Rock Climbing in
2008
2008 turned out to be a great year for climbing. Despite spraining his
MCL (in his left knee - trying to get over an overhang by using a heel
hook...), and missing 8 weeks, Kerry still got out
onto real rock over 20 times, and climbed with over 10 different
partners. In addition
he had several great ice climbing
trips during the winter. He also had the chance to climb in
several locations up at the Gunks (Trapps, Near Trapps, and Lost City),
along with Allamuchy (in NJ), and two very nice trips to the Delaware
Water Gap (both on the Pennsylvania and NJ sides). In the photo
above you can see Kari, Brian and Tom on "pride rock" up at the Gunks
(on the walk into the Trapps where the Upper and Lower Carriage
roads/trails split)
Kari, Brian and Tom were able to get up to the Gunks this summer and we
had a great time. Included are a few pictures of them on Black
Fly (and the Nice Crack variation):
Geoff and Jen (before their big wedding) also enjoyed a day of climbing
over at Lost City
Neil also made it out with Kerry several times this year. He
experienced his first hanging belay on Hawk (as the photo indicates),
and also can be seen moving
up on Ken's Crack:
.
Jason can be seen on Wrist during one of our Fall climbing days
(actually on Halloween) up at the Gunks
Kerry actually did get some climbing in himself, and he can be seen on
the upper pitch of Annie Oh (at the Trapps) and on the middle pitch of
Andrew:
Kerry also did make it out with Suhda a couple of times, and below you
can see Suhda working on a 5.10 at Allamuchy, and then Kerry and Sudha
at the base of the Practice Wall at Allamuchy:
As mentioned earlier Kerry did get a chance to climb in some different
places (besides just the Trapps up at the Gunks) including the
Delaware Water Gap.
In the next 3 pictures you can see a shot taken from Mt. Minsi (the
Pennsylvania side) that shows Mt. Tammany late in the afternoon; and
Neil, Jason and Kerry at the mid-belay ledge on "Surprise" (on Mt.
Minsi); and then a shot Geoff took of Jason atop of Mt. Tammany
(after we had finished Triumverate) with the Delaware River in the
background:
In addition, we made it over to the Near Trapps several times, and you
can see Geoff on the top pitch of Layback (Sudha led this pitch); and
a nice view from Yab Yab Yum Yum.
From one of the trips to Allamuchy you can see Karry on "Hour Glass"
while Neil belays him, and then a nice view of the Main Wall, with Neil
at the base:
We also had a couple of very interesting days at Lost City (at the
Gunks). In one shot you can see Kerry climbing "old school" style
in his
clunky leather boots, and in the polar opposite of "old school" you can
see Neil and Jason using their Blackberries/phones to set up a
connection and play
scrabble, while waiting under an overhang for a thunderstorm to pass
over us.
Finally, Fall/Autumn is clearly our favorite time to climb, and in 2008
we managed to get out almost ten times during the Fall. In the
two photos
below you can see the famous hair pin turn up at the Gunks (on
Halloween '08) and also a view the Uberfall (the carriage road) in
early November..
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