Tag Archives: Rumney

Jun3

A flight of New England Fancy – Visiting Massachusetts in the Spring

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It’s been a while since I’ve been back to Massachusetts… I think it was for Dillon and Liz’s wedding, wasn’t it? That’s sounding right… though I frankly can’t believe that was only six months ago. These last few months have felt like forever, and it was high time that I got back East. The rock was calling, family and friends beckoned, and I hadn’t seen my Grandma in far, far too long…


This… uhh… this post was supposed to go first. So… pretend that it was first?



Friday, 15-May-2022 through Monday, 25-May-2022

It’s been a while since I’ve been back to New England… and now thanks to COVID I have full capability to work remotely… So off I flew to Boston!

The plan was pretty simple:
– Spend Passover with the family in Amherst
– Spend Easter with the family in New York
– Work remotely for the middle of the week
– Go climbing with friends on Friday
– Spend Saturday at a convention that my Mom and Stepdad were running
– Spend Sunday catching up with friends
– Work remotely on Monday, then fly home in the evening


And, if I may say so, it went off without a hitch!

I’ve been working at being slower, this year… not trying to pack in as many little things, and focusing in a bit more on what I’m actively doing at the time. It’s been challenging, especially with constant injuries needing more and more of my time to deal with, but… this week was a chance to really focus in on that plan.

Not being home meant that I didn’t have access to the infinite distractions of my apartment, which definitely aided in zeroing my mind in on a single activity. I wasn’t perfect, of course, but… you know what? I had an amazing time, and felt quite happy by the time the flight home rolled around.

May23

A flight of New England Fancy – Visiting Rumney again!

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It’s been a while since I’ve been back to Massachusetts… I think it was for Dillon and Liz’s wedding, wasn’t it? That’s sounding right… though I frankly can’t believe that was only six months ago. These last few months have felt like forever, and it was high time that I got back East. The rock was calling, family and friends beckoned, and I hadn’t seen my Grandma in far, far too long…

Friday, 22-Apr-2022

Jeeze… how long has it been since I’ve climbed at Rumney?

I mean, it’s where I learned to climb, man! Rumney, Quincy, Hammond Pond, The Gunks, North Conway… okay, it’s one of the places I learned. Joshua Tree should be in there too, maybe Black and White boulders… Red Rocks…

Okay, Other Ben, I get the point. But still!

I definitely learned to lead sport at Rumney, that’s a clear statement. Back when Kasia and I had a borrowed rope, with borrowed draws, and the guidebook was out of print so we just sort of climbed on a wing and a prayer? Those were the good times.

How I survived those good times alive, I’ll still never know… do I have a blog post about the time I ran out of draws 7-clips in, and traversed to another climber to borrow two of his? No? Maybe?

I learned lessons at Rumney. Good lessons, to say the least, and lessons that I’ve been lucky enough to carry across the globe since those carefree, halcyon days.

Since then, Rumney’s grown and expanded, just like the rest of us.

It’s become more popular, more official, and new zones have been purchased and opened up for public use. New guidebooks have been published, and new parking lots graded and opened.

Truth be told, I kind of felt like a small-towner going to visit a old friend who’s been killing it in the big city. I mean… I remembered when I used photos of the guidebook to find routes! Now there’s apps, fancy guidebooks, and actual signage! Huge new swaths of rock, being developed and climbed by folks I knew back in 2009!

Daniel and Brian took the day off from work with me, and we drove North, as early in the day as we felt viable. See… you don’t want to get there too early, because then the rock is still cold and damp from the evening frost and morning mist… but the later in the day you arrive, the less climbing there is!

We got there just in time for the hail to hit Daniel as he worked his way up a route… Which, you know, isn’t actually the worst thing while rock climbing. I mean… we had helmets on, and it was cool enough that we had long sleeves too… so we were pretty well armored against any pain or injury. And the nice thing about hail? It doesn’t make the rock wet!

So… Daniel just sorta kept climbing. Like a boss.

Brian and I followed suit, and an amazing day on the rocks was had by all. We started off at Buffalo Pit, a new area that I hadn’t been to before, and then dove down to Below the New Wave… somewhere that (I’m pretty sure) has been around since before I started climbing at Rumney.

Both spots were amazing, and both spots saw us sending a glorious number of really run routes… and I even climbed a bit harder than I was expecting, which was a super nice ego boost!



And, of course, as is tradition, we hit up Tilton Diner on the way home. I can’t believe how long it’s been since I’ve climbed at Rumney, then gorged on amazing burgers and milkshakes… but you know what? It felt like I’d never left.




Routes climbed!!

Buffalo Pit:
Lonesome Buffalo (5.8)
Sunnyside Up (5.10c)
Mr. Buffalo to you (5.4)


Below the New Wave:
Bullwinkle Goes Ballistic (5.10a)
Into Air and Pleasant Danger (5.8)
Son of Sammy (5.8+)
Couch Potato (5.9)
Sixth Sense (5.6)

May30

Daytrip to Rumney

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Thursday, 14-May-15

Daytrip to Rumney with Johnny and Kirsten

<Ed Note: Pictures to be added later, when Ben actually has access to his desktop>

 

One of my favorite adventures last year was a mid-week climbing trip to Rumney with Johnny and Kirsten.

Nothing against the other adventures that I partook in – everything was amazing, of course – But this one was special because we had the place all to ourselves.  We could climb, explore, vacillate over what to climb, and do whatever we wanted.  All without having to stress about other teams stealing the routes that we wanted to get onto.

So, when I found out that I was going to be leaving Boston?  Of course, I had to try and get another mid-week trip in.

 

Thankfully, it turned out quite easy to plan, since Johnny and Kirsten both happened to have a Thursday off work coming up.  The morning did start out a little late when Johnny, ever the veterinarian that he is, stopped near their apartment to help a baby bird that had fallen out of its nest.  Definitely a good deed, but one that delayed our start by a few hours… which was actually ideal, in the end, since it gave Rumney enough time to dry out all the way, so that when we got to the cliffs there wasn’t much evidence of the rain that had hit in the days before.

 

Routes climbed:

All routes from The 5.8 Crag

The 5.8 Crack by the Road (5.7, Trad, led by Ben) – This is one of my favorite Trad routes at Rumney.  Tricky and challenging, there’s one move where you’re coming out of a mini-cave that’s really interesting… if by “interesting” you mean “annoying and awkward and scary”.  The rest is just solid crack climbing, which I love 🙂

Bolt and Run (5.9, Sport, led by Ben) – This one… I didn’t intend to lead this one.  I accidentally left a knot in the rope when I pulled down the rope for The 5.8 Crack by the Road, so I needed to go up and get it.  Since the only options were to re-lead 5.8, lead B & R, or lead a 5.10c… I went with B & R, since I wanted to get it done anyways.  A challenging route, with a few “hail Mary” moves that scared the daylights out of me.  But I go it cleanly, and I’m happy about that.

Ashbury Park (5.7, Sport, led by Johnny and Kirsten) – This one was super fun, though a little bit run out and delicate near the middle.  Both leads went well, though they looked to be a bit of a challenge.  I’m really happy that both Johnny and Kirsten could get the leads in though, since this route was a really solid “Rumney style” route – good face climbing, with more than one “wait, what do I do now?” moments.