Packing for the Collegiate Ice Carnival (CIC)

My friends and I are leaving for the Collegiate Ice Carnival (CIC) tomorrow. I'm pretty excited. It's going to be kind of hard to pack because I usually run cold, so winter things usually means I have to bring so many layers. For me, one or two days in a winter setting is all I can manage with my size pack. Anyway, I'm packing the following things:

Clothing/Layers

Baselayer Top - Champion C9 Baselayer from Target. It's what I got. Unfortunately my Underarmour baselayer went missing in high school.

Fleece Top - Patagonia R1 Pullover Hoodie Men's extra small. As a climber girl I find that my arms are fat with muscle and don't fit in a lot of girls/women's clothing. Men's clothes generally have wider shoulders and if you can find a size that fits, it not like the colors are really assigned to genders. Also I got this pretty cheap at IME.

Insulated thing - Patagonia Micropuff Jacket This one is actually kind of tight on my shoulders. I should've gotten a medium. 

Softshell - OR Ferrosi  I found this really cheap new on Amazon. It's a softshell jacket which I've been told is going to be way better than my rain jacket for this purpose. I'll be using it for the first time on this trip and I'm definitely looking forward to it. 

Half-packed

Waterproof Jacket - LL Bean Rain Jacket - This one's a women's small, but it runs huge and it fits my boyfriend perfectly. I can't imagine fitting it under my harness while climbing, but it'll keep me dry if it starts to downpour.

Warm Hat - I got it from REI. The hat balls kind of get in the way, but it's adorable and super warm.

Buff/Yowie - It keeps my neck face warm which is pretty nice. 

Gloves and Mittens - I have a bunch of these. Most of them aren't waterproof, so I'm bringing a bunch.

I've got fleece pants and baselayer bottoms too. 

I'm also bringing my softshell-like EMS pants. They don't make them anymore as far as I know, but I wish they did because they are my favorites. I wear them all the time. I do laundry just so I have a clean pair to wear again. I bought two pairs and I really wish I had more. I love the fit since I don't have wide hips or big thighs. 

Gaiters - I'm bringing these, but I've never used this pair before. 

Socks and socks and more socks - I don't have heavy pairs of wool socks, so I'm just going to bring a bunch of pairs. 

Technical Equipment

Boots - La Sportiva boots that my awesome boyfriend got me for Christmas from IME. They still need some wearing in. 

Harness and ATC - Black Diamond Primrose AL, Mammut Locking Carabiner, Black Diamond ATC

Three Quarters Packed

Helmet -  Petzl Elios I've never actually used this myself. A friend borrowed it once though. 

Sunglasses - SPY sunglasses. Most sunglasses don't fit my face very well and neither did these, but they kept the sun out of my face and were still pretty comfortable. 

Sleeping Bag - Something warm. A 30 F bag is just warm enough for me to sleep in comfortably in room temperature if I don't wear a warm jacket and warm bottoms. We're sleeping in a pretty nice place, but since I don't know what the temperatures will be like, I'd rather be comfortable and bring lots of layers than not get enough sleep because I was cold. I can't remember ever being warm enough at night on an backpacking trip.

Sleeping Pad - I'm short. A half pad usually works just fine. 

Headlamp - Princeton Tec Vizz I won it at a climbing comp. I don't think I would have spent the money if I were buying it myself, but I really like it. It's also three times brighter than the headlamps that my friends have.

Other Stuff:

First Aid Kit - Slightly less useful than most, but still sometimes useful. Bandages, female stuff, Benadryl, rubber gloves. 

Cameras - Go Pro and an Olympus SZ-31MR

Pillow - The stuff sack from my sleeping bag plus extra mittens or some layers that I decided not to wear. 

Self Stick Wrap for Sprained things - Hey you never know

Knee brace - Old knee injury, long story.

Cell Phone - Could be useful. 

Reasonably sized flash drive to get pictures from other people.

Paper and pen - to write things down

Part way through packing, I realized I had put most of the stuff in my bag. Here is a really unorganized picture of things I still needed to put in my bag. I also decided not to bring the microspikes or the colorful spandex. 

