Last Sunday, I picked up some more tubular webbing and an ATC belay device at Mountain Equipment Co-op and Kerri bought another rope like the one I own and some other stuff. Kitted out with our new gear, we headed back up to Luskville and spent the afternoon climbing. The weather was even nicer than the previous weekend, so we were able to climb for several hours.

We climbed up to the top of the John and Ron Cliffs at Luskville, decided on the routes and set our ropes in the anchors. I belayed Kerri from the top and then she belayed me from the bottom of the rockface.

The large crack in the first picture was one of the routes we worked on, with a couple of variations.  The other route was just to the right and presented its own challenges.

You can see both of the ropes we set in the second picture to the right.

We also explored the top of the cliffs and scoped out some of the other routes in the area and generally enjoyed the sunshine.  It’s probably the last time we’re going to be able to get out before the snow flies, especially as I’m going to be away this weekend. Hopefully it will still be nice when I’m back next weekend and we’re able to get out instead of going to the climbing gym (not that there’s really anything wrong with the climbing gym).

Otherwise, maybe we’re going to have to look into ice climbing…

Last Sunday, Kerri, Parm and I went climbing with my friend Robert and his wife at Luskville. Thought I go climbing with Kerri and Parm most weekends at the gym, this was Kerri and my first time climbing on real rock since last fall.
Last year we went to Home Cliff on the Eardley Escarpment, which has a lot of routes to climb. The downside to it that it tends to be fairly busy and the hike in is a bit sucky.

Luskville, on the other hand, has a nicer hike in and isn’t as busy. In fact, there was only one other guy who was solo-climbing some of the other routes, so we had our choice of routes. Robert set a couple of ropes and we tried each of them. Then he and I climbed up to the top of the cliffs and set a couple more routes.

We climbed these routes, which were more challenging than the first set, and enjoyed some amazing views as the sun was getting closer to the horizon.

By the time we finished climbing and had the ropes coiled up, the sun was almost set, so we made our way back to the cars and arrived just as it was getting dark.

Tomorrow (Sunday) is shaping up to be fairly nice, so we’re going to head back for another day of climbing.

I’ve been going to the climbing gym about once a week with my friend Kerri for the last few years after starting most of a decade ago.  Climbing at places like Coyote or Vertical Reality is a lot of fun and a good workout, but I’ve always wanted to go climbing on "real rocks".

A couple of weeks ago I asked my friend Robert from work if he’d take us climbing in the Gatineau Hills sometime.  He said he’d be happy to, so we arranged to meet up with him and his son this past Sunday to go climbing on the Eardley Escarpment near Luskville.

I picked Kerri up Sunday morning and we met up with Robert and his son in Tunney’s Pasture and drove to one of the rock faces on the escarpment.  After a short hike in through a farmer’s field along an access path and a scramble through some boulders, we arrived at the base of the rock face.

Robert’s son sport climbed up one of the routes, which involved him clipping carabineers into anchor points bolted to the rocks and climbing to the top.  At the top he fed the rope through a pair of permanently installed rings and then descended on the rope.

Kerri tied in and made her way to the top of the cliff in short order while I belayed her.  (Belaying someone basically means you’re taking up the slack in the rope as they climb using a belaying device so they don’t fall too far if they lose contact with the rock and lowering them when they’ve finished climbing.)

I went next and followed a slightly different route at the bottom that avoided a small oak tree that was growing in a slightly inconvenient location.  Eventually the route I was following converged with the route Kerri followed and I made it to the top.  After posing for a few pictures and admiring the view, Kerri lowered me to the base.

  While we were climbing this route, Robert and his son set up a second rope around the corner.  Kerri and I took turns attacking this route.  It was a different type of route from the first one, with an inside corner and a small stream of water trickling down it that made things slippery in a couple of places.  I brought my camera up with me and took a couple of pictures from the top.

We tried one more route that was more challenging than the first two.  Though none of us made it all the way the top, we were very happy with how far we did get up it.  (The picture at the top of this entry was taken on this route.)

I can’t wait to go again!

I’ll post more pictures in my gallery soon.