Saturday the 4th found Tom, Laurel, Clare, and Christine at High Rise South at 8:00 to head out. By 8:45 we had the car and were off. God bless the speedy folks at National and me for being slow. We got up to Stover in no time flat where we ran into veteran UPOCer Mark Miller. Later in the day, Dan Albert graced us with his presence.

We set up some top-ropes to start the day. First on an un-named line between Finger in The Dike (5.6) and Practice Climb (5.2) and the second top-rope was on Route 1 (5.4 PG).

At this point, Tom, Laurel and I headed to try out Tango (5.8, PG **). It was my first lead at Stover after getting burned off of Neanderthal on top-rope 2 years ago when I came here. The protection seemed poor and run out. Overall, the rock was greasy and I had a hard time finding placements I was happy with. The crux move, which the Chockstone Press guide book describes "harder if short" is pretty interesting. For me, I was able to stand on the 4 inch shelf, reach up to the 2 giant jugs, and then do a pull-up/mantel/heel hook to get into the left facing overhanging corner system. It's a fun little move.

Watching Tom and Laurel follow me made me realize a couple of things about climbing. Laurel is god-awful scared of heights, and Tom's first climbing experiences with his first partner have given him a healthy respect for heights: his partner was just getting back into climbing after getting hurt on lead so he was really tentative to do anything. I think that Laurel had the hardest time on the climb even though she was on top-rope and had seen both of us climb it already. She really hates traverses and is working to build her faith in trad climbing and outdoors climbing, as her overall goal is eventually to lead on trad. I'm really impressed with her now and that is what I learned.

As Alex Lowe said, "The best climber in the world is the one who's having the most fun." As Tom put it at the belay stance, none of us were having much fun: I didn't have faith in more than 2 of my placements (the one at and after the crux thankfully) and Laurel was freaking out because of the trad, the pendulum swing she took after falling at the crux necessitated by the wandering route. The quote applies to us more in terms of respect for other people and what level they are climbing at. I've realized this in terms of my own climbing and why I do it, but not as much in terms of congratulating new climbers for overcoming their fears. When I started climbing I got a little taste of fear and like it. Now I've got to push myself on crazier and crazier stuff to get that same buzz. For Laurel, that climb was as tough or tougher than what I did. She was visibly shaking when she got to the belay ledge. Yet when the day was done, Mark (not to fault him, just as an example) congratulated me, but not Laurel. So now I've found a new goal: be as psyched for climbers of all ability levels as they pass milestones in their respective careers. Be just as supportive of climbers as they push their limits as I am of someone at or above my difficulty level of climbing, because in the end the difficulty levels break down into two categories: the sheer physical nature of the climb and the mental fortitude required for the climb.

To finish the digression and the TR, we all headed to Taco Loco in New Hope after climbing. They had lots of hot sauces and we ate far too much of them giving us all burning tongues. Next time I head to Ralph Stover, I'm going to try Obnoxious Partner and some of the other climbs further down on that end. The rock looks better and the area is less crowded, that's my kind of stuff.