Trip Report: Hiking the Great Range Traverse and Climbing at Chapel Pond Slab

This past weekend was organized by one of my friends who recently recovered from a severe back injury. As support to her, I agreed to come out and hike the Great Range Traverse in a day with her. Otherwise normally I wouldn't hike. And yes, I'll be the first to admit, I hate hiking because I'm terrible at it, plus it hurts my already achy knees.

As far as hiking resume goes, mine consisted of a few training hikes last year to prep for Mt Rainier - all, by the way, were in the rain. After that, most hikes are just long approaches to some remote climbing. This year, I've only done a few climbs that involved hiking at all.

The Great Range Traverse is approximately 25 miles over 8 peaks. It's considered the 3rd hardest hike in America.

The weekend weather called for rain on Saturday. It didn't sound like a good plan hike given the forecast. But, one of our friends insisted the  show must go on.

We woke around 4:45AM. We checked out, and it wasn't rain yet. So everyone got ready and started off the Roostercomb trailhead around 6AM.

My goal for the day wasn't to complete the entire traverse, but it was to get as far as I could and while being the least wet possible. So a friend and I took off in the dark. We marched on over Hedgehog and to Lower Wolfjaw. It was a little muddy and damp, with a light sparkle here and there. But, the weather mostly head up as we came across the first bail point after the Lower Wolfjaw. It was almost 10AM. We were unsure where the rest of the group were, but decided, we were going to keep moving while the weather was satisifactory and try for Gothics where the next bail point lied. So, off we went, when we heard from a distance, someone calling our names. We waited for two to catch up while the rest of the group bailed. The 4 of us marched on when it started to rain on us, making the trail slick and muddy. Finally we got to Gothics at 1PM and by then, I felt mentally exhausted and was happy to bail. The weather cleared on our 8 mile hike back to The Garden. Finally at 4:45PM, we were in the Garden Trailhead parking with one of our waiting in the car for us. It was the nice and I was so grateful that he did that.

Back at the Ausable Inn with a beer in my hand, trying to drown out the pain in my wrist, ankle and knees, I reflected on the day's events. Everyone was glad to have done something, but everyone was also miserable while hiking in the rain. Compared to my backpacking attempt of the GRT last year, which was also in the rain and we bailed after Lower Wolfjaw, this time around I was pleasantly happy with my performance. Although, I wasn't so sure if I would have had it in me to go another 8 miles, on top of the 16.5 miles we did today, in order to complete the traverse.

The next day, everyone woke late and had a big breakfast over at Noonmark Diner. We discussed over breakfast what the day's festivities be. I decided to go and try the Regular Route (5.5) at the Chapel Pond Slabs. Since my boyfriend didn't come with me on this trip, I felt a tinge of uncertainty. It has been a while since I had to be fully self reliant without knowing fully that there will be someone to back me up if things didn't go my way. My boyfriend's friend came up with me to the trip at the very last minute and would be climbing with me. He has limited multi-pitch rock climbing experience but proved to be a reliable mountaineering partner for my boyfriend.

A friend dropped us off by chapel pond and showed us the start of the climb. I took a quick mental note of the features on the slab, marking off where the route would go and good ledges for belay.

It was 11AM already. With the shorter daylight and we still had a 5 hour drive home that night, my partner was doubting whether we would be fast enough to finish the climb without it becoming an epic.

With only 6 pitches all 5.5 and under, I was fairly confident we would make it down by 5PM. So we racked up and started the climb at 11:30AM. I led the climb from start to finish. The climbing wasn't hard but protection was scarce on pitches 3 and 4. There were moments where the runouts were 40 ft long with nothing but pure friction moves with nothing for my hands or feet to grab onto. I breathed hard through those sections and prayed that the rubber on my shoe was sticky enough.

We topped out around 4:40PM. I was happy and felt stronger mentally, having successfully led the entire climb start to finish. We then skirted around the edge of the slabby cliff to the north descent. Finding our way to the two fixed lines on the steeper wet sections. It was 5:30PM when we got to the bottom back to the car. Our friends had just arrived 10 minutes earlier to pick us up. It was perfect timing. It was a great day of epic free climbing.

