Bunny Climbing 4-24-2011

The Basics:
Stone Mountain is in North Carolina. It's an hour and a half west-ish from King, where I live. Max and Christy are climbers that I met at Pilot Mountain and again at the climbing gym. We've been coordinating climbing together here and there, and they invited me to go climbing with them at Stone Mountain. This was advertised as a multi-pitch climb, (whatever that is, I thought) and I needed to bring my rope. This little adventure was also planned to happen on Easter Sunday.






Before the Climb:

Max

 

I was excited about this event all week. I've been climbing outdoors since early February (North Carolina weather is amazing) at Pilot Mountain, but that was a short drive and moderate hike to a very accessible climbing area. No big deal, leave whenever.

This trip was an event, all day, full dedication, every person is important and integral to the climb. When you stop, you stop in the middle of the face of the mountain. To mark this occasion, I decided I needed to get little Easter things for myself and fellow climbers. I bought sheets of foam and headbands to make bunny ears. I imagined us, as bunnies, climbing this mountain as an amazing absurdist statement. I wasn't sure if they'd go along with it, but it was worth a shot. I knew I'd have a good time regardless.

Christy

 

The morning of the climb I packed up my sandwiches, trail mix and gear and headed to town, to meet them at a grocery store parking lot. They rolled up moments after I had parked. Perfect. I transferred my pack to their car and presented my bunny ear idea. They were all for it!

We drove and chatted, the drive made short by good company. We arrived at Stone Mountain's parking lot and sorted through our stuff, putting on harnesses and weeding out anything we didn't need. Equipped with a backpack each and bunny ears, we walked up the road, through a settlement-historical attraction, filled out our climber form and prepared to climb.

Max Leading

First Pitch:
The plan was to have Max lead climb to the first pitch. This stretch of climbing ended in a place called the "Tree Ledge". We went up "Block Route" meaning there is a block you have to climb on top of to make it up. Once he was over the block, he would then anchor himself to a tree, set up a simple pulley system, and belay me while I climbed up, dragging my rope behind me. Then, I would anchor in, belay and Christy would follow on my rope.

Max Belaying

The first part of this went along swimmingly. Max made it up to the tree ledge with a little nervousness, but was successful. I sorted out my shoes and pack and tied myself into the two ropes. The climbing is "slab" climbing. Usually when people think of climbing, they think of wall climbing which goes straight up. Slab climbing is closer to climbing a 45 degree ramp, with much more subtle holds.

Me climbing, Max belaying

Each slight indent in the rock became an essential foothold. The entire climb was on my toes, hands trying to palm the rock face in front of me. Once I got past the tree, the nearly smooth expanse seemed not to have any clear paths. I followed a seam in the rock off to the left, away from my destination. I kept getting higher up the face, but no closer to the tree ledge. I stopped and asked where I should be going. I had wandered off-route. I reassessed and worked my way over toward the block. Suddenly, I was struck with nervousness and fear. "My shoes won't hold. I'm going to slip." No matter what I did, I couldn't get these thoughts out of my head. As I stalled on the face Max tried to take up the rope, tugging at me to continue. I began to move again, but misstepped and slipped, penduluming at the end of the rope, sliding across the rough stone, scraping skin off, and somehow, riding my backpack most of the way until I managed to stop. Christy says it was only at this point, when I had finished my ride, did I scream "Fuck!"

FUCK!

My heart was racing and I felt shaky. I wanted to sit for a moment, but I still was not directly under my rope. Max and the rope were up and to my right. If I were to sit back on the rope, I'd continue my swing even further down. I had to keep going. My climbing partners asked if I was okay. I got my footing again, trying to kneel to get back on my feet, but finding my knees had been scraped raw, and resumed climbing. I cheated a little and grabbed the rope when the rock seemed to be too vague to get a good grip. When I got to the block Max had to pull me up with the rope. After that it was a short walk to the tree ledge. I clipped into the tree that Max was anchored into and sat for a moment. "Can you belay for Christy?" I didn't feel like I should do anything that important just then. Max agreed, switched ropes, and belayed Christy while she climbed up.

