Bicep Tendonitis and rock climbing

Some of you have already heard that I’ve been nursing a bit of a shoulder injury. Several months ago, I became a bit obsessive about bodyweight push-ups (as in, not “girl” or “modified” pushups) and pushed them a wee bit too far. After doing a set to failure one night, I felt a twinge in my left shoulder. Being a rock climber, upon sensing shoulder pain, I panicked. Ice, rest, Aleve and massage helped with that acute stage, but even after the pain subsided after a few days, I couldn’t return to push-ups. I tried benching, instead, to do something less than bodyweight, but the pain returned. I finally found that dips on the dip bar don’t trigger the pain, which still occasionally popped up. My dear massage therapist / climber friend identified the location of the pain as my bicep, not the dreaded rotator cuff, so for a few months I just nursed it, hoping that dips would do enough to stabilize my shoulder that I could avoid it getting worse. Luckily, climbing didn’t really aggravate it, but not being able to do bench / push-ups definitely wasn’t helping my shoulder stability any.

Then, during my last trip to Index, I had an unusually long, nearly bodyweight hang on a jam on that side while on lead. By nighttime, my shoulder was extremely painful (front, side and back), and panic once again set in. As soon as business hours arrived, I called my family physician and she referred me to a physical therapist.

A nervous work week later, the back and side of my shoulder slowly felt better with ice and rest while I waited for my appointment. The front — the bicep tendon — still hurt, though.

I very nervously met John Estes at DaVinci Physical Therapy on Bainbridge Island last Friday. His demeanor was great, and while he’s not a climber himself, he impressed me immediately with his above-average understanding of the stresses that climbing places on the body. It doesn’t seem all that complicated to me, but I’ve been to several PTs since starting to climb, and have been really surprised by their lack of awareness of climbing movement and the impact on the body. The first few visits are usually educating the PT about climbing and its physical demands. John was “with it” right out of the gate.

His exam was thorough… I started out really nervous, because I was afraid that the testing would hurt and expose some sort of horrible problem, but each test showed no serious injury, which was reassuring. The final diagnosis is bicep tendinitis, aggravated by extremely weak rotator cuffs and deltoids relative to my, um, well defined trapezius muscles and biceps. More on my traps in a second.

I’m going to count myself lucky that I developed the bicep tendinitis, so that I get this chance to learn about my shoulders and back before managing to get myself in serious shoulder trouble. Had I not experienced this little setback, I probably would have kept on training, neglecting my rotator cuffs and mid-back until I wound up with a serious shoulder injury.

John prescribed an exercise routine (that link will download the PDF), including scapular stabilization, scapular flexion, scapular retraction, resisted external rotation, resisted horizontal abduction, and some stretching exercises to increase my range of motion. The bicep tendonitis is relatively mild, so unless it doesn’t improve quickly, we’ll emphasize building stability and strength. If the tendinitis doesn’t improve, then we’ll do more “treatment” of the bicep issue. That approach works for me, since I’m on a tight budget, and I’d rather do exercises at home and go to the PT (which is an hour from home) less often, if at all possible.

I’m astonished at how weak I am at the exercises prescribed, when I look like a freaking tank. The exercises are hard for me to do, so I look forward to getting stronger.

One of the highlights of the whole thing was when John was talking through the results of his exam, and he pointed out my extremely strong Trapezius muscles relative to the rest of me. I do believe he called them “overdeveloped.” Even for a climber, my Traps are huge. My climbing partner calls my traps “Hulk Hogan muscles,” to give you some idea. John demonstrated two different climbing “postures:” one with his shoulders down and relaxed, and his Traps kicking in to lift the arms only once his elbows were past shoulder height; the second, totally tight and tense, with his shoulders darn near up around his ears, using his traps to lift his arms all the way up.

One guess what my natural / typical climbing “posture” is.

I’d say my natural climbing posture ranges from “tense” to “terrified.” John ok’d me to climb at sub-max during my rehab (good move — since climbers are notorious for NOT stopping climbing when we’re told to); but, prescribed climbing with a relaxed posture to let my back and shoulders do the work that my Traps have been doing all this time. I didn’t really get a chance to try that out bouldering last weekend, since I really mostly just kept it light since I was sore from my PT on Friday; I’m hoping to get into the gym at least once this week to do endurance work, and to give climbing with a relaxed posture a try. I was really excited about that particular insight he provided — even as a non-climber, he was able to diagnose one of my biggest climbing flaws… that I’m a totally stressed out, tense climber. I look forward to working on changing that!

I’ll post updates as I have new developments or additional insights, and please chime in with your own stories…

Filed under: Injuries and Rehab, Training

Memorial Weekend bouldering, Leavenworth, WA

The holiday weekend took me to Leavenworth, WA for a mostly-bouldering adventure. Proving, yet again, that there is PLENTY of moderate bouldering in Leavenworth, we hit up the Beach and Swiftwater areas at Tumwater Canyon, and had a kinda short session at the Fridge Boulder in Icicle Canyon, along with some good time on Classic Crack and the surrounding routes. This time around, I’ll emphasize the pictures for once!

First stop, as usual, was Leavenworth Mountain Sports (aka, Der Mountain Hausen). Randy, Bounder and Zin all needed shoes. I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again. Support Leavenworth Mountain Sports. Their sale racks are kick butt, their womens’ apparel selection is completely out of this world, and they’re stocked with essentials for camping and climbing. Shouts out to Kate and Cherly, who put up with our herd of boys cracking dirty jokes each morning while we picked up out last minute “must have’s.” You ladies rock, and your impeccable taste is matched only by the circumference of your biceps and your tolerance for dirty jokes.

We started out at Tumwater Canyon, the Beach Area, at Leavenworth, WA. It was here that Gear Rescuer (aka, GR) began his tear it up weekend. After sending a tougher variation of The Fin (V2) as a warm up, he made short work of a number of V3s. Here’s Jumper (V3).

And, Randy taking a turn…

And then next up was the Wonderkid (aka, Zin, or Zen, or Boo, or apparently his real name might be Mike). He’s only climbed a couple of times, and I think this was his first day in his own rock shoes. He was a TOTAL natural, and got a lot of encouragement from us old crusties to stick with it.

