Echo, Echo, Echo....

I started out this post with my usual descriptions of the past 2 weekends of climbing. How great the weather has been, what climbs we did, who we met and climbed with, etc.  Yeah.  I had it all planned out in my head and as I was writing, I realized how boring it all sounded.  "We did this and we did that, blah, blah BLAH!!!"

Then I read Andrew Bisharat's piece in Rock and Ice magazine Issue number 220 (August 2014) and once again was impressed by this guy. His regular piece "Tuesday Night Bouldering" is a favorite read as it typically contains outstanding humor, all inspired by the real culture of climbing that presents itself in ridiculous fashion.  This piece, while not humorless, was much more meaningful (to me anyway), and I would like to ride his coattails a bit.

One thing climbing gives to me is a true escape from the UN-pleasantries of daily living - mostly my "Rolodex Brain" (a hundred thoughts fluttering about in my head , usually all the things I should be doing or have to do). And since my work is in the information technology field, I am constantly consuming and consumed by today's compulsory tech gadgets, communications expectations and social media hub-bub. When I took 3 months to drive X-country and climb in 2011 (the impetus behind this blog), I so enjoyed the simplicity of the climbing life.

DRIVE, HIKE, CLIMB, HIKE, DRINK, EAT, DRINK, CAMP, SLEEP, REPEAT.

Andrew describes his sentiment about escaping the "social-media trap" by bringing his reader along with him on some climbing adventures with an extraordinary pro climber (Hayden Kennedy).  Right after he hung up the phone making some climbing plans with Hayden, he "...started thinking ahead to the future, and the inevitable TNB I'd write, Instagrams I'd post, and Twitters I'd tweet, glorifying our weekend excursion, which hadn't even taken place yet."  Can you say "wake up call???  While I might not be writing the blog before I've gone on another adventure, I do understand this trap and feel my powerlessness to elude it.  This social frenzy that is confining and consuming us all is gnawing into my climbing passion and pastime as well.  I need to revisit my reason for blogging in the current style and how it feeds me (or not!)

Let this be my transition period.  Readers, give me some slack (pun intended)....how about just some images, links and words to capture the feelings of climbing the past 2 weekends.  It's far from the product I'd rather produce, but this will take some work - and some getting used to.

Hanna -  Big Bertha at Barkeater

Click here to learn more about D Acres Organic Farm


The Iriquois referred to the Algonquins as "Barkeaters" because they had to eat bark to survive. It was an intentional insult.


What matters in all of this climbing stuff we do?
The people
The places
A quiet mind (all internal noise vanishes)
The discomfort which becomes comfortable
The new experiences in familiar places

VH1 at Echo Crag - Yup, that's Annie

Skeletal Ribs - Jed is a superstar in my book!

Rocket - or an advertisement for the Black Diamond X4s?

Would you believe the name of this route is "No Pigs"???

"If you want to be celebrated for something goofy and pointless like climbing, how you treat others is actually what matters most." - Andrew Bisharat, from "Wild Things Gone", Rock and Ice Magazine, Issue No. 220, August 2014Follow @jeanclimbs