Breakneck Ridge

Chris and I took a Metro North train about an hour and a half north of the city to hike at Breakneck Ridge. As I write this, I am thoroughly exhausted, so I will keep it brief. We were both surprised that there was snow on the ground. Not only was the ground covered, but there was a solid 10 inch foundation, glazed over in ice with 4 inches of fresh powder on top of it. A few hundred yards into the hike I stopped and put on my microspikes. The spikes dug in nicely and I had no problems getting footings. The views were pretty amazing from the 1100' purchases on Breakneck Ridge, Sunset Point and Sugarloaf Mountain. You could see the Hudson Valley, the Hudson River and the abandoned ruins on Bannerman Island. We hiked from 9:00am till 3:30pm, saw nobody else out enjoying the woods and had a great time. There were some comical moments. Most noteworthy was Chris' bold attempt to boulder a snow-covered rock pile in his climbing shoes. I had to fire up my stove to warm him up afterwords. (I have some ridiculous video footage that I'll have to post up sometime in the future). In the end, I would estimate we only hiked about 6 miles, but it was certainly slow-going for a lot of it. I'm really whooped! For now its off to bed.

Above: Chris warms his frozen feet and one of the many streams we crossed.

I will be in Baltimore for the rest of the week. My old stomping grounds. I'm looking forward to seeing Charm City once again and have plans to meet a friend for dinner tomorrow night. I'll see if I can't get out and snap a few Bmore snapshots while I'm there.

Above: Myself on the ridge and a map of the route we took for the most part.

Friday night climbing

Ouch. Last night was another great night of climbing. My fingertips and toes are killing me in a “hurts so good” kind of way. Here's the quick & dirty:

• I beat a V3 bouldering problem that's been laughing at me.
  
• I zipped up two, 5.10a top roping routes and then got destroyed by a 5.10b route.
  

I gave the 5.10b route three tries but I couldn't get myself over the ledge, half way up the route (and the ledge wasn't even the crux of it!). Next time... next time... With all this warm weather we're having I hope to get down to Rat Rock in Central Park this weekend. I haven't climbed on real rock since last fall and I miss it.

As usual, the Friday night rock climbing session was followed by a greasy meal at the Ocean View Diner and a few good games of chess. Have I beaten Chris yet? No. I'm starting to get bitter about that! Playing against him is better than playing against a computer (slightly), but it's still discouraging when it takes me five minutes to make my move and he captures my pieces while salting his french fries. I'm getting better though, and games are lasting a lot longer than they used to.

Chris destroys me at another game of chess.

Grinded

Last night I met Chris at Grand Central Station after work and we headed over to Brooklyn Boulders for another Friday night climbing session. We seem to be getting better and better, which is pretty awesome. We both scaled a few 5.10a routes right off the bat and took care of a few tricky V2 & V3 bouldering problems. I love seeing improvement. I wish I had time to climb more than once a week though. I even ran into a coworker at the gym, who I've been talking to about climbing & mountaineering.

As usual, we wound up at the Ocean View Diner afterwords for a few games of chess. And, as usual, Chris kicked my ass yet again. I'm getting better though; my chess muscle is growing. We both had a laugh at the Friday night special: "Grinded" spicy chicken burger.

NY -> DC -> NY

I spent Wednesday and Thursday in DC this week to attend a Project Status Meeting. As I've mentioned before, my company is building new subway cars for the DC Metro. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) has placed a base order of 428 new Kawasaki cars (7000 Series). It's pretty exciting to be a part of it, even though we are still in the conceptual design phase of the project. The cars are going to be pretty high-tech and very efficient. Some of the cooler features are things like complete LED lighting. No more halogen bulbs. Vehicle Track Dynamic Monitoring Systems (VTDMS) which will actually monitor the track for out of tolerance conditions and automatically place a cell phone call to WMATA to inform them of the nonconformance. There's also a camera system on these cars as well. Each car will have 5 interior cameras; one in each corner and one in the middle as well as exterior cameras so that the train operator can see what's going on in the cars as well as at the station platforms. The Train Operator Display (TOD) in the cab also displays the cars within the consist on a monitor and indicates any issues in real time: "Door 3L on car 5617 stuck open" for example.

