[biggins]

well, turned 30 and went rock climbing with a few good friends for 3 days. we went to north georgia to a place called rocktown on top of pigeon mountain. its about 45 minutes from chattanooga. the weather was good although friday night had to have gotten into the high teens up on the mountain, pretty damn cold if ya ask me. anyway, here are some pics.

my buddy matt and bigginsette at the overlook on pigeon mountain

some whiskey

a rock

matt climbing

campfire

night photo with 15 second exposure

one of my favorite pictures of the weekend

matt again

a corridor through some boulders

yours truly headed up a boulder

a moth

moth 2

well not much to look at but i shot about 195 pics. these are not the best of them but you get the idea. i am gonna be adding some more in a few minutes.

 

[biggins]

me on a rock thats on top of a 30 foot tall rock

the group minus one person.

me

me and amanda

me trying to see where the hell i am going

this is the hold that is in my right hand in the previous picture

 

[biggins]

some of you have met Matt. he was on here for a while i think his name was the captain if i remember correctly.

 

[manimal]

nice pics bro and happy b-day! does climbing bother your bum wrist at all? if i had time for another hobby that's what i'd do.

btw, anytime you get an itch for riding, let us know...you can always ride one of my bikes at CP or something.

 

[biggins]

nice pics bro and happy b-day! does climbing bother your bum wrist at all? if i had time for another hobby that's what i'd do.

btw, anytime you get an itch for riding, let us know...you can always ride one of my bikes at CP or something.

thanks brandon!

in all honesty my arm does not ever hurt climbing like it does when biking. it'll be just a little sore but thats about it.i think it has to do with the fact that i am pulling it and compressing it. i havent been climbing in about 4.5 years so it was nice. i have been 5 times in the last month and a half.

i actually have a buddy of mines yakuza ojiki at my house and will probably end up at CP some time or another. he has been keeping it here for about 2 months. i appreciate the offer and i will be back on a bike some day.

 

[biggins]

looks like a nice rock Bigs. H-Bday, btw. I always thought you were more around 25-26y/o

haha, yeah iam older than most people suspect. i get carded for beer pretty often even with the beard that i have right now. i guess lookin young aint to bad.

 

[biggins]

by the way, if anyone wants to go to rocktown its pretty easy to get there and there are over 5 miles of ridgeline covered in sandstone boulders. only about half of the boulders in the first 3/4 mile have actual developed routes on them. the place is unreal.

 

[biggins]

I was out yesterday about 2 hrs after it rained. Damn, rock gets cold. SO cold. I was clawed for about 15min until I found some jugs to get warmed up on. Even then it was brutal because all the feet were slimey. It took a v0 warmup and made it into a v3 campus. Brutal, really brutal.

yeah the colder the rock the better down here. fall through early spring is our best climbing due to all the sloper holds and sandstone rock. mmmmm friction.

weather wil lcertainly sneak up on ya. we finished a day of bouldering a few years back in sleet and snow. we kept climbing but sleet was filling up top out hold and pockets everywhere. if you ever come out east we should climb some.

 

[PatBranch]

That place looks fun; where is it? Did you see the huck?

 

[biggins]

That place looks fun; where is it? Did you see the huck?

its in north Georgia.

 

[motomike]

Ben you are a hairy man.

 

[biggins]

Ben you are a hairy man.

i know. you like it dont ya?

 

[motomike]

oh ya. you look like a big alaskan bear hunter.

 

[biggins]

oh ya. you look like a big alaskan babe hunter.

dude there arent any women in alaska.

 

[motomike]

Yes, but when you come back to the states and say you are a bear hunter, they will come, oh yes, they will come.

 

[Joe Pozer]

Sweet Pics Biggins...and a belated Happy Birthday. I used to ride at Pigeon Mt when I lived in Georgia. That place has some sweet singletrack.

 

[MTB_Rob_NC]

Why is there no pictures of Bigginsette's rump?

 

[biggins]

Why is there no pictures of Bigginsette's rump?

oh there are i assure you, they just are not posted.

 

[MTB_Rob_NC]

oh there are i assure you, they just are not posted.

Ya well Id say PM me some, but I am still waiting on the fishing pictures :angry:

Does she have any friends in Charlotte

 

[Andyman_1970]

Biggins, hows the photo thing going for you? You mentioned striking out and going professional - also what kind of photo equipment are you using?

