This is Rose (from Springfield, IL!) climbing the '100 times slab', meaning that one can rarely make it to the top without trying at least 100 times. Surprisingly, she made it in about 8. Gravity doesn't act on her like it does others...
The 'Wriggler', as we named it. Fun party game.
Well, Blogger is being a pain in the ass and not letting me upload all the photos I want, but these two almost sum up my weekend - minus the pictures of me... and since it's all about me, I'll keep trying to post them.
This weekend was the annual Cass Trip for the university climbing club, which entails climbing rocks and staying at the university field station located near Castle Hill. Either I don't have a whole lot to say about it, or I'm not at all driven to write about it because I have a buttload of schoolwork clouding my motivation, ("School work? Tommy does school work?" Yes. Maybe I'll humor you and write about it sometime) or the weekend could be summed up as; driving to castle hill, climbing, driving to the field station, eating, drinking, climbing (tables, structural supports... chairs...), sleeping, eating, driving climbing, driving.
I should, I suppose, clear up my title a bit.
CASTLE HILL
I've mentioned this place multiple times in previous blogs, but basically it is a formation of limestone boulders. I'd tell you too look it up on Wikipedia, but the article is really lacking... When I have an hour I'm going to do my part in this innovative www phenomenon and put something worth reading in there. Such as:
THE SPIRITUAL CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE
There is a ring of stones in the middle of the Castle Hill formations marking the location of "The Spiritual Center of the Universe", as termed by some Tibetan Buddhist chump named Dalai Lama. There were a bunch of hippie freaks chanting and seeking 'inner peace' or trying to 'break through to the other side' or whatever other rubbish they were doing. Regardless of their motives, they were humiliating themselves, as they put on a free show communicating to nothing but the surrounding boulders and the steady on-look of giggling climbers.
NEW PARTY TRICKS
You can see in the bottom picture a climber who had both big intentions and a bigger pelvis. This is a box built specifically for maneuvering through it in many different ways, ranging from easy to difficult. Quite a unique idea and design, with one flaw: when you're stuck, you're stuck. This poor guy was in there for over a half hour sweating, stressing, straining, shouting, squeezing... a whole bunch of "S's". He had at least 20 people watching him at any given time, with about half of them laughing. Maybe it was just me... I'm an ass, plus, what was he gonna do about it? He was a good sport about the whole thing, it took another 10 minutes trying to figure out how to tip the whole contraption in a way that the guy could wriggle out. He eventually made it, and was soon after climbing around tables (another fun party climbing trick) trying not to touch the floor. I found comfort on the sidelines.
That concludes another amazing weekend in the land of hobbits. Nothing too extreme, no injuries, no big surprises, not hot chicks, just GOOD ol' fashioned fun, in BETTER weather in the BEST place in the world.
Next Weekend: Kaikora
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