Adventures in Kansas and Nova Scotia

That Saturday and Sunday I went climbing. First time I’ve climbed both days of a weekend in Canada. And I took photos and everything! Saturday we went back to the “hard” crag, First Face, and once again I only got to the top of one route – the same route as last time. However this time it felt much easier so it looks like I’m getting my climbing fitness back. I even now have plans to lead it at some point despite it’s 10a trad nature. That said I may well end up pre-placing the first bit of gear, as is the norm apparently, as the first moves are very bouldery with a very shit landing. To prove I took photo’s here they are!

Sunday we returned to the scene of my first Canadian trad lead from the other weekend, Main Face. There was a communication failure at the start of the day which resulted in me being at one bit of the crag while everyone else was at a different bit. While I was physically close to them I was separated from everyone else by the lake so it was either a swim or a long walk if I wanted to reach them. The walk would have taken too long and I had no dry bag for my gear so I just settled in to wait for them to get to me once they’d finished the route they were doing. Turns out I fell asleep on a rock and got slightly sunburn. Whoops!

After we all ended up in the same place I got posted up a reasonably easy trad route which had a couple of bold feeling moves on it – although in reality they probably aren’t. It felt like I took quite a while committing to them but apparently I did it with a lot more grace than a lot of people. Not my finest moment but at the same time pleasing as it does appear my lead head is returning. Yes I took some time but not a stupid amount of time and I did do it. After that I seconded Amanda up a route I will have to lead one day as it’s not too hard although the start is once again quite bouldery. Photos are here.

That week the exciting thing was that I finally got my bed and immediately started sleeping better. Yay! The next weekend I did a “Wilderness and Remote First Aid” course. As I was way out of date with my first aid this turned out to be a very worthwhile refresher. While on the last course I decided to stay the extra day for the advance version and I’m glad I did as there was some interesting stuff there including diagnosing abdominal pain which could be useful in the backcountry. Still think the way they teach these courses doesn’t suit my learning style but I have to admit it was well done.

Once again there’s not a whole lot to report from the week. That weekend the weather decided to stop me climbing. However on the Saturday the weather was actually quite nice where I live, just not where the climbing is, so I went for a hike. I slipped and bruised my thigh near the start and it wasn’t the most exciting hike but still I had a good time. Photos are here. Sunday the weather was looking terrible everywhere so I headed down to Halifax to scope out wet weather options for when my parents visit in September. I started by visiting Emily and her boyfriend, Dan, for a cup of tea that turned into a two-hour chat. After that I headed to the Maritime museum which, while a reasonable way to kill a couple of hours was, nothing too spectacular. They did however have a parrot! I then wandered around the harbour area for a while as by that time it had come out sunny. Photos of the museum and harbour are here.

What else interesting has happen. Well I’ve brought a TV. Mostly to watch the World Cup. I’ve decided not to get cable or anything and instead just stream stuff or watch TVs. The apartment is really starting to come along now. Other than that not a whole lot else exciting but I’m off to Evolution and then climbing in Colorado on Friday so there should be lot’s to report there.

Well I picked up the keys to the new apartment OK despite my concerns about how well organised it was. I also popped into work for a while that Monday before moving all of my stuff out of storage and into the apartment that evening. The new apartment will take a while to get sorted but at least now I have my own place. Less good was that my bed had not arrived. Laura, my lab manager, and I had come up with a cunning plan where she would order the bed from Ikea while I was away so that it would be here when I got back. As she was putting in a big order anyway, due to the imminent arrival of her child, this didn’t really cause her any problems. However what neither of us had foreseen was how long it would take to be delivered and it seems I’ll be without abed for about 2 and a half weeks. Laura has has lent me an air mattress but it’s not the same and I’m just not sleeping well. 🙁

Later that week I had a chat with Sean about where my project was going and after some discussion and a few e-mails I feel much happier about how work in general is going. Fingers crossed it lasts and I don’t run into any Kansas style problems.

