Contours

Taken in Peterskill, New York

This picture is available for sale: 8″ x 10″ B&W Print, $50.00

September 6, 2005, 11 am: Peterskill, New York Cool morning breeze in the shade of leafy trees, wind rustling branches. A patchwork of sunlight has turned everything into camoflouge. Sitting atop a large rock, I munch merrily on a granola bar, then look over and scratch the ears of Roxy. She wags her tail happily. 35 feet above, Craig and Theresa are hovering on a rocky perch. Outdoor rock climbing, in this case toproping, involves setting up anchors to attach your rope to. Unlike the movies, you don’t hammer spikes into the rock – instead you wedge metal shapes and cams into rocky cracks, and clip your rope into their attached carribeaners. If everything is working as designed, and you should happen to fall while climbing, you’ll feel the abrupt jerk of the rope taking your weight, you’ll dangle aimlessly for a moment, dust yourself off, and get back on course. If not, you and the ground will become acquainted with each other quickly and intimately. Since uncontrolled, rapid descents to the ground are not desirable, it’s a good thing to take extra time when setting up your (literal) lifeline; hence toproping is 45 minutes of preparation for a 5 minute climb. Also, getting to the top before a rope is anchored involves taking the scenic, non-vertical route (hiking the long way around). This did give me plenty of time to point my camera, though, and, from my somewhat mossy rock seat I zoomed in and snapped Theresa as she was trying to free a stuck anchor.