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charley
Mar 25, 2006, 2:10 AM
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Registered: Apr 13, 2002
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Sorry there will be no pics in this cause my camera went crazy and ate my film. Dave and Anne took lots of pics but I have not seen them yet.
Last thursday after a physically hard day at work my wife Judy and I left for a little spring trip to see if sunshine and flowers still existed. She was sixteen minutes late as usual. We drove about 45 minutes to a quant little house nestled in the woods near a lovely little park to pick up djmclimber. It was 4:45 pm and the puter said it would be a ten hour drive. My math said about 8.5. That was from my house so 12:30 or two am we should arrive. Dave drove from his house to nrg. We talked and ate sandwiches and the time went by. I drove from nrg to va. where we stopped for gas, pee break and short stretch. Back in the van for a quick jaunt through the dark hills of Tenn. and nc. We got there about 12:30 As soon as we opened the door Anne came flying down the stairs with a big smile and hugs for all. We had to hug 2/3 times each day to make sure we got all the hugs in for rc.commers. We had a beer or two then time for some sleep so we could get up and climb.
Morning was not real early but just after the kids were off to school we were drinking coffee. Troy fixed bacon, sausage, eggs, and toast. We men were on the way to looking glass. The walk is about thirty min. up hill and I take 35. My legs still hurt from work but soon I was up there. We looked at some routes and lichen or not a 5.5 was dry. It is usually wet. We decided to get on this. Now this is no big deal to most of you hard core climbers who do (just fill in the blank with something scary), but this is early in the season. My first lead of the year. I think Dave and Troy lead 5.7 trad and I lead 5.4. Most ppl don't do the second pitch so we thought we would each lead the climb and clean it on rapell. Dave went first and had a cpl difficult moments, like when all six foot of him was spread out kissing the rock to reach a hold and stay on the wall. I thought he may be a bit far right or at least I hoped so cause I am four or so inches short of six foot. Dave continued up and made it to the bolt anchors. He rapped and cleaned his gear. Troy went next and I suggested he go a bit left instead of following this crack that took you to a blank area. After several tries he finally got on a ramp that took him above the blank area. He did a bit of back and forth but soon was at the top. After his rapell it was my turn. I ask Dave if I started to cry if he would resue me, He didn't answer. I took off on lead. This was also my first experience with the eyrebrows at the glass. I didn't follow my own advice and let the crack lead me too far right and was stuck. After some time I was scared, freaked, and could go no further. I was quiting and downclimbing. I came down just below my last piece and decided to try the little traverse that would take me to the ramp. After a cpl frustrating tries I am frazzled and downclimb again. I stop on a decent foothold and rest, look, and swear at my inability. I decide to try again and this time I make the ramp and then move over and continue up. At one point I climb past an eyebrow that I think would have taken pro but feet were not good and I was past it. I did not want to downclimb to put in a piece so I looked ahead and saw the climbing wasn't too hard but a bit runout to a nice ledge. As I got to the ledge my belayer says, Don't you think it's about time to put in a piece. I put in a piece and continued to the top, rapped, cleaned, then collapsed on the ground. I was exhausted but happy. My first lead of the year and my first real 5.5 trad lead. I was too whipped to climb any more so I watched Dave lead and Troy follow Good intentions 5.6. Nice lead Dave. We then gathered our stuff and headed down. We summed up our climbing by agreeing that we climb HARD, just on low grades. Getting back to the house I was greeted by Anne who says, I was worried about you, you're too old to be climbing nine hours. Well thanks, hell I know that. She needs some math help. It was dark but we had only been climbing about five hours. We drank a cpl beers in the parking lot, too.
They had brats and salad ready for dinner. Ashley told Judy she could make brownies for dinner but that would have to wait til sat.
I need rest. I have already decided unless a miracle happens, I am not climbing the next day. I went to bed around eleven. The next morning I cooked buckwheat pancakes with real blueberries. I won't mention any names but some others stayed up till four am drinking beer and talking so no one was going climbing. We had some things to do to get ready for a party that night. Soon the house was filled with ppl and good food. There was plenty of food and beer and I got to meet some of Annes friends. Yes she does have some. Yes Jammer some are lookers too.
Sunday after bacon, sausage,toast, and eggs we left for Rumbling bald. Troy had some work to do so Anne was the guide. We had another 60' and sunny day. We had a good time on boulder probs all day. My favorite was a seldom, if ever, done 25 or so foot slab. It had dry moss and lichen but after some brushing I did it a cpl times. We got home about dark and troy didn't say he was worried, but had burgers done on the grill.
Monday of course the weatherman was correct and it was cold and rainy all day. We went to see some waterfalls and the visitor center. Dave bought some shoes and rain jacket. Tuesday was time to drive home. After getting Andrew and Ashley off to school we drank some coffee and hugged goodbye and got in the car for our drive home. It took us longer to get home cause we stopped to eat and for gas and came home to snow showers. We did talk about our next trip and what we want to climb. Just some thoughts to add: Those of you who know Anne will agree that she is a barrel of laughs, always cracking jokes, and she tells us, No one laughs any harder at her jokes than she does.
I love nc. Thanks Troy and Anne for a great time.
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jammer
Mar 26, 2006, 11:51 PM
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Registered: Jun 25, 2002
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Nice Charley! You left out the party ... holding something back?? Thanks for keeping your eyes open for me. Unfortunately, I didn't spend enough time with Anne and Troy to meet anyone outside of her family. Sounds like you had a good time. Let me know the next time you plan on heading South.
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charley
Mar 27, 2006, 12:44 AM
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Registered: Apr 13, 2002
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I think the party was so Anne could show her climbing friends that she had some real ppl friends. To start off the food was great. Some of the things were rice and general Tsao's chicken, spicey meatballs, hot artichoke dip, vegetable plate with dip, brownies with peanut butter and chocolate icing, hot salsa, salsa with cream cheese, several kinds of chips, carmel popcorn, and beer. Lotsa kinds of beer. I didn't make you hungry did I? I met some interesting ppl. A young couple who had spent the day mountain biking and had some neat stories and we talked about bikes, clothing, and trails. I'm not sure we should count them as friends becase the husband went to school with Annes brother. There were other couples from the city, some singles, and an old college friend of Troy's. There were also about a dozen children of all ages. Lots of fun was had.
As far as going south, I go south almost all the time when I go climbing. It just depends on how far south I go. I am hoping to go to seneca, nrg, or moores/pilot/stone area over Easter. After that seneca and nrg are the same distance from me and I hope to get to each once a month this year. My only other scheduled trip is north to rumney.
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climbinganne
Mar 27, 2006, 2:04 PM
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Registered: Apr 15, 2002
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i lived in wilmington for 13 months, not a single person came to visit
i love it here
we loved having y'all, always a fun time
i miss you
"young couple" - too funny charley!
as usual...judy left stuff here, i'll send it up ;)
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microbarn
Mar 27, 2006, 3:34 PM
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Registered: May 12, 2004
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Thanks for the TR. It is always good to hear of other's good luck. I can't wait to get out more regularly myself this year.
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charley
Mar 28, 2006, 1:49 AM
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Registered: Apr 13, 2002
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Now ya know why I keep telling her she'd forget her azz cept it's tached. :lol:
We just never made it to Wilmington. Judy would have loved it. We have been there but not when you were.
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