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I spent this weekend climbing, as I did last weekend.
Last weekend I had been planning to head down to the 'Dacks, but after looking at the forecasts, decided it probably wasn't a good plan. From post-weekend reports from a few people, I made the right call. Instead we (K8 and I) climbed at three different crags around Ottawa.
Saturday (Aug 2) we went out looking for Round Lake Climbing/Red Rock:Pet Wall out past Pembroke -- well 17 out to Pembroke, then hang a left on Round Lake Road. I'd not climbed there before, so it was a question of finding the approach, crag, climbs, etc. I had some information, though. We found some good climbing, and think it is worth heading back again, though the drive and approach are both longish, or at least longish when put together.
Sunday (Aug 3rd) we headed up to the familiar Montagne d'Argent, with plans to climb a few of the multi-pitch climbs available there. But, when we arrived we found that it had been pouring rain all night, and much of what we wanted to climb was soaking wet. So we mostly did shorter climbs, though we did manage to get on one of my goal climbs for the day later on when it had dried out somewhat.
Monday (Aug 4th) we headed out to Mont Rigaud, climbing a bunch of stuff there we hadn't climbed before -- one section of the wall we (as a larger group) had not really visited before.
This most recent weekend was only 2 days of climbing, rather than three.
Saturday was another trip out to Mont Rigaud. Mont Rigaud has generally steeper routes (at the grade) than most of the other crags around here, so it works upper body strength a lot more than, say, Montagne d'Argent which depends a lot more on feet, friction, and balance. We had a good day there, overlapping some climbs with a couple people I know from the ACC and climbing gym. I found myself putting up top-ropes for one of them, Calvin, who has about 30 years of climbing experience (to my 10ish), which was odd, because when I first started doing ACC trips outside, Clavin was putting up top-ropes for me.
Sunday was another trip to Montagne d'Argent -- this time we hit the Antre de Dragon sector, which is named for a huge flake called L'Ecaille de Dragon -- Dragon's Scale. It is a good but very burly climb. I lead a bunch of stuff in the 5.8-5.9 range, most everything we climbed, including one twice. It is good to be leading a lot of stuff, even near the end of the day as I get tireder.
That, actually, is kind of important. I had some injuries (arms/elbows) last October, then a bad fall in the spring around Easter that left me not climbing very well this summer. I still don't feel that I'm climbing as well as I was last year -- but I feel like I am climbing more solidly than I was at the start of the year. I'm fairly solidly leading trad 5.8s and sport 5.9s, which is where I need to be for my upcoming climbing trips.
Last weekend I had been planning to head down to the 'Dacks, but after looking at the forecasts, decided it probably wasn't a good plan. From post-weekend reports from a few people, I made the right call. Instead we (K8 and I) climbed at three different crags around Ottawa.
Saturday (Aug 2) we went out looking for Round Lake Climbing/Red Rock:Pet Wall out past Pembroke -- well 17 out to Pembroke, then hang a left on Round Lake Road. I'd not climbed there before, so it was a question of finding the approach, crag, climbs, etc. I had some information, though. We found some good climbing, and think it is worth heading back again, though the drive and approach are both longish, or at least longish when put together.
Sunday (Aug 3rd) we headed up to the familiar Montagne d'Argent, with plans to climb a few of the multi-pitch climbs available there. But, when we arrived we found that it had been pouring rain all night, and much of what we wanted to climb was soaking wet. So we mostly did shorter climbs, though we did manage to get on one of my goal climbs for the day later on when it had dried out somewhat.
Monday (Aug 4th) we headed out to Mont Rigaud, climbing a bunch of stuff there we hadn't climbed before -- one section of the wall we (as a larger group) had not really visited before.
This most recent weekend was only 2 days of climbing, rather than three.
Saturday was another trip out to Mont Rigaud. Mont Rigaud has generally steeper routes (at the grade) than most of the other crags around here, so it works upper body strength a lot more than, say, Montagne d'Argent which depends a lot more on feet, friction, and balance. We had a good day there, overlapping some climbs with a couple people I know from the ACC and climbing gym. I found myself putting up top-ropes for one of them, Calvin, who has about 30 years of climbing experience (to my 10ish), which was odd, because when I first started doing ACC trips outside, Clavin was putting up top-ropes for me.
Sunday was another trip to Montagne d'Argent -- this time we hit the Antre de Dragon sector, which is named for a huge flake called L'Ecaille de Dragon -- Dragon's Scale. It is a good but very burly climb. I lead a bunch of stuff in the 5.8-5.9 range, most everything we climbed, including one twice. It is good to be leading a lot of stuff, even near the end of the day as I get tireder.
That, actually, is kind of important. I had some injuries (arms/elbows) last October, then a bad fall in the spring around Easter that left me not climbing very well this summer. I still don't feel that I'm climbing as well as I was last year -- but I feel like I am climbing more solidly than I was at the start of the year. I'm fairly solidly leading trad 5.8s and sport 5.9s, which is where I need to be for my upcoming climbing trips.