My bag was almost packed, though I still had to put the electronic stuff in there. In the left of the picture, you can see a red bag which is owned by my flatmate. I have no idea how is pack his so tiny. I know I probably need way more layers than him, but still. I sometimes feel self-conscious about how much I end up bringing on trips like this, because it usually gets to the points where I almost can't carry it all and sometimes, I just can't carry it all. I'm going to guess that he probably didn't bring a sleeping pad, or two cameras. Also maybe his sleeping bag is much smaller an compact than mine. Maybe he didn't bring a helmet either. 

Hopefully after this trip, I will get a better idea of what I actually need to bring for winter activities. I'm really hoping that I'll actually stay warm this time. We are in a lodge thing after all. I'm super excited and I hope I'll stay warm enough to get enough sleep for the next days.

If you have any comments or advice on staying warm let me know. I've tried putting water bottles in my bag at night and wearing many layers, but I always seem to get cold. Comment, please!

Collegiate Ice Carnival - Can't Wait!

Oh my goodness! I am so psyched for the Collegiate Ice Carnival this weekend. Holy crap. I just got an email with the schedule and everything. So excited. Gah. If you're a college student, you haven't signed up and you're in the New England Area, you can sign up here: Collegiate Ice Carnival There are still a few spots left.

This is a pretty great deal. It's going to be hard to find a way to learn to ice climb that is more college budget friendly than this. They've got loads of super experienced guides like Freddie Wilkinson, not to mention all of the awesome companies that are sponsoring the event. Even though I'm in my senior year, I'm definitely looking forward to meeting a bunch of other cool college students in the area. Maybe I'll find some climbing buddies.

I've never gone ice climbing before, so this will be pretty awesome. I signed up for the forget about the boys group. I have no idea how to ice climb, but maybe I'll figure it out. Anyway, I'm super excited. I still need to pack, but packing probably means I need to clean my room. I'll probably take a picture of my gear and my pack before I head out. So excited!

Outing Club Elections

So yesterday/today was elections for the new officer board for the Outing Club of my college. We've never had so many people running for positions before. We had multiple people running for each position. I want to say congratulations to everyone who was elected. I totally trust in your abilities to lead the Outing Club up mountains and back down them and stuff (I'm tired). So congratulations to Ian, Lucia, Ben, Sydney, Hristos, Greg and Sarah. I'm really excited to see where you all take us. 

Also for those of you who ran, but weren't elected, please don't be discouraged. I had such a hard time making my decisions for who to vote for. There were many times I wanted to elect multiple people. You were all nominated, maybe by yourselves, but most likely by another person if not more than one. So many people had great ideas and showed how much they care about the Outing Club. I hope that no one's feelings were hurt if they were not elected. We still love your ideas. We hope you stay involved and run next year. 

My First Officer's Retreat

I'd like to thank everyone for letting me be the secretary for the last two years. I really enjoyed planning the lock-ins, planning some setting clinics and typing words you say on my computer. Seriously, you guys are very quotable. 

Here are some of my favorites from the past two years:
"Dating and stripping"

"You’re tight with Freddie Wilkinson"

"Felipe is offering us his wood"


I'm still going to be here next year, but I can't help but reminisce. Outing Club was probably one of the best things I've ever decided to be a part of. Thanks everyone.

Challenge of the Week # 1

Let's start with something interesting. This was mentioned yesterday at the setting clinic.

Force a cartwheel-like movement. Feet must go over your head and come back down at some point before continuing on with the sequence. It doesn't have to be done as dynamically as a cartwheel though. Have fun convincing someone to forerun it.

Post links to videos or pictures of your route in the comments. 

Basics Setting Clinic with Steve

Today, we were lucky enough to have Steve Wong come in to teach the basic setting clinic. Steve is a level 2 USAC certified routesetter with a bouldering endorsement and his routes are also really fun. Check out his website here: Awkward Beta

The basic setting clinic went over some of the basics of setting. Steve covered some examples of climbing movements like, downpulls, underclings, sidepulls, gaston, flagging, deadpoints, dynos, etc. For those of you who think basics is really simple and easy, don't. It's still a pretty challenging, but fun clinic. 

After going over the basics, and by that I mean what I just mentioned in the two sentence paragraph above, we went straight into setting. Steve assigned each of us some pretty fun challenges. We were split into three groups. 