Max belaying for Christy while I recovered.

While Christy made her way to the ledge I sat and recovered. Eventually I pawed through my pack to retrieve water. When packing for the trip the night before I opted not to bring my first aid kit. I never used it anyway. Ha! Instead I pulled out trail mix and half a sandwich to eat. After Christy joined us we sat for a bit, enjoying the day. I'm pretty sure they both thought I'd want to go back, but I was determined to make it to the top. They had also said that each pitch was easier than the last, and we had just climbed the hardest part.






Second Pitch:

Looking up the Great Arch

Max Climbing...

I was getting ready to pack up everything when I realized I had hand sanitizer and napkins. I squeezed out a bit and dabbed it on my raw, bloody knees. Ouch. Nothing like alcohol on raw flesh to get you motivated. We left two of the packs at the tree ledge, figuring that only climbers would happen by, and they wouldn't take anything. With food and gear in the last pack, we started the next pitch, Max leading, me following and trailing rope, Christy bringing the pack.

...Me Belaying

Climbing the crack

Climbing the second pitch was very different from the first. Our route, called "The Great Arch" followed a stone wall on our left, about nine feet tall all the way to the top. The second pitch ended at some bolted anchors midway up. There were no other features to distinguish this stop. Max ascended, then I climbed up. This climb was all about finding the subtle footwork again, but also using my hands to grab the bottom edge of the wall, where there was a pretty consistent crack, and using this opposing force between hands and feet to make it up the route. It was pretty straightforward, with only a few points the crack seemed hard to hold. I got to the top, hooked into the anchors, and belayed for Christy. Belaying while standing on a smooth rock face is pretty interesting. You have to make sure you're fastened into the anchors well, then just sit back in your harness and focus on your climber. While belaying you also need to find a way to dress the rope so it won't get in the next climber's way. I piled the rope across my feet as Christy ascended. When she got to the top, I kept the rope tight while she clipped in. Once she had tested her clips and felt secure, I relaxed.

Belaying on the Second Pitch

Third Pitch:
Max began climbing almost as soon as Christy got to the clips. We sorted out logistics and off he went. He climbed up, around an outcrop of rock and we lost sight of him. We could still shout back and forth though. For this round Christy belayed Max, then went up second, while I stayed behind and followed her rope and carried the pack. Going last is not as fun. There's a lot of waiting and wondering what's going on up there. As advertised, this pitch was a little easier than the last. As we neared the top, the angle became less extreme. Once Christy was safely at the top of the third pitch, they shouted down and I began my climb. It was similar to the previous one, with the outcrop being the only odd bit. The top of this one, not visible from the previous pitch, was a set of bolted anchors on the wall next to a scrawny pine tree. It was sapling sized, but likely very old. How it managed to grow amid all that stone is remarkable. We waited at this pitch slightly longer than the last. I think it was because there was shade, finally. We sorted out the ropes, made sure nothing was tangled, and Max set off again.

Fourth Pitch:

Christy at the Third Pitch

The top of the fourth, and last, pitch was not visible from the third. Max climbed up, around a crest of rock, and was gone. We waited, shouted, and tried to figure out what was going on. The wind was much more active this high up, but quite refreshing. Between gusts and breezes, we decided he was ready. I tied in, had the other rope trailing, and began climbing, making sure Max was keeping tension on the rope as I went. This climb became laughably easy. After the first third of the climb, the mountain evens out and the wall to the left becomes a shelf. Instead of reaching down to grab the edge, I was standing and using it like a railing, but grabbing the underside of it. I simply walked the rest of the way, unclipping the rope I was belayed on, and clipping in the rope behind me for Christy. The top of this pitch had another stand of trees at the center of the wall's termination. we climbed up, then headed left into the trees to belay from there. After a bit of speculation and discussion, we figured out when Christy was ready and I belayed for her as she climbed. She made it, we tidied up our ropes and things, and headed for the top, leaving most of our gear at the trees for the descent.

