Well, that’s more like it. In the 50s and sunny most of the weekend. November was miserable. Really miserable. Just seemed to be cloudy, cold, and rainy every day. I don’t remember a run of weather like that here ever. Bring on December! All that rain has definitely re-greened things up around here though. Here are a couple green pictures from the backyard.
Went rock climbing at The Cave yesterday afternoon. Blue skies, nice temps (air and rock). Some lingering slippery spots in the shade or near any vegetation. Climbed Age of Consent (5.8), then rapped off of Childhood Injury (5.10B) with the intent to top rope it, but bailed due to water runoff on the rock about half way up. Also pulling quite a bit of rope drag seemingly off the sloping rock just below the anchor. So we scooted to the west and in the dwindling daylight climbed Children of a Lesser Chaos (5.8) and Flake Crack (5.7). Nothing too tough, just happy to be outside in shorts and a t-shirt in December.
Good to see your weather improving as December arrives. I was beginning to think that all of the usual Grand Rapids weather had moved out west!
Seattle’s been getting crushed with rain the past month (1 clear day total in Nov), lots of big system’s moving through the pacific nw, we’re just getting the lingering drizzle that the mountains didn’t absorb.
Love the names of those ascents you tackle. Curious about the stories behind the names. Any interesting climbers’ lore? Good to see you’re out again!
Funny, down here it’s been sunny and in the 70s and 80s every day for the last month, except for last weekend.
The lore I think is pretty much just what was going on the day the first person climbed a route. For example there’s a Tick Wall around here with names like Tick Magnet, 13 Ticks, and Crawling in my Skin. Sounds fun, right? 13 Ticks I think I remember reading was based on a guy falling asleep at the base of the climb while waiting his turn.
FYI Jordan, my long term plan is to get to a point here where I can come down to California for 3-4 weeks every winter, so I hope you’re not planning on moving somewhere cold any time soon.
Perfect– you could come watch my house for me while I go travel some place even warmer!
Deal.