Embrace the suck

5.5’s are normally pretty easy to climb. However, when it is hovering around 5°C, in the shade, with hands that feel like clubs and feet that don’t feel at all, it is slightly different. Combine that with trying to place gear, running it out and difficult routefinding, you have yourself quite the little adventure. This was my yesterday at Bon Echo, in Ontario.

Last week, my friend Mark asked me if I wanted to go to Bon Echo for the weekend. I agreed, but we didn’t have any way of getting there. So, I asked Dan if he wanted to come. He also agreed, but had to be back to work on Sunday morning. He was going to bring Natasha along, who had to work Friday night. So, it degraded down to a day trip on Saturday to Bon Echo. This was OK with everyone, though, since it was significantly cheaper that way.

Dan picked me up at 8:30AM on Saturday morning. From there, we went to the Pizza Pizza at Princess and Division to pick up Mark. The drive was uneventful, as they usually are, and we arrived at the Bon Echo boat launch about an hour an a half later. Racking, prepping and packing our gear in the parking lot, we heard the boat approaching and scuttled down to the dock. We hopped in and so did a couple of others who had arrived just in time. We made our way towards the Alpine Club of Canada hut, which is located on the shore of Mazinaw Lake. Once there, we unloaded the others gear and headed into the hut to fill out some waivers. Strangely, one of Dan’s friends from high school was inside. It was strange not only because he hadn’t seen her in a long time, but because we had actually been talking about her on the car ride up – WEIRD! Anyway, for some reason she had come to climb, but hadn’t brought any ropes or gear, again – WEIRD! So, she was not so subtly trying to convince us to take her and her friend with us. We declined and carried on our way.

Fig. 1 - Racking up in the parking lot (Photo courtesy of Daniel Rudmin)

Fig. 2 - I'm on a boat!

Fig. 3 - Looking down at the boat

We got back in the boat and headed for the rock. We dropped Dan and Natasha off at the base of Birthday Ridge (5.0), which had a nice large area to set up on. Mark and I moved down the cliff to Boris’ Route, which involved hopping out of the boat and onto a small ledge a few meters above the water (which was about 100 feet deep, by the way). Well, we made it and began setting ourselves up to climb. It was very, very, cold at this point. Boris’ Route was completely in the shade and would remain that way (for me at least) until we reached the summit. Mark took off on the first pitch. I belayed in the cold, while he tried to follow the route. Bon Echo is known for difficult route finding. He eventually made it to the first belay. I followed, with the pack, and joined him. We quickly re-racked and I made my way up the second pitch.

Fig 4. - A shot of Bon Echo from Boris' Route

Bon Echo, because it was so cold, now ties Seneca for scariest place to climb, in my books. It was exposed, hard, run out, difficult route finding, and freezing – AKA awesome! I made my way up as best I could until I was in a corner, squirming my way upwards. I was about 20 feet above my last piece – a bad nut – when I realised if I fell, I would be in serious trouble. So, I backed off and managed to find an excellent tri cam placement. I felt much better and headed back up. Eventually, I found the two bolt anchor and tied in. I brought Mark up after he got to enjoy a belay in the sun.

Fig. 5 - Me climbing at Bon Echo (Photo courtesy of Daniel Rudmin)

Mark began moving up the third pitch almost as soon as he reached my stance. He handed me the pack, I handed him some gear and he skedaddled. Like I said, route finding is difficult. Mark found this out by moving up the wrong way on the third pitch, which resulted in a down climb and traverse, but eventually he made it. Moving up to the last move – a small roof – he called out “Hey! There’s ice up here!” to which I replied through chattering teeth “great”. He set up a belay and I followed. Everything went OK, until I got to the roof. I was frozen through, by this point, and couldn’t look up because of the pack. I warmed my hands up by holding them out behind me in the sun, which hadn’t quite reached me yet. Eventually, with Mark’s beta, I found my way through the final move and joined him on top. It was warm, flat and great. We all met up and the four of us dined on some tuna, bagels and trail mix – delicious.

Fig. 6 - Lunching on top.

Fig. 7 - Natasha all trussed up.

