Bouldering and climbing

Over the past couple of days, I have climbed twice and bouldered once. My first climbing attempt was made in Rocks State Park which about an hour's drive north of Baltimore. Jason, Dave, Emily and I arrived at the climbing site mid-afternoon which allowed each of us to get in at least one climb. There was a bit of excitement on the way to the area as Dave's water bottle went ajar and formed a leak in the bottom but was still usable. Before we could start climbing Jason climbed up to adjust the location of the top rope. (p1, p2, p3) Once the rope was in place, Emily was the first to climb. Jason gave the climb a 5.6 rating. Dave was the next to climb. As the sun was starting to set, I attempted to climb the rock face but got stuck at an outcrop which I couldn't climb over. The rock face will have to wait until next time.

On Tuesday night we went over to EarthTreks and I completed my first bouldering problem which was the "intro" problem. I tried a slightly more advanced "red" problem and nearly finished it. But since I failed to touch the final mount with both hands the climb was invalid. I spent the remainder of my bouldering working on the beginner problem trying to pause between each stage. Later in the evening, I top-rope climbed four/five problems that got successively more challenging. Having readily available chalk and my new climbing shoes were a great help in climbing a couple of 5.4 and 5.5s (I think).