The Summit Hike:

A silly little climb up the top of a giant ball. We emerged from the mountain face, still wearing harnesses and climbing shoes to the wonder of the people that had taken the park's trail to the summit. They were amused, astounded, awed. It felt pretty awesome. We climbed up until there was no more up to climb and sat down for a picnic. I switched shoes, trading climbing shoes for sandals. We put on our bunny ears and had some of the hikers take our picture. After food was consumed, we walked back to our stuff. I stayed in sandals for this part, it was pretty tame. It was at this point my ankle really started hurting. I knew there was nothing any of us could do about it, so I just tried to be gentle. I knew we would be down soon.

What goes up...:

Waiting at the bolts as Max and Christy Rappel

To get down from the mountain was a breeze. We gathered our things, tied the ropes together, threading them through the rings, and used our belay devices to rappel down, two people on single ropes, then the last one on both ropes. We would rappel down, clip in, then wait for the other person to make it down. Instead of using the route that we climbed, we veered to the right toward a set of rings that was clear from any obstructions. Because Stone mountain is so slopey/slabby gravity didn't pull us down very fast. We had to feed the rope through at points, and really lean back on our harnesses to go anywhere. Quite a gentle rappel. Max did part of it in his socks.

Me and Christy Rappeling down

We made it to the Tree Ledge and found the two packs we had left there, then rappelled down the last stretch. To get back to the car we had to hike over boulders to the trail, then through the homestead-historical site, then along a gravel road, and then we were there. I finally started complaining about my ankle, and allowed myself to limp and gimp along the closer we got to the car. We piled our gear and ourselves into the car, feeling exhausted and accomplished.

Post Climb:
We made it to a gas station and enjoyed their snacks and refreshments thoroughly, sat on a picnic table outside and speculated about the motorcyclists that passed. We drove back, chatting, maybe a little less energetically than the beginning of the day, and made it back to King. All of us were hungry, so we ate Mexican at Mi Pueblos. With that energy boost from food, we sorted out our packs, trying not to steal each other's stuff, and parted ways.

Assessment:
At the end of the day I had two scraped knees, a funny sunburn in the middle of my back, a swollen ankle, and a fabulous experience with countless stories to tell, not to mention two awesome friends.

Sock Cthulu

Inspired by http://www.nostarch.com/snipburn.htm
Made a sock Cthulu, made a few modifications.
-Used knee socks

-created arms from top part of second sock

-trimmed toe of second sock to make the head a little smaller

-added a contrast lining to mouth tentacles

-amazingly sweet wings.

If you'd like to make one here are the lessons I've learned:
-when sewing around wire with a sewing machine, make sure you have a zipper foot.
-check your seams
-it's okay to trim things down. the legs got really long, and the crotch could have been higher.
-make sure everything is placed the way you want it before sewing it together. (I'm not telling what I messed up, but it's there...)

And...
Cthulu is adorable.

snyder texas

Is a small town. The highlight of the trip through was a billboard for a laudromat called "Wash Happening".

I stayed in a dirty motel equally distant from the nothing going on in town. After checking in, I ventured out to the tiny liquor store across the parking lot. Maximum capacity was probably 7 people. The beer and boxed wine combined with the shady looking guys hanging around convinced me that I wanted nothing they had. I went back to my room and enjoyed that security. I watched tv, camped out with my laptop and had a quiet evening in.

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Santa Fe Festivities- Day 1

The first night visiting the New Mexico Putnams we had dinner together. Aunt Vickie, Uncle Pat, cousin Mat and his girlfriend Claire and I all had salad and spaghetti with shrimp. After dinner the kids went out to a bar/trash disco club called La Rouge Cat. There were drinks, martinis and dancing. I danced with a gentleman named J. We tore up the dance floor. Having thoroughly enjoyed our night, we went home (Mat and Claire to his place and me to the folks) and crashed.

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Houston- still being edited

Day 1: (Monday) arrival. Called aunt Joy and managed to navigate to their house. It's a great neighborhood with planned walking paths, community center and pools. Joy was at the store when I arrived, so I played with their awesome little dog, Beau. When Joy got home, she pointed me at their pool control panel and asked me to use my youthful tech-savvy to fix their pool heater. After meditating over the manual for a few minutes, I decided there was something mechanically wrong. We went outside to check it out, found a disconnected wire, reconnected it and fixed the pool! Later we baked cookies and they were delicious. Uncle Jim returned from a conference in New Orleans. The same conference that I had run into while visiting New Orleans.