Above: Union Station, Washington, DC on 2/10/1011 @ 11:55am

What does this mean for me? I'll be busy for the next few years. As the Quality Assurance Engineer I am responsible for generating and submitting quality procedures and plans for all aspects of the project from procurement to inspection & test. Additionally I'll have to perform classification audits of Kawasaki's subsuppliers which are located largely in the US (it's a "buy-American" project). The travel is fine with me, I love it, but each day I'm away from my desk means more work when I return.

I didn't get to explore too much on this trip. I got into my hotel around 6:00 on Wednesday night and worked for a couple of hours before going out for dinner. Though I lugged my climbing gear down to DC with me, I never got a chance to slip away to the indoor climbing gym in Alexandria, VA like I had hoped. The meeting on Thursday morning went quickly and I found myself on an Amtrak back to NY at 1:05pm. Maybe next time. But today is Friday and that means I'll be headed to Brooklyn to climb tonight. My mission: conquer the 5.10a route that laughed in my face last week!

Continuity

It's been a busy but great weekend. I'm Feeling good mentally and physically and I got a lot done. Friday night, I climbed with my friend Chris at Brooklyn Boulders. This was probably the best night of indoor climbing both of us have ever had. I took care of a 5.9+ route with a hell of a crux and cleaned a V2 bouldering problem that is 90% upside down. But where I "hit the wall" so to speak, Chris pushed right on, cleaning a difficult 5.10A route and a new 5.9 on the suspended, inverted, obelisk. Damn you Chris, you've raised the bar again! After BKB, we hit up the Ocean View diner in Brooklyn and played a few games of Blockus Duo over tasty (fairly) burgers before calling it a night around midnight. When I got back to my building in Manhattan around 1:00am I walked in through the trash room and snagged a lamp someone had thrown away thinking: I need a lamp like this, whatever's wrong with it will be fun to fix.

I woke up Saturday morning around 8:00 and went for a run. It was 38°F and misting but it felt great to run so early through my hazy, sleepy neighborhood. I made a loop around The Cloisters, passing the overlook that gave a view to upper Manhattan and farther off; the Bronx. For a while I jogged along looking down on the Hudson River through dense fog and mist. I got a small high from the sight of it and a generally good feeling swept over me. I finished 2.5miles later.

Let there be light:

Fixing the lamp was fun. I used my multimeter to determine that the foot-tap switch was the culprit. I couldn't get any continuity through the circuit when the switch was closed so I took it apart to see what the deal was. Inside, the foot-tap switch, I found corrosion and arching damage. When I dug deeper into the switch I found it was melted and badly damaged so I decided to scrap it and hard-wire the lamp without a switch for the time being. Today I'll take a trip to the hardware store and see if I can find a foot-tap switch for this baby. She works (the lamp's of the female gender, don't ask me why) but I need to find a switch if I want to avoid plugging it in every time I need it.

After "fixing" the lamp, I went in to work. The purpose was two-fold. I needed to pick up my W-2's I left in my desk and I thought I might crank out a few project letters while I was there. I ended up staying for five hours, working by the light of my desk lamp and the sounds of Morrissey, I cranked out nine project letters and felt fantastic when I left the office at 6:00pm.

Now it's 9:00am Sunday morning. I've got my laundry in the drier, a hot cup of coffee by my side and life is good. I plan to attend an Introduction to Meditation class at the Interdependence Project this afternoon, but other than that and watching the Super Bowl, I have no other obligations.

Book review: Into Thin Air

I finished Jon Krakaur's novel, Into Thin Air tonight. I tore through it in seven days, turning pages during lunch breaks, every time I sat down on the subway and until I couldn't keep my eyes open in bed each night. This book was perfect for me, covering areas of great interest: mountaineering, pushing limits, wilderness survival, natural beauty and respect for mother nature.

Krakaur takes time to introduce the members of his expedition, from the experienced guides and Sherpas, to the clients who's experience ranged from minimal to impressive. He takes a few chapters to accomplish this, but I would not say that the book has a slow beginning. His description of the mountain goddess "Sagarmatha" (Everest) and the personalities and backgrounds of the climbers involved, is both stimulating and crucial for the readers appreciation of the 1996 tragedy that unfolds.

