It's spring. The calendar agreed on Thursday with the tale that the last few frozen remnants of snow have been have been telling for days. It was a mild winter in the Catskills. It's hard to believe that Vermont and New Hampshire had record snow fall this winter since we had more rain than anything. The relentless cycle of warm ups was frustrating and made consistent guiding difficult.

On the other side of all that is that rock climbing season has begun. Yesterday I worked out at the Trapps and watched black vultures glide along the cliff faces. When I met my clients at Rock and Snow in New Paltz it was sunny but windy and cold and it was hard to be optimistic about the day. It turned into a perfect day though and the father and son pair that I was working with were great to watch as they moved on the rock and shared the experience of being high above the Wallkill River and Hudson River Valley beyond.

I leave for Las Vegas on Tuesday and can hardly believe my good fortune at having two excellent climbing partners. Ryan Stefiuk and Patrick Hackett both waited till the last minute to buy plane ticket and I was thinking that I might find myself kicking around the dirt campground looking to drum up a partner. Patrick is a long time climbing partner and friend and Ryan is a guide looking to tune up for the AMGA Rock Guide Exam. It's really a perfect set up for me to be able to get in some great climbing and to tune up for the Rock Instructor Exam the following week in Joshua Tree.

It has been far too long since I have been to the desert to climb. It won't be until after April 8th that I post again, look for details about the trip and lots of photos after that.

First Frozen Fingers

The rock climbing has begun! On Tuesday I climbed with my old friend Rit at the Trapps. Climbing with Rit in March has become a ritual since we have lived here in the east, it is as much a sign of spring as returning song birds and the flooding Wallkill.

I have known Rit since I was a wild eyed teenage climber wanna be. He was already a relatively experienced climber and got a kick out of the wild eyed exuberance of young climbers like me and Parick Hackett, Nancy Stohr and George Amenta. Rit lived in NY city at that time and never missed a chance to cruise out to CT to climb at Ragged, there was always somebody to get out with to make the moves and have a few laughs.

Rit lives in New Paltz these days and each spring we say good bye to snowboarding and ice climbing by picking our way through patches of snow and ice to get to the barely sun warmed rock and enjoy frozen fingered first routes of the year. Who knows what the coming season holds but this day we got a bit of adventure and a few laughs under the blue sky

Yesterday was, for me, the best day of the ice climbing season. I worked with a climber named Brian Fry (in photo) who picked up the climbing bug about a year ago and has thrown himself all in. The weather was fantastic and the ice is in it's best condition of the year. The winter has passed in fits and starts with periods of cold sandwiched between periods of very warm temps. This is somewhat typical for the Catskill region but this winter has been particularly egregious in it's treatment of those of us who are sustained by outdoor play. I hope that we are in for a bit more cold before all the ice falls down and we are into that rainy cold between time before rock climbing season can begin.

I will be going to the desert towards the end of March to climb at Red Rocks and to participate in the American Mt. Guides Association Rock Instructor's Exam in Joshua Tree National Monument. This will be an interesting two weeks. It has been about fifteen years since I have been to Red Rocks and it sounds like the development of the city, of it having grown right up to the boundary of the park might be a bit of a bummer. City light can't take away all of those brilliant routes though. If only I had some clients to work with while I am there I'd really be jazzed.