On July 6th, 2010, Matt and I utilized every square inch of the picnic table at our Mary’s Lake campsite to sort all of our gear in anticipation of our climb the following day up the North Ridge of The Spearhead, a 5.6 classic located in the Glacier Gorge region of Rocky Mountain National Park. [...]

A weird thing happens when you set foot on Pennsylvania’s Donut Hole Trail: it tends to disappear just like the treat it’s named after. But, if you’re lucky enough to have a keen sense of direction and pathfinding skills and you don’t mind a bit of bushwhacking, you’d be hard pressed to find a more [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Lake Minnewaska - A friendly woman with questionable intentions at the Mohonk Preserve Visitor Center pointed us towards this alpine lake.  Circled by sheer cliffs, rockfalls, and dense forest, this spot easily won the the natural beauty category.   Unfortunately for those of you who like to have fun in beautiful natural settings,  the State [...]

Almost everyday I think about what an amazing trip I had to Colorado; perhaps top 5 vacations of all time. I often reflect on ways to improve it for next time. Here are a few initial lessons about my first climbing trip in Estes Park and Boulder CO in July.
The trip was amazing: [...]

For the past 3 years my parents have been renting a house in Maine for a week over the summer. I finally had the time free to come and stay with them; my close friend Max Benjamin came with us. The house is on Mount Dessert Island, which conveniently happens to have some excellent climbing on it.

On this trip I wanted to take my father climbing. In part, I owe my father for getting me into the sport: while growing up he’d hire guides every now and then (like once a year) to take us climbing. Now it was my chance to repay him and take him climbing. It was going to be a great father-son experience. Plus, I had one of my closest friends with me; perhaps he’d give it a try or at least take some great pictures.

This weekend Tom, Dave, and I took two “gumbies” for their first outdoor climb. Shawn, coming from Allentown, and Dan, from Baltimore, got their first introduction to the joy of visiting America’s most climbed crag at 11 p.m. on Friday, with an hour long search for a campsite. We ended up settling for an unauthorized spot, while Tom slept soundly in the backseat of his Saturn.

Today was our last Day in Estes before we headed to Boulder to make our push for the summit of the First Flatiron. Because of this, at sun up, we started to break camp and get ready to head to Jurassic Park, above Lilly Lake, to climb for the day. It was kind of sad to [...]

Instead of giving you all a minute-by-minute account of the day, I am going to just focus in on a few choice highlights. I mean, let’s be honest, we all love a quick read.
We attempted Lumpy Ridge again. This time we arrived a bit earlier hoping to avoid the early afternoon showers that seem to be [...]