Summertime Radness: A sunny day at Rocktown

Remember how in my last post, I declared Little Rock City “my second-favorite bouldering spot?” Well, my first-favorite is Rocktown*. And after shredding my fingertips and ego bouldering at LRC, I was aching to get back to Lafayette**.

So on Thursday, I posted this Facebook status:

I didn’t expect it to work; most people seem to prefer air-conditioned gym climbing to summer bouldering. But I just had to go, and I hoped against hope to entice a carful of others dying to slide on slimy slopers in the Georgia heat.

And I did! Five folks wanted in on the foolishness, and although two of them backed out to nurse injuries (:(), at 5 a.m. on Sunday, my workweek dreams came true.

And this time, I wasn’t the only girl! Sitting with me in the backseat of Elliot’s car, listening to NPR’s Radiolab and also enduring the poorly prepared coffee struggle, was Lucy, Active Climbing’s favorite 13-year-old. It was her second outdoor trip ever, and I was psyched for her to try out some of the South’s finest sandstone.

Read Lucy’s take on the trip here!

After my Pancake Mantle meltdown at LRC, I went into this trip knowing it wasn’t a day to throw myself at anything. Psych was high, but expectations were low — the right balance of attitudes for a humid day of sloper-slipping.

Still, I couldn’t just walk past my projects! So we got on Trouble (V3), Isle of Beautiful Women (V4), Screaming Church Girls (V4), and Golden Showers (V5). Lucy made quick work of Trouble, and I alllmost topped it out like, nine times, but nothing else was gonna go. So we goofed off on 1s and 2s (some of which were still not gonna go) until our tips were raw. And it was so fun! Supastrong Chris even lead the way, finding easy climbs in my (brand new!) guidebook and seeking them out.

Chris worked a V7 for a while too. That's probably kind of like us working 2s?

It was weird seeing Rocktown so empty. We ran into just two other climbing groups, and only one dog, a sweet golden retriever named Veda. I took Lucy over to the Super Mario boulder, wanting to get her on its eponymous V3 (and try out Luigi and Yoshi myself), but the area had turned into fire ant territory, and there were cobwebs all up in dem holds.

Real life desertion.

So we played on jugs some more, destroyed our tips, and left for Athens. Now Lucy and I have a girls’ trip in the works with Caroline & co., and I can’t wait to use my newly purchased group pass when the friction gets good.

Oh, and also — my hair looked awesome on Monday. Remember how I gave up shampoo in July? Well, I think my hair is finally pulling through the adjustment period. I’m active enough that I have to do the baking soda and vinegar thing pretty often, but Sunday night, I didn’t even do that because a.) my fingers hurt too much and b.) it looked...fine. And even the following night, after only a rinse in 36 very active hours and a five-hour deli shift at work, it was shiny and voluminous and not gross at all. No 'poo for the win!

*~*~Footnotes~*~*

*First-favorite of the places I’ve been, that is; I’ve been told Horsepens 40 is magical, and I can’t wait to see it this fall.

**Pronounced “Luh-FAY-it;” #southernswag

V2 Tears: My pancake lament

Unrelated Soddy-Daisy sky shot

I hate Pancake Mantle.

If you haven't heard of it, Pancake Mantle is a V2 at Little Rock City (aka Stone Fort), my second-favorite bouldering spot. It is this goofy climb that requires you to pull yourself up onto this pancakey piece of rock and mantle/thigh-scum/desperately butt-hop to the top-out. It's like, three moves, and everybody thinks it's oh so funny and is like, "Have you tried Pancake Mantle LOL it's so funny right OMG you should do it right now DO IIIT" every time I'm at LRC.

Oh, yes. I've tried the insidious 'cake.

I'm gonna call myself a solid V3/V4 climber, but I cannot do Pancake Mantle. I've tried on four occasions, and I simply can't pull myself onto the pancake. Which I suppose isn't that surprising because I can't do a pullup on a bar either, but like, it's a V2, man. IT'S A V2.

