Easter Climbing

Over Easter weekend I helped organise a climbing trip. It was cool to help actually organise, I got to know some of the better climbers(yay) and now I'm thinking about starting a club at Eastern next semester(eek!). First day was back to Froggatt for some climbing on a different wall. I climbed one of my favorite routes on this day.. it even beats To Defy the Laws of Tradition in the Red... which is quite impressive.




Next it was off to Mangoakewa to camp and climb for the next two days. The rock at kewa is limestone, which is a very different type of climbing.. more slopers and less pockets. Therefore, I was scared! Turns out I really like limestone though.








Patrick was totally stoked about this route and said we needed to climb it: not only was it a classic route, but it was called Angry American.



So Patrick and Ed gathered up the two Americans that were keen and we climbed up a face with a static line and then scurried across a ledge. If you ask me, it was basically a two pitch climb with the first one being a free solo. Again, kiwis are crazy and apparently it was safe. But, as I got to the bottom of the climb and finally looked up, I realized I'd be climbing on stalactites! How fricken cool! This route was my favorite ever before I even tied in. This is Ed leading it for us.




The last day we made the short drive to Waitomo for some bouldering. This was my first experience with outdoor bouldering, and I was impressed with how much I enjoyed it despite my disinclination to bouldering and my bloody hands from four days of climbing(I thought that was over when I quit gymnastics!). It was a gorgeous day and we got to climb amongst the sheep. How New Zealand! However, where there are sheep there is sheep shit. Not so nice for lounging on the grass, but don't worry. I still managed.





Great weather. Great weekend. Great climbing. Easter was a success, though I did miss brunch and easter egg hunts with the family back home.