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.

Mountaineering: Freedom of the Hills

I received my copy of "Freedom of the Hills" as a Christmas gift from my first climbing partner. It was my first season rock climbing, and I had aspirations to start leading outdoors as soon as the winter was over.

This is considered as the "Bible" for mountaineering. I've poured through this book cover to cover my first season of climbing. The knowledge it overs served as the foundation for exploring the mountains. Many climbing and mountaineering trips later, I still find myself referring back to this book once in a while, while planning for the next big adventure. 

This books covers all the essentials of traveling in the mountains.

• Outdoor fundamentals
• Climbing fundamentals
• Rock climbing
• Snow, Ice, and Alpine climbing
• Emergency prevention and response
• The mountain environment (mountain geology)

You can buy a copy of this book here: Mountaineering: Freedom of the Hills: 50th Anniversary