Lou Lutz climbing at Livezey
We all know January well…It kicks off with an apple dropping from the sky in Times Square, the start of the winter doldrums; the first month of the year (in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars); one of seven months with 31 days; and in the Northern Hemisphere, the coldest month of the year. One thing, however, that January isn’t known for is outdoor climbing in PA. That is, until, this past Saturday. With temperatures soaring into the 50s, there was little that would have deterred us from heading out to jump on some real rock. With short days and soft fingers, we opted for a trip to the closest climbable rock outcropping to Center City- Livezey Rock.
Livezey Rock is a staple for many local Philadelphia climbers providing quick access to an afternoon climb and an escape from pulling plastic at GoVertical. The main rock, a schist outcropping in the middle of Fairmont park, is around 30 feet high and 60 feet wide. A plaque positioned in the center of the rock, in memory of native Philadelphia climber Lou Lutz, reminds you that this rock has a long and humbling history. Legend has it that Lou was sending the classic Livezey lines at the ripe age of 80. According to Stone Crusades, another local climber, “Bullet Bob” Antonio, joked that he used to go to the Gunks to train for Livezey.
Wierdly enough, it was Jon Krakauer’s seminal book, Into Thin Air, that made me want to start climbing. It figures that it would take a retelling of a horrible disaster to make me want to take up what some see as a semi-dangerous fringe sport.
That said, I’ve been rather obsessed with Everest, the culture and controversy that surrounds it, and its long and deadly history. Krakauer’s book did a tremendous job encapsulating all of that, but one thing was missing: the epic visuals.
After watching both seasons of the Discovery Channel’s Everest: Beyond the Limit, which pretty much just chronicled goofy L.A. biker Tim Medvetz’s two summit attempts, via Netflix, I discovered that the service has the most awesome Storm Over Everest available both on DVD and instantly.
Originally aired as part of PBS’ inimitable Frontline series, Storm Over Everest is filmmaker and multiple Everest summiter David Breashears’ recounting of the 1996 Everest disaster. With interviews with the survivors, some of whom bear the horrible scars the mountain gave them, it’s a perfect match to Krakauer’s book. And if you’re feeling chilly, the sweeping winds and -30-degree temperatures will remind you that 20 degrees is downright balmy by comparison.
Unfortunately, due to rights restrictions, the documentary isn’t available online, like much of the Frontline series. Check out an excerpt here.
Photo via davidbreashears.com.
Located in the relatively flat state of Delaware, less than 10 miles from the PA Border outside of Wilmington, you’ll find some surprisingly fun climbing. Now, when I originally heard about climbing opportunities at Alapocas Run State Park, I instantly turned down the dial of my expectations to a slow simmer…I was expecting a few chossy boulder routes. I did a little more research and found out that there is a pretty good downloadable guide, which managed to peak my interest a little more. So, with a curious mind, I managed to talk some coworkers into heading out to the park to give it a try.
Prior to climbing, you have to get a permit at the park office, which basically consists of just signing a waiver. The permits are free, and from what I was told, will be good for a year. Getting to the park is a little tricky, and being that I wasn’t navigating, I don’t feel qualified to spell out directions. The parking lot is located in a really strange area that feels more like a back alley than a park entrance. If you follow directions from the guide and feel like you’re in the wrong area, you’re probably right where you need to be.
I climbed on the Main Wall, which seems to be the most popular place to climb. I believe the other permitted areas are mostly for bouldering. The park is a former quarry, which seems to make sense when you look at the geography. It surprisingly didn’t have the same feeling as other quarry sites- particularly Birdsboro. You can, however, see the remnants of drill holes and blasting marks on many of the rock faces. Overall, the Main wall was pretty dirty, especially if you made your way to some of the upper climbs. Also, lots of Poison Ivy everywhere- beware if you’re allergic. I was climbing in October, a day after a rainstorm; so much of the rock was cold and wet. It started to dry pretty quickly, but the excessive vegetation and soil made it pretty messy.
The first climb that I set up on was the Junior Slab, an easy 5.3…this was my coworkers first time climbing outside. It was really easy to rig a top rope, thanks to the well placed bolted anchors. The hardest thing about this climb is finding a suitable belay location…avoiding loose dirt, tree branches, and poison ivy. The climb itself was super easy, but did offer some fun slabby moves. I climbed this in boots-mostly because I was being lazy.
