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Women's climbing and wine day at Sugarloaf Mountain was a great success! Despite the very windy conditions, we had over 25 women show up. The geographical layout of the Sugarloaf mountain and cliffs actually protected us from the strong winds until we topped out at the end of the day to breakdown. :-)
Some women met us at Sugarloaf but most of us rallied at the Shady Grove metro station a
nd carpooled to Sugarloaf (taking advantage of free metro weekend parking and the proximity to 270). In retrospect, we probably should have made the Rockville station our rally point since the Shady Grove parking lot sprawls endlessly over the span of several lots with confusing signs. But with the help of cell phones, a willing PMC chairman who walked around to find everyone before heading away for the day to let the ladies climb (Thanks Court!!), and a climber headcount list that Jeanette Helfrich had created beforehand, we were all able to find each other and didn't leave anyone behind. (All, Jeanette created a very useful google document chart for planning purposes where we had the climber's name/email/cell phone/car availability/where meeting, etc - something very useful to consider for your own climbing adventures!)
A pleasant surprise we encountered was having the entire Middle Earth section of Sugarloaf to ourselves. Many thanks to Naz for guiding us to all the climbs and overseeing the layout of the 10 or so ropes we had set up. We had a wide range of skill levels, from beginner to experienced and everything in between, including one gal who did her first outdoor climb after learning to climb in the gym! It was awesome seeing all the ladies being very supportive of each other and just having a good time enjoying good company! It was even more awesome to see many new faces coming out to try their first club event.
The good times continued after breakdown of the climbs when we all headed to the Sugarloaf winery before they closed for the day. Some went for the wine tasting but most of us decided to create our own personalized wine tasting tables with an assortment of wine bottles and cheese trays! Good times!!
Ladies - Thanks to all of you who showed up to make this day so fun! I hope to see you all out locally on Carderock on Wednesdays after work (except the second Wednesday when it's moved to Tuesday due to club meeting). Keep
an eye on the listserve to see what people are up to. Please don't hesitate to join us on our trips! All of you are such good climbers - I would hate to see that climbing talent go to waste :-) Don't forget to come share your love of climbing with your families on our Family Day event June 5 (rain date June 6).
I have uploaded pictures from my camera to the link below. The same album is also on the Potomac Mountain Club facebook page. If you have pictures you would like to share, feel free to upload them to the PMC facebook page as well. Tag yourselves! ;)
Women's climbing day pictures on Picasa
See you all out there on the cliffs somewhere! :-)
-Christina Cox
Hi Chistina and Women's Climb and Wine participants - Thank you,
Christina, for organizing this fun event and to all the great women
who participated! The 25 of us climbed a lot and well. Not only that,
we were very efficient in breaking down quickly to get to the Sugarloaf
Winery for the craft show, music, food and wine tasting. May next time
at Seneca or the Gunks. Also you can join us any Wednesday evening at
Carderock or on other club trips. Below is a link to photos on my
Picasa site (which also includes 7 photos of Leader Skills Day last
week). Let's celebrate Women's Climb and Wine day on April 17 at Sugarloaf Mountain. Cheers, Jeanette
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