48 hours In Joshua Tree National Park

This past weekend, my boyfriend and I, packed our gear and headed out to Joshua Tree National Park.

We only had the two days over the weekend, so to make the most of our time, we caught a Friday night flight after work out of JFK and returned on a redeye Sunday night to be back in NYC Monday morning, just in time for work.

Although we were only away for a short two days, it felt like a good vacation, relaxed, action packed, and lots of variety and exploration.

Added bonus, this trip was intended as a mileage run, since we needed to fly one more time to get bonus points on our airline. The flights worked out to be cheap, as did the car rental.

Friday night, we arrived on a nonstop flight to Burbank, CA. The drive from the airport to our hotel in Yucca Valley, CA was roughly over two hours. Of course, we stopped for some dinner at In-N-Out Burger on the way.

Climbs at JTree are mostly short, one pitched routes. Some are along the side of the road and easily accessed. Others require a slightly longer approach. We tried to keep our first trip out here, a little easier, by selecting climbs in different areas that are easier to get to.

To get a good taste and feel of the area, we started off with Upper Right Ski Track (5.3) at Intersection Rock. Then headed over to The Bong (5.5) on The Blob. We then tried Toe Crack (5.7) before packing up for lunch outside the park at JT Country Kitchen to escape the midday heat.
We would have done more climbs, but we got lost trying to find each of the climbs. Particularly, trying to orient ourselves with Intersection Rock when we first arrived. Probably should have paid attention more to the signs as we were driving by.

After lunch, we wanted to head out to Rock Garden Valley by Lost Horse Road to check off some more moderate climbs. Once again, we got lost, and ended up in Happy Valley. We had no idea where we were until we ran into a guide group who said they were by Altantis (5.7). With only maybe 2 hours left in daylight, we turned around and decided to check out another area closer to the road. So we ended up by the Hemmingway area to climb White Horse (5.7). When we were done, the full moon was rising and the sun started to set. The sky was lit in brilliant colors.

Sunday, we headed back to the park in our quest to find Rock Garden Valley. After some arduous boulder scrambling, we ended up by Swiss Cheese and Lower Rock Valley Garden. We weren't in the mood to boulder hop, to find the Main Wall in Rock Garden. So we settled on climbing Swiss Cheese and The Treat (5.7).

Afterwards, we packed up and headed out for food and showered at Coyote Corner.

With lots of time to spare before our flight, we headed out to Hollywood to see the Hollywood sign. Then we chased the sunset at Santa Monica beach.

Traffic turned out to be horrible back to Burbank for our flight, but we still managed to squeeze in one more stop at In-N-Out before heading home.

Wish List: Patagonia Triolet Jacket - Womens

The other day, I decided to head over to the Patagonia store to check out their new line of clothing for the season. I've been on the hunt for the perfect hardshell jacket for a while now. This year's Women's Triplet Jacket really grabbed my attention.

The Goretex Pro fabric with fully taped seams keep the harshest wet and cold weather out.

The fit of the jacket is a significant improvement from the previous year. The torso is longer with the back of the jacket slightly longer, which helps protect our lower mid section from being exposed to the elements. My biggest peeve are that most women's clothing are cut too short that when we move, bend over, raise our arms up, the jacket no longer covers parts of our mid section. Patagonia finally fixed that problem in this year's model.

The pockets are placed higher closer to the chest to allow the user to wear a harness for climbing and still access the pockets. Everything else is kept simple. Climbers don't need all the bells and whistles that are typical in some other fancy cold weather ski/ snowboard outfits.

Colors this season, are beautiful. The bright reddish pink jacket makes any girl stand out while outdoors.

This jacket is sold at Massey's Outfitters:

Patagonia Womens Triolet Jacket

Trip Report: Yosemite National Park, Labor Day Weekend 2012

Yosemite National Park, is touted as one of the most spectacular places for climbers. The impressive granite rock formations, towering over the valley and meadows... just dare and beckon all the world's climbers to come and test their skills and push their limits here.

My boyfriend and I, along with a group of friends, flew out for the long holiday weekend. With 3 days in Yosemite, we planned to take the first day to acclimate ourselves to climbing in a new area on something easy. Day 2, we would get an alpine start for Snake Dike (5.7) on Half Dome. Day 3, we would do something easier depending on how we felt.

