Who's Who: The Cast of Characters

To help you understand who (or what) I'm talking about on this blog, here's a brief introduction to the main people in my climbing crew. This will periodically get updated.

Candymouse: I'm the author. I'm frequently sarcastic, I like to think of myself as witty, and I got my nickname because, being significantly smaller than most of my (mostly male) climbing partners, when they're all sinking into snow past the knee I'm "running up on top like a little field mouse". Also I love candy.

Sketchy Tony: Sketchy for short, he probably has the most impressive climbing resume of all of us, including a self-guided summit on Denali in June 2018. Currently in training to be a guide, his nickname was given to him by his classmates because of a series of unfortunate accidents last season (most mostly not his fault but it's still funny).

Stucker: Other than Sketchy, Stucker is my primary climbing partner. Stucker, I'm pretty sure, is part mountain goat and the remainder cat; he's quick, strong, and nimble, and we do a lot of cool stuff together (by which I mean, he lets me follow him around while *he* does badass stuff and helps me do some of it too). He's working on knocking out peaks on the Bulger list. Stucker is responsible for giving me my nickname.

Suki: Suki is my dog, a 5-year-old lab mix. She is dopey, friendly, and 200% heart on the trail. She rides the struggle bus hard in snow (she's heavy, with dainty little feet, relatively low clearance and a super short coat, so... she sinks a lot and gets cold easily), but her enthusiasm never flags. She excels at long distance, multi-day summer hiking and is defiantly unafraid of thunderstorms. To make up for it, she has a truly irrational fear of vacuum cleaners, brooms, and cans of compressed air.

Mochi: Also known as the Conservative Decision Cat, Mochi (or MoMo), doesn't ever leave the house. She is the foil for Sketchy in terms of decision-making - for any risky call he makes, MoMo will sit primly in her cat tree and level merciless judgment upon us all.

Getting Started: Begin at the Beginning

There are so many topics to cover under the broad umbrella of "outdoors" - from issues of health and safety, to trip reports and route beta, to the politics of public lands and conservation, to gear reviews, people bickering about off-leash dogs and the merits of freeze-dried meals, and oh so much more. We'll get to all of that eventually, I'm sure (the bickering especially, since I seem to be a perpetual sucker for absurd and trivial conflicts).

Basically, this blog will touch on as many aspects of the outdoors as possible, and I'll break my posts down by topic as follows:

• Trip Reports: This is pretty self-explanatory - after I do a trip, I'll write/brag about it.
• Unsolicited Advice: How-to guides, tips and hacks, suggestions... basically me acting like I know what I'm talking about. I'll don my self-appointed expert halo and tell y'all how to run your business.
• IMHO: Reviews of stuff and things. Books, gear, clothing, protein bars - you name it, I'll try it out and give you my take.
• Soapbox: Where I'll get totally opinionated and sometimes political - issues like public lands management, endangered species, race and gender in the outdoors, and all that jazz, as well as less serious things like the aforementioned off-leash dog issue.
• Comestibles: Recipes and suggestions for favorite trail meals and snacks.
• General Content: Things that don't fit into any of the other categories - like this post, for example.
• TMI: Stuff about me and/or my personal life - probably at least tangentially outdoorsy, because that pretty much IS my life, but no promises.

I'll try to keep it all relevant, readable, and hopefully entertaining.

Welcome to Chick on Rock!