That weekend was a long weekend. My original plan had been to go away for the weekend and possibly visit Kejimkujik National Park. However it turned out that I could get out climbing on the Saturday so I did that before heading down to Kejimkujik. I went climbing with the same group as before and once again managed to find where they were after I arrived a bit later than them – stupid longer drive! I seconded one route but the highlight of the day was doing my first trad lead since Red Rocks – over 6 months. One of the women there, Emily, had taken a big fall when she got off-route but the actual route looked quite amenable and was a reasonable grade so I led it while she seconded up it. All in all an enjoyable day. I really will have to start taking photos of these places.

Sunday morning saw me driving to Kejimkujik. All in all I was a little disappointed by it I’m quickly coming to the conclusion that walking through forests isn’t really my thing unless I’m aiming for something cool. That said some of the lakes looked pretty cool and if I ever get around to doing some canoeing it seems a good place to go. Photos from Sunday are here. That night I camped in the pack before waking up to a wet morning. Given the weather and the fact I wasn’t overly impressed with the park I decided to head over to the Seaside Adjunct bit of the a park – a quite separate bit about an hour’s drive from the main park.

Arriving at the parking lot it was still wet and the facilities were nearly non-existent. Still I got the wet gear on and started walking. And I’m really glad I did as the weather cleared up a bit and it was a really enjoyable hike. Unfortunately as it was looking like it was going to be wet and miserable I’d left the camera in the car so there’s no photos. Still I’d like to go back on a nicer day so you may yet get to see what it’s like. As it was still reasonably early in the day I explored the coast line some more on my way home. Nothing too exciting to report although I did take some photos.

There appears to be nothing exciting to report for the next week. I spent it working and organizing the apartment. However that Saturday I went out climbing with a similar group as before but this time to a third new crag. Most of the routes at First Face are quite hard so I spent the day top roping. The only route I successfully got to the top of was a 10a and even then it was with a few falls. Still it was nice to be out and getting to know people and I’m slowly getting back into climbing. The next day I couldn’t climb as my lab were all going out for brunch with our now rather pregnant lab manager. She turned up rather late due to being asleep but other than that it all went well and it was quite enjoyable.

After another week at work and sorting out the apartment I went out on a hike on the Friday with the rest of my lab as a lab outing and a way of showing our visiting Vietnamese student some of Nova Scotia. We went and hike Cape Split, something I’d down several months before and which was quite a bit easier both due to there being no snow on the ground and having got myself fitter. I got lots of photos of a really rather friendly student, some photos of the the landscape and not very many of my lab mates. Anyway all the photos are here. We all posed for a lab photo on an outcrop of work. Seems I was rather bolder than anyone else in getting close to the edge with the lab ranging from me within a few inches to others who wouldn’t get within a few meters. I didn’t take the photo but I’ll have to see if I can get my hands on it and put it up at some point.

Well that seems a good place to break things so I’ll describe that weekend in my next post.

Well I think it’s fair to say that a lot of my time in England was spent being reasonably lazy. The rest was spent by a few trips to see friends and my brother, watching West Ham, a reasonably long day hike and the odd visit to nearby towns with my parents. It is the last of these that is the first real thing of note I did in England. On the Monday after I got to England my parents and I went and explored Dedham. I had been once before, with my parents and some friends, when I was reasonably young, but other than remembering the name of the place I could remember very little about it so it was like visiting somewhere new. It’s a very nice little village but the highlight was probably seeing some weird ducks. I forget what they are but I do know that they’re not native and that they haven’t spread far from where they were introduced in northern East Anglia. Perhaps if my parents read this they’re be kind enough to remind me what there were. Anyway there’s various photos both of them, other ducks and the village.

Two days later we were off to Woodbridge, somewhere neither I or my parents had been to before. I think it’s fair to say that all three of us were a little disappointed even if we did enjoy ourselves. Highlight of the day was probably seeing a dog playing in the river although, again, I enjoyed taking some photos of birds as well as trying to be arty farty with a grave yard. That Friday I hired a car for a week and saw an old school friend, his other half and their kid in the evening. For some reason the kid still seems to like me, but maybe that’s just his general good nature. Well I assume he’s good-natured as he always is when I see him!