This book had my heart pounding. Had my mind switched into survival mode. My eyes; nearly tearing up at times. Thinking: oh shit! with each unfortunate twist of fate. I imagined myself climbing the mountain, fighting the cold, concentrating my efforts on the summit and deliberating the decision to push on to the top of the world or turn back and head down the mountain. Krakaur did such a great job of communicating the mental, emotional and physical anguish of the expedition, that I could not help but feel the anguish myself. So, bottom line: I loved this book.

Everest and climbing

I've been tearing through this Jon Krakauer book: Into Thin Air. It's a first person account of the 1996 disaster on Everest in which eight climbers died when caught in a sudden storm. The idea of climbing Mt.Everest is extremely interesting to me. It's actually exhilarating to read about the close calls, extreme environment and physiological demands put on the climbers. Reading it has sent me to the internet to research the areas Krakaur describes; the Khumbu Icefall, the Hillary Step and the Balcony on the South Col route for example. It's great to be able to pull up images and topographical maps of the areas I am reading about. I've also watched a few documentaries about Everest and some interviews with medical staff from the expedition, though I'm saving the movie based on Krakaur's book until I've finished reading.

I'm excited to get to the climbing gym tonight and take on a few bouldering problems. I'll meet my friend Chris at Grand Central Terminal and we'll head to Brooklyn for our weekly gravity games. Hopefully they have changed the holds on some of the walls to provide new challenges. Although, I hope that my new favorite 5.9+ route; the "suspended obelisk" is still there. It's a great confidence booster to be able to pull yourself up off the ground for the start of this climb.

Climb on

Last night, my buddy Chris and I met for a late night of climbing at Brooklyn Boulders. We had hoped that less people would be climbing but that was far from the case. There seemed to be more people there last night, than any other night I've ever been there. Just the same, it was a good night of climbing.

We have a new strategy for climbing these days. Instead of starting off with easy top roping routes (5.7's and 5.8's) we jump right into the 5.9's. This way we still have power and strength needed for the smaller holds and maneuvers instead of getting to the harder climbs thoroughly exhausted. That being said, we banged out a few hard bouldering problems right off the bat. It felt great to nail the inverted V2 routes and put a positive spin on the night. Add to the positivity, the fact that we both bested the 5.9+ route on the inverted obelisk and we were both stoked! The inverted obelisk hangs from the ceiling like a giant stalactite, it's bottom at head height. You start off clinging to the bottom of it with all your might (liken to a booger on the outskirts of your nostril, if you will). Then you pull your self up with your arms and get your footing. lastly, you stand up and scale away. Feels great to conquer it. Great night for climbing, though my hands are beat today.

Climbing video

My buddy Chris and I did some indoor climbing at Brooklyn Boulders twice this week after many weeks away from the gym. It felt great to be back on the walls and we were both a little surprised at how well we both climbed. We're no experts by any means but we did well for having been away for so long. We're regularly tackling V1+ boulder routes and 5.9 top roping routes. It's great to have the skills to conquer the tougher routes but we have a long way to go. I'm confident that we'll be top roping on our own this summer up in the Gunks. Anyway, here's a video I put together from some footage taken this week. I used a couple of old songs from back in the day that I love. Enjoy.

Climbing

It's been a long while since I've blogged. This holiday season hasn't been the merriest and I haven't much felt like saying anything to the world wide web. Work is incredibly busy and stressful lately, and my wife's Grandpa is in the hospital, recovering from triple bypass surgery as I type this. But, it makes me feel better to get some gibberish out there and so here I am... surfacing for air in the interweb.

Last night Chris and I climbed for a couple of hours at Brooklyn Boulders. It's been months since I've clung to plastic holds and belayed my friend. I have to say, with all of the stress I've been dealing with lately, some physical problem solving was just what I needed. It is truly gratifying to asses a route and execute a simple ascent via strategy, determination and a lot of muscular exertion. We started off slow and easy with a few 5.6 and 5.7 routes and eventually tackled and bested a couple of inverted 5.8's. A tricky 5.8+ seemed to plateau our efforts and we've both vowed to head back next week and champion the tricky route.

