Last outside adventure

Today was our last outside rock climbing trip. We went back to a place that we have been before but I forgot the name of it. It was beautiful. Although I will agree that it is slowly getting almost too cold to climb outside. We drove about an hour through towns, woods and highways until we reached our destination. We parked our van at the bottom of the hill and started hiking higher up. The sun came out and at least warmed up the earth and rock at least a little so we would feel a bit more comfortable.

As always I paid specific attention to the leaves, to its texture and color. I never paid attention to the form of the leaves and although I know that some type of trees lose their leaves earlier or later than others, I never acknowledged the difference lying underneath my feet. This time I did. I saw the trees that still had some of their leaves and trees that were entirely bold and then looked at the ground to see the difference between the leaves on the ground and the ones still on the trees. 

I have been acknowledging the leaves lying on the ground for a pretty long time now and after a few weeks I can slowly see the effects of the decaying process on the leaves. Last week, when we were walking up to Rose Ledge, the leaves were very loud and crispy; today the leaves have become much quieter. They felt softer and I could in fact see them decaying on the ground. It was interesting because they actually started to rot. 

The climbs today were very balanced, we had two easier and two a bit more difficult ones. I made it up for the first time to all four of them so I think it was a nice way to end the season. Although the rock/gneiss was very cold, I felt like I got used to its cold and every time I had moved up the rock to a certain point, my fingers started getting warm on their own, as if they knew they had to make up for the coldness around them on their own. 

We stayed until it started getting dark and it was the first time I have heard the forest around us so loud. I have never paid attention to the noise around me but this time it was hard to ignore. On one end, I could hear something like an owl and on the other side dogs barking. Does that mean that the forest becomes alive at night? It made me feel differently, I definitely became more respectful towards the forest. Coming out of the woods, I suddenly realized how light it is compared to inside the woods. Even though all leaves are gone, the trees still prevent a lot of light from coming in, creating huge contrast in light inside the forest compared to outside the forest. Coming out of the forest, I really felt a little released. It was nice to be in there but it was also nice coming out. 

Rose Ledge Again!

Last Friday, we went back to Rose Ledge to climb. This time, instead of our regular instructor Clementia, we were joined by Bob. As last week, it took us 45 minutes to get to Rose Ledge. And we also had a 30-40 minute hike.

Walking up to the rock we would climb on, I again noticed all the leaves. Although, there were still many on the ground, it seemed to me that the leaves were getting less. It is only a week ago that I have been here last time but I think something has changed already. The forest still looks pretty green because of the trees that don't lose their leaves for the winter, but as a whole the environment looked like it is getting prepared for the cold. I might be projecting my feelings of coldness into the forest and the forest doesn't really care that much about the cold and it really doesn't look any different.

 As long as the sun was out, the temperature was comfortable. Only the coldness of the rock (gneiss) revealed the real coldness of current times. After we sat up some climbs, we started climbing. This time, we had a few difficult climbs and a few easy ones, a nice balance. Something was different this time. I think because the air was fresher and the gneiss was colder, I was a bit more aware of my surrounding. It was more difficult to ignore. Every time I touched the gneiss, it was very clearly letting me know that it's there. When I got into trouble during my climb up, I as always pushed my entire body against the rock and I was never before as much aware of the clear and strong presence of the rock. Even if I would want to ignore it, I could not have, it simply forced itself into my senses without warning, preparing or alerting me. I liked that because sometimes unless I am forced to notice something I won't because I am too occupied with myself.

The second the sun started going down, the temperature dropped to an estimated 0 degrees Celsius. From now on, the rock not only made itself be noticed by us but it almost seemed like it was trying to kick us out. The rocks wanted us to leave. Since I am a type of person that believes everything has meaning I like to think of this reaction as a way to teach us not to be out too late. We could stay out there all night, if it would not get dark and cold but because it does, we leave and I think that's only to our own benefit. So we left.  

Rose Ledge

Rose Ledge was about 40 minutes from Hampshire College. This time, we had to park pretty far from where we were going to climb which gave us some time to become used to the nature around us.

While walking, I as always noticed the leaves on the ground first. By now the leaves have become dry, brownish/dark and crispy. Even if I would have not wanted to notice the leaves, the noise of the leaves when I step on the them forces itself into my ears and therefore not giving me a choice but to notice. The noise at some parts of the path was so dominating that all I could hear were the leaves.

