Our plan for Thanksgiving holiday was to climb at Little Rock City(Stone Fort/LRC) in Tennessee and Horse Pens 40(HP40) in Alabama. We spent the first 6 days at LRC and the rest at HP40. Thanks to Glen for not only joining us but making our trip super FUN!! From Yusuke's stand point, spotting him is scary, but he is a great teacher and spotter for me; I don't know how many problems I conquered with his advice and cheer!
LRC was rather softly rated than HP40, so I managed to send some V4s which motivated me to climb on during this trip.
The first V4 I sent was Mystery Groove V4***; learned that I can heel hook on a slopey crack!
Next was Mescal V4***; a problem to test my heel hook tech and crimp pull up strength.
Another was Pocket Pool V4**; found out that the top out was another crux but managed to work through it...
Last one I sent was Black Carpet V4**; had fun figuring out the move and actually happened to find an undercling when topping out.
At HP40, first I was getting on V3s, but as I noticed that the grading was harder for a person that is not used to the boulder structure, I decided to have fun trying onsite/flash sends on V2s. However, it was hard to onsite because the boulder is round shaped and difficult to see your foot holds especially when you're mantling with a sloper! So even if I was able to send Orchid V2*** at my first try with no beta, I can only say that I flashed it cause I asked if my foot was on the hold when I was climbing. Anyway, I finished a couple of V2s and luckily found a V3 that I thought was doable! Not a fan of the problem's name, but definitely a 3 star tricky mantle problem.
Panty Shields V3***
Turtle Head Right V2**; missed flash using an unnecessary bad undercling, but sent it on the next try.
Lucky Charms V2**; figuring out the move (including balance and top out) of this weird figured boulder was the funniest part!
Eight Ball V2***; thanks to the guy that showed me his beta, I sent it on my 2nd try.
The Stranger V2**; started to try with no skin left, and sent it right after I said it was my last try!
Overall, I think I was motivated to climb a lot and did have fun climbing till my muscle was sore or skin was gone! Very rare experience for me but I bet it was because of the boulder feature and Glen's cheer!
Yusuke and I were spending one day of each weekends at Peter's Kill for the last 3 weeks because this area might be closed anytime it gets icy or any snow. Today, we had Yojiro with us; which gave both of us VEEEERRRY good motivation and LUCK!!! Thanks soooo much Yo!! Yusuke actually finished one V7/8 and another V8 in a few tries!!
For me, I was able to resend Day8 V4* (which was one of a problem that I had to do over because of the mistaken start hold) in almost one try! (first try, I slipped at the start.. orz)
Anyway, I was so glad that I resent it in the right way.
For our Labor Day's holiday, we decided to spend 5 days at Cooper's Rock State Park in West Virginia. The first day was mainly for travel; taking 6 hours drive from home, but Yusuke hopped on some problems and sent three V5s in the Upper Rock City Area!!
On the second day, we started from the Tilted Tree Area and I sent two V2s as a warm up and tried Moby's Dick V3**** which is one of the famous problem in Cooper's Rock. Even though it took quite a few tries for a V3, I was glad to send this cool problem!
Moby's Dick V3****
Third day, Yasu and Mayu joined us and first went to the Picnic Table Area. Yasu finished a V3 and a V4; good start!! And Mayu sent her first V2! Congrats! After that, we moved to the Upper Rock City Area and I sent Dextrose V3**, but Mayu ONSITED another V2 which was even hard for me!! When we moved to the Tomb Raider Rock, we bumped into Frenchy, Megan & Peter. The strong guys started to get on the Tomb Raider Roof V7***, a super hard V7 that even Frenchy was struggling, but Yusuke was the first to get it this day!!! Good Job!
Unfortunately, it was pouring rain when we woke up on the forth day. Probably because of RAINMAKER Yasu... so Yusuke and I went to a nearby winery, Forks of Cheat Winery and bought a couple of wine and then had delicious pizza for a late lunch/early dinner at Mountain State Brewing Co.
On our last day, we only had time till noon considering the travel back home, so I asked if I can try Humility V5***, a V5 that I thought was doable for me. It took around 1.5 hour but finally got my FIRST V5!!!
Humility V5***
Since we had a little bit more time, Yusuke and I got on Proana V4*** and Exorexic V3***; both finished as a great closure for this trip.
Proana V4***
Exorexic V3***
<Problems Sent> Upper Rock City Area Dextrose V3** Tilted Tree Area Cyrax V2** Qaid V2* -> OS Humility V5*** Moby's Dick V3**** Exorexic V3*** Proana V4***
<Food>
Morgantown Brewing Company
Loved the beer!! They had 8 on tap which was all awesome but cheap. Food was rather normal bar food.
Black Bear
Burritos and beer at a very cheap price. Not bad if you like burritos, tortillas and quesadillas.
Forks of Cheat Winery
Unique local wine line ups. We especially liked Schwartzer Bar and Chambourcin.
Mountain State Brewing Co.
Pizza was excellent!!! Even the small size is like 15 inch so it was too much for two of us but I thought this place is worth to go even though the beer was not as good as Morgantown Brewing Co.