Continue reading Climbing in Delaware, really? (A visit to Alapocas Run State Park.)
Fearing a New Paltz rainout this past weekend, Tom and I, who had been talking about heading up to the Gunks for a few weeks, decided to switch things up and head to the great state of … Maryland? We’d heard rumors of the appropriately named Rocks State Park from a friend at our climbing gym, but we hadn’t made the 1.5-hour drive down to check it out. With the weather looking nice along the Mason-Dixon Line, we packed up and headed out early Sunday morning.
It took a bit of tooling around the park for us to find the right road to lead us up to the King and Queen Seat, an outcrop that served as a sacred gathering place for Native Americans, which we were prepared to smear liberally with chalk.
The concept of an auto belay system has never done much to excite me, and after reading this article, you can rest assured that I’ll be climbing with a partner for the foreseeable future.
In 2005, Michael Livingston, fell from a climbing wall when an auto belay device failed to catch him. The fall resulted in a broken ankle, and several fractured vertebrae, which led last week to a $2.3 million settlement last week in Palm Beach County Circuit Court.
The defendent in the case, Boomers, a Florida based enertainment company, argued that they had no obligation to adequately test and maintain the equipment.
In an ideal world I’d use a pack for a few years before reviewing, after all, its those later years that really separate the good packs from the great. But as we all know this isn’t an ideal world, products and companies can undergo significant change over the course of only a year or two, and in the hopes of a review possessing some relevance and utility, a season of use will just have to do. The Acrux is a particularly time sensitive review considering that the pack hasn’t been in production for over a year, and is currently wrapping up its life on discount equipment retailers.
Acrux 50 courtesy: backcountry.com
Acrux 40L - $180 from Steep and Cheap
Acrux 50L - $200 from Steep and Cheap
The Acrux series is all about simplicity; three compartments, two zippers, and a roll top are the meat and potatoes of this operation. The two zippers are located on either side of the pack’s “lid” allowing for some easy access storage, while the roll-top combined with the heavy duty impregnated foam material makes the main compartment completely water tight. There’s a small plug in the main compartment which facilitates the use of a hydration system, and a few bungees on the outside to allow for external storage if needed.
Anyway, enough with descriptions, now onto some real life testing. The first test for the 40L was a two week trip to Greece. While packing I noticed that the Acrux packs out well beyond 40 liters due to the roll top design, and even when packed beyond capacity, the comfort level remains high. The pack has a narrow design which makes retrieving objects from the bottom nearly impossible without removing everything else, so be sure you have a plan while packing or you’ll spend a lot of time packing and unpacking for the sake of access. Also, some packing materials don’t jive well with the impregnated foam causing significant friction when squeezing in a large object. Using this pack throughout my travels around Greece made me realize two things, the first being that the pack isn’t for everyone, and the second being that I needed to snatch up a second one of these puppies before they became completely unavailable.
When I got home from Greece I picked up the 50L figuring it would be nice to have something a little bigger for longer trips. I shelved the 50L for the better part of the season and continued using the 40L to haul climbing gear on weekends. The usual setup is climbing gear and layers in the main compartment, while using the lid section for food and beverages. Other then the occasional struggle to free a rope bag (this becomes a more prevalent issue when using a hydration system) from the bottom of the pack I can’t drum up any other complaints.
The first action the 50L saw, other then a few trips out climbing, was a two day 14 mile backpacking trip in Oregon. The 40L is about the right size for a very lite weekend backpacking trip, so the 50L was more then adequate for a not-so-lite two day trip. The 50L maintained the Acrux reputation and proved to be a very lite, tough, and comfortable transporter of goods. One advantage the 50L has over the 40L in terms of backpacking is additional strap adjustments which can increase comfort, but overall its difficult to tell the difference when carrying the two bags.
The Acrux is the embodiment of everything the backpacking industry has lost site of in recent years. Too often I’ve encounter packs that try to do too much and end up not doing anything particularly well. Arc’teryx focused on perfecting a few key functions and created a simple, reliable, and comfortable waterproof pack that you can count on to get your necessities from point A to point B. Everything else is up to you.