From there, we worked around the boulder, with a send by GR of U2, another V3; and then the guys and I worked (and some sent, but I didn’t yet) “F*ck the Crystal,” a V3 with delightful body tension and footwork required down low, to a slanting rail, with a dyno to the top. Here’s GR set up for what was ultimately a successful dyno and topout.

Day two took us to the Fridge boulder to start, in Icicle canyon. I have a V3 project on the Fridge that I still haven’t gotten — I seriously need to work my dynamic movement to someday get Cellar Door done. The guys took turns on Fridge Center (V4) and Fridge Right (V4). GR had a great flash on Fridge Center, and the boys all worked Fridge Right.

We had a pretty quiet morning, which is unusual at the Fridge, where you can always count on running into other boulderers. Sure enough, the quiet didn’t last… a bunch of folks from Portland and Eugene rolled in, as well as some friends of friends from Seattle, so after awhile it was a total scene. Every inch of ground was padded, which made for some pretty bold attempts and sends.

After awhile, though, we opted for a more quiet location, and headed for the Classic Crack area, which was busy but not swarmed. Made some new (to me) friends there, running into three of GR’s old friends. Randy finished our lead on Classic Crack and since there wasn’t a lineup behind us, we all took turns getting to know the route in detail; the most by GR who has a date with her on lead next trip. I took a number of laps, trying to get the crux worked out reliably enough that I can confidently get on, on lead. It’s the hardest “5.8″ I’ve ever climbed, but we visit it just about every time I go to Leavenworth, and I’m definitely improving my crack technique (especially for wider hands and fists) each time. I look forward to someday getting on that route on lead.

We were all pretty well thrashed, but before bed perked up enough to decide to head out to the Swiftwater area in the morning for a few more boulders before heading for home.

During a gas stop, Randy and Bounder (aka John) met Sarah and Mary, who weren’t sure if their climbing party was going to show or not. We traded introductions and beta on getting to Swiftwater just in case, and then we headed out. We got to Swiftwater and started warming up, and Mary and Sarah and their friends came out to join us. We had a nice, chill day at Swiftwater. We warmed up on the Prey / Schisthead boulder, with Prey, a fun V0 seeing a lot of traffic. Here’s me, warming up on the middle of the boulder.

With tons of spotters and a well padded floor, our attention turned to Schisthead (a V2 up the center of the boulder) and its V3 variation (starting from the left). GR sent the V3 onsight, and Randy very nearly topped out, but then his mantled heel slipped on moss and he took a big fall from the top. He was okay, minus a few fingertips, and we kept at it. I flashed the V2, which was really exciting for me.

I usually don’t get really sketched by topouts, and even highball topouts… unlike in roped climbing, where I’m a total head case, in bouldering I tend to just know what I have to do and execute. This time, I worked through the route smoothly and with confidence; I got in position for the big push to the top,

and then worked my feet up high. I pushed for the lip and couldn’t reach it; I worked my fingers and feet up delicately and reached the lip. I looked at my options for moving my feet up and didn’t like what I saw, so the thought “I have to downclimb” flashed through my head. I think my fear of heights actually kicked in to make my brain and body override the instinct to downclimb or come off, since I snapped myself out of it, matched hands on the lip to move my feet up, then carefully pulled the mantle. It was a heart pumper — definitely the highest and least secure topout I’ve pulled — but it was FUN. Shaking with adrenaline, I walked off and was pleased with finishing the problem.

Bounder worked the V3, which added a slightly technical traverse to the start. I’d like to to that link up, too, but after topping out I wasn’t sure I wanted to do that mantel again that day!

After we’d bouldered out those routes, we headed down to the Cave. There aren’t any rated problems in the book, but there are two lines out to the lip that were tons of fun. I actually did respectably on the right line — despite being super steep, it played to my footwork and body tension strengths. We worked on it for some time, then the boys’ attention switched to the line on the left. GR came close to linking it all up…

and Randy’s beta was incredibly productive. Bounder took a few turns, despite bleeding feet from breaking in new shoes…

And GR worked it until he was so tired he had no option but to take a good rest.

After that, we crossed the street with Mary and Sarah and Ian to visit Royal Flush, a stunning roof crack rated V2. With careful padding and spotting, GR and Randy worked it, with some solid attempts. I had a hard time getting off the ground — the guys were starting with jams loose enough they could move off of them to make progress on the start; I’d get in fist jams good enough to hold my body weight to get off the ground, and then I couldn’t get them loose to move on the route! It was a really inspiring line, and one I’d like to come back to, but the landing was scary even with pads and unbelievable spots. GR and Randy worked the unlikely looking Sleeve Ace (V3) which I tried a few times, but couldn’t figure out the starting footwork on. I think I was also just plain hosed. My forearms and triceps took turns burning and saying “ouch,” and my attempts on Royal Flush had about done in my hands. We were all completely exhausted, so decided to call it a day.

Yet again, it was another fantastic weekend in Leavenworth, and I made a bunch of new friends. Between my bicep tendon which I’m still rehabbing (but thankfully, am cleared to climb on) and the workout from this weekend, I’m EXHAUSTED. I’m looking forward to taking it a bit easy this week, and working endurance in the gym to balance out all the bouldering I’ve been doing lately!

How was your Memorial weekend?

Filed under: Bouldering, Climbing Photos, Leavenworth, Trip Reports

Index Lower Town Wall trip report, part 2, plus mental training and shoulder health

To be honest, I have to admit… I’m feeling a little bit adrenaline-d out.

First, on Saturday I had the brilliant idea to go mountain biking solo. Some of you have already heard how that turned out. For those who didn’t, here’s the short version of Sara and a bear mutually scare each other, submitted as a comment to our local mountain biking blog.

You’ve also already heard most of the story from our Index trip, but here’s a little bit more.

It was a kind of big weekend, despite relatively little climbing, and it’s cemented Index as one of the areas that I aspire to be competent enough to tear it up at. I was too busy climbing to take pictures, but hope to spend a lot of time at Index now that I have such warm fuzzies about the place, so will try to get you some eye candy the next time I’m up.

I would be remiss in not linking to the WCC’s Index Town Wall update page. In case you’ve been on Mars, the Lower Town Wall, one of Washington’s most beloved climbing areas, is being sold by the current private property owner. WCC and the Access Fund are working on an acquisition plan. Please, bookmark that page, and keep in touch with the WCC about what you can do to help with this process.