We rapped off and met the boat at the base of Birthday Ridge. It took us over to One Pine (5.3). Dan and Natasha took it first. Mark followed them up and I followed him. It was easy. Now that the sun was hitting us it was almost too hot, haha. I met the three of them at a large block, which Dan had wrapped his rope around to build an anchor. We chatted for a minute and Dan started moving up again. Quickly, he was running low on rope. So, we had to build a new anchor, clip into that and take his apart. This gave him barely enough rope to finish the pitch, which was actually the second and third pitch’s linked together. Natasha followed. As soon as she was about 30 feet away, Mark started moving upwards again, since we had used my end of the rope to sling the block – D’oh! He made it about 40 feet before I realised the sun was quickly setting. He had at least 30 more minutes of climbing – minimum – , then I had to follow and we had a 5.0 down climb ahead of us, back to the base of the cliff. We had a decision to make.

Fig. 8 - Dan leading up One Pine.

I called up “I think we need to bail, the sun is going down”. To which I heard “I think you’re right”. So, we told Dan and Natasha to head down without us. Mark fixed a sling and I lowered him down to me, while he cleaned. Then we slung the block, threw the rope and rapped down to a scree-ish slope. From there, we pulled the rope and down climbed to the base of the face. Luckily, we made the decision we did, because it got dark as soon as we were down. We waited about 15 or 20 minutes until Dan, Natasha and the boat arrived. We went back to the base of Birthday Ridge to collect some others. They didn’t materialise soon enough, so the driver of the boat took us back to the boat launch, where we disembarked and thanked him for the ride.

Fig. 9 - Mark and I bailing off One Pine.

Loading back into the car, we took off for home. Along the way, we were stopped by a RIDE program. They looked in and almost immediately sent us on our way. I guess we look like a respectable bunch, or at least not like a gaggle of drunks. Later, we stopped at an A&W, had some dinner and re-racked our gear. We loaded back into the car and made for Kingston. Dan dropped us all off and the trip came to an end.

Fig. 10 - Re-racking at A&W (Photo courtesy of Daniel Rudmin)

It was a great end to a great season. Bon Echo was the last outdoor rock climbing trip of the season, for me anyway. Now we have a month or so of training ahead of us, a few peaks to do in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and then Dan and I are off to the Pyrenees in December. CAN’T WAIT!

Vivre libre ou mourir!

A few weeks ago, I saw the following on my friend Steve Sagar’s facebook page – “Sexy Scuba Steve: What are you doing Thanksgiving weekend? if you can find a partner, want to come climbing at Mt Rumney!?”. To which I replied – “So, Steve ... I hear you need a partner for Rumney ...”. This is how I started the ball rolling for my Thanksgiving weekend plans. It turns out that Sexy Scuba Steve was being picked up in Kingston by his two friends from Waterloo and St. Catherine’s, on their way to Rumney, New Hampshire. So, I filled the slot of Steve’s partner for the weekend and it seemed like we were on our way to New Hampshire to clip some bolts for the long weekend. Note the word “seemed” as an obvious foreshadowing of plans to be changed.

Steve’s friends, Lee Anne and Travis, rolled in to town Thursday night to see their friend Dan. We were supposed to meet up with them at 4AM on Friday morning to go to New Hampshire and climb that day. However, the entire East coast of North America was being buffeted by rain storms. So, at the last minute (several hours before we were set to leave), we changed the departure time to 10AM. We were also told to lighten our loads, as Lee Ann and Travis had brought a fifth member for our trip and had driven in a two door sedan. I stripped down my kit to the lightest I could for a weekend in below freezing temperatures, rain, possible snow, etc. and left my trad rack behind completely. I arrived at our rendezvous point (the Shopper’s Drug Mart at Princess St. and Division) at the designated time and sat down, beside my minimal load. Soon after, Steve came walking down the street carrying a massive ruck sack and a second back pack. “Oh no!” I thought “we are never going to be able to fit all this gear into the car”. Well, I was wrong; we did manage to fit all the gear in. Lee Ann, Janina (the fifth member of our group) and I were just covered in gear, crammed in the back seat. Steve also lacked sufficient leg room for a comfortable trip.

Figure 1: In the car, on our way to Montagne D'Argent.

Figure 2: Travis wearing a helmet, while driving, for safety and to save room.

First we headed to Stauffer Library to print directions to Rumney. While there, Travis saw me move my passport from my bag to my pocket. “Why do you have your passport?” he asked. “Uh… because we are crossing international borders” I replied. “Ah… we didn’t bring ours…” he said. “Hmm…” we all thought. Anyhoo, it looked like we weren’t going to the USofA this weekend. So, I suggested Montagne D’Argent. Everyone agreed, and we were off like a herd of turtles.