Day 2 (Tuesday): Enjoyed a morning walk with Joy around the planned walking paths and a great yogurt-granola-fruit salad breakfast. Joy came with me to be a Houston tourist. I had read about the Miller outdoor theatre, which is free and open to the public. Tickets were being released at 10am, so that was our first stop. The show was the Bayanihan Philippine National Dance Company. We saw the show later that night. We went to the health museum which had all kinds of giant body parts and interactive time lapse photo exhibits. There were some that showed the effects of bad habits over time, and some that changed a person's race and gender. After that museum, we were a little pooped, so we decided to head back to the house, but first, we visited the local farmer's market, which Joy had never been to before, anywhere! There were great booths with lavender, cheese, sandwiches, baked goods and honey, among other things. We returned to the house and thoroughly enjoyed the pool. That evening, we went back into Houston to see the Bayanihan Dance show. My favorite number was when a group of men came out with coconut halves strapped to different parts of their body, then used the coconut halves on their hands to hit the others and perform a percussive dance.

Day 3(Wednesday): Culturemap, Houston's place to find out what's happening, was founded by Nic Phillips. After getting in touch with Nic I had an invite to an event called "Ignition". This was where a Chinese gunpowder artist named Cai Guo-Qiang created artwork on panels to be installed at the Museum of Fine Art Houston. He created a design, painted it with gunpowder, and this event was the actual lighting of the gunpowder. I did not get a chance to go the the actual site, but I was able to go the the simulcast show at Saint Arnold's Brewery. In anticipation of this event, I wanted to shop for something fun and fancy to wear. Joy and I went to the Goodwill Select and went shopping. It was pretty great. I got some awesome fancy duds. After Goodwill, we went to a Mexican "dive" as Joy said. It was pretty good and they were really nice. We retired back to the house. I took a nap and then got fancy for my evening out.

I got ready for Ignition, and headed out to St Arnold's brewery. the event was taking place on the second floor. I went up to the counter by the door and actually got to say "I'm on the list". I was then handed a little beer glass, maybe a half pint? In the bottom of the glass were four plastic tokens, yellow with gold writing. These were the drink tokens. Additionally, there were sushi and cupcakes. It was an unusual combination, but quite tasty. the hall was set up with four long rows of tables and three projection screens along the walls. these screens were simulcasting the event. It took much longer to finish the final preparations for ignition then expected. While enjoying food and drink, I met a girl named Michelle and a guy named Mahek. We chatted and there was talk of weekend plans. We all exchanged numbers. As soon as the piece was lit, the staff of Saint Arnold's ushered the crowd out. Mahek was intent on heading to a bar called "The Grove", so we carpooled there. The event he was looking for had ended by the time we got there and my company left to get some rest. I contacted Nic and met him at a bar called Anvil. This place is known for their mixology. Every drink is a work of art and alchol. I got some sort of special with berries in it and chatted with Nic and a friend of his. I have forgotten his name, but he was delightful. After a bit of water, I headed back to Joy and Jim's. There I found Aunt Joy awake, saying she was trying not to worry and was about to send a text. I shared some of my adventures and we both headed to bed.

Day 4:(Thursday) I wore my new thrift store dress and headed out to visit the office of Culturemap. There I met with Nic again and he gave me a tour of the office. It's a nice open layout with lovely wood floors. It looks like a nicely converted warehouse space. Nic also gave me a pass to the butterfly house in the Houston museum of natural science. butterfly, Rothko, byzantine fresco chapel museum, cy twombly gallery, MFAH cafe, CAMH triangle, leftover mexican

Day 5: (Friday) Jim's office at MonoFlo. Post office, HEB, Bank, airport-Dan and Katie, bbq-spring creek, new gmail account

Day 6: (Saturday) biscuits and choc. gravy. beer can house, orange show, cookies, late night run to the HEB, pool, bike

Day 7: (Sunday) french toast, walk, bikeride, pool, Chuy's tex-mex, fashion show, gander mtn, rei, girl shopping, pack. go.

terrible traffic, sprawing sprawl, "quintessential big city" -Jim Putnam

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Camping with Alligators

Lake Charles is a small community. In the car I started playing a game where I would hit the scan button on the radio and get a general survey of what the locals had to listen to. Lake Charles had very few stations, and what they did have was religious, country or sports. Bible belt.

