North Conway, NH

July 23-26, 2009
I went to North Conway, New Hampshire for a few days with my dad and brother to go climbing! Unfortunately for us, it was raining a lot. July 23 we could not climb. July 24, my brother Sean and I climbed a damp, 2-pitch climb before night truly descended and we were forced to hike away from the wall, through the forest, and back to the car with headlamps on, guiding us back! Working backwards, here is a brief history of our trip with the routes that we did most recently first:

STANDARD ROUTE's TOE CRACK VARIATION: Dad and I start up this excellent 2-pitch variation route, which has a little bit of everything: power, hand, fist, fingers, balance, traverses, face! After a year and a half of not climbing, dad sure styled his way and not only didn't fall but crushed the upper section! Here's dad powering through the second pitches vertical crack system:Dad stands at the anchors, triumphant after his quick send of Standard Route with the Toe Crack Variation, a 2-pitch 5.7 ***!Here's dad in action, above the real crack-climbing section and it's inherent crux, which dad ignored and busted through like barn doors engulfed in flames with a wailing baby inside!


FUNHOUSE and UPPER REFUSE (earlier that day):Sean and I, happy and ready to walk-off and scramble-off the top of the route and hop over the fence set up for the tourist viewpoint to make it to the upper parking lot and road! Yay, victory!Sean, hanging out and enjoying the view mere meters from the top of pitch 3!
July 25 strikes and we get in a few excellent climbs thanks to the onset of sun! Yay! No more rain! Sean and I manage to connect the Lower Left Wall's 2-pitch climb called Funhouse (5.7***) with the upper wall's 3-pitch climb, Upper Refuse (5.5***) for a three-star 5-pitch route which ended up being over 415 feet of superb climbing! I love it when the trees are puny! Here's Sean cruising up the easier of the five pitches, pitch 4, a 5.3:To make the story even better, I re-climbed two of the pitches because Sean left two cordelettes of mine on trees below, thinking they were for everyone! :) So he lowered me 60 meters and I retrieved and reclimbed! Here I am, organizing my rack before another pitch!Here's Sean chilling at pitch 4's anchors. Notice we didn't bring water! How thirsty we are!:

Here's one last photo, a panorama, before sending you off:Keep up the good vibes!