The drive to Ottawa was uneventful and uncomfortable. We spent some time getting to know each other and just talking. In Ottawa, we stopped at the MEC to buy the guidebook for Montage D’Argent and lunch at “The Works”, as usual. Continuing to Montagne D’Argent was a rather boring trip through backwoods Quebec. Eventually, we found the camp site, set up and were ready to go. Unfortunately, it was cold, wet, raining and soon to be dark. So, we headed into town for supplies (namely beer). Grocery run complete, we came back to the camp and almost immediately hit the sauna. The reason Montagne D’Argent is such a great climbing area is not the climbing itself; it is the cheap beer, the hot sauna and the low camp fees. So, we made the most of all these great facets of climbing in Quebec.

Figure 3: Us on arrival at Montagne D'Argent

Figure 4: Us in the Sauna (a very common sight over the course of the weekend).

The next morning (Saturday), we made the decision that even though the weather was good, the rock was far to drenched for us to climb. So, we headed into town, looking for a place to slackline. We figured that we would probably find a park or something nearby that would suit our needs. After driving almost all the way to the resort area known as Mont Tremblant, we decided to just go there. Upon arrival we realised that parking would be very expensive. So, we headed for Steve’s Dad’s Girlfriend’s new condo. They were just moving into it that day and had offered to host us for a drink, anyway. Once there, we all put our helmets on and roped up, for safety of course, we were on a mountain, after all.

Figure 5: Roped up and climbing at Mont Tremblant.

After some brief chatting with Steve’s Dad and his Girlfriend, we headed into the resort village (still roped up and helmeted). On our way to the village, we bouldered every rock we saw. Once we arrived in the resort, we took the gondola to the top of the summer resort area, ate some beaver tails and started looking for a place to slackline. We discovered the best place for it, would probably be directly in front of the Marriott hotel, in the centre of the village. Only Steve could really do it. He was awesome; the rest of us could barely, if at all, stand on the line. We did get some good pictures that make it look like we can do it, though. While we were there, a guy who apparently had lived in Squamish for the past year came over to talk and try out the line. He was pretty interesting and promised to give us a deal at the Roots store he worked at, but we never went to visit him, oh well, it would have been expensive with or without the deal. Soon, we realised the rock would probably be dry, so we headed back to Montagne D’Argent.

Figure 6: More bouldering.

Figure 7: Lee Anne and I buying Beavertails for the group.

Figure 8: A picture that makes it look like I know how to slackline.

Figure 9: Steve actually slacklining.

Upon arrival, we headed to the cliffs, which were about one minute from our tents. Steve, Janina and I went to the Controverse area, while Travis and Lee Anne went to Le Fou. We climbed “Controverse” and “Friction Constitutionelle”, both rated 5.8. It went well. Steve lead both, Janina seconded and I went up and tore down the anchors. Once we had completed these, we headed to Le Fou to find Travis and Lee Anne. The sun was quickly setting, but we decided to try for a 3-pitch climb anyway. It was called “La Centenaire” and was only 5.8. I lead the first pitch, brought Steve up and then Janina. Upon Janina’s arrival, we decided it was too dark to continue and rapped off. I have done the climb before and the third pitch is the best one. Oh well, Steve and Janina will have to wait until next time to climb it. We got to the ground and headed back to camp. Basically, we repeated the previous night’s fun. We ate dinner, sat in the sauna for far too long and drank beer.

Figure 10: Tearing down the anchors on "Controverse".

Figure 11: Realising it was too dark to continue.

Sunday morning arrived and the weather was much better than Saturday morning. So, we headed to town, bought some food and ate a warmish breakfast. Once we thought the rock had warmed up, we made our way back to camp, collected our gear and went to the Grand Canyon area. The weather was great, other than the very cold temperatures, and we started climbing. We started on 5.10b called “Lucky Luke”. I had climbed it before, but it was fun. It is a relatively easy climb until the finger crack at the top. From there, we hopped on a few other climbs nearby, such as “La Cha-Cha des Felins” (5.9-), “Mauvaise Herbe” (5.10d) and “Le ‘Speech’ de Gaetan” (5.8+). They were all fun and everyone was having a good time. It started snowing, so Steve, Janina and I used the anchors from “Le ‘Speech’ de Gaetan” to top rope some easier trad climbs nearby, in our approach shoes and wool socks. Soon, the three of us moved back to camp and started cooking the turkey legs for dinner. Travis and Lee Anne stayed and climbed for a while longer. When they came back down to camp, we sent them for wine and chips, for dinner. While they were gone, several other groups joined the camp site. Upon their return, we cracked open a bottle of wine and ate our turkey legs. It was delicious.