After a late night flight from JFK to SMF, picked up our car rental and drove through the night for Yosemite National Park. We arrived at our campsite in Upper Pines around 4:30AM. Since we had to move campsites that night, everyone made the decision to sleep in the car, rather than unpacking the tents.

We "napped" for an hour before we were awakened to start the day at 6AM. Soon, we found ourselves in front of the trail for Royal Arches (5.7 A0). I looked at my boyfriend and wondered why we were even considering Royal Arches, with 1 hour of "nap" time after a long way from home. The goal of this trip was supposed to be Snake Dike. We had to be back at the camp and getting ready for bed around 4pm on Day 1, so we would be well rested for our alpine start on Snake Dike Day 2. Royal Arches was a 15 pitch climb that is fully committing, and I wasn't sure that we were going to be able to finish the climb in the allotted time to be back at camp. We backed off the climb, while two friends decided to go for it.

Slightly agitated from being woken up and not getting adequate rest, we could have slept in a few more hours for a light day of climbing. However, now, I was stuck with no campsite, no way of sleeping, in the cafeteria, loading myself up with caffeine to stay awake. Then off we went to climb After Six (5.7) and were done at 3:30pm.

So we grabbed the car, and went back to the parking lot by Royal Arches, hoping to find our friends. Unfortunately, we would not find them until 11:30pm that night. Everyone was worried sick, but they seemed to be ok, and have completed all 15 pitches of Royal Arches.

We woke up at 2AM on Day 2 for our alpine start to Snake Dike. Our 6 mile approach to Half Dome was lit by the blue moon that night. We were able to hike without headlamps, and saving the batteries for the potential hike out at the end of the day in the dark. Within the first hour, it became very apparent, that our two friends who just finished Royal Arches the day before, were in no condition to do Snake Dike. They were dragging their feet on the hike in. I consider myself, normally the slowest of the bunch when it comes to hikes, and even I was in front of the pack with my boyfriend. We made frequent stops along the way, to wait for them to catch up.

By the time we reached the Lost Lake, it was already 7AM. We've only completed maybe 4 miles of the approach, and still have the remaining 2 miles with the steepest and most strenuous part coming up. Boy, we were moving too SLOW. Everyone was running out of water, even tho, we've each packed 3 liters plus each, and refilled once at the potable water station on the Mist Trail.

On the sketchy traverse around the base of Half Dome up high, I touched a dead tree, which turned out to be a beehive. And then I found myself being swarmed with bees and being stung. It was the fastest anyone has ever seen me dash across a sketchy traverse/ hike. Even though, I was stung quite a bit, I looked up and Half Dome, Snake Dike was just around the corner. I wasn't allergic to bees, but it did hurt. Refusing to bail and having to backtrack my way back down, I wanted to push on. By this time, it was 9AM and a few parties have already passed us. When we reached the base of Snake Dike, there were at least 5 parties and 10 people ahead of us. It was 10AM, and our two friends have almost no water left. We were looking at the possibility of just making it to the top of Snake Dike just at sunset, with the rest of the "endless" slab to the top of Half Dome in the dark. It would be unsafe.

No one seemed to have their hearts in the climb anymore, so we all turned around and hiked out.

Day 3, we ended up as a light climbing day, and we hit Mungenella (5.6). My boyfriend and I finished the climb in 2 hours and waited for our friends to finish up. We all packed up and started our drive back to SMF to catch the red eye back to New York for work the next day.

Overall, I felt the weekend was wasted and highly disappointing. Afterall, we trekked a long way out for a 3 day weekend on barely any sleep. I was hoping to at least accomplish one thing. Instead, it felt like a long disappointing lazy weekend climbing at home at the Gunks.

After this trip, it was lesson learned... climbing trips are not meant for big groups with different goals and agendas. Goals and plans should have been communicated prior to departure of the trip, to ensure that all parties manage their expectations accordingly.

Trip Report: Wallface and Rogers Rock, Adirondacks, NY

My boyfriend and I, along with 2 other friends, decided to do a weekend climbing trip in the Adirondacks. We planned on hitting Diagonal (5.8) on Wallface on Saturday and Little Fingers (5.6) on Roger's Rock on Sunday.This was the perfect set up to gear us up for our pending Yosemite Trip up Snake Dike on Labor Day weekend.

