Elizabeth Furnace Climbing

Yes, more climbing adventures!

The last time we made an attempt to climb at Elizabeth Furnace I had just had a ruptured cyst and was all looped up on vicoden. But I wanted to get out of the house so John lugged a chair up the mountain so I could relax and let everyone else do the exercise. Well, we got lost and after too much of a hike for a sick girl, we just sat in the river for awhile. We never did find the right trail to the rocks. This time was much better.

We met up at the Roadside Crag on Saturday afternoon. One day I'll actually get up early like I say I will and get moving. Either way, we made it before the rains. I did a very easy climb twice, but it's nice to sometimes just walk up the wall. There was another climb that was very easy, except for the overhang. I had to just hang out for awhile before I could figure out a way over. I have no arm strength! But I did it eventually.

The more experience of the bunch did a climb with a really wild roof. Falling meant swinging through the air. Scary! John of course went flying while I was belaying him. Twice! Kevin had to grab me to keep me on the ground after the boy picked up some momentum. So the next time he flew off the wall I just lowered him and we gave up. Also on this wall, Kevin banged his leg and grew a second black and blue knee cap. It was nasty.

Rappel queen Lorna on the scary swinging climb.

Super easy, but cool.

Overhang that I actually beat (eventually)

We managed to actually get to the campground (2 minutes down the road from the wall), set up camp, and actually cook some food before it started raining. Then things got wet. I didn't want to freeze, so even though I had my rain jacket I spent a lot of time in the tent. That got a lot of jokes about what John and I were doing in there. There was talk of flicking. Sausages were everywhere....ok that sounds really dirty, but that's how we roll.

We were all disturbed by  a Whip-poor-will who decided to get up before dawn and try to get some ladies. John was really not amused. This resulted in John threatening to climb a tree and start reciting his name (the bird's call sounds like its name) over and over again. Good times.

A short drive led us to the Buzzard Rocks trail, which would take us to the second crag. Two miles almost all up hill, but it was worth the view. We had to do some crazy scrambles to get down to the bottom of the climbs. We did mostly slabs, which are pretty new to me. I kind of sprawled cross the rock at one point.

Ropes stuck in a tree.

Rockin the crack!

Lorna about to jump off a cliff!

Lovin' it.

Birdsboro Quarry Climbing

Once again the crew decided to get some rock climbing in at Birdsboro Quarry. And of course the forecast changed at the last minute to include rain. And super cold temps. So we all decided to go up early Saturday instead of Friday night. John and I didn't get much climbing in on Saturday as we set up camp and tried to get some dry firewood for later. That evening we got scolded by a nasty park ranger for drinking beer....won't be going back to French Creek! But Sunday was a wonderful day of climbing. Had to wear a winter coat when not climbing, as it was pretty chilly, but the day was rain free until we get ready to leave. I did the "baby" climbs, and one that was challenging. I finished them all without falling! Though Kevin really wanted to to fall on the hard one. I simply took a super long time figuring out a move before going for it. I almost did an even harder one, but was tired so I knew I would fall and opted for a good medium climb instead. It's hard going out with people who are all way more skilled, but they dealt with my newbie status well.