Figure 12: Steve climbing in the Grand Canyon area.

Figure 13: Top roping trad routes in the freezing cold.

Figure 14: Cooking up some turkey legs.

One of the other groups asked if we needed anything from the grocery store, so I went with them and bought some more wine and chips. When I got back to camp, we decided to do an easy slab climb nearby. It was dark, but the climb was a bolted 5.3+ called “Deuxieme biere” and we couldn’t resist. We all lead it, in the dark, with headlamps. It was pretty fun, but the fun really started when we realised the slab was covered in slippery leaves. So, of course, we started climbing up about 20 or 30 feet and sliding down on the leaves. It was probably the most fun I have had in a while. We took some great pictures of ourselves sliding and had a blast. Soon, we ran out of leaves and headed back to camp. As usual, we moved into the sauna. The other groups probably thought we were crazy, since we stripped down in front of them, by the fire, and went to the sauna, but that is OK. We warmed up our muscles, relaxed and went back to the fire to join them. We all chatted for a while, until we got too tired. So, we retired to our tents.

Figure 15: Night climbing.

Figure 16: Night sliding.

Figure 17: More night sliding (it was fun, OK).

Monday morning, we struck camp quickly, headed for the car, loaded up and drove off. It was a highly uneventful trip home, with one McDonald’s stop along the way. Once back in Kingston we exchanged all the pictures so that everyone had copies. As soon as that was done, Travis, Lee Anne and Janina headed off for home. I went back to my apartment, took a shower to get the stink of four days off me and looked at the pictures.

All in all, it was a great trip and even though we didn’t make it too New Hampshire, I probably wouldn’t have changed it.

Gordon Island!!!

There is a word that gets thrown around a lot for events that were pretty awesome. It is often misused, over used and abused. It can be defined as “impressive in quality”, “celebrating the feats of a legendary or traditional hero” or simply “majestic”. This word should only be used to describe stories of such grandeur that they should be orally passed from generation to generations. Stories like “The Odyssey”, “Metamorphoses”, “Beowulf” and “Paradise Lost” are all lumped into the category that this word describes.

This word, my friends, is – EPIC.

This past weekend I took a trip that borders on being classed as an “epic”. Some may disagree with me, but I would class it as a “mini-epic”. Not that anything heroic occurred or anything. It was just a great weekend that was full of the spirit of adventure.

Getting down to it.

My friends and I have been trying to plan a camping trip all summer. Our schedules have made this impossible - until this past weekend.

On Friday, this past week, I tried desperately to get my friends together to plan a camping trip. We had talked about it so much, but no one wanted to plan it. So, I tried. I failed. No one wanted to do it. Some of them wanted to go to Stratford instead. So, I went out Friday night and talked it up a bit, but it didn’t seem like it was going to happen.

Saturday afternoon, the texts started flying - Stratford was out, camping was in. Sam, Nicola and I had Saturday and Sunday off, Danielle had to work until 3 on Saturday and at noon on Sunday. We had a small window of opportunity, and we were going take full advantage of it. I got the text from Nicola saying that the trip was happening, at around 1:30. I replied and said that I would grab my gear and meet at her place. So, I rushed home, packed and headed off. As I walked up, Danielle was at the door. Surprising, since it was 2:30 and she had work until 3. Apparently, she had managed to leave early. We met up with Nicola, grabbed her gear and hopped in Danielle’s car to pick up Sam and the boats. We got Sam and headed to Trailhead to get our canoe and kayak. It took some rigging, but we managed to strap them both to the roof of the Ford Focus. We drove to Gananoque to pick up supplies. So, we hit No Frills and The Beerstore (we went with Lakeport Honey for the true “Camping in Canada” feel). Once supplied, we headed further East to Danielle’s parent’s house, where we would put the boats in. After a tour of the house, which Danielle’s dad is currently building and a quick pack job, we headed off with the boats.

