A Family Adventure


in the mountains, ocean, and air

Rock Climbing

Russell Forest rock climbing

September 14, 2024
Emilie Phillips

Saturday we joined Sarah, Mike, and family for an afternoon of rock climbing. The point was time with friends, not hard climbing, so we picked a small out of the way crag — Schist Creek in Russell Forest. The climbs were short, but not quite short enough to use one rope on two climbs. Sarah […]

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First time at Russell Crag

May 21, 2022
Emilie Phillips

Isaac and I went rock climbing this weekend with the Sallade family. They live up north in the White Mountains and are active in the climbing community. Sarah took us to Russell Crag, a newly developed set of cliffs on Tripoli Road. The fact that it is newly developed gave me some pause. On the […]

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Morning at Echo Crag

July 11, 2021
Emilie Phillips

Isaac and I got together with Sarah, Mike, and their kids for a morning of climbing at Echo Crag in Franconia Notch. I have barely averaged one climbing trip a year for the last many years, so I set my expectations low. Echo Crag has lots of easy climbs (and lots of hard climbs), so […]

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Rocky Ridge Rock Climbing

July 3, 2020
Emilie Phillips

I have been burning the candle at both ends this week, so you get a brief write up from climbing in WV a few weeks ago. Worse yet, I had this post all written except for the photos, and then I pressed “back” in my browser and lost it. Isaac was keen to go rock […]

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Climbing Marlow

June 21, 2020
Emilie Phillips

We went rock climbing this past weekend. We picked Marlow. It is close. It usually doesn’t have many people. And it doesn’t have as many mosquitoes or black flies as Pawtuckaway. It was still hot, though. No avoiding that. One other group of 3 climbers showed up while we were there. We easily stayed out […]

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Rocky Ridge Rock Scrambling

June 16, 2020
Emilie Phillips

We are down visiting my parents in the mountains of West Virginia. It’s nice being home, even if it rained most of the week. But I suppose that’s how you get vibrant green but treacherous sphagnum bogs, carnivorous sundews, and meadows full of lavish ferns, laurel, and azaleas. We picked a loop to the northern […]

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Almost Seneca

August 26, 2018
Emilie Phillips

We took Isaac to the “Little Rocks”, a small cliff above Canaan Valley, West Virginia. It would be generous to say the cliff is thirty feet tall. The face is streaked with horizontal cracks. Great for beginners. My parents, Tyson, and I were here to train for a multi-pitch climb on Seneca Rocks. The Climb […]

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Caves on Monadnock

August 19, 2018
Emilie Phillips

“Is that the top?” Isaac asked looking up through the trees. “No, just a ridge,” I repeated. Shortly, our trail tee-d into the Cliff Walk trail. Tyson stopped there for a bio break. “Isaac, want to climb this rock while we wait?” The bottom of the rock had many fissures and steps making it easy […]

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We used to rock climb a lot before Tyson hurt his knees in 2009. Since then we have only done a few trips each year, with Isaac and I doing most of the climbing.

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