Perfect Rendezvous

I just got home from emceeing the New River Rendezvous, and couldn't be more happy with the way everything turned out. The weathermen called for rain... and rain it did. But not enough to stop the climbing, and not nearly enough to stop the party.

The rain hit just in time for the tug-o-war, and after I called Lynn Hill out of the crowd to step up and compete, I realized another guy was needed. Lynn and I had a stare down, and true to form, Team Lynn Hill kicked our ass, though the final win went to the Mountain Hardwear team of Pat Goodman, Janet Bergman, and Freddie Wilkinson. Check out Janets blog for videos of the tug-o-war.
As soon as the tug-o-war wrapped up, the competitors for the sumo pad comp were taped up. Highlight was the ladies comp.... the stamina! Absolutely amazing. In this photo I'm spinning winner Neysa Dominguez in circles... getting her dizzy before more slamming.





Up next: Dyno comp. With the help of Lydia on the time and Karen taking score, emceeing was easy. The format this year was much better than years past, with the finalists given 2 minutes to complete all the dynos they could. High flying action... and again, the ladies KILLED it. Seriously, the boys need to step their game up!

And then the band. Holy hell. Freekbass from Cincy destroyed all notions of what a dance party was. This was by far the most rockin the dance floor has EVER been. Strangely enough, some climbers actually have rhythm.

All in all, big gigantic thanks to everybody who helped out... organizers, volunteers, sponsors, competitors, and partygoers.
With southern strong women Whitney Boland and Kate Reece-McGinnis.


After the Rendezvous was wrapped up, I got some great climbing and chilling time in with an incredible friend of mine. A few hard sends (for all involved), wine, some rearranged patio furniture (from all over Fayetteville at 2am), and more sending, and the trip was complete.

Headed home, just to head back out... to the Red with old friend Angie Payne. More on that, and photos of the last week to come later...