Figure 1: Saddling up at Trailhead.

Figure 2: Group shot while buying supplies at No Frills.

We were finally in the water and it felt great. I hadn’t canoed in years and wonder, now, why I don’t do it more often. About one minute in, we cracked a beer each. Nicola missed out because she was in the kayak, but Danielle, Sam and I enjoyed our luxurious paddle towards Gordon Island. We put in at the Eastern end of the island and explored, looking for a good camp site. We noticed a sign by the outhouse that read “Caution: Aggressive Racoons on the Island”, intrigued, we kept exploring. Once we settled on a site, we went back for the boats and paddled around to the other end of the island. Upon setting up camp, we realised that we only had 24 beers. Clearly, this would not be enough. So, we paddled back, hit the beer store, purchased more beer, and a “Penthouse” magazine, for good measure, and returned to the island. Now properly equipped, we began cooking dinner.

Figure 3: Drinking and paddling - a deadly combination!

Figure 4: An omen we should have paid heed to - "Agressive Racoons on Island".


Figure 5: Setting up camp/building a fire.



Figure 6: Cooking dinner - STEAKS!

Dinner was excellent, if I do say so myself. We cooked steaks on the coals of the fire, while keeping it burning on the outside, for later, and boiled some corn, on the stove. No one believed me that cooking the steaks on the coals would work, but they seemed to like it. We followed dinner with some Jiffy Pop, which I hadn’t had in a long time. I think we will need to bring it along with us from now on.

Figure 7: Jiffy Pop!

After dinner, we went exploring. The island was actually pretty big, so we hiked around and came upon a guy and his dog. We chatted for awhile and carried on. A few moments later, we came across the rest of his contingent and talked for awhile, again. They were Americans visiting from Washington state. They were here with people they had met on a cruise the year before. They were interesting people and could actually appreciate Sam’s antics … we think.

Figure 8: Exploration group shot.

Continuing our exploration of the island was pretty uneventful, so we headed back for the campsite. Upon arrival, we kept drinking our beer, gathered wood for the fire, read aloud from our “Penthouse”, all the usual things you do when camping. We soon decided to hang out on the rocky shore. We quickly decided that it would be a good idea to go swimming. So, I dove in, soon followed by Nicola and Danielle. Sam was more tentative about swimming, but we eventually convinced him. Unfortunately, the rest of the swimming story will go unblogged, if you care to ask me to tell it in person, I might, but we will see.

Figure 9: Swimming adventure.

Once we returned to land, we basically just hung around the campfire, which somehow didn’t burn out while we were swimming, luckily. At one point, the “Aggressive” racoons circled our campsite, so Sam threw beer bottles at them until they left. It was really fun, to just hang out in the forest, around a fire, with great people. Soon, we got tired and decided to go to bed. This was an adventure in itself. We were sleeping in a three person tent, and if you remember correctly, there were four of us. We tried several arrangements and finally settled on the most comfortable one. It would have been ok, if no one had moved through the night. Unfortunately, Sam is a very active sleeper, somehow managing to wake up inside my sleeping bag the next morning – weird.

Figure 10: Happy to see the fire still blazing.

I woke up early the next morning, to try and see the sunrise. It was too cloudy, so I ended up just exploring the island some more, making tea, fishing and just hanging out. Later, the others woke up. After a slow start, we finally got Sam in shape enough to move (he is not a morning person, in the slightest) and took off in the boats. We put in near Danielle’s parent’s house, loaded up the car and headed to Gananoque. We stopped at “Bravo” for breakfast, where I had the “Hungry Man”, which was delicious. Then we made the move back to Kingston, dropped off Sam, unloaded and returned the boats. I left Trailhead, went home and was able to hang out with my parents for the couple of days they were visiting Kingston.

Figure 11: Breakfast at Bravo

All in all, a truly wonderful weekend trip. Soon to be repeated, we hope.

I'm on a boat / windmilling around

Today was an adventure filled day.

Most of you have probably seen the SNL “I’m on a Boat” short. Well, today, I spent a lot of time on boats.