I had two goals for the weekend: (1) to lead a pitch on GM, a classic Index 5.9; and (2) to push myself beyond my comfort zone on gear.

Little did I expect, that GM would be our first stop. After a bit of confusion over who was climbing with whom, I wound up as second to Shawn, with Peter and GR in a two party after us. Shawn lead the first pitch, which I’d fallen on last year on toprope, but it felt fun and was pretty relaxed this time around. When we got to the first belay, Shawn looked expectantly at me, I looked at the pitch above, and I decided, what the hell. Looking up from the belay, I thought I could adequately protect the crux moves to keep myself off the deck. I figured it would be a scary, but relatively safe fall, with one of my favorite belayers on the other end of the rope. So, I tried to think positive thoughts while racking up, and then set off.

The second pitch is very short. It’s basically up a good crack system off the belay, to an arching shallow roof, with placements underneath the roof that can be reached before you start the no-feet friction traverse out the shallow roof, with good hands underneath. The friction is sufficient that with body tension you can work your way out the roof, so it’s more scary looking than it is in reality. Once you get a hand around the edge of the roof, it’s a good jug; then it’s forearm jams between, or reaching back to edges behind the roof and a huge deep flake to the right. I opted for a left forearm jam, thrown in and jammed securely into the crack. With my forearm solidly and securely jammed, my feet smeared on absolutely nothing, I let go of the jug with my right hand and reached for my #4 Camalot to get a piece in above me.

I then realized the err of my racking ways.

My right hand was free; my left arm solidly jammed; and my #4 was on my left side. I could have moved up by grabbing an edge with my right hand to free my left arm, but the security of such a move was uncertain. I decided, instead, to try to “get to” my #4 with my right hand, which turned into quite the production.

I don’t remember making noise, but Peter and GR say I was pretty — um — vocal, as I grunted and stretched, and fingered through the cams racked on my harness. I honestly don’t know how long I was jammed there by my forearm (which was totally bomber — enough so that I have a huge swollen bruise to show for it) but it felt like a LONG time. Shawn was encouraging, and calm, and ultimately helped talk me through my gear biner by biner (since I couldn’t see my back, where the #4 was racked) until I had my fingertips stretched to the right biner for the #4. Even once I had my fingertips on it, I had a hard time getting the biner off my gear loop. Once I did, I quickly placed the piece, clipped the rope, pulled myself up with my forearm jam and my right hand on the inside of the crack, and got my feet up into the crack. I immediately placed a #5 from the solid stance, clipped it, and finished up the pitch at a much calmer pace. I was happy, and excited, to reach the belay and to bring Shawn up. That was my hardest trad lead to date, and the hardest I’ve had to work for a trad pitch, ever. I was thankful to my partners for cheering me on, and their efforts to try to keep me calm and on task.

We left the #4 and #5 on the pitch for GR’s lead. Shawn lead the (hard) 10b pitch on Heart of the Country to the right of the GM route, then the options for the final pitch were a 5.9 finish on GM, or a 11a finish just to the right of it on Heart of the Country. Since I’d left my big gear for our second party, and had loaned them my #3 for their ascent, I didn’t feel I had enough big gear to protect the final 5.9 pitch — it looked to me like I’d have to run it out significantly, over not-gimme climbing. We eyed, and discussed the 11a pitch, which actually looked doable and we had the gear for it, but I decided I didn’t want to get in over my head, when I can come back another time and lead GM ground up as one of my next lead goals. We called it a good warm up, and rapped off, taking a break for Shawn to toprope a pitch he likes, then we headed to the Lower Town Wall proper to see if any of the classic 5.9s were open.

GR got on Princely Ambitions, which he calls “I Wanna Be A Princess,” a super long, super exposed 5.9 at Lower Town Wall. I was geared up to lead it but completely lost my nerve watching him work through the crux, a delicate traverse on small crimps out to the right, with a kind of technical gear placement to then traverse way left again. Traverses aren’t my strongest suit, and I felt like I’d burned through all of my “bold” on the GM lead, so instead of leading, after GR and Peter had cleaned the gear and rapped off, I toproped the wildly traversing Princely Ambitions.

It was all fun and games until I got to the far right hand crimp traverse, and then my fear of a huge pendulum toprope swing got the best of me. I called down to Shawn that I’d had enough, and wanted to bail, and got an appropriately snarky response, basically, to suck it up and rock climb. I took a few deep breaths and then tentatively worked my way right, terrified of the prospect of that huge swinging fall. I’m lucky — given how negative my thinking was — that I was able to pull the moves and didn’t fall. I mantled up and then worked my way back left. The route is a series of mantels one after another — the mantels would be scary on lead; but the traverses were scary on toprope. The best way to go would be to lead the route and then bring up a second with some gear placed to prevent the swinging falls I faced on toprope.

So, note to self, sometimes it’s better to just suck it up and lead, than to try to do something “less scary” by toproping.

After that, we headed back to the Country to get on the first pitch (10d) of Cunning Stunt, a classic, well protected bolted face pitch. Peter did a bold lead on it, and we took turns on toprope laps since it was close to the end of the day and nobody was waiting for it. I look forward to working up the courage to lead it — the cruxes are well protected with bolts nearby, so it would make a great, hard sport project for me.

We didn’t get in a ton of pitches, but we did have a fantastic day. As always, I’m thankful for my climbing partners who stick by me even though I seem to be having a fear / bold setback this spring. After this weekend, I have two things to work on in earnest: (1) my fear, which seems to have made a strong comeback after a hiatus last winter; and (2) my left shoulder, which has been giving me a little bit of grief the last few months, but which is really sore after my prolonged full weight dead hang of an arm jam on that side on my GM lead.

I’m open to suggestions on both, please!

First, I’m ordering a copy of The Rock Warrior’s Way: Mental Training for Climbers, by Arno Ilgner. I’ve heard mixed reviews of the book, but I’ve already read the “mental training” sections of the other training books I have, and I need to add additional tools to my arsenal.