I'm just curious - I was way into photography (nature, outdoors, action) about 10 years ago, but just got a Nikon D70 and it's re spaked my interest in it...........so I was just curious how you're doing with it.

BTW - sweet climbing pics, my bro and I went bouldering at Obed there in eastern TN about 4 years ago..........it was sweet.

 

[SirChomps-a-Lot]

I was out yesterday about 2 hrs after it rained. Damn, rock gets cold. SO cold. I was clawed for about 15min until I found some jugs to get warmed up on. Even then it was brutal because all the feet were slimey. It took a v0 warmup and made it into a v3 campus. Brutal, really brutal.

Dude, I leave for 15 minutes and you turn into a climber... so ashamed.

 

[biggins]

Biggins, hows the photo thing going for you? You mentioned striking out and going professional - also what kind of photo equipment are you using?

I'm just curious - I was way into photography (nature, outdoors, action) about 10 years ago, but just got a Nikon D70 and it's re spaked my interest in it...........so I was just curious how you're doing with it.

BTW - sweet climbing pics, my bro and I went bouldering at Obed there in eastern TN about 4 years ago..........it was sweet.

just now getting started. gonna be doing a few pics of a moth image that i modified a little bit. also have a few photos i want to get out to a few publications. i will be starting my digital media degree next semester and i might be getting a part time job at a photography studio in the mornings.

obed, you were at the lilly boulders. very nice clean sandstone there.

 

[biggins]

oh as far as equipment i am still using just my canon G5. lookin into a D20 though as my next purchase.

 

[BigMike]

Damn, looks like fun!

Do you all freeclimb? I don't see any ropes or harnesses in the pictures. Is that just on the smaller stuff, or do you never use ropes?

 

[biggins]

Damn, looks like fun!

Do you all freeclimb? I don't see any ropes or harnesses in the pictures. Is that just on the smaller stuff, or do you never use ropes?

i used to do a lot of roped climbing. now i just boulder. the pads that you can see in some of the pics are for falling on and you have spotters that are not there to catch but more to direct your fall onto the pad. the pads fold up and you can stuff your crap in em and they have shoulder straps. they are approprately named crash pads.

i have done some free soloing up to about 80 feet with no rope. its fun but not worth dying over. the primary reason i am drawn to bouldering is its difficulty as well as not having to spend thousands of dollars on gear.

 

[SkaredShtles]

i used to do a lot of roped climbing. now i just boulder. the pads that you can see in some of the pics are for falling on and you have spotters that are not there to catch but more to direct your fall onto the pad. the pads fold up and you can stuff your crap in em and they have shoulder straps. they are approprately named crash pads.

i have done some free soloing up to about 80 feet with no rope. its fun but not worth dying over. the primary reason i am drawn to bouldering is its difficulty as well as not having to spend thousands of dollars on gear.

Trad rack: $500
Harness: $50
Shoes: $75
Rope: $150

Feeling looking up this wall knowing you'll be at the top in a few hours: Priceless

 

[biggins]

Trad rack: $500
Harness: $50
Shoes: $75
Rope: $150

Feeling looking up this wall knowing you'll be at the top in a few hours: Priceless

damn dude you are on a roll with the good points today.

why do i know that rock face for some reason?


roped climbing is fun but i have tendancy not to push myself as much. on boulder problem you fall and then rest up and walk back up to it and try again. when you fall climbing and you are trying to get a red point or whatever its continuously lowering back down then climbing back up......most of the routes i did were so overhanging that even if you did fall it was a major pain to even attempt to egt back on without starting over.

 

[SkaredShtles]

damn dude you are on a roll with the good points today.

I am every day.

why do i know that rock face for some reason?

I may have posted it before. :

roped climbing is fun but i have tendancy not to push myself as much. on boulder problem you fall and then rest up and walk back up to it and try again. when you fall climbing and you are trying to get a red point or whatever its continuously lowering back down then climbing back up......most of the routes i did were so overhanging that even if you did fall it was a major pain to even attempt to egt back on without starting over.

I'm married with 3 kids. I like climbing 5.7 trad. No pushing for me.

Edit: BTW, *sweet* bouldering pics. Looks like fun. We just finished up a bouldering wall in the basement so I can get some upper body workouts for once.