I’ve been back from Oregon for a few days now and have a bunch of posts in the toaster-oven just waiting to cook all the way through. We’ll start out with some hot appetizers to prime the appetite and move from there as a I gain time and motivation.
Picture not to scale. credit: www.ems.com
After watching Thai Airways maul my backpack this winter picking up the EMS Pack Travel Tote was an easy decision. The Travel Tote doesn’t require much of a description, its a giant nylon bag (8,200 Cubic Inches!) that lets you check your backpack without having to worry about all the sick and nasty things that may happen to it before, after, and during the flight. It folds up nicely to about the size of a book so its easy to put away once you arrive at your destination and it comes with a shoulder strap, which frankly, isn’t worth mentioning, but I need some more words here.
The Pack Travel Tote is particularly useful for gear intensive trips, when everything won’t fit in your backpack, and you are disinclined to check a second bag or carry an additional full pack on board. After putting a fully packed 50L pack in the the Tote I was able to fit a large quantity (upwards of 1 shitload) of additional packables into the bag, enough so that US Airways was kind enough to charge me an additional $20 for having an overweight bag!
The bottom line is this bag is cheap ($39) and effective, if you are forced to check packs a lot while flying its senseless not to have something like this.
In about 36 hours I’ll be hopping on a flight to Portland, OR for an end of the summer escape to the blissful northwest. Considering that this will be my first major trip report for this blog, I took a look back on the Colorado diaries for some guidance, and guidance I did receive. Let’s just say that I’ll be doing things a bit differently for this trip. Firstly, I’m hoping to land well under the 75,000 word mark, I guess I’ve always just been a fan of the whole brevity thing, unlike Tom. Secondly, updates will not be done in real time, when I’m camping I will be drinking beer and playing with fire, not huddled over a laptop uploading the days photographs. Thirdly, I will not dedicate any one post entirely to a packing list (let alone two!), i mean, i can see its usefulness, but we’re all adults here, I think we can handle packing on our own. With all of that said, kudos to Tom and Dave for really diving head first into the Colorado coverage, it’s something I know I can’t replicate, so I figured I’d go ahead and dispel any expectations from the get-go.
On the Menu:
- Trip Report(s) from Smith Rock
- A Review of the Arc’teryx Acrux 50
- A Review of the Marmot Aeolos 2P
- And whatever else ends up being noteworthy
A classic is a classic is a classic- is that what they say? Hell, I don’t know, but if you head up to the Gunks, don’t miss out jumping on Horseman, a three star Gunks Classic any day of the week. The start to horseman takes you through the wonders of passive protection, giving you a chance to question the infamous rule of the multidirectional first piece. No worries, however, because your third piece of gear is a bomber 8” girth-hitched tree. The first three moves of the climb are quite fun, although a bit polished for my taste. It’s the next section of the climb that tosses out the stars. After the tree, Horseman takes you up a sweet dihedral, with some fun stemming moves to boot. Leading this section is very fun, but be prepared for some unique stances to grab your pro (thoughtful racking prior to the climb is a plus). The dihedral is highlighted only by an airy traverse out and over the carriage path. Be prepared for some gawking tourists waiting to take pictures of a “rock climber”. If you like your second, it’s a good idea to protect this traverse the best that you can. A missed step can result in a fun and possibly “ouch causing” fall. The move around the corner of the traverse’s bulge is a simple and rewarding mantle, but the exposure can add a grade or two of difficulty. I set up a toprope anchor after the traverse, but I hear the second pitch is quite fun. Overall, I would rate Horseman a three star Gunks Classic because…a classic is a classic is a classic, right?
credit: www.parkerism.com
Time and time again the same excuse gets tossed my direction, “if you guys would just stay local then I’d make it out climbing more.” The real problem with this excuse is the disparate definitions of “local.” To some this means staying in the state of Pennsylvania, others cap it at a 3 hour drive, and a few here and there will define it as the lower 48. For those of you Philadelphians who want to keep it truly local (cough: Dominic Mercier) then taking a gander at Peter Parker’s “Urban Climbing Manifesto” is a good place to start. Parker provides pictures and descriptions of 13 different bouldering/climbing spots in the city, and while you won’t find any multi-pitch routes, you can stop saving your milk money for gas, climbing fees, and cams.