Second, I’m incredibly lucky to be a climber who currently has the privilege of paying through the nose for health insurance. Since that may not always be the situation, I’m going to put that insurance to good use and try to figure out how to keep my shoulders more healthy. I didn’t injure it climbing — I gave myself a touch of bicep tendinitis (or is it tendonitis?) doing pushups to try to AVOID a climbing injury a few months ago, and since resting and recouping that injury, that shoulder just hasn’t been as strong / pain free / quick to recover as the other. Unfortunately, that has meant no pushups or bench press, although I have been able to keep up with dips to try to keep my shoulders balanced — but I’m afraid the lack of pushups and bench has aggravated my already out-of-balance shoulders to the point where now, after that lengthy dead hang on that shoulder, my rotator cuff is sore. I suspect that all of these factors ultimately will cause, if I don’t do something to reverse course, rotator cuff tendonitis.

I’m resting, icing, Aleve-ing, and am checking around for local medical folks who have experience with climbers, so that I can hopefully figure out how to keep it from getting worse, and strengthen both my shoulders to prevent future injury. My dear family doc just called and gave me a referral to a PT she thinks highly of, so I’ll let you know how it turns out. It’s also feeling better already just with a day’s rest, ice and Aleve, so I’m optimistic that I’ve caught it early enough to not be too serious.

I look forward to your thoughts on mental training, and shoulder health! I’ll keep you posted on both fronts, and I promise, I won’t be going out mountain biking solo again any time soon. Take care and be safe out there!

Filed under: Index, Injuries and Rehab, Trip Reports

Girl Tested, Girl Approved: Black Diamond Camalot C3 Purple / 00

Climbing Partner, renamed, GR (short for Gear Rescuer) and I just got back from a fantastic trip to Index, WA, and on the way home, conceived of a new feature for RockClimberGirl.com…

Girl Tested, Girl Approved.

This goes beyond gear reviews, and cool new stuff. An item doesn’t qualify for Girl Tested, Girl Approved until I’ve used and loved it in the field, and it’s exceeded my expectations in some big way. The very first Girl Tested, Girl Approved item is the Black Diamond Camalot C3 Purple / size 00.

I still consider myself a beginner with small cams, since I’ve only been placing them off friends’ racks for about two years. I don’t personally own C3s yet, but I have a few climbing partners who have the set, so I’ve climbed on them a handful of times and cleaned them quite a bit. I’ve seen C3s catch falls in serious situations, and I’ve read up on them while trying to decide which small cams to go with to round out my own rack, but I just couldn’t pull the trigger (tee hee) on a commitment to one line of small cams. I have three Metolius Master Cams (orange, yellow, and blue) and am very happy with them, but for my smallest cams I’ve been undecided between the various choices. Until now. I’ll be picking up a set of the Black Diamond Camalot C3s, thank you very much.

My first C3 placement was on a mixed 10a at Red Rock. The piece — the purple / 00 — was marginal to my eye but not tested; it was easy to place and clean, and I found it easier than with some other small cams I’ve used to judge the placement.

On day two of our most recent fantastic weekend at Index, the first pitch (10a) of Thin Fingers (11a) caught my eye. The pitch is a lovely 5.9-ish crack system ranging from small nut/cam sizes (fingers) to hands (Red / #1 Camalot C4), leading to a 10a crux with very delicate footwork off a large ledge protected by small nuts to the chains.

I was inspired to climb it, despite the grade being a bit above my proven capability, and despite being bruised, battered and tired from Day 1. GR was encouraging, and willing to rescue my gear if I couldn’t finish the route, so I racked up and set off.

My first attempt was a no go; I climbed higher than my instincts told me prior to placing my first piece, got scared, and downclimbed off to avoid shaking myself off the wall with fear.

After a solid pep talk from GR, a chat through of the route so that I could see it better in pieces, a few minutes of attitude adjustment by me, I tied back in and set off with a much better attitude and outlook, put on a huge smile, and started climbing. And sure enough, the climbing was stellar.

I cruised up the start confidently, placing a lot of pro from pretty decent stances, which was great practice. After getting in about six closely spaced pieces, I was flummoxed by a section below the crux that would involve climbing above my pro to pull about three or four difficult, delicate and precarious moves, without an obvious stance for putting in additional gear. My last two pieces were bomber nuts, I was at a decent stance, and saw a possible placement for the purple Black Diamond C3 a couple of feet above my last piece. It was a marginal placement to my eye, without textbook lobe contact and the head was behind a tiny flake (which would have ruled out placing any gear without a flexible stem).

Other reviews on some of the gear sites have commented on the stiffness of the trigger on the C3s. I have relatively weak hands, and I’m relatively prone to pumping out while gear leading, and I have absolutely no problem with the trigger on these little puppies.

I placed the purple / 00, and climbed on, a few feet above the piece, then realized…

I was just about to take my first lead fall on gear. And, my high piece was a marginally placed, teeny tiny cam.

I couldn’t go up, so called out “I think I’m falling” to GR, and he reminded me to downclimb as far as I could. I made it a few steps down, then let out a blood curdling scream as my feet lost their smears and I dropped a couple of feet onto the marginal C3.

Which held.

Like a champ.

I attempted the moves several more times, each time, falling* on the C3, and each time letting out a blood curdling scream. To the other climbers, and the entire town of Index, and perhaps, most of the Highway 2 corridor, I apologize sincerely for the commotion.

I felt that taking that fall* was an acceptable risk because even if the C3 hadn’t held, I would have had two bomber nuts right below it, and I was well off the deck with a good belayer so didn’t risk a ground fall.

I realized after the fact that we’d had a fantastic “tolerance test” of the C3 as a result. I always aim for the best possible placement I can make, but, now I know that the C3s may hold under conditions I consider “marginal,” which is a useful bit of knowledge for my gear arsenal. The flexible stem allowed me to place the piece despite the little flake that stuck out, and the cam held (without budging) with the rear and middle lobe were on with good contact; the front lobe was slightly less retracted than I’d like. I was pleased that the cam held, and impressed that it held under non-ideal conditions, especially since it’s the smallest C3 rated for free climbing.

The grey / 000 C3 is only rated for direct aid. I’ve seen the grey used as a free climbing piece by partners, but the strength rating on that piece is 4 kN, as opposed to 6 kN on the purple, and — for folks less acquainted with small cams — 14 kN for the Black Diamond C4 Camalots green (.75) and up.

Even after multiple falls, the purple C3 cleaned easily, and on inspection, appears flawless.

I’m extremely happy with the purple C3, given the relative ease of judging placement quality, the flexible stem which allows placements a rigid stem unit would not, and its relatively wide range for such a small unit.

