So the wife and son, who just moved back home after finishing his Junior year at UMass, have left for upstate NY for the weekend.

Batchelor for the weekend! I can do whatever I want as long as I don't burn the house down and remember to feed the doggers and cat. Suggestions?

Tomorrow I am going climbing for the first time since tweaking my leg 9 weeks ago. I will be rusty, sore, dirty, and loving every minute of it. After that, I dunno.

1) forget to feed the house
2) burn the cat and dog
3) wear your wife's lingerie
4) take pics but don't post them here
5) better yet, record a video and put it on the tube
6) do what Don did and cut your own rope
7) bake cookies
8) get those pics of the neighbor's wife you've been waiting to take but couldn't because your wife was always around
9) play that drum, LOUD
10) teabag the garden gnome in the front yard
11) go ask the nearest cop where the nearest doughnut shop is
12) ski cranmore
13) play your favorite 70s bands LOUDer than you play the drum
14) get that sheep's phone number (oops, sorry, that's my list for when sunny is alone)
14) call your wife at 3 a.m. asking her where she keeps the chlorine soap
15) wash the dishes

that's about all I got.

16) wash the sheets, blankets, and towels

Six of those accomplished already!!!

Does anyone know if superglue will work for repairing garden gnomes?

sniff...I'm gonna miss those fellas.

on the other hand, i'm looking forward to the pics of the neighbor's wife.

Not my neighbors wife, no how, no way.

That's why the garden gnome project got bumped up to high priority. I got so excited I beheaded the little fokker.

Not my neighbors wife, no how, no way.

That's why the garden gnome project got bumped up to high priority. I got so excited I beheaded the little fokker.

So the wife and son, who just moved back home after finishing his Junior year at UMass, have left for upstate NY for the weekend.

Batchelor for the weekend! I can do whatever I want as long as I don't burn the house down and remember to feed the doggers and cat. Suggestions?

Tomorrow I am going climbing for the first time since tweaking my leg 9 weeks ago. I will be rusty, sore, dirty, and loving every minute of it. After that, I dunno.

Yes super glue works on gnomes.
skip the washing, or next time it will be an expected chore.
Leave the house a mess, except one area, meticulously clean and smelling like chlorine.
I hard forgotten I mentioned cutting my own rope, but its true. Not really recommended.
Get out all your climbing and camping gear, and unpack it in the living room. Tie the furniture together with pink webbing.
Does anyone have a retired from leading but otherwise fine double or single they want to give me?

that wasn't the intended fallout of washing the bed sheets while the wife is away.

Like the idea of leaving the house a mess except for one spot with chlorine.

Also like the idea of having the camping and climbing gear spread throughout the living room...especially if the tent is set up with the spare mattress stuffed inside.

8 pitches, a FA, and a redpoint of a route that had previously kicked my ass. I climbed shirtless and will have to explain the scratches on my back from an amorous pine tree.

No, really, it was a pine tree...

do tell!

congrats!

Seven of the pitches were new to me, and I led four of them, plus the 5.9 roof that I had tried the day I injured my leg and couldn't drive and rock over the roof with that key leg; the adrenaline had long since worn off by then. Today I cruised it.

My partner had scrubbed a 5.7PG two pitch line in my absence, and I led the crux pitch which was pretty fun and had amazing views, plus a raven repeatedly chasing off a turkey vulture right in front of us.

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v293/loransmith/Climbing/DSCN7227.jpg[/IMG]
The 5.7PG pitch

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v293/loransmith/Climbing/DSCN7226.jpg[/IMG]
Knight's Pond, Lake Winnepesaukee, and the crow from the first belay.

The leg felt good, but not having climbed in nine weeks made eight pitches enough for me.

As for the pine, I will have to admit that I got "knotty."

well done. 8 pitches can be enough on most days anyway, so that's not so bad.

It's amazing how much unclimbed rock there still is out there.

This is a 175' tall cliff about 20 minutes from my home. I used to bag out of school my senior year to go there, and we established about 9 obvious and quality routes (1979).


Mt Longstack aka "Blueberry Ledges."

It had questionable access and few knew about it until last year, when ownership was contacted and since it is taxed as "current use" then climbing was allowed. Fish and Game were also contacted, and gave their blessing.

Development began anew late last Fall, and with bolts opening up the faces, there are probably 30 new lines since then up to established 5.12s and an open project 5.13. We have kept it pretty hush hush to nab the plum lines, but word is getting out and I expect the area and routes will be added to MP soon and in Todd Swains new guidebook. Swain and I went out there last Fall and I showed him our original lines, then I led two FAs, both 5.9, onsight and scrubbing on the way where needed.



One of the high quality new 5.10+ routes, "Winter Classic."

There are probably dozens of "Blueberry Ledges" around New England. We used to call it that in HS, but now everyone refers to it as Longstack.

It mostly runs 70-80 degrees, with vertical swells and many overlaps.

Yeah, there are quite a few. For some reason I thought it was a place I'd be to before.

It actually reminds me a lot of the lower left section of Cathedral.

(and WOO! Sometime in the last two days I hit pc++ 8k)

Yeah it does. I prefer that side to the right, so maybe I'd like this place. Good gear?

There are about half pure gear routes and half either fully or partially bolted. The bolted routes are spicy, nothing like Rumney.

The gear routes are a mish mash of flakes, short cracks, horizontals, and a few natural threads. The gear is generally good but fiddley. The rock is granite, from bullet on the slabs to slightly granular on some features. Lots of unexpected scoops, pockets, and incuts that are impossible to see from below and make some improbable looking lines very doable.

We expect the place to explode in popularity once word leaks out. As for today, we had the whole cliff to ourselves. If hoards of Brazilians start showing up, I'm holding you accountable.

PTFTW

Still putting that off, huh?