We had some home building research to do in New Hampshire over Labor Day weekend, so I couldn't resist the temptation to head over to Rumney for some sport climbing. Since I had Jonathan and the kids with me, we wanted a third person to climb with so one of us could be free to keep an eye on the kids. It's very distracting to be climbing or belaying while the kids are fighting or not being safe. So we found Dan on the NH climbing website partner listing and headed over to Rumney! We were nervous that the easily accessed Rumney crags would be crowded on Labor Day weekend, but to our surprise, it wasn't bad at all. Plenty of parking at 10am when we arrived, and although there were lots of people there by the afternoon, we didn't have to wait to do anything. Heard it was raining in many other parts of the northeast, so perhaps it scared people away. We had beautiful partly cloudy weather in the low to mid 70s.
Before Dan showed up, I led "A week with Pete", an easy 5.2
on the right side of the Parking Lot Wall, so we could set up a
toprope for the girls. The last 1/4 of the climb got fairly thin
for a 5.2, and I wasn't sure my girls could make it. Ariel was
just getting to the point where she was strong enough to pull
herself up a climb instead of being hauled up by the rope and was
just getting brave enough to be lowered. She's 5 years old now,
but she's very petite. She did great! She got halfway up on her
own power and had no problems being lowered. Jasmine (8 years old)
is much stronger, but got stumped near the top where it got thin
and didn't want to give it a shot. They both enjoyed the climbing.
Dan showed up and I TR'ed to the top to take the anchor down so we
could do some harder climbs.
Movies (mpg format):
Ariel climbing
Jasmine climbing
Dan has been climbing less than a year, but had no trouble getting up 5.7s and 5.8s with good style. This range was perfect because Jonathan climbed in the same range, and I was comfortable leading it. So I was ropegun for the day. I led a bunch of climbs from 5.6 to 5.8 on the Parking Lot Wall
So the whole time we're climbing, the girls did great amusing themselves. Jonathan strung up some nylon parachute cord zip lines between 3 small trees. They brought their small baby dolls and some toy biners and kept busy having their babies zip down the lines, sometimes sitting in a helmet, sometimes with little harnesses on the babies. They also brought plastic tools, and it was funny to see Ariel with a plastic power drill at a bolted sport crag. They also tied a tether between them and proclaimed they were mountaineers doing "lead walking". They did some mining, whacking away at a small mica deposit in a nearby boulder and got themselves plenty dirty sliding down a small boulder and forming the "dirty club". We climbed for hours and they kept themselves amused with only minor interruptions for snacks and a potty break. Having Dan with us was great, he didn't mind being a belay slave in return for not having to do any childcare, so at all times, either Jonathan or myself was available to watch the kids.
We then moved on to the Meadows to squeeze in a couple more
climbs before we left. The girls were busy climbing a small
boulder, Jonathan was teaching them to belay using nylon string
and toy biners for examples and they were busy practicing their
"on belay" signal calls.
Movie:
Jasmine and Ariel practice belaying (sorry, taken sideways)
I was getting gear ready to lead "Bolt Line" (5.8), when the party climbing next to us started up it. They were friendly, although only one spoke English, and he offered to bring our rope up so we could toprope the 5.5 trad line next to it while we waited. The face between the trad line and "Bolt Line" went at about 5.7 so there was a variety of ways we could go up. Jonathan was tired, so Dan and I went up this line, starting on the face, using the flake from the trad line a little bit, then back onto the face for some nice delicate face climbing. Then I led "Bolt Line" (5.8) which was fairly intimidating for a lead wimp like me. I was having a good day, so I went for it, successfully. The first moves off the ground are tricky - overhanging rock with poor feet and a high reach to good holds. Dan spotted me and I made the move and got up to the high 1st bolt. The climbing was fun, thin, delicate face climbing. Felt more like a 5.8 than the stuff at the Parking Lot Wall. At the top was a long runout from the last bolt to the anchors on the same delicate thin stuff. Normally I would be nervous, but I felt good, so I continued and got to the anchors. Dan took his time and enjoyed it as well. He said he didn't blame me for not liking that long runout!
We packed up, the kids were still in a good mood - no meltdowns at all (=success!) and we went to Plymouth for dinner at Jigger Johns or something like that. Incredibly slow service, took forever, they were short handed, we thought we'd never get out of there. My BBQ ribs were tough and flavorless. The guys enjoyed their pasta bake and hamburger, and hey, they had a kid's menu, which is what we needed.
Despite dinner, it was a great day! Great weather, happy kids, new friend, fun climbing!
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