Potomac Mountain Club

Now in its 10th year, Goddesses on the Rocks offers rock climbing clinics for women of all ages and abilities—from
beginners (no experience) to advanced climbers. Registration includes climbing instruction, demo equipment, barbeque
dinner, raffle, and side show Saturday evening. This “concentrated” clinic focuses exclusively on climbing exercises.

First, learn how to break a climb into decision points. Second, learn to “notice” your thoughts. Third, practice falling.
Fourth, work on improving fluidity and staying centered. Finally, learn how to prepare and
commit at these decision points.

Last Updated ( Wednesday, 27 August 2008 )

Pequeno Alpamayo, Bolivia

A trip into the Bolivian Andes

by Jennifer Penoso

Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men, for the most part, experience it.

Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.

--- Helen Keller

Early June 2008

The air is very thin and dry in the arid early winter in La Paz, Bolivia (elevation at the airport is 13,313 feet.) I had a head cold and sleep wouldn't come as my sinuses would fill up when I laid down and breathing through my mouth made it drier and drier, no matter how much water I drank. I had a dry hacking cough and my voice was unrecognizable. I could hear my heart beating faster and louder as my body tried to acclimatize to the rarified air.

After my overnight flight - some 9 hours due south of Washington, DC but in the same time zone, I rested in my hotel and then rallied for a city tour on a double decker bus - sitting in the top, with power lines only inches above my head. The streets are bumpy and narrow and the driving is a free-for-all at best. Rarely does a driver stop for red light or yield to pedestrians. Old-style Japanese-made mini vans rush by packed with Bolivians. The tiny streets are lined with vendors - women in traditional Aymada clothing selling food or wares with a baby on their back wrapped up in a colorful shawl. Unfortunately, sewage has poisoned the river running through La Paz and it has been encased in cement to keep the smell at bay. It apparently runs in front of the San Franciscan church in central La Paz, which we passed on our bus.

Last Updated ( Thursday, 07 August 2008 )

80 years for Kirby Lithographic and the PATC by Vincent Penoso

The long awaited revision to the popular climbing area went to print shortly after the Memorial Day weekend and is now complete. Work for the 2nd edition of Carderock: Past and Present, began nearly 3 years ago, when supplies dried up and were no where to be found. Kirby Lithographic has served the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club for nearly 90 years, producing the bulk of all their publications. A quickie reprint was considered, but it was decided to replace the wonderfully drawn images by John Christian and others, with full photographs and route lines.

The Kirby Lithographic story began in 1927, just prior to the Great Depression, when three friends joined resources and efforts to launch a printing firm in downtown Washington, DC. Kirby, at the time a Major, was 2nd in command of the Base Printing Plant in Langres, France. The role of the 29th Engineers was topography. They supplied all the maps for the French, British, and American allies during the 1st world war. They printed upwards of 100 million maps in one years time. Major Kirby served under Gen. 'Black Jack' Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Forces in France. Major Kirby was the head of Department of Printing and Engraving for a period of time.

Last Updated ( Tuesday, 24 June 2008 )