Seven Springs Ski Trip Report

Friday February 20th, 2009 Hocking College Outdoor Pursuits loaded up for the annual ski trip to Seven Springs resort in PA.
We all met at the student center and went through the usual formalities. After signing waivers, filling out health history, and shooting out a few last minute emails we were on the road.
H.C.O.P. went high tech this year and tossed those old map quest directions out the window (not literally, we're very eco-friendly) and used my trusty GPS navigation system. After about 4 hours of flawless directions we arrived in beautiful confluence PA, then with out warning the tom-tom turned evil and led us into the back country. It started as a two lane paved road, then turned snow covered (causing a slight meet and greet with a ditch), and then eventually devolved into a hellish steep ice-on-gravel bob sled run. Tim brought the van to a stop just in time to see an old white jeep staring up at us about 100 yards down. We got out and trekked down to evaluate the situation and quickly realized the only way out was down. The jeep somehow crawled around us and continued on its way, while we buckled up for .63 miles of terror. Tim somehow held it together and successfully led us out of one seriously hairy situation.

A short while later we arrived at the cabin in immediately chucked the tom-tom into the river (not really, we're very eco-friendly). We settled in, found our beds, and Tim decides it's rockband time, and as soon as Tim started singing everyone else decided it was bed time. The band continued on though for a couple more hours, with Brady and Tim trading duty on the mic hell bent on keeping the other 8 occupants of the house awake.

After finally settling down to bed everyone passed out pretty quick and woke up fairly easily to awesome weather and even better conditions. With about 95% open and blue skies, everyone was pumped to hit the slopes. Everyone got their ticket and went their separate ways, crossing paths occasionally, and meeting up in the lodge to make sure all was well. After Tim and I got our 12 dollar meals, boards waxed, and edges done we headed back out. It was perfect, but only until boss man ate it after attempting a massive kicker on the north face. He stuck the 720 back flip, but caught an edge on the icy landing and biffed it hard. He's still in intensive care as I write this; please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

We headed back to the cabin at the end of the day and everyone hit the sack after watching First Descent. Adding insult to injury, Tim was up all night with the screaming barfies. Poor guy. The trip home was pretty uneventful, most people just slept through, waking up only to complain about being hungry and needing bathroom breaks, but I now live by the motto, don't sweat the petty, pet the sweaty.

All in all it was an awesome trip. Jealous much?

Urban Krag Climbing Trip Report

The eleventh day of this February was supposed to be a "employee learning day", this meant all students would have the day off to do as they please. Well mother nature came in a few weeks ago and decided she would cancel school and leave many without power. Due to the days missed by inclement weather the school decided to make everyone come to school on our "day off". Outdoor Pursuits had already (as usual) planned two fun filled trips for students on this day. One was to be a ski trip to WISP resort in Maryland. Mother nature again stepped in and decided to make some bad weather for skiing so we cancelled the trip. The other option was to head to Dayton for some indoor climbing at the URBAN KRAG. So many traded in their skies for climbing shoes and joined us for an incredible journey.

We set out on our way around 11am. The party consisted of Tim(Twins) Rice , Dan (the pescitarian) Newman, Joel (number 2) Yott, Shay (Rusty Blade) Rosser, Wes (Westicle) Hieb, Ryan (Prom King) Wheeler, Dustyn (w/ a Y) Whyte, Malia (The girl) Reimann, and myself (you can all me "Dragon"). With the van loaded with eager climbers and rancid climbing shoes we started our approach to the KRAG. As we made our way into Dayton the two local Daytonites in the back (Westicle and Prom King) feared for there lives as we ventured through a more "rough" part of town....they must be from the suburbs. The more we trekked on the more we began to doubt our faithful map quest directions. After asking a few passerbyers and getting some helpful directions we had made it there (with no help from the petrified locals).

The conditions of the Krag were beautiful, 50 ft colored walls, some slightly overhanging to vertical. Perfect hand cracks and finger cracks split walls and were begging to be climbed. So many climbs awaited we didnt know where to start. Rusty Blade and the Pescitarian were salivating to get a chance to get a nice dose of crack, and before anyone else could get tied in the pescitarian and his cut off short jean shorts were poetically making their way up the hand crack. As Twins and myself were in search of a good warm up number 2 was no where to be found, we could make a pretty good guess where he was seein how he had just consumed two cows and a pig that made up a Delicious baconator. Westicle and the Prom king started in the challenging boulder cave testing their skills on some technical problems. As the day progressed the temperature increased drastically , this however didnt stop us from pulling down just as hard. After roping up as many climbs as our fingers could handle we made our way back to the van. The van ride home was a challenge all in itself, our crew was hit with 70mph winds and rain making our trip home interesting. The spectacular driving instincts of number 2 and the pescitarian got us home safely from a great day at the KRAG.

Hocking College Outdoor Pursuits Presents: Wednesday February 11Th 2009
Come and spend the day with Outdoor Pursuits as we visit one of Ohio's Great indoor climbing gyms Urban Krag located in Dayton Ohio. Wednesday is the same day as the employee learning day, classes were supposed to be cancelled but due to bad weather and cancellations classes will still run as normal. This will not have affect on our trip, the trip is still a go.

The Cost is $10 this covers transportation to the Krag. You are responsible for your own entry fee ($12), belay test ($3) and any food stops along the way.

The Urban Krag is Ohio's premier indoor rock climbing facility. Featuring 8000 square feet of textured and sculpted vertical terrain with heights ranging from 28 to 56 feet.
A fully stocked pro-shop, lockers, showers, weight room and the biggest climbing wall in the state.