As a result, I’m putting the C3s on my wishlist, and I’m proud to award the Black Diamond Camalot C3 my very first Girl Tested, Girl Approved seal of approval.**

For more information:
For full information on the Black Diamond C3s (read and understand before buying and/or using) visit the Black Diamond C3 detail page, including the Tech Tips and Instructions.

Where to buy:

• Rock / Creek
• Oregon Mountain Community
• Backcountry.com
• Moosejaw
• REI

Footnotes:

* GR quibbles with my use of the word “fall,” since he felt that what I did was more like a “take” since each time I was in the process of downclimbing, having backed off the moves rather than committing to the moves and trying upward. We agreed on the language, as opposed to my first gear “falls,” that these were my first “weighting of gear with some force” instead. But, that’s just too long to type over and over, and, seriously – these were falls, whether I was going up or down immediately before they happened. I was above my pro, I slipped off each time, and gravity kicked in. I’m going to call ‘em falls. So there.

** Climbing is dangerous. Read the instructions (a lot of folks don’t) and climb and use any piece of gear, under any conditions, at your own risk. I’d rather write fun stuff than disclaimers, so I’ll just keep it simple and ask that you don’t sue me, please, if your experience with the C3s is different than my own.

Filed under: Gear, Girl Tested Girl Approved

2009 Reel Rock Filmmaking Competition

Sometimes even I’m surprised at the names that pop up in the From: field in my email inbox. This morning was one of those times.

Abbey Smith is an accomplished climber and writer (how much of an understatement can I possibly make?), and she’s getting the word out about the REEL ROCK Film Tour.

OK… I can’t wait to see what you creative folks put together. Maybe I’ll even fire up my little Canon this weekend…

From the REEL ROCK press release:

The 2009 REEL ROCK Film Tour (www.reelrocktour.com), presented by Sender Films and Big UP Productions is now accepting submissions for the 2009 REEL ROCK FILMMAKING COMPETITION. If you have a camera, computer, and a fresh idea, one of the short REEL ROCK ‘09 films could be yours!

Building on the popularity of the 2008 filmmaking competition — in which tens of thousands of people voted for their favorite Humor/Spoof and Action/Adventure films — the 2009 competition has expanded with new rules and new prizes.

Winning filmmakers will receive $500 in cash and rake in grand prize packages from title sponsors Windstopper and The North Face, gear sponsors Petzl Equipment and Sterling Ropes, and media sponsors Climbing Magazine and Urban Climber. The winning films, one from each genre category — as chosen by voters online and REEL ROCK judges — will be featured on the 2009 REEL ROCK Film Tour in over 100 locations worldwide.

Submission deadline is July 20, 2009.

For more information and to enter visit http://www.reelrocktour.com.

Get those creative juices flowing, fire up the camcorders and laptops, and hit us with your best shot!

For REEL ROCK Film Tour information and to set up a show please contact Joss Corkin at joss@reelrocktour.com / ph. 310-927-7968
For PR information, please contact Abbey Smith at pr@reelrocktour.com

Filed under: Events

Gear Review: Mountain Hardwear Clouds Rest Women’s Sleeping Bag

I’ve been putting some new gear through its paces lately, some of which deserve more attention than a brief blurb. The first “winner” in my new stash is my Mountain Hardwear Clouds Rest Women’s Sleeping Bag. I had this bag on my wishlist and planned to purchase it out of my exceptionally small spring gear budget, so was very thankful when Mountain Hardwear was able to provide a sample for review. My first impression after camping in it for a weekend is that I would buy the bag at retail, in a heartbeat. This bag is my vision of heaven.

My Mountain Hardwear Clouds Rest Women’s sleeping bag arrived a couple of weeks ago, and it was all I could do to not sleep in it every night at home leading up to the trip. Out of the box, it is lofty, and oh so comfy and warm. The fit and comfort exceeded my expectations — it’s much wider than my old North Face bag, and even in the Regular length, I have plenty of room (at 5 foot 6 inches, I have had trouble in the past finding a Regular length bag that gave me enough length, since my height is on the cusp between Regular and Long for most brands). The bag stuffs easily into its small stuff sack for packing, and fluffs up quickly once pulled out for sleeping.

Features I chose the bag based on: This is my first down bag, and my pacific northwest friends mock me for choosing down when we live in such a wet climate, but my plan is to always pack my bivy so that if conditions are wet I have a waterproof layer (even inside a tent). I chose down because in my unofficial testing the down bags just feel warmer to me than synthetic (I know that sounds crazy and non-technical, but what can I say, I’m being honest about my criteria) and most of my really cold trips are really cold, dry trips during the winter. In addition, I chose this bag because of its temperature rating (5 degrees Fahrenheit) which will cover my camping needs year-round; its women-specific design with extra warmth in the torso and footbox; and because I’d heard great things about Mountain Hardwear bags from my girlfriends who’ve had good luck with both their down and synthetic bags.

Features I didn’t know I’d love when I chose it: the bag features an extra baffle inside, that lays comfortably without constricting around my neck and shoulders, allowing me to keep my head out of the bag without any drafts. I was extremely comfortable in the bag both nights; I was so warm the second night that I kicked off my socks (which I never, ever do in sleeping bags!).

When it came time to tick check the gear post-trip, I appreciated the bag’s light colored exterior. I understand why gear manufacturers gravitate toward dark colors because, hey, we’re filthy dirtbags. But, examining the exterior of the bag took only a second, because of its light color. I don’t care if it gets dirty over time, and even though my personal tastes tend toward dark colors and away from pastels, after spending a couple of hours yesterday doing a tick inspection of my gear, I have a new appreciation for light-colored gear.

One of my climbing partners, Susie, has a synthetic Mountain Hardwear bag that she loves and raved about this weekend; when I included the Cloud’s Rest in my gear guide, Lizzie T commented that it’s working out well for her except that it feels less warm than a five degree difference from her last zero degree bag. The bag feels substantially warmer than a 15 degree difference from my old 20 degree synthetic (in which I pretty much ranged from cold to freezing, year round), so it may be just a matter of what we’re used to, and the conditions we’re camping in. Based on my experiences with sleeping bags in the past, I expect a bag to keep me alive down to its temperature rating, but not necessarily to feel warm down to that rating. I’ll look forward to posting an update after I take the bag on a few winter trips, to let you know how it does for me in really cold conditions.

