The past few months have been full of adventures of all sorts. I have traveled all over the US for both work and fun; skiing in Idaho, doing astronomy in Hawaii & Arizona, plus a trip to L.A. for a friend’s wedding. I have also been almost completely neglecting to post updates here, sorry!

One side effect of all the adventure is that I haven’t made climbing a priority. Through the middle of May I had one been out climbing once, in mid February (a month during which I should have been skiing!).

It took a trip to Los Angeles to get me back into my climbing shoes. I was headed out there for a friend’s wedding and took the opportunity to spend a few days visiting a friend (Andre) who used to be at UVa but now lives near LA. We spent the first day hiking and then met up with Eileen of rockgrrl.com and her climbing partners for a day of climbing at Malibu Creek.

I was definitely rusty with my technique and weak from several months of not climbing; it took me several climbs to remind myself how to move on vertical rock. I spent the first few tries fumbling around and not moving efficiently. By the end of the day, it started coming back to me…

On my last day in LA, Andre and I stopped into a climbing gym for a quick session of pulling plastic. My technique had recovered but my strength and endurance were still lacking. Less than an hour and my arms were cooked.

Getting two climbing outings was great. It was a wonderful reminder of how much I enjoy climbing. I resolved to get back out and do more climbing. Fortunately the weather cooperated this past weekend, and I was able to go climbing at Wintergreen with David and Kelly. David has been out climbing with me some before, but I wanted to teach him some techniques for multi-pitch climbing in preparation for an outing to Seneca Rocks! Kelly had never been climbing outside before, so this would be her first experience not having colored tape to guide her

We spent most of the day climbing at several areas of Wintergreen. Everyone got to try something new… new techniques for David and Kelly, first time outside for Kelly, and I led a new route I haven’t climbed before. Great day on the rock!

Bonus: Wintergreen happens to have several breweries between it and home, so we celebrated a great day of climbing with a trip to Wild Wolf to sample their brews…

3 climbing outings in less than 10 days; thanks to my climbing partners for making it possible!

Photo sets of the outings:

• My photos from Malibu Creek
• Eileen’s photos from Malibu creek
• My collection from Wintergreen (includes photos from other outings as well)