Figure 1?: The "I'm On a Boat" short

I went to work this morning, got some things done, but had to leave for a one o’clock doctor’s appointment. The appointment went well, but I didn’t really want to go back to work. So, I called my friend Nicola. I went over to her place and we brainstormed an afternoon adventure. We decided to head for Wolfe Island, see some windmills and meet up with some friends.

So, we headed for the ferry. We got there, but it hadn’t arrived yet. So, we went to the Fort Frontenac patio to hang out until it arrived, which was very quickly. As we were leaving The Fort, we were harassed by a Commissionaire. Apparently, you aren’t allowed to walk through the back gate – Ridiculous! Anyhoo, we eventually made it to the ferry and boarded. We got a spot at the front, so we would of course get soaked by the waves, which was actually a lot of fun.

Once we arrived on the island, we set off in search of windmills. We spotted what we thought would be the closest one. This is where the adventure began. First, we had to hop a schoolyard fence, which happened to be the same place I came for “Outdoor Education” in grade 4. Then, we crossed a fence via bridge from the playground to a farmer’s field. Our next obstacle was - you guessed it, a fence. This one, we crawled under. Now, this put us in a field with a lone cow. We couldn’t tell if it was a bull or not, so we stuck to the treeline and came up with a contingency plan in case it charged. The plan involved a lot of running away and jumping of fences. Soon, we came to our greatest challenge – an electric fence! Now, according to Nicola, the electric fences used to keep horses in are pretty low voltage. I can only assume that it is a higher voltage for cattle. So, we had a choice to make. Do we crawl under? Or jump over? Neither seemed very appealing, so we used the gate. Only after about 7 minutes of trying to decide what to do did we notice the gate – oops. The Holy Grail was near. We just had a short distance between us and the windmill. It loomed in the distance, casting a massive shadow over us. It was actually pretty beautiful. It was silent, spinning quickly and gigantic. After some pictures, we headed back to town.

Figure 2: The windmill, in all it's glory

Figure 3: If you can see us, we are in front of the windmill, striking "adventure" poses

We met up with Zak and Krista (I think that is her name, I can’t remember. Can someone correct me?) at the Island Grill. The food was great and surprisingly cheap. We ate and headed off in Zak’s boat. We planned on going to his place and tubing. The trip, which normally takes about 30 minutes, took close to an hour because of the chop. The waves were huge. We were all soaked by the time we got to Zak’s and we all had sore tail bones. Once there, we changed and built a fire. We were waiting for Zak’s parents to get back from catamaraning, so we could all tube together. Upon their arrival, they noticed that all the fibreglass from the side of the boat had sheared off. We don’t know when/how it happened, but tubing was out. So, we made smores, chatted and eventually headed home.

Figure 4: Nicola and I on Zak's boat

Figure 5: Waves crashing over us

I think I need more days like this. It was so relaxing to be out on the water, in the sun, enjoying myself. Hopefully I can find some more time for this kind of life, before the summer is over. We shall see, as I always say.

Here Comes The Sun

So, this past weekend, I was planning on heading to the Adirondacks. The weather, unfortunately, did not cooperate. Eric, Grand, Nick and I set off in the car Friday night, after a last minute change of destination. I was heading for Montagne D’Argent – again.

We arrived at the campsite that evening and set up. We were the only ones there, so we took the primo spot – under the tarp, by the picnic tables, SCHWING! We quickly hit the nearby IGA for some cheap Quebecois beer. While at the IGA, we found a GINORMOUS wheel of cheese, that we could have purchased for the low-low price of $99.98 for half the wheel. We declined, but gladly had our picture taken with it. Returning to the camp, we drank some beer and turned in.

Figure 1: Grand and his expensive cheese

Saturday morning, we awoke to beautiful weather. After a quick breakfast, we headed out for the M&M area, which happened to be about 30 seconds from our tent. This area has a beautiful grey granite stone that is chock full of cracks. It was great. We started on “M&M” (5.8), of course. Grand lead it, I seconded. Then we moved over to “Krakabra” (5.7+), which I lead, very sketchily because it was soaked to the gills. From the ground, it looked as if only the sidewall was wet, but I soon discovered that the entire crack was seeping and slippery. Plus, I didn’t have enough #2s. So, I had to walk gear up the whole way. Basically, it was tricky, slippery, but successful. Grand decided against seconding it. Then we moved to “Lezadomachos” (5.9+), which was a technically difficult climb, with a swing in the middle. It was fun, but hard. Once we had exhausted the cracks at M&M, we moved to “Le Fou” area, so we could hop on some multi pitch climbing. Grand and Eric did “Maudit Fou” (5.10b), while Nick and I did “Le Centenaire” (5.8). It was fun; the climbs shared anchors, so we saw a lot of each other. Plus, the last pitch was the same for both. Once down, we moved to La Petite Folie area, where Nick lead his first trad line – “Encore! Mon Lapin” (5.4+) – way to go Nick. Grand and I climbed “Colonel Kirtz” (5.10a), a disgustingly dirty hand crack. Soon, we moved to the amphitheatre, where Grand, Eric and Nick climbed “Meo Penche” (5.10c). When they were done, we called it.