When friends have asked me about the bag so far, I just get all wistful, and daydreamy, and can only manage to say… “it’s like… heaven.” I can see why they named it “Clouds Rest” for sure!

Filed under: Gear

Tieton River Climbing, May 2009

I spent last weekend thrashing myself at Tieton River climbing area, near Yakima, WA. We arrived late on Friday to find our usual abode, the Windy Point campground, closed. We made do; Don and I were in the C-RV so stealth camping isn’t usually an issue; friends Susie, Steve and Kari were in a tent and got blown around badly. Despite not much sleep, we had a cheery morning of breakfast and coffee around a Windy Point picnic table.

Saturday: Lava Point & Royal Columns
Day one’s plan was Lava Point, an area I’ve visited and had tons of fun at before. The crag was empty — I don’t believe we saw another climbing party all day.

We started out on Steal Your Face, a fun 10c on the Deadheads wall; Screaming for Rope, a 5.9 with a tricky start; B Weir of the Dead and Artificially Insteminated, SUPER fun 10a’s that might be slightly easier for us shorter / smaller fingered types; and Travalava and scoria, two 5.9s that make great warmups and are both get thumbs up. I had my eye on Saint of Circumstance, a 10c that looked like it had great moves up to two challenging roofs, but didn’t quite have another 10c lead attempt in me after having to take on Steal Your Face on lead. Don was inspired by Fit to be Tie Dyed, a 5.11a that you can toprope off the anchors of B Weir of the Dead. He absolutely styled it on lead, and I decided to finally indulge in a little “ice cream” (aka, toproping) since I’d been leading so far. The route was FUN. There’s one really big move on it that stumped me for a bit, but after trying a bunch of different approaches finally figured it out.

Here’s a view of Rimrock Lake from the base of Lava Wall:

And, Steve on lead:

We only saw a couple of ticks on Saturday, which was an unexpected treat since this is the high season for ticks up there.

From there, Colin and Susie wanted to get some time in playing with toys (aka, traditional gear) so we headed for the South Fork area in the hopes of getting up toward Astral Wall. The show stopped us about five miles below the trailhead, so that excursion will have to wait. The walls up there looked AWESOME from the road, so I can’t wait to get back when the roads are passable.

Instead, we headed to Royal Columns, which was packed with more climbers than I’ve ever seen there. There was a big herd at the Bend, as well. Susie got on lead (route unknown, see picture), and Colin and I headed for Twin Cracks, which looked like a fun 5.6 from the ground. I’m not 100% sure what the rest of our party did while Colin and I mini-epic’d on Twin Cracks (#57 in the Tieton guidebook), but Colin and I had a mini-adventure, for sure.

Colin lead, placing great gear all the way up. He reached a point where he could go straight up to the cliff top, or right, exiting out on top of a pillar (where the anchor bolts are indicated in the Guide). He scouted around and didn’t see bolts, so headed to the top of the cliff, where he also didn’t find bolts. He did a very careful downclimb to reach the decision point, again, and then went to his right to exit on top of the pillar — still, no bolts. He luckily had enough gear to build an anchor, which he did, then we tried to plan the descent sans bolts. There are bolts down and climber’s right at the anchor of Render us Weightless (#54 in the book) but Colin wasn’t crazy about that prospect, and since he was on a solid gear anchor we decided he’d bring me up, I’d clean, and we’d walk off. We heard from another party, once he was already anchored and we were trying to sort the situation out, that there was a walk off, so that sounded like the best option. As an alternative, even if we couldn’t find the walk off, our gear would be cleaned, and we could use the gear anchor to belay one of us to the rap station on #54, so going up was the best course of action.

The climbing was 5.6 MY ASS. Colin wow’d me with his lead on Classic Crack during our last trip to Leavenworth; I found that 5.8 much easier than this “5.6.” The route was uncomfortable offwidth in areas. I actually enjoy offwidth — but this was a funny offwidth. In between for feet (too big for foot jams, too small for heel toe jams) and small offwidth for arms — my forearms kept getting stuck in the crack when I tried to move up on my jams. Usually on “easier” offwidth you’ll find edges inside that you can grab onto … if they were there, I sure didn’t find ‘em. It was a thrashy, desperate jamfest for me, all the while impressed with Colin’s lead. I topped out, breathing hard, after grunting my way up. Colin’s improvised anchor was great, so we could have belayed over to the rap anchor on #54, but we agreed to try the walk off. I pulled up the rope and butterflied it to backpack it (figuring, I didn’t want to drop it, in case we had any issues with the walk off) then we headed up to the cliff top to look for a way down.

After seeing the cliff top up close and personal, I’ll reiterate…

Helmets are mandatory at Royal Columns.

I’ve seen trundled rockfall there before, but the cliff top is extremely rocky and loose in areas. We worked our way up a sandy and rocky lightly vegetated trail (on which we ran into a friendly local rattlesnake) and then cut to climber’s left before reaching the very top of the ridge to see if we could make our way. We carefully worked a sandy trail to a point where it looked like were were going to cliff out and sure enough — it cliffed out right at a site with a couple of options for rap stations. SCORE, and glad we hadn’t tossed the rope. We rapped off the anchors for #67 just as Steve reached us on his search party. The sun was setting, we were all on our way down safely, and it had been a full, great climbing day.

Sunday: Dream Wall and back to Lava Wall
After a leisurely morning, we made our way toward Dream Wall. The wall is further climber’s left of Lava Wall, but takes a slightly different approach. We hadn’t explored the area before, and wound up descending a gully to climber’s right of Tick Wall. Don trucked ahead to scout Dream Wall, and the rest of us started to notice ticks. Lots, and lots of ticks. We tucked in what we could tuck in, and picked ticks off of each other, then followed Don to Dream Wall.