Group A: Will and Dan - No hands move

Group B: Mak and Ian - Bicycle

Group C: Me - At least five moves within a single cluster of 3-4 holds

Here what my route ended up looking like:

I'd hoped to force four or five moves off of what we call the grapes (it's named Big Egg  by So Ill Holds). No complaints about this hold because I kind of love it. It's really versatile, but the hold was way too good to force the move I wanted. I wanted a reachy-balancey reaching up followed by some footwork and a move up to something higher on the hold. From there it was pretty simple pinch, sloper, finish. This was a really cool challenge. I'm definitely going to go back to it and we how many moves I can draw out of a set of holds. 

After we set the route, no climbing allowed until forerunning time, we foreran the routes and gave feedback. We all agreed, my route is pretty smooth and flowy, but I didn't force the intended beta especially not for tall people.

For the next route, we got the following challenges and we had to set solo.

Ian: 20 moves crimps only

Will: Two heel hooks or toe hooks for movements or balance

Mak: Slopers or Pinches and butterfly moves (full wingspan, but for who?)

Dan: Start under the boob and end in the middle of the wall

Me: Force two campus moves V3 or under. 

Part way through setting, maybe fifteen minutes in, Steve added in a "mandatory-optional" 360 during the campus section. I added that in because why not. Later on during setting drop knee was mentioned, so I added that in. I set it as a comp style finish. Here it is:

It starts on the left, and works right in an arc. The start I set was a little too hard, so I swapped it out for a better hold, but I really like this route. It turned out quite well, unfortunately, for those with amazing core and awesome roof climbing abilities, you can avoid the campus, but it is not necessarily easier than a V3. 

I actually participated in this clinic before and while I've been setting a lot since then it really doesn't hurt to take it again. I definitely cut down my setting time by a bit since the last clinic and I feel like I've improved on foot placement (always a difficulty). Somethings I want to improve on over the next month until the clinic are setting routes with more complicated beta and provide more useful feedback after forerunning. I'm looking forward to the extended basics clinic and then the advanced clinic the week after. It'll be a hectic time, but I'm looking forward to it. 

Questions, comments, etc. Below!

Bowler Blubber Update

Name: Bowler Blubber
Grade with the Break: V5
Change in Beta: Deadpoint from a slightly juggy footchip

Small changes in a route can make a huge difference in the grade. Rotating a single hold can seriously change the difficulty of a route. The break to this route was based on a foot that I rotated to make a little better. After I rotated it, it went from a slopey looking foot to a jug. That jug ended up being just good enough to deadpoint from. Here's no video of the break. I've yet to see someone climb the route with the original beta. Sometimes routes come down before people can send them or send them on camera.

Add-On and and its other versions

If you've never played add-on before, you're missing out because it's an awesome climbing game. It's great for people of all sizes and it's great for your brain too because it is a memory game.

Here are the rules I usually go with:

Add-On Original Rules

1) Each climber makes one move to "add-on" to the sequence of moves.
2) The starting climber can start on two holds or match on one hold to start and then make their move.
3) To add-on a move the climber must tap the wall twice to show that they are solidly on there and are no about to fall off.
4) If a climber misses another climbers move, they are eliminated.
5) If a climber cannot add-on a move, they are not eliminated, but obviously don't get to add anything on to the sequence.
6) Matching counts as a move. (This is a big deal on drops and it helps keep the sequence from getting confusing.)
7) Climbers can use any feet they want.
8) Last one left in the game wins. You must make the last move and add on a new move to win.

Here are some other versions:

Add-on for endurance:

Follow normal add-on rules except:
1) No eliminations at all
2) The game ends when no one can add-on to the sequence anymore.

Up-Down Add-On:

Works best with an odd number of climbers. Follow normal rules except:
Climbers must alternate making moves in the upward direction then the downward direction.

Dice Add - On

Follow normal rules but use dice to impose additional restrictions on the types of movements
For example:
1) Up
2) Down
3) Left
4) Right
5) Any
6) Any

Another Example:
If you want to work on certain types of holds such as slopers then do this:
1) Sloper
2) Crimp
3) Sloper
4) Jug
5) Sloper
6) Pinch

Comment below with your own versions.

