Travels and Vagabonds
Sunday was a spotty forecast and I still wanted to get out and do something. The rain gods has descended on the entire eastcoast and cast the probability of rain everywhere. Although I had a late start in the morning, I worked out a plan with a series of text messages with John Lee. We left Charlotte around 11am to arrive at Moore’s during prime popup-storm time.
We were looking for an exploratory excursion of hiking and climbing, and trying to get to Little Wilson fit the bill. Direction on Mountain Project were sparse and out dated, as that washing machine was gone, and parking lot description were not so good.
Next Morning, we woke up to warmer temperatures and a thawing roadway. Coffee was made and eggs were scrambled, both were vital in starting the engines which would keep us chugging along through the day. Little did I know that this cup of coffee in my cocker-spaniel mug would be it last….
Get Down to Get Up
It was time for a try-hard weekend, despite conflicts and weird weather. I piled the Jeep up with gear, and drove partner-less Friday night, time dragging on slowly with podcasts and Sheetz food. As the latitude rose, the snow on the ground got deeper and my thoughts wavered. Nevertheless, I committed to meeting Alex and Austin at the ACC campground and I do not bail. While pulling into the campground and seeing the 5-6 inches of snowy-icyiness packed on the ground, I knew Lady Luck would hold all the good cards this weekend and make or break it. The question was would she call out, “Go Fish” or hand us a set?
Continue reading “West Virginia: Lower Meadow (Go Fish Luck)”
All Cats, All Day
In-between the cold snaps and polar vortexes, time was scheduled to go explore some of the lessly traveled walls at Rumbling Bald. Luckily and to my surprise, Jason had a cabin about 30 mins away from the Bald which he offered to let us stay the night at.
Approach up to to Sauratown for Climbing
I missed all the fun and festivities last when the CCC (Carolina Climbing Coalition) got access restore to the Sauratown Cliffs. This year it was made a point to get out there before things would close down. Also, if you somehow wandered to this post for Sauratown Beta (through google or other devilish search engineering methods), give the CCC a few bucks for getting access restored.
Shortoff Adventures
Through some texts and random sequence of events, Mr. Alex Weir was going to grace NC again with his presence. Regardless of the failed previous attempts, we were able to meet up on the Sunday during the new Rumbling Bald comp. Since everyone and their dog was down in Lake Lure for the comp, so we had the pick of anywhere we wanted to climb at in NC. My choice was Shortoff, it’s as close to outwest alpine as we could get.
Nice weather in December, you can’t pass up the opportunity to get outside and do something. Alexis, John Lee, and I drove up to pilot after a nice and slow start to the day. The Sun was shining and temps were rising, so we had a nice day ahead of us.
Unwritten Law – Hanging at the chains
Brisk November morning, I picked KC up at his apartment and we made the drive out to Blowing Rock, NC to climb at the Dump. Word was that this was good winter crag that gets southern sun, and gasp, it may actually have some bolted sport routes!