Kayaking with Jaedyn

Well, Jaedyn finale got to ride in the kayak. I thought that she might get bored after a few minutes and want to go home but she loved it. The only trick is keeping her hands occupied. She likes to drag both of them off the side while I'm tyring to paddle and in such a small boat it makes quit a bit difference. None the less, we both had a blast even though it was a short little trip around lake hills. It's too bad that after Memorial Day we won't be able to get in to Lake Hills due to the staff checking for "members only." You see, the lake down the street from our house is a private lake that only certain property owners can use. Of course know one enforces their beach and lake policies between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

First Day at Ragged 2008

Well, today was my first day out at Ragged mountain. I met up with Jeff (Dr. Feel Good) and Ben (General Benson) at the Starbucks. The weather was perfect, sunny and in the low 70's with a lite breeze.
It's been all winter since I've done any climbing and needless to say I was a little anxious to lead and since know one seemed to object. Let's see... I took the sharp end first on "Wet Wall." I've yet to do this route the right way. I keep finishing it off on the "knight Move" crack, this time was no different. Ben and Jeff followed with no problem.
"So what do ya"ll want to do next?"(silence) How about "Wish Bone?" They looked stoked to do the route but neither of them was in the mood to lead it either. So I took the lead again. This route is always a little skecthy in the beginning with the crux so close to the ground. Its not until I sling the chock about 20 feet up that I start to relax and start to actually climb the route. The rest of the route I felt strong and confident about every move I made. Like every route I complete on lead, the moment that I throw my hand over the final hold that lets me know you've done it, that feeling of accomplishment, power and relief all overcome me at once. "It's going to be a dam good day." I just wish Ben shared my enthusiasm. It seems that the crux had him grunting and cursing like a trucker, but he powered through it and managed to reach the thank god hold right after the small roof. Jeff on the other hand was tyring to set some sort of speed record and raced up the route like a ladder.

After the grueling 5.6 Jeff wanted to show Ben and I up a little so he chose the "Tower Crack" as his lead. "Wow!" That was an amazing off width crack. I gave Jeff a lot of credit for leading that route. The route was only about 30 feet but it was a very sustained 5.7 with some great moves. That route is defiantly going on my tick list of routes do lead.

Next up, a Ragged favorite, "Broadway." This route always seems to get done every time I visit Ragged. My technique and strength felt good, but I was very disappointed in some of my placements. The most important was the #1 power cam I placed under a flake in the crater. The main reason was because the next couple of moves were the crux, which makes for a heady climb. (translation: heady - scared shitless)

After finishing up on Broadway Jeff and I headed off to find the "May Block." Now I'd only been there once before and it was about two years ago so apparently my memory was not as good as I thought. Of course, if you ask any one of my family members they'd say I can't remember what I did yesterday. We ended up hiking for two hours with a 40lb pack and were way off. By the time we found it we had walked by it twice and were too tired to climb it. So we decided to mark the area better with some stone piles in hopes that next time it would be easier to find.

All in all, I couldn't have asked for a better day or better guys to share it with. I'm hoping we can climb a lot more together this and future seasons.

Stir Crazy in The Gunks

So a couple of my co-workers wanted to try rock climbing...
Of course they really had no idea of what to expect. All I was expecting out of the day was for everyone to have a good time, enjoy the beautiful spring weather, and as always know one getting hurt. The forecast called for sunny sky's and a high in the 70's all day. I couldn't have asked for anything better.

I would expect nothing less of James than to roll out of bed and still be in his pajamas when we met at 9:00 at "Rock and Snow." Me on the other hand had been up since 6:30 and had already packed up our gear and food for the day, stopped by the "Muddy Cup" for a bagel and coffee and was waiting outside R&S for them to arrive. So next up was getting these guys some shoes and helmets. I knew that fitting them for shoes would be interesting... If you've ever worn climbing shoes you'd know that they fit extremely tight and aren't comfortable to wear for more than about 30 minutes or so. I opted for having their shoes on the looser side because I was not about to listen to them whine all day about how their feet hurt. As I would find out later, these two where not whiners and they were more determined than I thought.

And we're off!!!! I had a couple of routes in mind that would be good first time climbs. (Black Fly, Shit or go Blind) But being a busy day at the Gunks and close to the West trapps parking lot, they were already taken. So, "Boston" ended up being our first route of the day. A nice little 5.5 crack climb that I could set up by hiking up to the anchors and rappel down to where Meghan and James were putting their shoes on and attempting to figure out how to put the harnesses on.