Saturday saw me going to watch a West Ham game along with my mum, dad, brother and sister-in-law. This was the first West Ham game I had been to since I watched them get defeated by Swansea in Swansea while I was at university for the first time. It had been even longer since I had been to a home game. I had a thoroughly enjoyable time – no doubt helped by us, unexpectedly, beating Tottenham (a fellow London team) two-nil. It seems likely that it will be the last time I got to go to Upton Park before West Ham move to the Olympic Stadium and I’m pleased the day went so well. That evening we all headed back to my brother’s for Indian food thus rounding off a brilliant day. What with the combination of seeing my family and West Ham it was definitely the best day of my trip back.

Sunday was meant to be a nice but not stunning day so I decided to go for the longest hike since I twisted my ankle – a whole twelve miles. Turns out they were wrong as it came out really nice. Normally 12 flat miles wouldn’t be that much for me but I knew I’d lost some fitness over the previous months and although I got it done OK it also was no where near as easy as it would have been before my ankle. On the positive side I doubt I’d have managed it all even a couple of months before so things are on the up. Photos are here.

Monday morning sure me driving up to the Peak District to see old friends. I spent the afternoon with one friend and then the evening having dinner with another four friends. I had a great time catching up with friends but other than that there wasn’t anything particularly blog worthy to report. Tuesday I was going geocaching with another old friend. It was really nice to have a proper catch up as I hadn’t managed to catch up properly with Sarah the last few trips and it was nice to be doing something out and about with her for the first time in a long, long time. I also got a couple of cool photos of a swan and took plenty of other photos, including several of Sarah trying to fit through a small hole in a wall – some things never change!

After geocaching I drove up to Leeds to catch up with more friends and to stay the night. These were the last friends I was planning on seeing and although it had been a manic two days it had also been very enjoyable. The next day I didn’t have anything to do to that evening when I planned to catch up with my brother again so I spent the morning in the Derwent Valley before spending lunch time and early afternoon walking along Frogatt edge. I even managed to solo one route before the rain got too heavy. Photos are here and here.

After having a bit more of a catch up with my brother I returned to my parents for my last few days in England. A couple more things worthy of note happened. First the Women’s Tour – a cycle race – was finishing very near my parents and I managed to grab a few photos, although dinner meant I missed the leaders. And second my parents and I went and explored Wivenhoe. The weather wasn’t looking that great and we almost didn’t go but I’m glad I did as I really enjoyed walking around the town and the weather just about managed to stay good. Surprisingly enough I took some more photos.

Well that just about brings my time in England to an end. On the Sunday I flew back to Canada and spent the night in an airport hotel before driving up to Wolfville, picking up the keys to my new apartment and starting back at work. More on all that in my next post.

Well the Sunday after the graduate research day I finally got outside rock climbing in Nova Scotia. I’d been in touch with Amanda via Facebook and text and on Saturday they told me they had a plan to head out climbing on Sunday. However come the end of Saturday this plan had fallen apart thanks to “beer and the weather” but I was informed that something may be arranged at the last minute. Well that’s what happened because Sunday morning I got a text saying the original plan was back on. The climbing was an hour and a half drive away for me so I didn’t make it to the crag, G-spot, until about midday. The crag was a little bit overgrown but the guidebook directions were good and I soon caught up with the person I’d been in touch with.

I again limited myself to seconding, in part due to my ankle and in part not being used to the rock. I don’t think I’ll be able, or indeed want to, use either excuse next time! Anyway the first climb I did was to top-rope a nice short slabby 5.7 that had been put up by Amanda’s friends. It took me about half the route to get used to the amount of friction that the granite had – you could stand on nothing, but once I’d get used to it my love of slab climbing kicked in and I really enjoyed myself.

