the right): "The Mad Russian" (otherwise now known as "TMR"), "Gecko" and "Red Rocks Casino" (otherwise now known as "RRC"). I'll fill in a bit more later on where these

Getting Stronger

On Sunday, I climbed for the first time since injuring my thumb while paddling out to an island in Maine on a camping trip. The injury was a contusion (bruise) on the bones around the top of my thumb. The past couple of weeks have been wrought with wearing a stinky, neoprene SPICA splint (to keep my thumb from doing things when it isn't doing anything), keeping ibuprofen in my bloodstream to

First 5.11 Lead - Update On Previous Post

I went back and nailed it. I still don't think it is a 5.11, but I got up it clean without using the top of the wall. I'm pretty happy about that. I thought I'd share it.

First 5.11 Lead?

Believe it or not, after my not-so-positive previous post, I had a really good night last night at the gym. For once, I enjoyed myself, laughed and climbed hard, even making it up a tough 5.12 (not cleanly) and 5.11 (again, not clean) to finish off the night. This was on top of a 5.8+ lead to start, 5.9 (and that grade is way off) lead, 5.11 lead (cleanish - get to that in a moment), 5.10b/c (

Felt Strong Last Night - May Have Flashed First 5.11

Boo-hiss to the threat of rain on the days I'd prefer to be outside, but that's only in general. Sometimes, blessings occur that turn things around without knowing why. While my climbing has not suffered at all this spring and summer (in fact, I think I've improved quite a bit), I haven't felt particularly ambitious of late; a fact that I attribute to several non-climbing stresses that have been

Climbed Hard Last Night

I am a bit sore today, and it isn't because I didn't stretch - because I did. Instead, it's more because I climbed hard last night. Well, hard for me anyway. I one-fell three straight hard 11s that were all either over-hanging or had a pumpy roof to navigate over. I'm more of a face climber who prefers crimps to jugs, so whenever I get on something steep I tend to get tired quickly. Still, my

I Have To Stop Chasing Grades At The Gym

If you have read my entire blog, you will have noticed that I have spent a lot of time talking about getting better and climbing harder grades. I've linked the topic of grades to such things as weight, practice, technique and strength. Certainly skill and talent either would have or should have been factored in as well, but the truth of the matter is that, as I learned last night, grades are very

Two Days In A Row

Over the past couple years I have stayed away from two things: bouldering and climbing on consecutive days. This is because whenever I did either of these, I got hurt. And these weren't good injuries either. I'm not talking about the easy-to-accept psychologically leg breaks or crushed skulls. I'm talking those lingering my-elbow-feels-fine-today-but-really-isn't kind of injuries that kept me out

Gym Time Yet Again

This past weekend we were blessed with just the right amount of sunshine. It blasted through the early-morning clouds and dispersed in between the empty tree branches, leaving us warm when we've been so depressingly cold and wet. The rock was wet in some places, but it was dry enough to bring smiles to our faces and rigid shapes to our fingertips. We winced as we pulled against the jagged crimps

Crappy Climbing Day

Had one of my worst technical days in a long time. I got a real workout, but really struggled on some pumpy 5.9+, 5.10- and 5.10 routes that I should have been able to nail. Just didn't have the strength after taking a week off. Grrr...

Saturday

Heading to the gym to climb for the first time on Saturday. Katie confirmed that her sister, and possibly another gentleman, would be along for the class. I can't wait to get back into the gym and try out my moves after a few months of rest. And if I can land a new job that has better winter hours, I will be climbing a lot more often this winter. Care to join me?