Cormier Magness (5.6) - Multi pitch Rock Climb

 It was a short, but brutal hot day for us! But still glad to be able to get out and onto a couple of pitches of the Cormier Magness route on Whitehorse Ledge.

Buffalo Pit & Buffalo Corral - Rock Climbing

The arete of Lonesome Buffalo (5.8)

Brought some of my favorite climbing friends together for a day of cragging at Buffalo Pit and Buffalo Corral in Rumney. Got an early morning start to beat some of the humidity, heat and possible thunderstorms. Fun climbing Innocent Prairie Dog (5.1), Mr. Buffoolo To You (5.4), Sunny Side Up (5.10c), Lonesome Buffalo (5.8), Mild Horses (5.5), Ghost Pine (5.6), Bleached Bones (5.7) and Book Of Sins (5.5). We spent most of the morning at Buffalo Pit and then headed to Buffalo Corral for more climbing. Didn't stay long...the heat and the humidity continued. But mostly I didn't feel like continuing to listen to the guy on the 5.9+ Flaming Arrow constantly swearing. He couldn't make the crux and was literally throwing a temper tantrum. 

Yes, the humidity and heat were brutal. But the climbing and friends more than made up for it. And a great big MAHALO - Nuno, Jackie, Noah, Iskuhi and Danica for your help and support for my "Turning 60 and Climbing About It" project!  With today’s climbing, I’m at  26 leads of 69 pitches! 

On the Small Wall of the Buffalo Corral, I lead Book Of Sins. It was only 5.5 but the fact that it was so dirty, wet and mossy made it a super fun climb. The rocks up to the first bolt were all mossy, so I stick clipped it. After that it was just pure dirty and wet -sure wished it was a longer climb! And yes that's a rusty ax! It was covered under leaves and Nuno and I almost stepped on it. 

No. Nuno's pants are not two-tone. It's the first time he has sweated through them. But even 90°+ temps and 90%+ humidity can't stop friends from climbing!

Noah leading Innocent Prairie Dog

Jackie leading Lonesome Buffalo

Danica leading Sunny Side Up,

Lonesome Buffalo & Bleached Bones

Iskuhi leading Sunny Side Up with Nuno on her belay.

Noah on Mr. Buffoolo To You, 

Lonesome Buffalo and Mild Horses

Jackie leading Lonesome Buffalo and Mild Horses

Mt. Forist - Multi Pitch Rock Climbing

Leading P2 of Madigan (5.6)

If you love slab like I do, go climb Mt. Forist! :)

A stellar day for some multi-pitch rock climbing with Jackie at Mt. Forist in Berlin, NH. The two routes we climbed were a great intro to the climbing and the rock feel of this mountain. In the shade the rock was slick and the climbing felt sketchy. But in the sun, the rock was amazing and uber sticky! We also bumped into Jeff Lea and Tom Callahan, who gave us great beta on the climbing routes there. We started on Madigan with Jackie leading P1 and me finishing up on P2. Then for P1 I lead Nibroc and we finished up with Jackie leading P2 of Brown School. Rain clouds and some thunder showed up quickly while I was making my way up to Jackie at the P2 anchors of Brown School. It turned cold really fast too. We hurried down just in case there was lightening as well. Double 70m got us down in 1 rappel.  Afterward, we all headed to the White Mountain Cafe & Bookstore for some post climbing coffee and sandwiches!

Thanks, Jeff for the photos. And thank you, Jackie, for your help and support for my "Turning 60 and Climbing About It" project!  Enjoy a few photos taken of our day multi-pitch rock climbing at Mt. Forist. Can't wait to get back to do more climbing there!

Jackie (left) leading P1 of Madigan.

Tom (right) at the anchors of Nibroc

Jeff at the anchors of Nibroc

(photo taken from P1 anchors of Madigan)

Bringing Jackie up P2 of Madigan

Jeff at the P2 anchors of Brown School

(photo taken from P2 anchors of Madigan)

Bringing Jackie up Nibroc

Buffalo Corral - Rock Climbing

Leading Stampede (5.8)

Buffalo Corral
Rumney Rocks
Rumney, NH

If you love slab like I do, go climb Buffalo Corral.

Met up with Nuno and David at Buffalo Corral of Rumney Rocks. It was our first time climbing there and we had a really great day. The parking lot is large and I'm hoping that the little clearing off to the side will be the location of the new outhouse. The approach is super short and the crag is well-shaded. There are trails on both sides of the slab to access the top to set up top rope anchors. We didn't do any top rope climbing today, just leading. We pretty much started on the right side of the slab and worked our way to the left side. David lead Mild Horses (5.5), Ghost Pine (5.6), Bleached Bones (5.7) and Flaming Arrow (5.9+).  And both Nuno and I lead all the routes but the 5.9+ Flaming Arrow. 3 other groups showed up and they mostly climbed the right side of the slab. Thanks, Nuno and David for the photos and your help and support for my "Turning 60 and Climbing About It" project!  Enjoy a few photos taken of our day at the Buffalo Corral.

At the right side of Buffalo Corral.

With its super short approach and fun moderates, this crag is a heavy favorite for camp groups who love to utilize the right side routes during the summer months.

David on lead

Left: Flamming Arrow start

Right top to bottom: Mild Horses, Ghost Pine & Bleached Bones

Nuno leading Bison Burger (5.7)

Nuno leading Twinkle Toes (5.7+)

Appropriately named - 

At the crux, you'll find out why! hehehe!

Leading Mild Horses (5.5)

Laughing Gull - Rock Climbing

Pano of Main Crag

Super fun, super mellow day of rock climbing at Redrock in Gloucester with Etha! I didn't expect to climb my second 5.11 slab today, but sure glad I did. The start of Laughing Gull was so polished so I started to the left just under the cresent. Found a really good foothold to gain the cresent. Finding holds at the mid-section was definitely challenging. But that left-leaning crack was a sweet finish. 

Etha also didn't expect to climb a 5.12 today, but she did and she killed it! She climbed the Andromeda Direct Start, without even knowing she was doing the Direct - we both hadn't looked at the guidebook or MP beta on this climb. While belaying her I kept telling myself, "this couldn't be a 5.11!" Sure enough, after she finished the climb, we looked it up in the guidebook and got all giddy when we realized that she took the direct start and climbed her first outdoor 5.12 -- Congratulations!

Zipper was a fun layback. I started up the Zipper route climbing it like a crack, but meh, it's more of a flake climb and I quickly had to layback on it. The climb is fun, but way too short. 

Left to right: Andromeda Direct Start (5.12), 

Zipper (5.6), Laughing Gull (5.11)

Toe Jams was an interesting crack. Etha, who lead Toe Jams and is smaller than me, could get her legs including her knee right into the OW section at the start of the climb. She lead it and then I tried to lead it. I found it wasn't going to be as easy as Etha made it out to be. It was too wide for foot jamming, but too narrow to even get my knee into it. As a result, it sketched me out and I backed down. That's the first (and I'm sure not the last) time I ever backed down from a lead climb. I TR'd it afterwards and still found the start sketchy. Near the top is perfect (for me) #2 handjams and smaller. Perhaps having doubles of #3 and #2 to place at the OW beginning may have lessened the sketchy-ness?



Lots of polished surfaces on a lot of these routes, but it was fun to get out to climb before the rain. We had this crag all to ourselves today. Last time I climbed here was 7 years ago. Hoping to get back soon to get on those routes we didn't have a chance to climb.

The top of the Masters Wall from the top of the Main Crag

Along the trail