So when I made an impromptu trip to LRC on Sunday with Evan and our friend Matt, I maybe should have passed Ole Cakey and just kept walking. But instead, I turned back to confront the enemy. And then I attacked it for thirty minutes, scraped my arm up, didn't send, and started to cry.

That's right. I cried at Pancake Mantle. "BUT IT'S A VEE TEWWW," I shudder-wept at Evan. I compared it to the myriad V3s and V4s I've worked that are "S-SO MUCH EASIER. IT'S NOT FUH-AIR. HOW IS THIS A VEE TEWWW?" I wavered between accusing the surely burly dude who probably graded this problem of taking his upper body strength for granted and not really knowing the life of a V2 climber and lamenting that I should be able to do any 2, 'cause I've been climbing for a year, man, and 2s are a thing of last July. After sitting on a rock and pouting/sniffling/breathing deeply for a while, I reluctantly moved to where the guys were working some V5 dyno and pouted over there instead. I felt better after sending Rib Cage (V3), which I'd projected before, but the feeling of Pancake Failure stayed with me.

But you know what? I need to get over it. Pancake Mantle is obviously not my style, and there are lots of problems that throwing myself at would actually be fun and productive. And although my pullup inability is definitely an obstacle to be overcome, the only reason this problem is so upsetting to me is because of that silly number.

'Cause really, in some ways the numbers are silly, and pretty subjective. Sure, V points are a good way to measure your general progress, but there's a lot more to climbing than grade-hopping. Here are some things I can do now that I couldn't do before I started climbing:

- open doors on campus with one arm instead of my entire body weight (gonna call this a V1 move)

- pour sugar with one hand on the bag and no spillage (V2)

- pick up industrial-sized bean cans with one hand (def V2)

- make it to the Kroger checkout without trading my produce basket for a buggy (V1/V2, depending on what's in season)

et cetera.

Also, some projects I will probably send before I get Pancake Mantle ('cause I will get it someday):

- Two Can Sam (V3, LRC)

- Swingers (V4, LRC)

- Super Mario (V4, LRC)

- Trouble (V3, Rocktown)

- Screaming Church Girls (V4, Rocktown)

- Isle of Beautiful Women (V4, Rocktown)

- Golden Showers (V5, Rocktown — I mean, maybe.)

Text break!

The rest of the day was pretty nice in spite of my breakdown and the 92-degree heat. The guys had a better attitude than I did and climbed fun stuff below their grades after working Red House (V7) for a bit. The coolest part for me, though, was all the critters that were out! We saw so many caterpillars. Also, salamanders (I think), but they were camera shy.

Anyway, next time I'm at Little Rock City, I'm heading straight to my projects. I may give Pancake Mantle a few courtesy tries, but if the send isn't imminent, I'll shrug it off and move on to Super Mario.

Pictures!

Same photo, different bro. #sorrynotsorry

Oh, yeah! And I changed the blog name to Eat & Climb, because well duh. And now I'm domain-name legit.

Coconot about climbing

I, like most people, love food. Specifically, healthy food that tastes good and doesn't cost oodles of money. Unfortunately, I am a beyond-broke college student, and what's affordable to some folks is oodles to me.

But fortunately, I work in a health food store. And last week, when I decided to wander the aisles during my break instead of reading/moping/napping in the café like usual, I came across Laughing Giraffe's "Snakaroons." I'd tried a vanilla one once on a climbing trip and been unable to find them since (even at Earth Fare). But there they were, smiling at me from the end of the chocolate shelf — and they were on SALE. Like, half off. Plus 20% off. So they were like…70% off? I don't think that's how that works. #math

SO I BOUGHT SOME AND I INSTAGRAMMED THEM

Anybody know how to get IG screenshots the way Buzzfeed does? They don't even look like that on my phone. But I wannaaa

Anyway, I've been snacking on these all week, and as I came closer and closer to emptying the precious bags, I thought I'd try to create my own.

