Last climb of the season

We were supposed to go to New River Gorge, WV, for the last climb of the season.
Unfortunately, it turned out to be pretty crappy weather... So, no West Virginia this time.

But, don't be too disapointed, I still have unpublished pictures of the last climb of the season, at the Gunks:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=18538&l=963a0&id=666526718

More pictures soon, as I'm just back from a lovely week end in New England, where weather was not as bad as in West Virginia, but still pretty cold.
I can't wait for snow!

Last climb of the season

Yesterday was the last day of this looong thanksgiving weekend.
Jenny and Richard invited us for a traditional dinner! Delicious and very well organized!

Then, after my miserable failure at Best Buy on friday morning (I should have woken up at 3am, not 5am if I had really wanted to get that 19" LCD monitor!), we went to a great uptown jazz club on friday (the real Harlem experience at 149th st), I strolled thru Manhattan with Loris on saturday (Elise and Loris made pictures, I'll publish some soon if I keep a steady Internet connection at home).

On sunday, I went to the Gunks with Tom for what is probably the last climb of the year.
The days are so short at this time of year, it is really discouraging! At 2pm, light started to fade. At 3.30 it was almost dark and by 5pm it was pitch black!
We only had time to climb 2 double pitch climbs: I had half and Tom did the other half. Trad Leading is always an adventure itself. Even when the climb is relatively easy, it is nerve racking because you really want to avoid falling and need to keep focused on finding the right spots to place protection. Quite the opposite of indoor sport climbing in fact. Speaking of sport climbing, on wednesday, Richard and I went to Chelsea Piers for the first time ever to try the climbing wall. It is rather impressive, actually even higher than Mur Mur in Lyon, and has more challenging roofs I think (more long sections of horizontal climbing). The climbing was quite athletic and really killed my arms. I would like to try to go again, but the regular pass is an outrageous $50! I'll try to get more of these free tryout daily passes or guest passes.
Now, winter is coming, so for me it will off season for running and outdoor climbing...

At least I can still read books: I'm now in the middle of Over The Edge, the true story of 4 American climbers kidnapped by terrorists in Kyrgystan in 2000. This is a fascinating story, very well written in my opinion, and even more captivating for me since 2 of the climbers are Beth Rodden and Tommy Caldwell!

Pictures from High Exposure

Click on the picture below to go the Picasa album:

Gunks classics: High Exposure

Sep 3, 2006 - 13 Photos

Best of the Gunks

At the beginning of September, one week before the marathon, I wanted to do some sport but no running.

We had planned to spend the full 3 day labor day week end but the weather was definitely agains us. We could only afford to go on Monday.

And we climbed two of the most famous lines at the Gunks: High Exposure (3 pitches, 5.6 --> the Best 5.6 on the planet for Climbing Magazine) and CCK (3 pitches, 5.7+).

Richard let me lead the crux pitch on High Exposure and it was an incredible feeling: this is very impressive overhanging move, but with good holds and good protection. Something I will remember!

Enjoy the pictures, these are some of the best I found on the web, all of High Exposure

As for CCK, it is something I will remember too: we could not make it to the beautiful last pitch as I had to bail on the second pitch, and I really scared myself: there was no good protection on a couple of moves rated 5.8 PG/R and I was a little bit too confident that by climbing higher I would fins something good :-S.

Next time we climb this I'd rather have a strong leader on that pitch!

The last pitch of CCK:

my Pictures to come!!