Monday, September 16, 2013

Donner Summit (again!), 37 Weeks Pregnant - September 14, 2013

We had so much fun at Donner Summit last weekend that we just had to go back again this weekend.  Plus, I just received a package of goodies from Mountain Mama and a couple pairs of shoes from Mad Rock, and was stoked to give everything a test drive!

For a casual day trip, we actually got a lot of good climbing in.  We did some fun warm-ups, three awesome 5.11s (two crack and one sport), and Andrew and Walker got to finish out the day on some challenging 5.12s. The 5.11s were challenging enough for me, so I opted out of trying that portion of the day... honestly, it took everything I had to make it up the 11s! (I was pretty happy that I [toprope] onsighted the 11b sport route though!)

The new threads from Mountain Mama were incredibly comfortable for climbing in, and were perfect for layering on the slightly chilly climbing day that we had.  I wore my new Leah Yoga Pants and Anya Performance Tee, which both have great fit and movement and are extremely comfortable (which is especially awesome, because as a pregnant lady it's almost impossible to find any clothing that fits this description!).

I really love the shoes I received from Mad Rock as well.  I got the Banshee, which is an all-day type shoe specifically designed for women, and the Concept 2.0, which is a more aggressive sport/bouldering shoe.  I used the Banshee for the warmups and was pleasantly surprised to find that they were exactly what I had hoped for.  They were comfortable and performed well, which is precisely what I want out of an all-day shoe. After the warm-ups, I put the Concepts on and was totally blown away!  These shoes have amazing edging abilities that made me feel confident on the smallest of holds, and they fit my feet like a glove.  I actually kind of feel like a ninja when I wear them.  

Here are some photos from the day.  Evidently nobody took pictures of anyone but me...



...except for this really cute one of Ainsley and Anne





Monday, September 9, 2013

Donner Summit, 36 Weeks Pregnant - September 7, 2013

This weekend there was a BASE jumping event at the Auburn bridge that Andrew and a bunch of our friends were involved in.  It was an awesome event that lasted all morning (hopefully it will become an annual thing!), but we soon found ourselves with an afternoon of free time to kill just an hour outside of Tahoe.  What better thing to do in a situation like that than to go climbing? So Andrew, a couple of the other BASE ladies and I piled in our car and headed to Donner Summit for a quick climbing session.

Here are some pics from the day:

Auburn





Donner Summit
Laure working out some crux moves at the beginning of the route

Ainsley practicing her chimneying

Anne rocking it, as always

Our valiant rope gun and belayer

Having fun but feeling huge!