Next I seconded Amanda up a long, well over a half-rope length long, 5.10. Everything agrees it’s nowhere near 5.10, more like 5.7, if you’re over about 5 foot 6, which apparently the first ascensionist wasn’t. It certainly felt more like 5.7 and it was really enjoyable climbing. The next route I found myself seconding was rather harder in a couple of places and involved a couple of falls, although one was due to a caught rope. Again it was really enjoyable climbing and something I think I could lead once I have my strength back a bit more. By the time we topped out the weather had started to change and it was starting to get cold and windy so it was generally agreed to call it a day, something I was going to do anyway as my ankle was a little sore. All in all a really nice introduction to climbing here and I hope there’s more days like it. No photos I’m afraid. I’ll try to get some next time I go climbing outdoors.

The first few days of the week after I was laid low with a cold so there’s nothing interesting to report there. If there was anything interesting to report before the next weekend it wasn’t that interesting as I don’t remember it by the time I’m writing this. I couldn’t manage to arrange climbing that weekend, so instead during the latter part of Saturday I went and explored Grand Pre and the surrounding area. This was the site of a Acadian settlement (i.e. French) until, so Wikipedia tells me, the mid-18th century when us Brits got up to our old tricks again and brutally kicked them out. Have to say that the historic site wasn’t very exciting, although that may in part be due to the visitors center being closed, and although the surrounding area was nice I think there’s nicer areas near by. Photos are here.

Sunday I went back to Blomidon park where I’d been earlier in the year and where my attempt to hike most of the trails at the park failed due to the snow. This time it didn’t. There was much less snow around – although there was some in places – and the biggest problem I encountered was a very flooded trail – more than a foot deep – that required some bushwacking to get around. The trail was really quite scenic and I enjoyed myself. My enjoyment was increased by finding a reasonably spectacular waterfall when I was almost back to the car and which I had no idea was there. Photos from the walk are here.

The rest of the week was mostly spent preparing for my two week trip back to England. As I was moving out of my previous place before I left and not into my new place until I was back from England, this involved putting all my stuff in storage. Come Friday evening I was on my way to Halifax to catch my flight. I parked at the hotel I was to stay at on my return and caught the flight to Toronto. I was going via Toronto as even with the cost of a hotel in Toronto this was the cheaper option and also meant I didn’t have to do a red-eye flight and so would hopefully have less jet-lag, a win-win situation. Both that flight and the flight to the UK the next day went well and I was back in England, where, as per usual, my parents picked me up. What happened in England will be the subject of my next exciting (or not) post.

It’s become somewhat of a tradition of mine to go on a climbing trip for my birthday, and I’ve only missed one year – my first year in Kansas – in about the last seven years or so. As it seemed unlikely that I’d know climbers in Nova Scotia by this point and I had plenty of United air miles built up I decided to take a trip to Colorado and Kansas City to catch up with my American friends. Also turned out to be a good thing as even if I’d known people here I doubt I could have got climbing – too horrible for rock climbing and probably too warm for any ice climbing.

The Friday before my birthday saw me heading to Halifax Airport at what, for me at least, was the unpleasant hour of 6am. Still several hours later and a change of flight in Toronto I, eventually, was getting picked up by Kim at Denver airport. After dinner and some shopping at REI – where I managed to avoid buying anything – we headed back to hers and awaited the arrival of Carol and Seth who were driving across from Kansas. After they arrived a couple of drinks were consumed before the three of us headed off to a friend of Carol’s who had very kindly agreed to put us up while we were in Denver. Kim had cried off due to the understandable stress of tax season. I’m certainly glad I didn’t become an accountant!

After a reasonably slow start Saturday morning Carol, Seth and I headed off to Lumpy Ridge. Our arrival there was delayed by quite a significant amount due to road works requiring a 15 mile / 30 minute detour. We made the right choice in doing the detour however as Carol’s friends who didn’t ended up getting delayed by about an hour on the normal route. After waiting around for Carol’s friends for a bit, delaying us further, we eventually headed off without them. Our goal was Osiris, a classic 5.7. It’s fair to say that none of us climbed the first two pitches quickly as it was quite traditional, aka brutal. So by the time we were atop the second pitch, of five, we were already worried about the time but we decided we had time for one more pitch and that we’d then repel / abseil off.