After climbing we decided to explore Brooklyn a little bit in search of a great pizza. With sore fingers I poked around the iPhone and brought up Grimaldi's Pizzeria. Rave reviews and an image of steamy delight on their home page sealed the deal, and a short while later we were plowing through an insanely delicious sausage and pepperoni pie. Thin crust, excellent sauce, powerful basil leaves, tasty meats and fresh mozzarella came together to form what I think is the best pizza I've ever eaten. There is something to be said for a coal fueled brick oven pie. That something is “cripes, when are we going back?”.

A boulder named Jack Sparrow.

I stumbled upon this video today and watched in amazement. Watch this guy climb a 7c route called "Jack Sparrow" in Finland. I need to get back to BKB soon...

Jack Sparrow (7c) from Sam1 on Vimeo.

Smoldering forearms

Last night I went to Brooklyn Boulders (BKB) with Kreuter and his fiancé, Alexandra. Together we wrestled synthetic rock and beat ourselves up for three hours. BKB periodically rearranges the holds on the walls to keep the climbs fresh and challenging. As such, last night, there was a new inverted 5.8 climb that we enjoyed conquering. The crux of this climb puts your back nearly parallel to the floor causing your forearms and fingertips to burst into flames (not really, but sort of). Thankfully, there were plenty of bucket holds, although it still demands a lot of upper body strength. Inverted climbs force your center of gravity out away from the wall giving your forearms a hell of a work out. When I reached the top of the route my forearms were smoldering. Below are a few iPhone pictures from last night. I used the Tiltshift Generator App to selectively blur, adjust saturation & contrast, and apply a slight vignette.

Above from left to right: Myself chalking up before the crux, Kreuter coming down after besting the 5.8 inverted route, Alexandra scaling a 5.7 while Kreuter belays.

Rat Rock

I brought my climbing shoes and chalk bag to work this morning and when I got out I met my friend Kreuter at Rat Rock in Central Park. It's been a while since we've bouldered on natural rock. Climbing outside in Central park was a welcomed change of scenery; it's such a beautiful park. To be able to wrestle boulders in the middle of NYC kind of makes my head explode. (I love this city!)

We practiced traversing Rat Rock in the traditional manner from left to right and I'm proud to say that, for the first time, I completed the traverse AND topped out! The crux of this traverse has been an impassable challenge since this spring and now I've got it under my belt. Even though the score is Rock: 100; Mike: 1, it still feels great! There are however, many more difficult routes on Rat Rock and I'll bet the route I've been climbing is only a V1 or V1+ at most.

After Rat Rock we walked around the skating rink and checked out Cat Rock which neither of us had seen before. A lot of guides indicate that it offers easier routes than Rat Rock but we still had a hell of a time. I managed to top out an easier route although I was not at all comfortable doing so. I was too high and we don't have a crash pad. I would have been seriously hurt if I'd lost my grip. Side note: A problem with Cat Rock is that there are plenty of boulders around it which make it an excellent "dumping ground" for the homeless. Apparently we were not the only ones offering our bodies to the rock. Below are some iPhone snaps from this evening's fun.

Above: Kreuter battling the crux on Rat Rock.
Above: Kreuter offers his body to Cat Rock with a respectful "WTF?"

Above Left & Right: Myself planning to top out and doing it.

Above left: Kreuter. Above: right: Myself.

Time to climb

Opening my mail box (the old fashioned one... in which you receive physical mail) this evening I was pleased to see that EMS had sent me a complimentary copy of Rock & Ice Magazine. I've spent a lot of loot at EMS in the past year, so I think that's pretty nice of them.

Flipping through the mag I realized more than ever that I've got to get over to Brooklyn Boulders with my buddy Kreuter pronto. It's been several weeks since we've climbed together. Life has been quite busy though. Hell, he even got engaged this past week! (Congrats again bud!)

