Remember back in school when you wanted nothing more than for the Cool Kids to notice you, or if you were really lucky, hang out with you for a while? Well I had some time to hang with some pretty cool kids recently. Forgive me if I sound a little biased, but I'm kind of a fan. Ok, so I like climbing and I guess I'm easily impressed but these kids are pretty awesome and they hung out with me for a week including on some pretty chill climbs hundreds of feet above the fall colours of North Carolina.
As if being a kid and being a rockclimber isn't enough, earlier this year I watched these two hammer their way through some pretty gnarly whitewater. Emma, 8 years old and afraid of nothing, got launched at least head high in the front of my canoe as we charged through a rapid but still had the presence of mind to reach out with a strong cross bow draw to spin us into the eddy just as she landed. Her older brother, often conservative, still got up the nerve to paddle his first class three rapid in his little open boat this summer on the Ottawa River. He made it through the rapid full of water but upright and with a smile that went from ear to ear.
Not too long ago these two started rock climbing. In the way that kids do, they progressed quickly at our local gym, moving up grade after grade far faster than I did when I started climbing. I watched as they learned and got stronger and I was impressed. When planning a fall climbing trip in North Carolina, I knew these two had to be there.
Arriving on the mountain we hiked out to a little single pitch crag, set up top rope and I had them review and demonstrate to me all the stuff they'd have to know to climb multi-pitch routes. They cleaned gear, they took apart anchors, they rappelled down the cliff, followed me up on top belay. All this without getting their ropes too crossed up! They were ready for the mountain.
I woke the next morning with the sun streaming through the back door of my tent. I pulled on a wool sweater and stepped out of my tent into the early morning sun. We had set up camp on the shoulder of the mountain only about 800 vertical feet below the summit. The sun was hitting the ridge, but the valley below was still in the shadows blanketed by patches of fog.
There's something about breakfast when you're outside... Instant oatmeal, washed down with instant coffee, is somehow a gastronomic delight. I remember years ago, on a long, remote, solo river trip thinking that the coffee in my cup was the best I'd ever had. I vowed to give up buying real coffee at home and just switch to instant coffee. Upon my return I made myself a cup of my new favourite hot morning brew but it wasn't right. In fact it tasted downright bad. I adjusted the ratio. Still bad. I dragged my food barrel up from the basement, dug out my camp spoon and cup to made sure I had the ratios the same. Worse. Digging deeper in the barrel I grabbed the very same ziploc bag of coffee that I'd had on the trip. Something still wasn't right. It must just be the river water, the fact that I was sitting on the edge of the river watching the sun burn off the mist, and maybe even the fact that there was no one but me for at least a hundred miles all combining to make awful coffee taste good.
We ate breakfast under a big oak tree, as always, me washing it down with coffee, them with water and hot chocolate. The approach would be "fifteen minutes at the longest" I told them. We geared up and headed out. An hour later, still looking alternatively at the topo and at the rocks in front of us as we wandered around in the bush, Emma asked if we were close. "Oh ya" I said, "should be just around the corner."
We found it, we roped up and, after a careful check of harnesses and knots, headed up. They belayed me on double ropes as I headed up the first pitch. Ninety feet up there was an awesome bolted belay on a 3 foot ledge. They followed me up without a hitch, Emma testing the stickiness of her rock shoes on the slab and unclipping herself from each piece of protection and Kade following, carefully clipping gear to his sling.
I headed out on the 130 foot second pitch. It works up and right on an exposed ramp initially before heading straight up to a little stance belay. I wondered how they would be with the exposure... Emma was a little shaky when she reached the belay which surprised me somewhat. I've never seen her at all scared by a climb. Kade on the other hand is a different story. He's conservative and careful, exactly the ingredients required to be a safe climber. He's also a little afraid of heights. I kept calling down to see how he was doing as he climbed up. "Fine!" he kept calling back cheerfully. When he reached the belay station he told me that he was careful not to look down, and hadn't, not once during the entire pitch!
The third pitch brought us to a big ledge where we had lunch. Kade hadn't had enough however and wanted one more pitch before we packed it in for the day. This one started out as an easy slab but quickly steepened up into a face climb. It was easily the steepest climb of the day, requiring a move out from under a roof and some good stem feet, but Kade had no trouble. We rapped back to the ledge below where Emma was waiting for us then started back to camp. On the way back we passed our starting point and both of them wanted to try the first pitch again. We did that, then finally, with my headlamp on, I stumbled into camp after dark with Emma skipping along beside me saying she wished she was still climbing! So much energy...
The next day we climbed again, Kade commenting on his use of holds changing as he learned to climb slab and Emma, not saying too much but just enjoying the climbs.
The colours in the valley below were spectacular! As always, pictures never do justice to the beauty of this world... You have to be there to really get it.
Ok, so my bias in my assessment of the skills of these kids is with good reason, I'm the lucky dude who they call "Dad." I do feel really, totally stoked that they like hanging out with their old man, something I hope continues for many years to come. These wonderful days of my life however, like the autumn colours on the trees in the valley below Table Rock, will all too soon end. While I hope they'll always think that time spent with me is time well spent, that may or may not happen. Before too long though, regardless of our desire to paddle another river, or climb another pitch, they'll have lives of their own. Lives with jobs, relationships, kids and various other complexities that sometimes hinder all of us from doing what we love. And while those complexities in and of themselves can be cool, I'm still going to take advantage of every spare moment I can with them now. Not just with these two but all four of my awesome kids. Besides, if I haul boats and various other gear for them now maybe someday they'll haul my gear for me while I struggle to keep up with them!
If I could've chosen anyone in the world to go climbing with last week, I'm sure I couldn't have chosen better.
Amazing post! Your kids are, of course, incredible!! Looked like a perfect trip :)
ReplyDeletelove this one!!
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