The wall really is lovely despite an appearance that would suggest “loose and chossy.” I can’t vouch for the rock quality since I didn’t climb there; instead, I got out my Naturapel and got to (hopefully) tick repelling. Kari carries Jungle Juice, and while I don’t usually use DEET-containing repellents while climbing, I did put a shot of hers on each ankle, just in case. We also resorted to the old-fashioned approach of covering up… after Susie found a tick that had sunk in at her waistline, we tucked pantlegs into socks, shirts into pants, and stayed as covered up as possible. Extensive photography was not allowed because we all looked so ridiculous, though I couldn’t help but take a picture of me & Susie’s rockin fashion. I predict this will be the next big “look” on the runways of Paris, Milan and NYC:

Steve, Kari and Susie all had fun on the PG rated Pickles, a 5.8 that seems to be cleaner than at the publishing of the guidebook, since none in our party mentioned anything particularly scary. Here’s a photo of Kari on it:

Don started up a 10a (Lava Sundae, perhaps?) but a few bolts up was not feeling it; Steve started up it later to clean the draws, hit the same point, and was not feeling it either so down-lead to clean the gear. I’ll definitely go back to Dream Wall on a day when conditions are better (namely, when it’s not literally crawling with ticks)… there are a few routes there and on Tick Wall that looked fantastic, though some were wet this trip.

From there, Steve, Don and Susie crossed the talus to get back to Lava Wall proper; Kari and I decided to head up and over on the trails at the cliff tops since that was a known quantity and we didn’t want to risk bushwhacking through tick infested foliage. The report from the adventurers was that the low route wasn’t bad.

Back at Lava Wall, we were a bit bummed to find the place covered in ticks. In addition to crawling around down low, they seemed to be falling from the cliff tops, and inevitably in the bushes that our ropes were drawn to. Eeew. Despite the bugs, Don officially stepped into Ropegun Mode and put a rope up on Saint of Circumstance, the 10c I had my eye on the day before. The route is awesome. I should have just gotten on it on lead, but didn’t want to try a 10c lead for my warmup, so toproped it. The roofs at the top are hard, and it took me awhile to figure out a sequence for them, but the climbing down low is balancey, delicate, technical, body tension fun. I am finding 10c to be My Grade outside for projects, and am amassing quite a list of 10c projects. This one was no exception, and I look forward to getting back to it to work it on lead. I’m not sure what Kari and Susie got on, but we took turns on the 10c, and Steve started Muted Reality, a bold 11a with a seriously strenuous, difficult section from the third through fifth bolts. Don finished the lead, and Steve and I toproped it. This one is, I think, a bit more challenging for us shorter people — the crux section for me required really awkward footwork and an impossible two finger gaston with my right hand if I was going to do it statically, which I was just too tired to do. Instead, I shifted gears and went for the dyno approach, which I stuck after a few tries.

We were all starting to feel our fatigue, so after cleaning the routes we called it a day. Susie, Steve and Kari turned back toward Bellingham, and Don and I headed for White Pass to home. We took the cutoff on Highway 7 on the way home which was lovely… off the beaten path, and it spit us out southwest of Mt. Rainier for Buffalo burgers at the Mt. Rainier Railroad Dining Co. We wound our way northward and when we suddenly went from middle-of-nowhere to Spanaway, we both would have traded the bustle and lights and noise of Spanaway for the most tick-infested crag on the face of the planet. Going back on the grid, even after a quick weekend trip, just keeps getting harder and harder.

The Tieton River area is an absolute treasure, and it’s quickly overshadowing other Washington areas to become my favorite, partly because of the climbing, and partly because of the beauty and peace of the Tieton river area itself. Enjoy!

Things to know…

• Area Overview: Courtesy of Washington Climbers Coalition, with current information about closures (none in 2009, but raptor closures happen here) and efforts by The Nature Conservancy to acquire property in the canyon.
• Guidebook: Tieton River Rocks, by Marlene Ford & Jim Yoder
• Objective hazards: Despite the ticks, ticks and more ticks we saw this weekend, I’ve seen as many (or more) on Outer Space at Leavenworth, so don’t let them stop you. I have it on good authority (thanks, Andy) that Lava Point and the Cave are the worst for ticks, and their season is March to May. According to Andy, “13 Ticks” got its name when my buddy Matt Perkins took a nap in the grass waiting for Andy to bolt the route. The snakes are no worse (or, even less) than Leavenworth. Use your best judgment, be prepared, and take precautions. Rockfall is a hazard in some areas more than others, so why not just wear your helmet. This weekend, I wore mine while belaying, leading, and toproping. No kidding.
• New routes: New route development continues around the area. I haven’t found updates to Marlene & Jim’s book online yet, but if I do I’ll update. From a climber who loves this area to Andy Fitz and the other first ascentionists who continue to spend their free time scrubbing and cleaning routes (not to mention, their own funds on bolts and anchors), THANK YOU.
• A few more logistics: If you come in via White Pass, you’re out of cell range from pretty much I-5 until you get back to I-5. The peace and quiet is a welcome change from other areas where you routinely hear ringing cell phones at the crags! Plan a communication method with the rest of your party that doesn’t rely on cell phones. Camping is abundant, though before Memorial Day many of the developed campgrounds are closed. Also, watch carefully for deer and elk when on the roads. They are EVERYWHERE, and are unpredictable.

And, a final note on de-tickification, since this is news to some outdoorsy types… I take de-tickifying post trip seriously. Here’s my approach, please share yours in the comments!

1. Before I set foot in my house, I strip into a plastic bag. I go straight to the bath for a good long soak, and then the clothes I was wearing (as well as any other washable goods) go straight into the washing machine.
2. Check yourself, especially unmentionable areas, armpits, waistline, and hairline / scalp carefully for ticks. If you don’t have a buddy to help, use a mirror and be thorough!
3. Empty your gear onto a white sheet one or two pieces at a time. Sort and inspect for ticks and kill any you find. I leave my gear out, on the sheet, for a day or so in case I miss any crawlies … they’re easy to spot moving at their creepy pace on the white sheet. Here’s my gear post-inspection:

   

   Places I tend to find them most often in this inspection are sleeping bags, tents, rope bags and ropes. Eew.

4. Detickify the car. Once all the gear is out, inspect and vacuum thoroughly!

Even with all this, I sometimes find one or two in the car a couple days later. Just be alert, take care, and if you do have the unfortunate experience of a too-close experience with one that digs in, here’s advice from the CDC generally, and on removal here.

Regarding repellents… We all got crawled on, repellents or not. Given the number of ticks we saw (and the number that crawled on) and the relatively few that actually bit in, I’ll be carrying repellent as a regular part of my crag kit from here on out. We even applied some of my non-DEET Naturapel (thanks again, Frank and Kelly at Adventure Medical Kits) during our gear sort just in case, to feet, ankles and arms.

Filed under: Climbing Photos, Tieton, Trip Reports

It takes a village.