Bowler Blubber

Route Name: Bowler Blubber
Grade: V7
Moves Incorporated:
Types of Holds: Slopers, Slopey Pinches, Pinchey Crimps

I originally wanted to set this route to be a V5, but when people climbed it, they suggested it was more like a V4. To make the route harder, more consistent and to force the move that I originally wanted - a big reach from a gaston on the starting sloper - I got rid of the purple tufa and replaced it with two smaller crimpy pinches.

Blue Bowls with Tufa

Bowler Blubber with Crimps

I'm looking forward to seeing how people climb the route with this change. The tufa was just too good of a pinch. There wasn't a lot of balancey stuff going on before hand. The smaller crimps really require that the climber stays close to the wall. Surprisingly, the hard part ended up being the match on the second sloper. Because I have small hands I figured, "people can definitely match on this even though my hands are too small to really pinch it," but I forgot that bigger hands for pinching makes matching harder.

Sometimes, you'll completely miss the grade you're setting for, but if it's fun and you know there'll be people to climb it, maybe you don't need to take it down.

Blue Belly

Route Name: Blue Belly
Grade: V5/V6
Moves Incorporated: Underclingy sidepull, Deadpoint (shorter/average people), heel hook, hand-foot match
Types of Holds: Jugs, Slopers, Pinchy Slopers, Crimps

I'm pretty proud of this route. While I still haven't been able to climb it -- I was so tired last time I tried, I pretty much just fell off the start -- I've gotten a lot of good feedback from people. It's been described as being a lot like an outdoor problem on real rock. People have also been climbing it over and over until they get it and then they keep climbing it, so that's always a good sign. Not to mention the top is scary and has got to be a great adrenaline rush.

So here's what the route looks like:

And here's the video! Ian is climbing it in this one. He climbed it with exactly the beta I planned, so that's awesome!

Comments, words, more words, etc. below.

Route Names

Hello there. It's been a while. I set another route recently, but I've yet to get a solid video of someone climbing it. Hopefully this will inspire you at least route-naming-wise..

If your gym lets you name routes you should seriously consider names that are as creative as the routes you set.

The following is a list of links to pages that list things:

Animals - because most of them are adorable!

http://a-z-animals.com/

Raccoon Dog  - Could you imagine how people would climb the route if it were based after a raccoon dog?

Numbat - They're pretty adorable and the name sounds so descriptive in an unclear way.

Colors - you could literally just pick a color and name your route after it. Laziness at it's finest, well maybe not it's finest, but it's definitely laziness. You could even name routes after the corresponding hex value.

msdn.microsoft.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colors_(compact)

Here's an example:

Acid Green - The first one on the list.

Davy's Grey - This one sounds pretty deep.

Fulvous - This definitely sounds like a route name.

Zomp - Because it starts with "z."

Desserts - because climbing makes you hungry anyway

Justdessertsnyc.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_desserts

I'm just going to name dessert-like things in a route name style

Hot Chocolate Hands

Butterfinger Brownies (Great for a sloper route)

Pie Crust Crimps

Fudgy Fingers

Deserts - While it's no longer in alphabetical order I thought food should come before a really dry place.

Adventurerabbi.org

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deserts - Look! Another link to wikipedia. Perhaps this blogger relies on wikipedia too much!

Kyzyl Kum - a desert in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan

Highlands of Iceland - Eg heiti Jennifer. Hvar er Klukkan?

Atacama - A mi me gusta mucho un lugar muy seco especialmente en Peru or Chile.

Russian Artic - I don't really speak any Russian. 

Nightshade Plants - these are pretty well known plants...

wikipedia.org

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solanaceae

Bet you didn't know all of these were in the same family. We! Are! Family!

Tobacco - Not so great for you

Tomatoes - Delicious and nutritious, yet indecisive

Potatoes - Potato, Potato - did you pronounce the two differently?

Deadly Nightshade - silent but deadly, just like farts

Eggplant - Are you allergic?

Petunia - Totally a name

Potato Based Foods - speaking of potatoes...

sallypasleyvargas.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_potato_dishes

Here are some potential names:

Tater Tot Tea Party

Gnocchi, no problem

Hash Brown Heaven

The Soggy French Fry

Anyway, you get the gist. Random words put together to make little sense, make great route names. Name on!

Comments?