Thankfully the third pitch went a bit quicker, being rather less traditional. We’d have to leave some gear to get back down the third pitch but given that light was already starting to fade continuing on was a distinct no, no, especially given that we had exactly zero head lamps / torches between us actually on the route. Seth’s and Carol’s were at the bottom of the route and mine was, even more usefully, still in Canada. The repel must definitely required two ropes so we let another pair, climbing a nearby route use our ropes as they only had one and were also looking to escape. This all made for a rather late arrival back at the car, and we had a longer than expected trip back due to the road rocks. So much for the meet up with Kim and Kyrie for Mexican, birthday dinner, plan.

Lumpy was stunning and is definitely somewhere I want to climb again. I took a few, not stunning, photos from the parking but these don’t highlight the area that well as the views are significantly better a bit higher up. Anyway I did get Mexican as Seth, Carol and I managed to find a restaurant that was still open at gone ten in the evening to eat in. This further delayed our arrival at Kim’s to gone midnight. Seth and I popped in for a chat while Carol slept in the car before we headed back to Carol’s friend for the night.

Sunday our target was Eldorado Canyon, somewhere I’d visited the previous May and which I was quite happy to go to again. After some discussion we thought we’d see if Bastille Crack would be possible, a route described, i believe, as the best route of it’s grade in the state – which is a rather bold claim. Given that I suspect we all thought it would have too much of a queue on it to be viable but that turned out not to be the case. Five absolutely stunning pitches later we topped out. I’ll seconded the whole time again not wanting to delay things if my ankle played up and I’ll definitely have to go back and lead some of it. Anyway five pitches took some time and by the time we were done it was already quite late. We then met up with Kim for some stunning Eastern (in my case read Indian) food and by the time we’d done that it was already 8pm. We eventually got back to Lawrence at 4am.

Monday was spent doing some adminy things around Lawrence before meeting up with Mary Ashley for dinner and then a couple of beers back at her place. After a much needed lie in Tuesday I met up with Mary Ashley before heading to the airport and heading back to Canada. It was a marvelous week end and a really nice way to celebrate turning another year older. Thanks to all of those involved.

After such a stunning weekend away I somehow managed to get back into the routine of work for what was, thankfully a short week. I didn’t get up to much exciting that weekend. The most exciting thing I did was go for a five mile hike along yet another abandoned railway track, starting pretty much from my work place. Was quite a boring hike if I’m honest. So boring I didn’t even take any photos. Not sure if you’ll think that’s a good thing or not.

After a fairly normal four days at work things were meant to get a bit more exciting Thursday evening as I’d arranged to go to the climbing wall in Halifax but unfortunately she cancelled on me. With an unexpected evening to spare I went for a really nice walk in and around Wolfville. Turns out that there’s a really nice wooded trail up a hillside, sandwiched between the houses, to a couple of reservoirs with some really nice views. Was quite unexpected and made up somewhat for not climbing. I also took some twilight pictures of Wolfville town center although I don’t think these came out that well. All the photos are here.

Friday was semi-exciting work wise as it was day two of the faculty’s graduate research day and I was heading over to Truro again to see the posters and watch a couple of talks. This time I decided to drive over myself so as to have a chance to watch the talks – everyone else was coming back earlier – and hopefully explore a bit. Both the posters and the talks turned out better than i was expecting given my lack of knowledge of agriculture and I stayed around for quite some time afterwards talking to the graduate students – hopefully some contacts made there. Eventually I decided it was time to start heading home as I’d have wanted to join in the drinking more if I stayed. Having stayed later than I was expecting I didn’t really get to explore much – not that I think there’s much to see in Truro anyway – but I did still manage to squeeze in an hour and a half hike just outside Truro. Definitely chose to hike the wrong bit of the trail as I only got to the scenic bit just before I had to turn around but it was still a nice leg stretch. Photos are here.