Nor'easter Climbing Festival (Sunday)

On Sunday, we again got up early and were the first ones to the mountain, however, the night of rain must have come in from a different direction because now everything was wet. We attempted one route that seemed dry enough, but it was just too difficult to make any good progress on with dampness all around. There was literally a waterfall coming down the route five feet right of what we were attempting. We decided to just pack it up and make the 4 hour trek home.

All in all, we had a great time and I believe we made the most of the weekend, climbing as much as possible and enjoying meeting the pros. We'll have to make a return trip to Rumney on a drier weekend to really get all the great climbing in that we missed out on with the rain.

Nor'easter Climbing Festival (Saturday)

The SECT was not so eager to give up on our climbing for the weekend. We woke up early and hopped on the first bus over to the mountain. As I suspected, there were plenty of routes dry enough to keep us busy. We spent the entire morning climbing on the most impressive crag at Rumney. We really had to push ourselves on the harder routes which stayed dryer then all the moderates. In the afternoon, we went back down the hill and found some bouldering to attempt. Much of it was wet, but there were plenty of people trying to make the best of it and climb anyway. We finished the climbing day with a nice moderate that somehow stayed dry down near the parking lot and then hopped the bus back to the Tenney Mountain basecamp.

For an hour or so before dinner, we roamed around and chatted with the pros. They were surprised that we had found dry routes and seemed disappointed that they hadn't wandered up to climb as well. After an incredible homemade pizza dinner, we went back up and listened to music in the rain until 10pm before retiring to the van.

10/4 Gravity Vault - ABS Competitions begin

This Saturday, Oct. 4, the Team will begin its competition bouldering schedule. We will travel to Gravity Vault in NJ for the first of 8-10 competitions that we will attend this fall/winter. I'll update this post next week with the results of how we finished.

Nor'easter climbing festival (Friday)

EMS put on what was supposed to be a festival for climbing, music and conservation. The Shiloh's Edge Climbing Team (SECT) was psyched to attend. Despite the rain, rain and more rain, we had a great time. The big climbing day was supposed to be Saturday, with nearly a dozen of the top professional climbers competing on outdoor routes and running clinics. However, because of all the rain Friday night they canceled the climbing activities and showed slide shows Saturday morning.

While most folks were setting up their tents in the rain and camping in the mud, we decided to take "Uncle Rico" up to the festival, take out the back seat, and all sleep in there. It was really a blessing to have this vehicle, despite it's age, rust and gas consumption. The guys are very much in love with "Rico" now and have already named new routes at the gym after the 1991 Chevy Beauville with 144,000 miles.