Rumney Photo Dump

Roger's rope management skillz at work


Roger finishing off a crimpy 5.11c at the 5.8 Crag


Krissy


Shinny new rope






Scott on Serial Killer 5.11c


Ben on Parallel Univers 5.14a - it was not to be after
three split tips in one red point attempt


Parallel Universe at the Monster's of the ID crag


Roger finishing off Social Distortion 5.12b after only a few attempts




Krissy and the D'Acres Farm's baby chicks


They had pigs too...


Ben on Eyeless in Gaza 5.12b at Sundown Ledges near North Conway, NH


Eyeless in Gaza - one of the best 5.12's in New Hampshire


Scott on Eyeless in Gaza




Fueling up


Racking up - yes Scott and I did do a couple
pitches of trad climbing on Cathedral Ledge
during our "rest" day


Bombardment on Cathedral


Our home for the week






Roger and Samantha




Krissy during an epic battle against pump on Serial Killer 5.11c


Scott at the top of Venus on a Halfshell 5.12c




Ben on Venus on a Halfshell 5.12c


Ben on Venus on a Halfshell 5.12c


Scott during one of his many oh so close
attempts to send Venus...also an epic battle


Bonsai


Parallel Universe attempt


Emile nearly sticking the crux of Dodge the
Lemons 5.13d


Emile on the upper part of Dodge the
Lemons - i'm sure he will send next day on


The knee bar rest after the initial V8ish
boulder problem on Dodge the Lemons


The end of the second pumpy boulder
problem - the red point crux....


It was very entertaining witnessing
Emile's reaction when blowing the
crux when he knew he was so close - so
psyched and mad at the same time


Ben on the start of Dodge the Lemons 5.13d
It is really hard right off the ground, climbing
through a very improbable looking section of
rock


Ben on "Dodge"


Ben on "Dodge" - eying up the next part


Ben on "Dodge" - mid red point crux


The crux throw - quite a wild move


The upper part of "Dodge" - lucky enough to send
second try...


Krissy warming up on Scene of the Crime 5.10b


Scott...

NH - April 2011

With it being four months since our last climbing trip we were in serious withdrawl and needed to leave NS for a bit. After I finished my last exam, we packed up and headed out.

Krissy and I left Halifax on Wednesday, April 20. We left much later than anticipated and therefore just drove to Saint John, NB before heading out early the next morning.

We arrived in Pawtuckaway, NH at about 3:30pm to perfect conditions. We jumped out of the car and immediately began climbing - not the easiest thing to do after lots of hours in the car.

Some of our highlights from our short session in Pawtuckaway include:
Chunk O' Blitz V11/12
Chuckies Torture V9
Dopeman V8
The Whip V2
The Hobbit Hole V3

I worked on Halcyon (V11) first as it was my main goal for Pawtuckaway. After figuring out beta and giving it a couple of good goes, I quickly realized that months of studying and exam writing was not great preparation for the shouldery moves in this problem - Halcyon won this time...

Friday was another great day of weather. This time we headed to Rumney to do some sport climbing. The area was quite busy, however, we still managed a good bit of climbing. We ran into some familiar faces - some from Pawtuckaway the day before, and others from out time spent in Rumney last summer. It was great to see some of these people again. We also met up with Roger and Samantha (who has a wrecked shoulder) from Halifax. We were able to get in a few routes together. Krissy and Roger both nearly sent Social Distortion (5.12a/b), with Roger completing the crux only to fall after...sucky! I started working on Parallel Universe (5.14a). I was able to do all the sequences quite quick, however, I will need to build up some power endurance to link the whole thing...maybe next week.

Saturday the snow came! We woke up to snow falling in the Rumney area. This actually worked out great as we needed a rest day any way. So we went to the hot tubs and coffee shops for the day. Just by chance we also met up with a couple from Fredericton and were able to visit with them as well. We all went out to try a new restrant called the Shalimar - all Indian food - it was awesome!

Sunday was another great weather day! We decided to head to Farley, MA. This turned out to be a big mistake. We arrived to find the boulders wet and actually closed to climbing due to nesting peregrine falcons. So, we packed up and turned around to head back to Rumney where we knew we would find some dry, quality stuff to climb. We headed to the Pound to do a bouldering session. Thanks to who ever put the Easter eggs on our car! I ate them and then climbed my project.


Camp


The Pound at Rumney


The Pound at Rumney


Project Done


Loomit (V10)


Coyote in our site???


No explanation necessary


The horrible weather we experienced...


Chunk O' Bltitz (v11/12)


The Hobbit Hole (V3)


Our wintery looking camp site

Recent Turtle Project Attempt

Quick video from an attempt on wednesday evening...

Turtle Project from Ben Blakney on Vimeo.

Super Bad (FA) and Fear of Flying

Ben making the first ascent of Super Bad (v11/12ish)


Super Bad - the angle makes the boulder look much smaller than it actually is...


Super Bad


Super Bad


Super Bad


Looking over the top of Fear of Flying


Third ascent (I think, after Nick Sagar and Ghislain Losier) of Fear of Flying (v9). Warning - low quality fo0tage (combination of low light and compression).


more photos and video to come...

Climberism Magazine Interview

Check out Climberism magazine for a short interview I did with Dave. There are a few cool shots in it from Krissy.