Wednesday, January 26, 2011


Changes

These pictures are not in order.


Some quality time with my son :)


"Helping" dad grade exams


Sporting one of the many awesome hats Eammon received as gifts


Reading Eammon a book (On the Night You Were Born)


Eammon being adorable as usual


Drinking imaginary chamapagne


Milk Drunk


Showing off our Christmas presents from Uncle Nate


Eammon is very excited to leave the hospital


Eammon's first hair wash


The bouldering cave (short, but it works!)



The new car
The Gunks
(Need I Say More?)

Back in November, I drove down to New Paltz, NY (about four hours away) to climb at the world famous Gunks. Needless to say, this place is not overrated and is amazing. The temperature was near perfect and the crowds were minimal. I was fortunate enough to be climbing with someone intimately familiar with the crag, so I was able to climb some classic lines. For those not familiar with the Gunks, this place offers some of the best easy/moderate lines anywhere. A 5.3 here will be near vertical and host several roofs; a 5.6 could be overhanging. The caveat of course is that this is the land of jugs. All my expectations were exceeded on the two climbs that we did. The first was Beginners Delight, three pitches of 5.3 and the second was Minty, which offered two pitches of 5.5. I will be back this spring!


Part of the first pitch of Minty; the route climbs just right of the ridge line through steepness


Joe leading the second pitch of Minty; one of the most fun pitches I have ever climbed


Me leading the third pitch of Beginners Delight; 200ft of air beneath my feet


Joe leading the 2nd pitch of Beginners Delight; he is heading for the roofs in the middle
Pre-Season Dry Tooling

Back before winter set in, Justin and I headed to Lake Dunmore for some practice drytooling. This small crag offers some low angle dry tool options, that makes for a fun afternoon.


Dulling my tools and crampons


Justin getting his first taste of drytooling



Stashing the tools to focus on my footwork