Crack Climbing - Instruction #3

Tired, sore and bruised

Sore and bruised finger knuckles - but happy to have a crack climbing lesson with Tino this morning! Worked on getting my thumbs rotated into my palms and then twisting my hand in the crack. Made for a solid hold but I have to remember to keep that all locked as I have a habit of loosening as I move up. As for my foot jam technique, I experienced only one good foot jam today. It was solid as I moved up and there was pressure on my foot but absolutely no pain. Learning on vertical cracks is definitely more challenging than learning on low-angle cracks. But I get so much out of learning to crack climb! It's difficult, but helps me focus and brings me great joy, especially the learning aspect. The rewards far outweigh the pain! 2i - Ice and Ibuprofen!

Rock House Reservation - Hiking

Rock scrambling on the boulder at the Red & Yellow intersection

Rock House Reservation
Trail(s): Red, Yellow, Blue, Green
Distance: 3 miles roundtrip

Joined the Metrowest Retirees (or not yet) Ready for Adventure meetup group for a fun hike through the Rock House Reservation in West Brookfield, MA. We started at the trailhead off of Route 9 and hiked all the trails, making a lot of stops along the way and taking many photos. 

The trails we took: 
Counter-clockwise direction starting on the Red (Inner Loop) trail - the Yellow (Outer Loop) trail - the Blue (Fullman Loop) trail - the Pierce Road trailhead parking lot - continue along the Blue trail to the Green (Summit Loop) trail - back down the Yellow trail to the Red trail - Balance Rock and Trailside Museum - The Rock House and Boulders and Ledges - back onto the Red (Inner Loop) trail passing the Balance Rock and the Trailside Museum again to finish off on the Yellow (Outer Loop) trail. 

Enjoy a few photos I took of our hike!

The view of Charter Pond on the start of our hike

Balance Rock

Charter Pond from the Trailside Museum

Boulders & Ledges

Fun scrambling the boulders on the Red/Yellow Trail

This reservation is a Geocache area

Another view of Charter Pond

Delicious after-hike lunch at Hanna Devine's in Ware, MA

Women's Climbing Festival - Salt Pump Climbing Gym

Although I didn't get to stay for the film like I had originally planned to, I did get to take the Crack Climbing clinic. The class was limited to 6 and taught by Kaili Throp. I met some other badass women who love crack climbing! Other clinics included Anchor Building, Rappelling 101, Climbing Movement, Training Off The Wall, Intro to Climbing, Kids Intro to Bouldering, Anatomy of a Rope, Project & Route Building Facing the Fear of Falling on Lead, Injury Prevention and Yoga/climbing workshops.