First Weekend ORMS 2011

Saturday and Sunday

April 2&3, 2011

First 2011 ORMS Weekend 

Apologies for letting my blog writing get behind.   I still need to backfill on the last couple of weeks but for those who tune in only when a new post goes up you might want to check out my sister blog written by my alter ego Trebor Kool.   Sometimes you are torn between bragging about unknown ice climbing, morel mushroom, and good fishing locations or keeping them secret.   Well Trebor had the honor of seeing an early unfinished cut of a low budget film Almost Alpine and could not keep the secret.  He wrote a reveiw on it over on Quoxotic Cosmos.   Check out the review.    The film is a climbing mockumentary being submitted to the Telluride and Banff film festivals this year.    Eventually it may be available for on-line purchase.  

I recently provided steaks for an ORMS pot luck dinner and will soon be providing bacon for a Rockfest 2 breakfast.    I am fortunate to have a wonderful country butcher available to me that is on my way to Old Rag.   Wilson Farms Meat Co in Catlett Virginia.     Not much to look at from the outside but they have some of the best slab cut double smoked bacon around.     The prices are posted on their chalk boards and transactions are cash only.   The staff are very helpful and knowledgeable folks.   I found it a very pleasant and unique experience buying meat at this butcher shop.   I am told that there are folks who drive from hours away just so as to buy their bacon.

SATURDAY
Ben, Sean, Bob


A couple of the new NPS staff at the Old Rag contact station.

Howard Mo. and Hazel Me.

If you look closely you can see a little bit of green on the trees at the foot of the mountain.

There was a profusion of Spicebush blooming along Weakley Hollow Fire Road.

There is a local tradition of celebrating birthdays up on Old Rag.    The next two pictures show the celebration of a young man's (at heart) 79th birthday on the mountain.

This was his 30th consecutive birthday on Old Rag and was celebrated by three generations of the extended family some of whom had come from 500 miles away.     As a collector of  stories of rare animal sightings on Old Rag I got to hear about the year the family saw two Zebras at Post Office Junction.   Imagine that Zebras on Old Rag.

Looking up to Old Rag's two summits from Weakley Hollow Fire Road.

Sunday's ORMS crew Jeremy, Anne R, Craig T, Chris G, Bob L involved in the day's training a scenario, a hiker with a badly broken ankle.

Looking back up the Ridge Trail while doing a late afternoon sweep.

The daily routine of filling out our End Of Day Reports before heading either to pizza at Rudy's or home.