Diagonal is approximately 3 hour hike in from Henderson Lake in the Adirondack park, and a 7 pitch 860ft climb. The hike for Diagonal is definitely much shorter/ less strenous then what we'll be experiencing on Snake Dike, but it's still long approach and a long climb to make it a nice long day.

The 4 of us arrived late Friday night/ early Saturday AM in parking lot near the Upper Iron Works. We figured, it'll only be a couple hours before we needed to get up and started with our climbing day so we slept in the car. The alarm went off at 6AM and we started to sort through all our climbing gear we needed. That's when I noticed, my climbing shoes were no where to be found. I felt a little bummed/ discouraged and really awful since my boyfriend was really looking forward to climbing Diagonal and checking it off his list. I offered to let my boyfriend continue to hike in with my other two friends and climb, while I just slept and relaxed in the car. But, BF insisted that I at least tried to hike in, and maybe I'll climb in my hiking shoes, or his climbing shoes (which are 5 sizes too big on my feet)....

So... after some persuading from everyone, I silently agreed to hike in and tried really hard not to think about where my missing climbing shoes were and how I was going to finish this weekend's climbs without them.

First part of the hike was really easy and flat, and definitely got much harder and required a little bit of scrambling around some boulders. We were concerned that the trails would be muddy, since the area was supposed to have received some heavy storms the night prior. Luckily for us, it missed this part of the Daks and it wasn't so muddy after all.

Diagonal looked impressive, and I scanned the route and realized, it might be difficult to climb this without my shoes after all. Boyfriend handed over his climbing shoes to me, and started leading up the first pitch in his approach shoes. I gingerly followed up in his over sized shoes, and was sketched out of my mine on a 5.6 pitch already, feeling insecure every time my feet slide around in the shoes. I seriously just considered taking the shoes off and climbing up barefoot the rest of the way.

After making my way up pitch 1. I still wasn't feeling too thrilled about not having my climbing shoes. I was most of all annoyed that this was a pitch I would have easily climbed and led under normal circumstances. And yes, I was really hoping to lead most of the easier pitches and saving the 5.8 pitches for my boyfriend to complete.

So after some discussion, my boyfriend and I fixed the rope to the anchor and rappelled back down to the ground. We left the rope behind for our two friends to take with them so they'd have double ropes for the descent later on.

Grumpily, I hiked back out and headed straight to the Mountaineer shop in Keene Valley. Praying on the way there, they'd have my shoe in my size. Thankfully, they did and it saved my weekend.

That night we headed to the Rogers Rock campground and settled in in preparation for our climb on Rogers Rock.

After a late start on Sunday AM, we finally managed to paddle out on Lake George to Rogers Rock. With one canoe, 4 people and climbing gear, we shuttled 2 at a time and all the gear to the base Rogers Rock. Little Fingers was another climb we chose so that we could practice our slab climbing techniques in preparation for our Yosemite - Snake Dike - Half Dome climb.

Armed with brand new Miuras, which I paid a hefty $171 total for the day before, there was no way I was going to let this climb get away from me now. I slowly racked up, and mentally prepped myself for lead before I took off. It has been a while since I've been back on the sharp end, and it took a little bit of whining on the first 20 ft and mental toughness to get back into the groove again...

Suddenly, I heard my boyfriend call out on the radio, "You're out of rope, you should be at some fixed gear for anchor by now". Gosh, I looked at the remaining gear on my harness, and managed to pull together an anchor using 2 fixed pitons, a yellow C3, and a small nut. Of course, as I was about to put my BF on belay, I dropped my ATC. I prayed again to myself, hoping I remembered my munter hitch. So after rigging the munter hitch belay, and quadruple checking it, I belayed my BF up pitch 1. Of course, he also decided to slip 10 ft before he reached the anchor, and thankfully, the munter hitch worked!

I led up pitch 2 and set up an anchor at an uncomfortable slabby ledge below the overhang. By now my calves were burning and mentally I'm exhausted from leading. Climbing was never hard, being more inexperienced on slab climbing and leading again, slowly chipped at me. I shrugged it all off and focused on staying efficient and keeping things moving. The belay at the top of pitch 2 was so uncomfortable, that I handed the remaining pieces off my harness to my boyfriend and told him to take off and lead the remaining 3rd pitch.

