My Rock

I saw this rock by the road and wanted to bring it home but Lee wouldn't let me.

Plastic ice, bluebird skies and a good day of winter climbing!

Behind the ice climbs at Upper Meadow Run, natural lighting.

Winter climbing? It really didn't feel like winter as we stood in the Upper Meadow Run amphitheater in Ohiopyle state park. The warm sun felt good on the face and made for very pleasant climbing. Laura has been sick for the past week and seemed to pass it on to me over the last couple days. She's getting better and I'm now feeling achy and congested. We'd been watching the weather and realized that the end is drawing near and decided to get after it while the getting is good, despite health. The forecast isn't looking that great in the near future. Temps are going to begin to rise and stay above freezing for quite a few days. The ice has been building at an amazing rate since last weekends warm up but this is what I'm assuming is the beginning of the end. Next week may be all we get before the ice becomes unclimbable. Get out and enjoy the great ice here in SWPA this weekend. It may be your last opportunity.

I'm so glad we decided to go out. What a great day of climbing! The warm sun, Ibuprophin and cough drops made the temporary improvements necessary for me to enjoy the day. We started our day off by climbing The Schoolyard pillar which was in great shape on the shaded side. It was very smooth, unlike the chopped out front. The upper section was beat on by the sun and made for little to no protection on slush covered, melted out ice (glad the climbing was easy) up to the Hemlock. Laura seconded enjoying the fantastic ice on the pillar.

Looking down from the belay

Laura finding the "good ice" in the shade

FYI, I've recently placed a rap anchor on the hemlock at the top of the Schoolyard climbs to reduce wear on the tree from everyone pulling the rope after rapping, please do not take the anchor and ring If you need one email me and I'll find a way to get some to you. Enjoy!

Since I was feeling down and Laura was up, she had the opportunity to run quite a few practice laps on the various pillars climbing one tooled, no tooled, etc. to improve footwork and increase efficiency. She had a blast climbing to her hearts content for quite a while.

Laura climbing one tooled, ala Jeff Lowe

With the weather situation looking grim, I figured time was precious. I managed to summon up the energy to get on the project again today. I've been on it about 5 times this season and have been making good progress. Here's some photos Laura took of the route today.

Ray Burnsworth of Wildfilms showed up later in the day to film

a little ice to start

off the ice and starting the business

feels steep at this point

Its a short but powerful line

tool toe cam

moving after the "rest"

exiting onto the pillar

Finishes up on the U.M.P.

After climbing I rapped and left a top rope rigged on the U.M.P. (upper meadow pillar) for Laura to climb. She tied in started climbing up the 35' pillar. She was doing great up through the overlaps that the new ice has created, but the shower pouring down proved to be not worth the climb and she lowered off to avoid becoming completely saturated. Here's a photo of Laura after on a few minutes on the start.

This photo speaks for itself

After drying out in the sun Laura took countless top rope burns enjoying the great ice. Shortly after, we packed up and called it a day. The sun was going down and the chill was setting in. Despite feeling under the weather, Who could ask for more... The climbing and weather were stellar. All while being in the best of company. So did the project go down? Nope (1hang) I hope I have enough weather to put this puppy to bed before the end of season. If not, no big deal. There's always next season and countless other project abound in SWPA. I'm most thankful for such a great late season day. Happy climbing!

Edmunds Headwall and Romance

A pair of climbers took on the Edmunds Headwall last week. They opted for the climbing line after witnessing a fair amount of rockfall off Ptarmigan Ridge and Mowich Face... It seems that the west face of Mt Rainier is melting rather quickly.

On the fun side of things, I found this. It seems that romance for the broken hearted is alive and well on Mt. Rainier. According to Seattle author and dating maven "Breakup Babe" (AKA Rebecca Agiewich,) climbing could be good for your personal life (or not)! Of course, you’d have to read the book to find out how and why. But one fan was compelled enough to carry his copy to the summit. Maybe Ms. Agiewich will send us her Rainier trip reports for public consumption???

The weather looks quite good this weekend; the standard routes seem to be in good climbing shape.

Autumn on Hollow Rock Creek

Lately the weather has been really cloudy and rainy, which generally doesn't make for very good landscape images... unless, of course, you head into the woods in which case overcast skies are a good thing! These images were captured along Hollow Rock Creek, along some areas with some interesting small waterfalls and fascinating rocks (notice the red lines in the rocks on the image below).



(Below: Autumn forest on the banks of Hollow Rock Creek)

The Village of Eastport

Tuesday, September 18th - - So many things are "the eastern-most" thing here in Maine - the eastern-most campground, the eastern-most town, the eastern-most point, etc. The Village of Eastport lays claim to being the eastern-most port in the United States. It was one of the places that I was told that I "had" to visit - a quaint little fishing town that is the epitome of all Maine fishing towns.



What I found was a quiet little town. Quaint, to be sure, with little shops selling a variety of artistic and crafty goods. And, of course, the harbor filled with boats.

Frozen Fog

3 mornings this week we woke to find a strange world of frozen fog. We couldn't see any farther than our own yard. It was as if the world didn't exist anymore beyond our place. It gave a odd, fantasy-like feel to everything. I took some photos but they don't have the true feel that I was getting as I wondered about. Within a few hours the fog was mostly gone but it was still dark, dreary days. It made me want to hybernate instead of getting out to finish my Christmas shopping.

Making Sense of Handling Characteristics

"Hey, so how does it ride?"



It seems like such a simple question. But the more I learn about bikes, the less certain I am how to answer it.As cyclists, our experience expands as we ride more, and as we try different bikes. And our vocabulary expands as we talk to other cyclists, bike mechanics, salespersons; as we read cycling literature, including myriads of bicycle reviews in magazines and blogs.One thing I notice is that while there are default terms used to describe bicycle handling characteristics, these terms are weakly defined - with different persons using them in different contexts.In particular, it fascinates me to navigate descriptions of bicycle stability versus twitchiness.



In reviews I will often read that a stable bicycle "tracks well" or "rides like it's on rails."As I understand this notion, it means that the bike holds its line of travel on its own accord, without the rider having to constantly micro-correct the steering. This is generally considered to be a good thing. But can it be too good? For me, when experienced at high speeds the feeling of the bike being on rails can also make it resistant to turning. And what about going around sudden obstacles? If the bike tracks so well that it resists changing course, would this not present a problem when encountering an unexpected pothole, or when the rider in front of us swerves?



The concept of twitchiness is not so simple either. There seem to be different kinds, and I can think of at least three: There is the "squirrely" twitchiness of a racing bike that makes it hard to controlat slow speeds.This is not to be confused with the twitchiness of low trail - a very different kind of feeling, that gives the rider a more active role in the bicycle's line of travel. There is also the twitchiness associated with a "light front end," regardless of geometry.



Stability can vary with speed. On some bikes there seems to be a linear relationship: The bike will start out twitchy when slow, stabilise at moderate speeds, and "ride like it's on rails" when going especially fast. The faster you go, the more stable it is. Other bikes will be stable at slow speeds and track exceptionally well at moderate speeds, but then level out or even ease up at fast speeds. Other bikes still will handle more or less the same regardless of how fast you ride them.



Whether a bike is described as stable or twitchy, it is hard to know what that means without additional detail, which is not always available. What I wonder is, have there been efforts to maybe create a guideline for both reading and providing descriptions of how a bicycle rides? Without context and well defined terminology, it seems that anything goes and we can easily misunderstand each other's impressions of handling characteristics.