Rat Rock & MOMA

Sunday was a busy day. My wife and I took the A train down to Columbus Circle and walked over to Rat Rock in Central Park. I spent about 25 minutes wrestling with a problem and made a little headway on a tricky traverse. I would rate the traverse as a tough V2. I just couldn't get past the slippery repaired knob shown below. I never really noticed before, but a lot of Rat Rock has been repaired over the years. I'm guessing that whoever reattached the features used JB Weld or some other strong epoxy...

After bouldering we walked over to MOMA to check out all the good stuff going on. It was amazing. William Kentridge makes my head explode. He is now my #1, all time, favorite artist. His animations, completely hand drawn using charcoal and erasing each frame to draw the next really had me entranced. They were sad, deeply thought provoking and pleasantly depressing. I'll be going back to soak up a little more Kentridge.

Also at MOMA was the largest Henri Cartier-Bresson show I have ever seen. This man, not only captured, what I'd say was the perfect moment in every photo, but he also did so just about everywhere he went. He must have photographed everyone... celebrities, street folk, workers, government officials, everyone. Each image; perfectly composed and easy to stare at for a long time. He's such an inspiration.

Friday night climbing

Got a few more hours of climbing in at Brooklyn Boulders (BKB) on Friday night. It's become a regular Friday night ritual now and I'm lovin' it. Between top-roping and bouldering at BKB and at Rat Rock during the week, I'm scrambling up rocks less and strategically climbing more. Feels great climbing twice a week and its just often enough to stay focused on improving and to allow my fingers to heal.

My buddy Chris and I have been working our way up the ladder at Brooklyn Boulders. We're climbing 5.8's and 5.9's consistently and hitting the V2's with less and less difficulty. Soon, I'd like to buy some rope and head to The Gunks for some easy top roping - just to get my feet wet on natural rock. That day is getting closer and closer.

Chris just got some new shoes and a harness and was a lot more comfortable climbing. On a funny note, his sweating feet caused the red leather of his shoes to bleed and when he took them off at the end of the night his feet looked hilarious. They looked like a cartoon character's feet look when they've been burned or something. See for yourself! The best part of this whole thing (in my opinion) is that Chris wore flip-flops that night. Despite the red feet he did conquer a few tough problems last night. Check out the video on Vimeo.

Brooklyn Boulders

Got a few hours of top roping and bouldering in at Brooklyn Boulders tonight with my friend Chris. I'm exhausted and had a great time. Who knew pulling on plastic could be so fun?


- Posted from my iPhone

Boldly bouldering

My wife took this snapshot of me last year while we walked through Fort Tryon and The Cloisters. I couldn't resist climbing this easy face. Looking back, I realize how dangerous the climb was, with my shaking limbs and bald sneakers. I'm anxious to get back to this rock with some new skills, a chalk bag and climbing shoes. In only a couple of visits to Rat Rock and Brooklyn Boulders I've already developed some skills for pebble wrestling. It's going to be a fun summer.

I've been picking up some gear in preparation for some sport climbing this summer (If I'm ready by then). So far I've got a good harness, shoes, chalk bag, a few locking biners, an ATC belay device and a set of six bent gate quick draws.

What a weekend

(above: iPhone picture from breakfast. Note the ultimate mountain bike in the background)

Warm & sunny weather had me out and about this weekend. I took full advantage. Here's a breakdown of the good times had:

• Friday night: 3 hours of Indoor climbing at Brooklyn Boulders
• Saturday: Rode the mountain bike down to Central Park and bouldered at Rat Rock for an hour. Stopped for breakfast at Le Monde on 112th & Broadway. Popped into Indian Road Cafe for lunch with the wife and mother in-law.
• Saturday evening: Dinner at Grandfather in-law's place in NJ. Harold turned 90 and is looking great. (I have to think that his girlfriend Joan has a lot to do with this!)Got to play in the dirt, resetting the brickwork which lines their driveway.
• Sunday morning: Harold's 90th Birthday Party. Joan organized a hell of an event for Harold to include good friends, family, great food and everyone had a wonderful time. Lots of singing. Lots of love.
• Sunday afternoon: Took the road bike out and rode down to Central Park again. Met up with Dave and caught up on things. Ate entirely TOO MUCH pizza at Piola in Union Square.