We topped out the last pitch and waited for our friends, climbing in a separate team to finish before rappelling back down on double ropes.

The canoe ride back, the boys decided that there will be no shuttling. So they blew up the Donut/ Tube and tied it to the back of the canoe. The girls were handed a life jacket and they dragged/ towed us through the Lake back to our car.

It was definitely not way I expected the trip to turn out. But, after this, I am definitely always going to check for my climbing shoes before leaving home.

Feeling Hung Over After Climbing?

Two weeks ago, I was in New Hampshire, putting in a 11+ hour day to bag the Northeast Ridge of Pinnacle on Mt Washington. This was a long day, after driving 7 hours after work the night before and sleeping 4 hours. I still woke up the early the following morning after climbing Pinnacle, feeling great, as every twenty-something-year-old should feel the next day. No hint of soreness, or fatigue. My friends, who are much older, didn’t feel the same way.

This last weekend, my boyfriend and I went up to the Gunks for a day of trad climbing. For us, the Gunks is a short 1.5 hour drive and we normally drive up in the morning after a good night’s the night before. We had a lazy day, only completing at most 400 ft worth of climbing, with all climbing easily accessed off the road. I woke up the morning after, feeling like a hung over old lady. My muscles were sore, stiff and fatigued. I felt depleted and beaten up, that I had to take 2 Advil’s to make it through the first half of the day.

Pinnacle, by far, was a much tougher day then a lazy day at the Gunks. So what happened? Why such a dramatic difference in how my body feels?

Dehydration, played a big role in this regard. The weather, when we climbed Pinnacle, was cool with temperatures around 50-60s. At the Gunks, it was a sweltering high 80s-90s, with such humidity so high, the air felt thick. Both days, I’ve packed about 3 liters of water.

A few tips, I’ve learned from a few experiences on staying hydrated to avoid the morning after hang over feeling:

• Stay hydrated at least the day or two before. 

• The night before make sure you have drink enough liquids before bedtime. In the morning, drink another cup or two of water as soon as you get out of bed.

• Keep a liter in the car on the way to your climb and another liter waiting for you in the car after the climb

• Pack minimum 2 liters of water. For longer or hotter days, your water intake should be 3-4 liters. 

• If your trip requires keeping weight down, plan ahead for water sources to refill your water bottles. Bring a filter or water treatment chemicals. 

• Electrolyte drops are a great way to help the body retain fluids.

• For climbs with long approaches, carry a camelback or a water hydration bag that allows you to sip water on the go without having to stop often for water breaks. 

Here are some products I currently use for staying hydrated outdoors (you can purchase them on Moosejaw):

CamelBak Antidote Replacement Reservoir

CamelBak Elixir 12 Tablet Tube Pack

MSR Miniworks EX Microfilter

Nalgene Tritan Water Bottle

Katadyn Micropur MP1 Purification Tablets

Don't Call Me Badass, and It's Not a Competition

"BADASS" is not the first word that comes to mind at all, when I'm climbing, snowboarding, in the mountains, or on a cliff, out in the wilderness somewhere. In fact, I don't fee "badass". Most of my trips, I'm sketched out of my mind, freaking out. My legs are shaking, body's burning. I can barely catch my breathe. I'm sweaty, dirty, and smelly. My hair's all matted up, and tangled. Some trips, I haven't bathe or seen a real bathroom in a day or two. My nose drips when it's cold outside and I don't even have enough tissue paper to wipe it off..Let's face it, I would have been more comfortable at home.

Yet, I love what I do. It's not so I can brag to my friends about my adventures. It's not about how many mountains I've climbed, what routes I've ticked off, not even about what grade I can climb. It's not about "first's". There will always be someone else is better, faster, more experienced - and it's not my mission to compete.

It's about being free, and outdoors, and seeing where I can go and end up.  It's my journey, to see a part of the world and understand it's beauty. There's always a grand feeling when you are above the clouds and see the valley below, with the birds flying next to you. It's the smell of fresh pine and feeling the crisp cool stream.