The weekend’s weather report looks great for Tieton, north of Yakima. Tieton is one of my favorite Washington climbing areas, and I can’t wait to get back out there. I had hoped to take Hana the dog with me this weekend, since she loves camping, and the weather looked moderate enough that she wouldn’t overheat, but alas — the weather report has ticked upward and it’s going to be hot. With the Hood Canal Bridge closed, she can’t run up to Grandma and Grandpa’s in Port Townsend, like she usually does. That left a last minute Hana care scramble, and my girl Candace came to the rescue. I’m going to watch her beloved Coco for her run down to Tieton tomorrow, then she’s going to take care of Hana while I’m gone.

It truly does take a village.

Other folks must have the same issue. How do you mix taking care of your furry kids and your outdoor adventure? Please share, in the comments!

Filed under: The climbing life

My Climbing Life, a climbing-light installment

It’s been a funny week. I’ve been alternating between the highs of meeting fantastic folks in the climbing community and outdoor biz since I’ve been actively trying to get out of my shell and build those relationships, and the lows of discouraging or frustrating experiences related to some of those efforts. I prefer to focus on the positive, but if this sounds a wee bit down, it’s just ’cause this week hasn’t been all highs. And, did I mention, the weather report for the weekend — pretty much everywhere except New Mexico — sucks? Sigh. I guess it’s the universe’s way of telling me to wash my freaking dishes and get some rest.

In an example of “saw that coming,” a story with me in it went live today on the American Lawyer blog (edit… the blog post has been removed until the editors can agree on how to address the notable safety issue in the original (and print) content. I’m leaving this up, though, since the print version is still out there).

The blog post is the companion to a print story slated for their current issue (which I believe hit stands today, though my local newsstand / magazine shop closed so I’ll have to wait for it in the mail). I was shocked when they contacted me about doing the story, since (y’all better get used to this, it seems to be my new mantra) I’m just a normal girl, I don’t climb sick hard, and I’m regularly described as “prolific” in my activities (climbing / photography / writing) but without regard to quality. I actually pointed the author toward a bunch of other notable climber / lawyers instead, but they decided to profile me.

I knew not to expect 100% perfection from a print magazine outside of the outdoor industry… given that climbing is a technical activity, with its own jargon, and I talk fast, so I can be a challenging interview subject. When I saw the blog version I thought about just 100% keeping my mouth shut, but since it’s public and will get indexed by search engines with my name in it, I wanted to just correct a few things, especially since the moderator hasn’t yet approved my comment on the post.

The biggies… I’m not running for Kitsap County Auditor. That was in the Spring of 2008, and I wasn’t selected, but one of my favorite people in the whole world, Walt Washington, was. Walt, my sweet — you don’t have competition in the form of me for your next reelection bid.

Second, there’s the blurb about Leavenworth:

“Leavenworth, Washington Bouldering and multipitch walls, and spots where she can tie a rope to her car’s bumper and rappel down. A plus for Lingafelter: no cell-phone reception.”

No cell-phone reception is a big plus in the Icicle, and oh, the bouldering and multipitch… yes, yes, yes. Rappelling off a car bumper… um… nope. In the comment to the blog post that I submitted but haven’t yet seen approved by the moderator, I responded thusly…

There’s absolutely no situation I can imagine that I would tie a rope to a car’s bumper and rappel down anything. I think what I said was that there are areas where the climbing is so close to the road, you can practically belay from your car’s bumper. Those are two very different things.

So…

Don’t go out rapping off car bumpers and say, “Oh, RockClimberGirl said…..” ’cause I didn’t.

Little things… my girl Amy M was who first planted the nugget of climbing, not a law school friend… Amy had the good sense to go to Massage Therapy school, and is now an incredibly talented climber / mom / friend / wife / massage therapist. My heart is broken that she and her family are headed for DC… but my loss is the east coast’s gain, I suppose, and that gives me an excuse to get out and visit and sample West Virginia and the Gunks and some of the other places I’ve always wanted to go.

I also don’t recall saying the quote attributed to me in this bit:

Both climbing and the law have shaped her worldview, albeit in different ways: “You can seriously hurt yourself in one, and really change someone’s life in the other.”

But, even though I didn’t say it, I’ll be happy to claim it as my own. Yes, you can seriously hurt yourself in the practice of law, and you can really change someone’s life through rock climbing.

Those are the big things. There are little things, too, like my practice areas… but this post is getting longer than the original, so I’ve got to draw the line somewhere. Otherwise, they did a pretty good job and got some things right, so that’s cool. And, it’s fun to see my friend Kari’s photo there, also.

Oh, the discomfort of being a fact-oriented former copyeditor and armchair journalist.

In other climbing-light news, last night I went over to Seattle to join in and meet some great new folks and catch up with a few friends at the CascadeClimbers.com annual picnic, organized by my buddy Matt. The picnic is a tradition that started in the 80’s, and predates CascadeClimbers.com, but has been adopted by Matt and the CC crew. Matt asked if I’d do a slideshow, and I reminded him that I don’t climb sick hard, and I’m just a “normal climber” and his response was “normal climbers need apply,” so I ponied up. The other two slideshows were by real climber-slash-photographers… Wayne Wallace and Steph Abell’s slideshows were incredible. I kinda furiously edited pieces of mine at the last minute remembering that — after all, this is the CC crew, so I was worried there may be a handful of hecklers. It went okay, I think, though everybody disbursed pretty quickly after so only a few folks stayed around to clean up and chit chat. Folks were nice, food was good, it seemed that a fun time was had by all.

I arrived home to a name-calling, not-so-nice blog comment from someone who apparently found me via CC … so that didn’t leave the best taste in my mouth. But, that’s where my Teflon superpower comes in handy, and I get a whole lot more love than the opposite from my readers and friends and climbing partners, so whatever. Thanks for defending my honor, Darren… I think you get extra heaven points for stuff like that.

OK, that’s it. I’m off to have a good healthy dinner (nothing like two fantastic dinner invitations in one night… hard to pick just one!) and then hit the gym for a fun night with friends. For my buddies in New Mexico and Salt Lake, have a great weekend climbing while the rest of us sit home and watch weather.com hoping for better news next weekend.

Just kidding. I’m going mountain biking, crappy weather or not.

Filed under: Events, Not Climbing