Chris and me in Alaska this springAfter a disappointing trip to the Alaska Range with my friend Chris Thomas in May, which was immediately followed by a tragedy in which our friends Andre Callari and Brian Postlethwait perished in an avalanche on Mt. Barille, I have spent the balance of the spring and summer training hard on and off the rock with my girlfriend Katy Klutznick and my friend Matt McCormick.
The weather here in the Northeast has been really conducive to rock climbing this summer! It's been dry and warm and breezy pretty regularly. I've been spending much time on Conway granite and Adirondack anorthosite in preparation for a trip to the Bugaboos that I'm taking with Matt and Katy. We leave in less than a week now! We're fit and psyched and ready to check out the west side of the Bugaboos!
Matt following the third pitch of the ProwThe highlights of my spring and summer in the Northeast have been: finally sending the Prow on Cathedral free and clean with no falls. Also, I ticked the Possessed and Jack the Ripper. This weekend I'm going to clean up unfinished business over in North Conway on Budapest and Women in Love. She go!
Camouflaged frog on the third pitch of the Prow (photo taken free on lead :-)In the Adirondacks, I onsighted the direct variation of Southern Hospitality (my first .12a onsight!) and also sent Amongst the Crowd at Poke-O-Moonshine. Also, Matt and I climbed ten routes at the Spiders Web in a day (It's Only Entertainment, White Knight, Fear and Loathing in Keene Valley, Romano's Route, TR, Birds Nest, Dacker Cracker, Drop Fly or Die, Esthesia, and On the Loose).
It's been a great summer so far! I'll give a report with photos after our trip to the Bugaboos! Be safe; try hard; and, have fun!!!!!!!!!!