(What was left of) the originals:

The version I came up with, after much trial and error and a last-ditch freeze job, is much less organic and even more fatty than the Laughing Giraffe 'roons. Basically, I started with the five basic ingredients listed on the packages:

Some of it's organic! And I got the coconut supacheap in Costa Rica. #culture #maxipali

But by the end of the thing, I had added another bag of coconut, crushed-up pecans, and cashew butter (organic! #saleshopper).

Which means they were nuttier than I was hoping for, but still delicious. Next time, I will probably try to get them to stick together without cashew butter, I'll do less agave, and I may leave out the salt altogether. Still, the pecans were a surprisingly good complement to the coconut in lieu of almonds (which we actually had, but they would have required me to walk ten feet instead of reaching into the cabinet behind me, so).

The finished candy:

Juxtaposed:

The real thing on the left, my thing on the right.

Now, I won't attempt to convince you that these sweet 'n' fatty lil cocoballs are super healthy. BUT if it's these or a slice of Kroger cookie cake, your body will thank you for choosing the 'roons.

Trapped in the bunkers

For some reason, whenever I talk about Foster Falls to my non-climbing friends, I tell them it's this beautiful place in North Carolina. Every time. But it's definitely in Tennessee. I don't think I've ever climbed in a Carolina. Yet even when I'm AT the Falls, I forget I'm in Tennessee. Maybe Boone is calling?

Anyway, Foster Falls is quickly becoming one of my favorite climbing spots. I learned to toprope and to lead there (way back in April), and there are tons of moderates near the big kid routes, and the approach doesn't suck, and everything is beautiful.

So I was pretty excited last week when my boyfriend Evan asked if I wanted to go on Sunday. Uh, YES. Even better, we got a big-ish group of mixed-level climbers to come, AND we met up with some Athens ex-pats while we were there.

It was already hot at 10 a.m., because it's summer and this is the South. But too-hot is better than too-wet! We split up, and my group warmed up on "Ankles Away" (5.9). Once again I found myself questioning by the second bolt why anyone would ever want to lead climb anything. But then I finished it and was like, "THIS ACTIVITY IS SO FUN!" We moved onto — I think — "Narcissism" (5.10b), which I toproped after one of the guys worked it on lead, and I was going in direct to clean the route — maybe my fourth time doing that like, ever — when the day's 5% chance of rain rapidly turned into a downpour.

You may be thinking, "NOOOOO! Not after all that excitement and gas money and hiking and waking up so early, THE DAY IS RUINED!" But don't worry, it wasn't. Well, it almost was for my friend Charles, who kept leading "Ankles Away" in the rain, but he is fortunately strong enough that he could do that and not die.

Anyway, we shoved our stuff into random people's bags and ran for shelter (well, walked quickly but cautiously for shelter) in one of the Falls' bunkers. Apparently a bunker is not just a reinforced underground shelter for use in wartime, but a shallow cave with giant rock shards for a floor. It's SO COOL and once I am 5.12 strong I will be working the supasick roof climbs some of the guys got on. Fortunately, though, there are a few more moderates in there too. I was frustrated because I couldn't get past the burly first move on "Premarital Drilling" (5.10b), which I flashed on toprope and easily led in April, but some days it's just not in you. While the supastrong bro squad worked on the 5.12s to the right (projects were ascended, but I can't keep all the names straight. Good job, bro squad!), we worked on a somehow-still-dry alleged 5.11 just to the left of the bunker. No one knew the name of it, but it was really fun in spite of — maybe because of? — its crimpiness and balanciness, and toproping it gave me hope it could be my first 5.11.

OH! And also, I wore my new Petzl Elia helmet! I think helmet use is way too uncommon in sport climbing, and I'm excited to have my very own — ponytail-conducive — noggin protection. Wish I had a photo to share, but next time. For now...

Lessons from the last two weekends: - When in doubt, find the high feet. - Sunglasses are a worthwhile investment. - "Jugs" is subjective. If you can't find any, broaden your definition.

Shaky Breaky V2

The tombstone bodes well for the day.

Often when I'm climbing out of state with other Athenians, we meet folks who ask what the closest climbing to Athens is. Usually there's an uncertain pause, and then someone chuckle-scoffs out the words, "Shaking Rock." Then: "total chosspile."