It was a bit difficult to convince the GPS that there was a campground nearby, but once that was accomplished, I made my way in the blinding sunlight that greets the evening westward traveler. Sam Houston Jones campground was my home for the night. It was dark when I finally found where the tent sites were and began setting up my sister's tent for the first time (oops). With minimal gnashing of teeth and only a little swearing, I had a tent, cot and blankets, with my sleeping bag nearby, just in case. I thought I would blog or something, but I snuggled with my phone and dropped off to sleep instead. I woke shivering and realized they did have cold this far south. After furious debates about how cold it would be to get the sleeping bag versus just lie there in my blanket, or maybe just pack up and drive somewhere, I finally sat up and switched coverings. My sleeping bag is awesome. Just before leaving Detroit I found it at an Army Surplus store. It's a -20 F bag. This was my first time using it, I was amazed and relieved and went back to sleep.

In the morning (for real this time), I packed up, but decided to check out the park before leaving. What I thought were low valleys beside the road were swaplands and ponds. There were signs everywhere stating "Alligators in Area" which was charmingly alliterative. I saw three blue herons, a bunch of sleeping ducks, and a bridge crossing over a swamp/pond. It was very different from anything I'd seen before.

I did not see any alligators.

And then camping was over.

New Orleans-Day

After waking up in a luxurious bed, I ate at the hotel's breakfast and packed up. I decided I couldn't travel all that distance without spending a little more time in the Big Easy. With the car packed and the sun up, I headed back into town.

I parked near the WWII museum and decided to walk around from there. Being a cheapskate, I checked out the gift shop but decided to skip the museum (and the admission). From there I set out on my quest for beignet from the Cafe Du Monde. I understood that they were a sort of doughnut and it sounded like a good midmorning snack.

It was a hearty walk across town. On the way I chatted with a fellow from Australia. He was walking along the sidewalk just ahead of me, and when I caught up to him I struck up a conversation. We walked as far as the cafe, then parted ways. The Cafe Du Monde was packed. There was a line for people to dine in, and a line for carryout. I lined up for carryout and began chatting with the ladies that lined up after me. They were part of of a tour group but seemed very unwilling to share. I turned around and waited for my powdered sugar goodness. While waiting we were treated to a tuba performance. My order of sweets was quickly in hand and I set off for a little more exploring before moving on.

Checking the phone map, I set a course roughly back towards my car, but along the river side of Decater Street. I got as far as Jackson square and found a breakdancing show about to begin. The show was taking place across the street from Jackson square in a stone amphitheater built facing the street. The three performers took awhile to rally the crowd and draw in as many people as they could. They made fun of people and cars, joked about being just out of prison and were generally hilarious. They said their previous jobs were "being in your house when you're not." Later, when they were accepting donations they'd say "your house is safe, your house is safe..."

After the show I headed back to my car, feeling like I got a true taste of New Orleans. When I was almost at my car, I saw something in the distance and took another detour. There was a great painting of a whale on the side of a building, it may have been the aquarium. There was also the Riverwalk mall. I headed toward the mall, considering getting something real to eat, but instead oohed and ahhed the fancy sea-themed decorations. On the way out I noticed a steady stream of people with matching bags and lanyards. It seemed a convention was in town. I debated going in and trying to snag some swag, but first, I had to know what it was. I stopped a gentleman with a lanyard and asked. It was a wastewater management convention. I decided to pass.

I got back in the trusty fit and programmed in a location halfway between New Orleans and Houston, a small Louisiana town called Lake Charles. The plan: Go camping.