Archive for the ‘Gunks’ Category

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Spring has sprung completely out of control.В  Sunday felt like summer.В  Between the weather and being out of work, I kept thinking it was June.В  I’d just had a week of climbing in Mexico in similar weather, so all indicators said I should be climbing like it was June.В  Once I knocked off Trapped Like [...]

April 8, 2010   Posted in: Gunks  No Comments

I’m not smart but I’m strong

For some reason I didn’t start my season on Trapped Like a Rat this year. I didn’t even think about it until Todd mentioned the route as we were walking below it on the carriage road. I looked up and saw the ugly corner in its usual damp state and just said “oh” [...]

March 21, 2010   Posted in: Gunks  No Comments

Thanksgiving Spread

Running with Kevin the Monday before Thanksgiving, I mentioned that I had nothing whatsoever planned for the four day weekend. I didn’t mind. It sounded like a nice relaxing weekend, a chance to catch up on chores, pay some bills, vacuum, maybe watch a game or two.
But I have too many friends and [...]

December 1, 2009   Posted in: Gunks, Running  No Comments

The fat lady refuses to sing

Still November, still climbing. I begin to wonder if the season will ever end.
I climbed Wrist for the first time. I don’t know if I was on-route for the first pitch but that’s sure an eye opener of a second pitch. We’re always complaining about the sandbagged ratings at my gym, but [...]

November 22, 2009   Posted in: Gunks  No Comments

November what-now?

What a beautiful weekend.
Saturday morning it was a little chilly waiting for the start of the Air Line Ghost Rail Run, but not as bad as I’d feared. I went into the race with low motivation. My last tempo run hadn’t gone well and I wondered why I was choosing to [...]

November 9, 2009   Posted in: Gunks, Running  No Comments

Send

I was driving home from the Gunks tonight, very focused on the fact that I was taking the back roads instead of 87, when the idiot light came on to warn me that I was getting low on gas. It was a surprise. Somehow I’d driven all the way to the Gunks that [...]

October 26, 2009   Posted in: Gunks  One Comment

I know things now, many valuable things

Once upon a time, like all of us, I was a beginner. I had to be belayed across ledges and talked through cleaning an anchor. I didn’t know a right-facing corner from a left-facing corner or an Alien from a Camalot. I climbed what I was pointed at and took unexpected falls [...]

October 12, 2009   Posted in: Gunks  No Comments

80% chance of millipedes

I think a millipede may be the most disgusting creature ever. In case you’ve never seen one before (and before I started climbing at the Gunks, I hadn’t), here’s a link to Millipede Facts. Millipedes are unavoidable at the Gunks but this weekend they were swarming, along with killer ladybugs (sure, they’re cute [...]

October 5, 2009   Posted in: Gunks  2 Comments

It’s the climb

Steve asks: Why do we need goals? and I’m going to answer with some lyrics from a Miley Cryus song, as lame as knowing the lyrics to a Miley Cyrus song may be:
There’s always gonna be another mountainI’m always gonna wanna make it moveAlways gonna be an uphill battle,Sometimes I’m gonna have to loseAin’t about [...]

September 27, 2009   Posted in: Gunks, Running  No Comments

Trashcan redux

There’s really not much to say in this post because we climbed one route on TR in the drizzle. It was Trashcan Overhang which I haven’t been on in quite some time. I learned that I’m stronger than I used to be (I can survive having my feet cut loose now) and that [...]

August 10, 2009   Posted in: Gunks  No Comments