Shaking Rock is a little park in Lexington that is described on Mountain Project as "a lackluster boulderfield in size and quality." It's generally a last resort for folks aching to get their fingers on rock, any rock, and unable to make a day trip to Chatty or Lafayette. In fact, I'd never been before today because most of the climbers in my life would rather climb in the gym than at Shaking Rock.

But today, my friend Caroline and I took an ill-advised trip there. We left at 6:27 this morning, hoping to beat some of the Georgia heat (and sleepy me forgot my camera). Our combined navigational deficiencies made the spot harder to find than necessary, but we still got a couple of hours in before the rays really started beating down.

And it was so fun! We attempted the beginning of "Snake Eyes," a supposed V3 that threatened to rip through my sixth-day-raw tips and which requires a first move of such balance and fearlessness that we quickly moved onto the adjacent V2. This problem is a highball by our standards, and after a while of sketching ourselves out, Caroline sent it and we moved onto the tiny boulders, where we contrived silly climbs to practice our mantling, smearing, and beached-whale technique. By noon, our headshaking companions' worst fears were realized, and there was no longer any friction to be found on the hot, mayonnaisey holds. So we folded our crashpads and packed up our shoes, pleased with our outdoor session of non-epic, awkward, pure choss bouldering.

PICTURES! (from my Instagram, because I'm lazy.) Caroline on our 4-foot epic proj.

Trying not to just stand up.

This slug was super majestic, but it was a nuisance trying not to squish him.

Why do people do this? At least this one's more creative than "Denise G." I don't care about you and your uninspired handwriting, Denise G.!

Runny smoothies, Obed climbing, and no more shampoo

I’ve been making lots of smoothies.

for the curious: bananas, dates, coconut, flax meal, soymilk, and cashew butter.

They’re not like the smoothies I make at my Earth Fare juice bar job. They’re more like a lukewarm smoothie-milkshake hybrid, except iceless and dairyless. Perhaps I should call them smoothie shakes, but ugh. Maybe they are closer to pudding...

Anyway. Basically, I throw some [unfrozen] bananas into the decrepit blender I’ve been borrowing from my mom, then add some nut butter, water, some flax meal, and whatever other produce I think would taste good blended up and poured into a mason jar. This week’s staples have included dates, kale and strawberries, but we’ll see how sustainable this is, since fruit is expensive and I’m generally the brokest person I know.

I’ve become one of those girls on Instagram who post the same meal in different colors every day. 

I’m trying not to overdo the fruit-mush jar shots, but I did decide to stop sharing all my Instagrams on Facebook; not everyone wants to see what I had for breakfast. Probably ‘cause they’re jealous.

Over the weekend, I wasn’t able to make smoothiepuddingshakes and had to actually chew my fruit because I was camping at the Obed. We stayed at Del and Marte’s Lilly Pad, which is their home-turned-campground. I could gush about it to you, but I’ll just post some photos:

 

Et cetera.

We spent two nights there and three days climbing rocks — much better than a 'Muricuh Day cookout. I’m still learning the ropes (ha) of sport climbing and am pretty sketched out by leading, so I mostly top-roped, but it was a great chance to work on my endurance and finger strength, not to mention my belaying skills. And I learned to clean routes! yay? #terror.

 

 

And yesterday, I stopped washing my hair. After climbing at the gym, I rubbed a baking soda and water mixture into it, rinsed it out, then followed with apple cider vinegar and water. I did the same thing after my run this morning, and my hair feels quite clean and soft. It’s less shiny than usual, but I’m pretty sure that is because of my haphazard wet-brushing. 

Anyway, the idea is that after a while your scalp’s pH will balance out, and your body will stop producing excess oil in overcompensation for the oil-stripping effects of regular shampoo (damage we usually amend with conditioner), and eventually you can just use water. So no more toxic and expensive shampoo!

Tomorrow's adventure: a foolish trip to Shaking Rock. Photos and possible regret to come.