Figure 2: Me rappelling off M&M

Figure 3: Me at the top of Le Centenaire

Figure 4: Eric on Colonel Kirtz

We quickly went back to the tents, got ready and headed for the river. We brought some beer, to cool in the river, but the water was too warm, so they just got slightly less hot. We swam around a bit and headed back to camp. Our night in camp was pretty uneventful. We made dinner, ate, drank beer and went to bed early. The next morning, we awoke to pouring rain. So, we ate breakfast, packed up and headed for home. We stopped in Ottawa, had lunch and shopped at MEC. It was a pretty good day, even though it rained. Of course, once we arrived back in Kingston, the weather was beautiful.

Figure 5: The swimming hole/river

It was a pretty good weekend, all tolled. We got a bunch of awesome climbing in, so that was good. It was just a little too much Montagne D’Argent in two weeks for me. I need to go somewhere new! It looks like I will be soon, though, so that is good.

Figure 6: Us unhappily eating breakfast in the rain

Figure 7: Us happily eating lunch in Ottawa

Beerville, ON

The past few days have been excellent. Here is the story of my last Thursday.

I had Thursday off, so I met up with my friend Sam around 1PM at Tir na Nog. We had a beer and then took off to downtown for an adventure. The first sign we saw said “Tour Guide on Duty – Free”. Naturally, we went in. Our tour of City Hall could not have been better. Our tour guide took us through the building, told us all about the history of Kingston, showed us the mayoral portraits, etc. We went into the legislative hall, saw the old prison in the basement and got our picture taken in front of City Hall. It was a ton of fun.

Figure 1: Sam and I in front of the Tour Guide sign

Figure 2: Sam and I behind the Mayor's desk

Figure 3: Sam and I in front of City Hall

Once we finished our epic tour of City Hall, we went to Trailhead. Sam had broken his sunglasses and needed a new pair. There, we linked up with Nicola. We were going to go to Fort Henry, but she had a doctor’s appointment. So, we went to The Gap to find Danielle. She had to work, but on the way there, we ran into Tom. Tom, Sam and I headed to Coronaville and began our afternoon in luxury. We sat on the waterfront patio, drinking beer and eating wings for several hours, building up an excellent burn around my neck. From Coronaville, I went to my friend Leif’s place for a barbecue. I hung out with a bunch of friends, had GREAT food, chatted and eventually worked my way back downtown.

Figure 4: Sam, Nicola and I trying on sunglasses at Trailhead

Figure 5: Sam, Tom and I at Coronaville

Once downtown, I went to the climbing gym to meet up with some people for the evening. They didn’t make it, but I did meet up with my friend Josuel. He was buying a t-shirt for our friend Arnaud as a going away present. Apparently, there was a “going away” dinner for him that night (he is returning to France after 2 years in Kingston). So, I sold him the shirt and headed to the dinner at Lonestar, or more accurately – Margaritaville. Which means, I spent most of my day at both Coronaville and Margaritaville. We arrived at Lonestar, everyone was already there, except Arnaud. Of course, in his usual style, he showed up an hour later. He enjoyed the t-shirt, especially because it was in a bag that looked like a sunflower. We had dinner and dispersed.

Figure 6: Arnaud's "going away" dinner at Margaritaville

Nicola, Andrew and I headed out to the Merchant for some cheap wings and beer. This didn’t last very long. The wings were very filling and we had too many, the music was too loud and the beer was expensive. We migrated out to the patio, so we could at least hear each other. Soon, we moved on to the Brass. By this point, I had run out of money and energy. Contrary to my usual style, I bailed early and went home to sleep. All in all, though, it was a great day.