Robin Close > Forum Messages

Jul 24, 2016 When I crossed the border, their biggest concern seemed to be whether I had guns (this was right after a mass shooting), and wanted to make sure that I wasn't stashing any in m… View Message

Feb 3, 2016 Unfortunately the closest bouldering to Emmitsburg in Catoctin is closed to climbers at the moment, but just south of there are several small areas. If you go here ( cliffclou… View Message

Jan 21, 2016 The snow coming in may cause an issue, but there's plenty of decent bouldering around that area that people hit straight through the winter. If you're on Facebook, you should… View Message

Feb 16, 2015 As already mentioned, most of the local routes are short toprope/trad, but there's some longer stuff (and short bolted lines) at Harpers Ferry about an hour from the city. Roc… View Message

Dec 27, 2013 Haven't been out to see the new gym yet, but climbed a couple days ago with a Golden friend who was back in MD for the week, and it seemed like her observations were pretty con… View Message

Nov 19, 2013 Not to drag up the "sandbagged vs. soft" debate again, but as an Earth Treks member in MD I've found that my onsight level has consistently been about two grades higher in CO g… View Message

Mar 16, 2013 For the question about 5.13 trad, my answer would be not yet. There might be potential out at Maryland Heights, where a couple of my friends have put up several lines up to th… View Message

Mar 16, 2013 Okay, I know I already posted here once (and had a separate conversation with the original poster), but I'm still amazed at how strongly people believe that there's no good cli… View Message

Mar 13, 2013 Speaking for the bouldering, we don't have any huge concentrations in the V8-V12 range in MD, but enough individual problems to keep most people occupied for a while. Still a… View Message

Jan 17, 2013 Guess we all have things that inspire us and things that don't speak to us at all. Just like some of us are motivated by grades, others by FAs, or others by just spending good… View Message

Dec 13, 2012 Can't speak for how often others use gym cracks, but I always find them to be the most memorable part of a gym, and the ones at the ET gyms in Maryland are by far the best I've… View Message

Dec 7, 2012 Agreed that the prices are more reflective of DC area cost than elitism. Not that there aren't elitist climbers at some of the ET gyms, but no more than any other gym I've bee… View Message

Apr 27, 2012 In general I'm all about local climbing, but would also agree that some of our semi-local spots are too good to pass up. I found that to be the case recently with the boulderi… View Message

Apr 27, 2012 Here's a photo of the bottom portion, with the crack coming out of a couple of small overhangs. The crack itself is pretty short, I wouldn't think more than 20 feet, bu… View Message

Apr 26, 2012 I think most people would agree that Blue Rose at Ilchester is a MD classic. Most of my favorite climbs not already listed haven't seen enough traffic to really achieve classi… View Message

May 11, 2011 I guess my question is what is the reason for bolting a single pitch climb? Is it just because of the feeling that a climb "doesn't count" unless done on lead? I only ask b… View Message

Jan 27, 2011 Do it! My wife and I were there for a couple days this summer, and I would recommend it to anyone. Not only is it now my favorite bouldering area, but I'd put it over any tra… View Message

Dec 10, 2010 Although I haven't tried the BD biner yet, I've been using the DMM one for about a year and love it. Took a few sessions for the motions of clipping in with it to become autom… View Message