This past weekend my daughter, Sarah, and I went to Meadows of Dan, VA for our first Blue Ridge Climb-in at Bob Wray's 40 acres of oaks, tulips and rhodies. As a self taught climber, it was my first organized group climb and it was great to meet and learn from so many experienced climbers. Besides our host Bob, others in attendance included Leslie (from VA), Wiley (from the Atlanta area), Sarah (from Indiana), Alex and Janice (both from Buffalo, NY), Greg, Marc, and Jim. We even had a special appearance from Ken Vangorder (aka Cecil Hemp) peddling his home grown ramps and Kno Knonsense Knot book.







Some folks arrived as early as Thursday, but Sarah and I didn't get in until after dark on Friday. By all accounts climbing weather on Friday was perfect, but rain was threatening for the rest of the weekend. Luckily when we woke up on Saturday morning the sky was still blue. Bob took us first timers on a tree tour through the rhododendron maze and Sarah and I decided our first climb would be in a ~90 foot tulip that Bob uses as his training tree. We were spoiled in that almost all of Bob's trees have a tag line or two in them so instead of spending 2/3 of our time throwing and setting lines, we were able to get right into the trees. Here are some pictures of the first climb:







After lunch Wiley was nice enough to demonstrate his yoyo setup and let me give it a try. Later he and I went out in search of a good climbing tree where I could practice a real yoyo ascent and hopefully complete my first tree-to-tree traverse. We found a great oak rising out of the rhodies and Wiley coached me through a fun and successful 25 foot traverse 60 feet above ground. What a great climber and teacher he is. Thanks again, Wiley.







Soon after gathering our gear it started to rain and with the forecast for rain the rest of the weekend we decided to head home instead of dealing with wet sleeping bags.

Thanks Bob for hosting a great event (and for the great food Saturday night)! Sarah and I really enjoyed meeting everyone.



There are a few more pictures at https://picasaweb.google.com/104169991047006250960/April222012

Patrick ( The Mighty Poplar ) is entirely too kind. First, I must say that it was an absolute joy climbing with Patrick. The young man is a natural born tree climber. It must be in the genes because his daughter Sarah has a great talent for climbing too. I hope and trust they will continue with their vertical adventures in the trees. As always, Bob's hospitality was exemplary and the climbing was great. There were lottso new, expanded , wider, clearer paths through the Roadie Jungle and tag lines in dozens of trees. The Pink Lady Slippers were hidden in their special little glen and the native azalea was blooming just across from the pavilion,. As always, Ground Pine (Lycopodium Obscurum) unobtrusively carpeted entire sections of the forest floor. The weather was most fair for the first few days, just cool enough to make for pleasant climbing, yet warm enough not to require heavy clothes. I got to climb four trees on Friday and four more on Saturday before making an early departure Saturday evening (That darned old "Honey Do" list was calling.) During my visit I had the pleasure of several solo climbs plus climbing in The Sentinel (a friendly poplar) with Jim from Williamsburg and later with Leslie in a lovely oak. The lady claims to be a newbie, but she taught me a few new techniques about eye-2-eye split tails and I am grateful. Thank you Leslie for your kind instruction. (J-BIRD, you need to PM Leslie and arrange a few climbs. It seems she lives not terribly far from you and could use an occasional mentor.) All in all it was a wonderful time and it was a constant pleasure meeting new and old friends at Bob's little bit of paradise. Try it sometime. You'll like it.
Wiley Coyote

Yes indeedy - Bob once again outdid himself for the spring climb-in! I was amazed at how much work he had accomplished since last fall's climb-in. New trees cleared for climbing with convenient tag lines (great for those of us who tend to be throwing challenged ), new paths through the rhody labyrinth (where I always get lost at least once), and even some new camp sites cleared. Thank you Bob!!! and . . . as usual, my favorite - the ziti - was great!

I sooooo enjoy meeting and climbing with other vertical hiking enthusiasts and it's wonderful to be able to put faces to names that I see on this board. I think I got in 3 climbs on Friday and 3 on Saturday. Would have been more, but I spent quite a while hiking on Sat. as I was hopelessly lost in the maze Wiley - it was a real joy to climb with you. You are such an accomplished climber (I really doubt I was able to teach you anything, but it is very gracious of you to say so ), I know I picked up some tips from you though. Hope we get to do it again! I climbed with Jim from Williamsburg on Sat. Another terrific climb into a fun poplar with enough time to just hang out and enjoy the slight breeze and view of the rhodies below. Jim also shared some tips which were greatly appreciated and we had lots of pleasant conversation high above the rest of the world. Jim - I hope we can meet up sometime for a climb when you come this way to visit your son! I wish I'd been able to climb with everyone - I always learn so much from others. Patrick - gotta say - Sarah is a delightful young lady - I hope I get to climb with you guys in the fall. Thanks for posting the pics, I only took a couple of pictures and they didn't turn out that well - maybe next time.

I was thrilled to try out the rope wrench (provided by Bob) before I bought one - I won't be buying one - I thought it might work for me as a minimalist SRT system, but it wasn't what I thought. Thanks for saving me a bunch of money Bob!

Well, that's the end of my report - I'm with Wiley, everyone should come to Bob's climb-ins for a swell time.

-Leslie

Looks like a great event despite rain, that's April for you. Thanks for the report!
-AJ