Mount Magazine, Arkansas
Mount Magazine is a really nice state park that we just happened to stumble upon while we were looking up places to rock climb nearby. It was a little over an hour drive from our campsite. The state park sits up on the ridge overlooking a large valley. The views are amazing. There is a lodge and there are several cabins that sit right on the edge. Seems like a wonderful place to spend a weekend, but we were only there for some climbing during the day.
View as we hiked down to the cliff face as well as views from the other side of Mount Magazine.
(Die Aussicht als wir zur Felswand wanderten sowie Ausblicke von der anderen Seite des Mount Magazine.)
After hiking down to the bottom of the cliff face, and along it to scope out the extensive routes, we selected a 5.6 that would be a good beginner trad climbing route. K attached the gear to his climbing loops and led the route, placing protection as he went, while I (C) belayed. Once K reached the top, where there was a nice solid tree to use as an anchor where he could belay from above, I followed.
Our route and K leading the way.
(Unsere Route und K geht voran.)
K had taken a multi-pitch / trad course at Seneca Rocks in WV, so here he was able to practice a lot of what he had learned. I had not had any experience previously, other than a training course in our RV, so my main goal was to practice removing the trad gear on my way up as I climbed (“cleaning the route”). We call this a success!
Training session the night before in our RV.
(Training in der Nacht zuvor in unserem Wohnmobil.)
Rope backpack!
(Seil Rucksack!)
We had originally wanted to rappel down and climb some more, but bad weather rolled in. We may go back to climb again before we leave this area.
