Sesongstart stein på Rumney (21.03.2015)

As both ice and my eagerness for ice gave way for rock we this saturday tried to find a dry place for rock climbing. The forecast said showers and just above freezing, so that meant perfect conditions for something steep. As Rumney is the go-to-place for steep climbing, Phil persuaded me into checking out the famous Waimea-wall at Rumney.

Rumney is the biggest and most famous sport-climbing crag in New England, and even though it is pretty huge, it is very crowded on a warm spring day. This saturday, however, did not count as a warm spring day. I met Phil and his friend Scott on an emtpy Rumney parkinglot. It was still around freezing when we started warming up, and as the sun started to shine, the ice lines at rumney started falling down around us.

We first did two short and pretty bouldery lines, Little Big Man (5.11b) and Cereal Killer (5.11c), which I did on second try. Both were personal best sport-climbs for me, and I was pretty satisfied with that. But it is more a measure of how poor my sports-climbing has been earlier.

Then we moved on to Waimea, a giant overhanging wall of schist looking like a wave of rock. It basically looks like it can tip over any time. And it is stacked with quality-climbes. Some of the hardest sport-routes in the US is on this wall. We jumped on Big Kahuna (5.12d/13a), which has a beautiful balancy start, then past a blocky section before you gain the overhanging schist-wave with the crux-section: a crimp ladder of small hard overhanging crimps and a long move to the last hold. Basically a boulder-problem on top of 10 m of climbing. Both me and Phil made a decent effort, but both were thrown off at the crux. I will return! (After more training).

I really like these days early or late in season, when it is crisp and the sun barely warms, when there is noone else on the crag and nature is getting ready for another season. Friction is superbe these days, of course. But there is also a calmness that gives these days a special quality.