In the area that we were at, all the leaves had fallen off. Most of the trees were bold now, because of which I could really notice all the different forms and branches of the trees. When the trees still have their leaves the dominating factor on the trees are the vibrant colored leaves and the tree itself and its branches often go unnoticed.  The late fall/early winter is the time when trees are having their solos. It's only the tree, without any distractions, all attention is solely on the tree.
 
For me, this is when the trees look most alive. All the branches are pointing in all possible directions, towards the sky, towards the ground, towards me as if they are trying to reach out and grab something. The trees without leaves also reflect different shapes on the ground than they would if they had leaves. The shapes are much finer, reaching into each other but never covering one another entirely. Another big difference to leave-less trees as opposed to trees that have leaves is that they allow more sun to enter the forest. Although there was not a lot of sun, the sun that was there made it all the way through to us.

When we finally arrived at the rock, I was happy to see some gneiss again. Last week we climbed on conglomerate which I like but I prefer gneiss after all. When we started climbing I realized how cold the rock is. It was pretty cold outside but the rock was definitely a lot colder. And since gneiss as opposed to conglomerate often doesn't have little holes and niches that I can grab onto, I again had to hug the gneiss in order not to fall. Because I was hugging the gneiss I was so close to it that I could really feel its cold. However, the farther I got up, the hotter my body was getting and  the better I could prevent the cold from effecting me.

We are back, nature!

After two long weeks without being able to go outside because of the weather, we got lucky again this week and indulged in another rock climbing adventure. Not only did it not rain but the sun came out to greet us as well. All day was a bit cloudy but the second we made it to our climbing destination, the sun came appeared out of nowhere. That's what I call "good timing."

The drive this time was not too long. There was not enough time to entirely zone out but I was able to dream around for a bit. Because we had a huge van we didn't make it too far up the mountain and had to walk the rest. The walk was awesome because it made me notice all the leaves on the ground. Leaves on the ground have been around for a while now but it's fascinating how much they have changed since I first saw them. Not only do the colors of the leaves on the trees change but so do the leaves on the ground. In addition, it's not only the color that changes, it's the texture of the leaves as well.

Last time when I paid close attention to the leaves on the ground, most of them were yellow, some were red, even fewer were green and brown. Yesterday hiking up the mountain, 99% of the leaves were simply brown; one color. All the leaves on the ground, this time were kind of crispy as opposed to really soft as last time. Every time I stepped on them, it sounded like I am stepping on potato chips spread all around the ground. It was surprisingly loud stepping on those leaves; the noise was almost interfering with our conversations.
 
When we finally got all the way to the mountain, I started to look around the area and I realized that not too much had changed. Looking up on the trees, I saw the same variety of colors. The trees still had yellow, red, green and brown leaves. The only thing that changed was the amount of leaves on the trees. The trees are not as over-packed with leaves anymore. Now, it seems like I can see and acknowledge every single leaf without having difficulty separating them from all the other leaves. Because there were not as many leaves on the trees, the sun was much better able to shine through the trees, re-energizing us for our next climb. The leaves as well gave us a somewhat benefit to our climbing process because they made the floor much softer so that psychologically climbing up the wall felt much safer. In case we would fall, the ground would catch us softly.

The last difference to all the other times we have climbed before is the fact that we climbed for the first time at a conglomerate rock instead of gneiss. For me, that made a huge difference. It's like I was introduced to somebody new, a new friend that I from now on had to trust. Conglomerate by definition is made up of all other rocks so we didn't lose gneiss entirely. However, the climbing was a different. The conglomerate had many more holes in the wall, created by little rocks that had fallen out of the wall at some point in time. Some of those holes were big enough to be helpful for our climbing process but others were just irritating because I would stick my finger in and try to pull myself up. Most times those little holes weren't enough, they just hurt my fingers and especially made the muscles in my fingers sore.

As a whole, this trip was packed with lots of new environmental adventures so it was definitely worth going. I just hope that we will have a couple more of those climbs outside before it gets too cold.

Remembering good times!

Is that it? No more good weather this year. I am dramatizing this because I am sure there will be good weather but probably there will not be a perfect climbing day anymore as it was during our first three climbing adventure field trips.

Three weeks ago we didn't have class because Hampshire College had advising day, last week it had rained so it was too wet outside to climb and this week it was pouring rain; result: no nice outdoor climbing for the past three weeks. However, looking at the brighter side of things I can acknowledge the fact that we had time for other important things. For example, last week we practiced how to set up climbs on our own. I had no idea how to set up a climb all by myself and I am not sure if I would be able to do it today but at least I have now a better understanding about how to do it. This week we had some time for team bonding. We first went to Yankee Candle Village, relaxed, had some fun and learned each others names. I hope from now on people will know that I am Olivia, and not Sophie

For next week, we are hoping for good weather so we can get some nice climbs under our belt before it starts getting freezing cold. Keep our fingers crossed! And I hope then I will be able to talk a bit more about nature.

