By Francisco Tharp, on March 25th, 2010 Adam, grinning up Grins, 5.8, on the Happy Hour Crag.
Once upon a spring on Colorado’s Front Range, it was warm and sunny, then snowy and cold, then warm and sunny again. And while it was warm and sunny, the climbing bug bit me. Hard. So I put on my T-shirt and shorts, packed a bag, and went climbing in Boulder Canyon for the first time. I had heard plenty about the historically rich climbing area west of The People’s Republic, and I must say it lived up to its reputation: fast, easy access; quality rock; a lifetime of short-but-sweet trad and sport routes alike; and big time weekend crowds.
On Friday my friend Adam and I climbed on the Happy Hour Wall. We warmed up on a couple 5.7s on the climber’s left side of the wall: Are We Not Men and Are We Not Robots. Both were exceptional for their grade, and featured an exposed, juggy mini-roof to pull over. Gear was thin but possible on top, but would feel pretty darn run out for a beginning leader. A fall on the roof would be bad news as your last pro is at our feet above [Read More]
By Jennifer Pharr Davis, on January 17th, 2010 All Women's Hike
This fall I gave an all-women’s backpacking workshop at a small liberal college outside of Asheville. Several of the flyers promoting the event were graffitied before my arrival with indelicate comments suggesting the sexist nature of an all women’s event. Thankfully, the workshop went off without riot, I loved my time spent with the young women on campus, and I collected the profanely decorated posters as souvenirs.
I have always believed that all women’s backpacking outings and workshops are often beneficial in a way that coed gatherings are not. The fact is that women’s time in the woods is often very different than that of men. Women have to deal with the fact that we are outnumbered by men in the outdoors, which comes with specific social challenges. We also have different body shapes, separate gear needs, and we have gender specific issues that men frankly don’t empathize with, let alone want to talk about in co-ed clinics.
Triple Falls
This past weekend I led an all-women’s day-hike at Dupont State Forest. Together, a small group of girls spent four hours skidding over snow and ice, spending time at the base of four [Read More]
By Jennifer Pharr Davis, on January 11th, 2010 Girlie Push-ups
My husband and I do not belong to a gym. I think gyms are great, but as principle, we try to exercise outdoors as much as possible and save all our extra pennies for hiking excursions, thus gyms currently do not make the cut.
Most of the year, I am fine not belonging to a health club, but during the cold months of winter there are days when I am simply too much of a ninny to exercise outdoors. For example this past week was the coldest week in Asheville since 1970, every time I ventured outside I came back indoors without sensation in my fingers, toes, or nose. For eight straight days we had negative wind chills and during that time I only once braved the cold for a 9-mile run, all the other days I exercised in our home gym. Now some people really do have a home gym, but we just have a carpet. That said, I have enjoyed some of my best workouts on that carpet.
So for those of you who are unable or unwilling to venture outside in the cold, dark, winter months, here are some of my favorite indoor [Read More]
By Jennifer Pharr Davis, on January 5th, 2010 I usually don’t set new goals for the New Year. Don’t get me wrong, I am all about goals but usually I set them throughout the year instead of when I am drinking champagne with friends. This year, however, my husband was sicker than I had ever seen him and the wind chill outside was below 10F, so we did not celebrate New Year’s Eve, we did not even go out on New Year’s Eve. Instead, I stayed at home and wrote down my goals for 2010.
I thought about goals such as meditating more, trying to make the house more eco-friendly, being a better friend and family member, but those still need to take some more shape up in my head before they make it to paper. So, in the end, the goals I wrote down all revolved around hiking. Several of my hiking goals have been up in my head for quite a while, but there is something about writing it down and posting it where I can see it that encourages me and holds me accountable at the same time. And putting it on my blog? Well, that’s like double the accountability and it gives me something [Read More]
By Jennifer Pharr Davis, on December 1st, 2009 Our Thanksgiving Table
I LOVE Thanksgiving. It is one of my favorite holidays. Oddly enough, I don’t like Christmas, but I am sure we will deal with that issue in another few weeks. But, Thanksgiving… ahh, yes, how could you not like a day dedicated to food family, food, and football?
The problem is, every year when Thanksgiving comes around I get stressed out. This year the holiday was celebrated at my house and that didn’t help. I spent all Wednesday cleaning and running errands to make sure we had all the essentials. I went to bed late and then by Thursday mid-morning, I had my two parents, my two brothers, their wives and an added dog or two roaming our small house.
Turkey Trot Trail
Luckily, right before everyone arrived, my husband and I stole away to a nearby trail for a quick 5-mile, two-person, Turkey Trot.
Thanksgiving morning, all across the country, Turkey Trots encourage people to get out and start the day with a run or walk. Or if you’d rather, you can start your morning by performing the original Turkey Trot, a popular dance in the 1920’s.
I think Turkey Trots should [Read More]
By Jennifer Pharr Davis, on November 17th, 2009 Okay, if you’ve been following my blog then we need to back up before the PCT. Consider this a flashback amid the other flashbacks. While I was on the Appalachian Trail in 2005 I realized how important family was. And in the January 2006 I had the opportunity to spend some quality time with family – on Mount Kilimanjaro.
There she is…
I wasn’t necessarily a prime candidate for climbing Kilimanjaro. I had never been mountaineering, I didn’t like being cold, and I was poor. But two very important family factors made it possible for me to go to Africa. First of all my cousin Wende married someone famous, at least I think he is famous. He is a mountain climber and photographer and an overall phenomenal person. His name is Jake Norton and he and my wonderful cousin live in Colorado (that is a state shout-out for all you local mountain shoppers). Jake has been up on Everest a couple times and he was even part of the expedition that found Mallory’s body.
So yes, Jake was 50% of the equation. I tried to make a mental note not to go mountaineering when I saw several of [Read More]
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