Jim was stoked and took the leap to go first, without any knowledge of how to climb this 50 foot crack. Putting total trust in the system and me to make sure that he wouldn't be injured. OK, somethings I just can't prevent... Maybe wearing shorts wasn't the best choice. He scraped up his knees pretty good on the first, second, third, basically on every route his knees took a beating and he just kept pushing on.
I'm pretty sure that everyone has a fear of heights, at least in one form or another, and some people react differently than others. Of course, Meghans' reaction was one that I wasn't expecting. It seems she has an extreme fear of heights that I didn't know about until she completed the first route. The only reason I could tell were from the tears dripping down the side of the cliff. When she got to the top of the route she needed to let go of the rock and lean back, trusting that the rope would lower her safely to the ground. That took a little coursing, but between Jim and I we got her to let go.

Now in true trooper spirit the two of them were ready for our next route, Betty (5.2). Now I could go on and on about the details of every route we did but that would get pretty boring pretty quick. I just wanted to say that I was blessed with a great day of climbing with awesome weather and some new friends. Here are a couple of my favorite pictures from the day.

SNOW!!!!!! Finale....

Well, the last couple of days was a twofer. It was the first time we've been up to Vermont this winter and the first time I'd been able to get out in some real snow. Wednesday we got up to the cabin around 4:00 and besides unpacking, playing in the snow was number one on our things to do list. Jaedyn and I played in the snow till the sun went down and we couldn't dig anymore. We tried making some snow tunnels in the pile at the end of the drive way but it was frozen solid. Needless to say we didn't get too far. The remainder of the night we spent playing "trouble" and relaxing in front of the fire after a nice hearty dinner.

Thursday Jaedyn and I woke up early and had a protein filled breakfast and headed off to the woods for some snow shoeing. She seemed really into it at first but after about an hour she was pooped and bored. A little break was in order and luckily I'd brought just the thing, a comfy seat and some psittacosis. The break was short lived because she was still bored and wanted to go back to the cabin. Oh well, when it comes to kids in the outdoors you have to be flexible. Sometimes they can go forever but you also need to be prepared for them to be unenthusiastic and just want to do their own thing.

Friday was a snowy paradise that beckoned. After Autumn woke up I took off across the road and through the field. I followed the logging trail on the other side of the field down towards the river in town. Of course, when I have the perfect setting for pictures I forget the camera. I'll try to paint the imaginary picture for you... Frozen river, snowy morning, animal tracks to and from the river, snow covered trees and an old train bridge in the background. Yeah, that good.

So after taking in all mother nature had to show me I started to head back. Only I didn't want to take the same way back and miss calculated. So instead of coming out on the other end of the field I came out in between the two Fairbanks houses, three fields up the hill.


This is what time in Vermont is all about. Play hard during the day and relax well at night. Its hard to describe in a word or phrase but there is something that calms and recharges the soul when I've spent time there, whether its been a week or just a couple of days.

Cold Water Kayaking

Today started like most of my days do. Jaedyn wakes me up and we both struggle to get ready and get out the door by 8:30 to get her to school. On a rare occasion I'll I have time to actually put barrettes in her hair or pull it back into pig tails or something. Not today. It was "here, put this hat on, lets go!"

So after dropping her off I left the YMCA parking lot on my five mile run down towards the beach and back. It was approximately 24 degrees when I started and I think that might have contributed to me getting a 38.59, a personal best time. I figured the faster I run the warmer I'll get, and it worked. I just kept the pace going after that. My best time up until today was a 40.50 and that was the Thanksgiving day turkey trot race.

Now ever since I received a new kayak for Christmas I've been using my dad's 7mm wet suit to get in some cold water kayaking this winter. Needless to say it's too big and really warm. So I've been looking for a suit of my own that would not only keep me warm but not restrict the movement of paddling. I found that in the NRS Farmer John 3mm wet suit. Today had to be my coldest day out yet and the suit held up beautifully. I wish that I could have been paddling all day but I feel that if I was out on the water longer than 3 hours I would have gotten really cold. I don't say this because of the wet suit but because of the jacket I was wearing. The columbia wind breaker just doesn't have the water proofing abilities of a paddling splash jacket. (next on my wish list) Although the search for the perfect jacket is still a W.I.P. (work in progress)

Air Temp: 24 degrees
Water Temp: 33 degrees
Water conditions: Calm ocean waves
Trip type: Day

Although I know Autumn would never allow it but I found the cutest little wet suit for Jaedyn so she could come with me. O.k. maybe not when its this cold but in the spring or fall when its still cool it might be a good idea. I figure if I start working on her now, Jaedyn will have one by spring time.