Third Rock Climbing Trip

Like two weeks ago, our ride was about 45 minutes through landscapes, forests, and little towns. Towards the end of the trip, the towns got less and nature started to be much more prominent. Due to the time of the year, I was excited about all the colors I saw outside the window. They changed from green to yellow, from yellow to orange and from orange to red.When we arrived at our destination we left our van behind and hiked up to the actual rock we would climb on. This time, the hike was not as demanding nor very long as opposed to our last trip. We only hiked for about 15-20 minutes and it was not as steep as last time. I am sure the fact that I wasn't carrying a heavy rope this time made a difference. Friday was the first sunny day after a series of days with heavy rain so the ground was pretty soft and a bit muddy at some places. When we entered the forest it was hard not to notice the strong smell of leaves, trees, moss and soil after they had been absorbing the rainwater for the last couple of days. It smelled refreshing and alive.

The wall we climbed was similar in size of the one we climbed last week. It was maybe a bit higher but the degree of difficult was probably the same. It had a few solid cracks and niches that enabled me to make it up the wall. The only difference was that the rock was wet. The rock wasn't entirely wet, only at the spots where the sun couldn't reach the rock; nevertheless, the wetness made the climb more difficult.

What I liked most about this site was the huge crack between the two walls that we could climb inside. It definitely made the climb more difficult in some ways because I was sandwiched between two walls and as a result had not too much room to move. At the same time, the two walls gave me more support by being able to press my back towards one wall and my feed towards the other wall and just hang in there. Fun Trip!

Second Time Closer to Nature

We were lucky with the weather again. Especially since there was a storm on Tuesday I thought the bad weather would hold on until the weekend.

We took our van and drove for 45 minutes until we finally arrived at our destination. We passed a couple of little towns on our way and besides those there was nothing but green. We were driving through woods, fields and a lot of grass. When we got very close to our destination, I remember going through a huge gate consisting of green things (trees, bushes etc). Because we went through this gate-like-figure on our way there, it felt to me as if we entered a different world. We also passed a small, narrow bridge which was another indication that this part of the world is separated from the rest of the world. Lastly, we rolled over some tracks bringing us back to civilization for a second but once we passed that we left it behind and were able tot indulge entirely into nature.

We parked our van on the bottom of the hill and hiked up for another 30 minutes until we found the gneiss that we were planning to climb on. On the hike up there, I passed tons and tons of leaves, a lot of moss and a gazillion branches lying all over the ground. Every time I took another step I felt like I am breaking something. There was always a little noise of "cracking" reminding me of the things beneath all the leaves and moss. The ground was soft and comfortable, the noise of nature was comforting and reassuring. We are not alone, the sun makes it through the trees once in awhile and shines us the way to where we want to go.

I felt as if we were becoming closer and closer to nature. But we were not equals. In some way, I think, we are using nature, taking advantage of it for our own benefit. We use it to flee from the modern world into a more comforting and remote world. It's not like we are always part of it, closer to it. Only when we get tired of the rest of the world, we come to nature and beg for refuge.

Compared to last week, our climbs were much shorter and a bit more difficult. I personally felt more comfortable this time because I knew what to expect and I also learned how to trust. I know now how to trust myself, my legs, the rock, the rope and the person belaying me. It's all fine if I fall, somebody will catch me at some point, I only have to trust, just as in real life. 

Chapel Ledge

This trip was a pretty good trip. I have never ever climbed outside in nature. Last week we climbed inside and I have also climbed once when I was really young in an indoor gym but an indoor gym is nothing compared to being outside.

It was awesome. I think I am a little scared of heights but I am not sure if that's an actual fear. Maybe, the scariness I have experienced is normal and simply a general discomfort that people experience when they are this far up a hill. The first time I got up there and looked down, my legs and hands started shaking. I don't know how much they where shaking out of exhaustion and how much they were shacking out of fear/discomfort; I think it was a mixture of both. But once I got all the way to the top, it just felt good, relieving, I felt proud, free and totally amazed of those feelings.

What I have learned today is probably the most valuable thing I have learned this far, I think I have learned a tiny bit how to climb and that's a good feeling.