Up the airy mountain,
Down the rushy glen,
We daren't go a'hunting
For fear of little men
Wee folk, good folk,
Trooping all together;
Green jacket, red cap,
And white owl's feather.
Down along the rocky shore
Some make their home,
They live on crispy pancakes
Of yellow tide-foam;
Some in the reeds
Of the black mountain lake,
With frogs for their watch-dogs,
All night awake.
High on the hill-top
The old king sits;
He is now so old and gray
He's nigh lost his wits.
With a bridge of white mist
Columbkill he crosses,
On his stately journeys
From Slieveleague to Rosses;
Or going up with music
On cold starry nights,
To sup with the Queen
Of the gay Northern Lights.
They stole little Bridget
For seven years long;
When she came down again
Her friends were all gone.
They took her lightly back,
Between the night and morrow,
They thought that she was fast asleep,
But she was dead with sorrow.
The have kept her ever since
Deep within the lake,
On a bed of flag-leaves,
Watching till she wake.
By the craggy hill-side,
Through the mosses bare,
They have planted thorn-trees
For pleasure here and there.
Is any man so daring
As dig up them in spite,
He shall find their sharpest thorns
In his bed at night.
Up the airy mountain,
Down the rushy glen,
We daren't go a-hunting
For fear of little men
Wee folk, good folk,
Trouping all together;
Green jacket, red cap,
And white owls feather.
- 'The Fairies' (William Allingham)
Sighting a group of several boulderers single-filing through the woods always reminds us of that rhyme.
Careful out and about the forest - Fairies are actually pretty fearsome creatures of lore. Wouldn't want to piss one off
The People in the Woods:
'The People In The Woods' (2009)
Run Time: 15min (Approx.)
Revisiting some old photo files from days of yore. SWPA, year 2000+ (UNO):
(L-R) Carl, Tim, Laura, Bob
ZMan and Muscle Girl Sarah
Strongman Matt, Willow Springs, Red Rock Canyon, NV
Kentucky Matt
Vegas KY (Kentucky), Kraft Boulders, NV
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Images from the wayback files:
Bouldering wall, Bellefonte Quarry, PA ('84) - note the "crash pad"
A "Good-man", Rob, on a thin route on the large boulder located at (Derry) High Rocks, PA ('80's)
Rob, not sure where (80's)
The "Lunge" up on the 'Ridge' (80's)
No climbing gyms back then. For training ya' ran laps on the 'Workout Boulder' (T), ran laps on your 'Bachar Ladder' (M) and alternated a few laps on the garage "boulder wall" (B) with fingertip hangs and pull-ups on the nearby hang board (1x4 screwed to the under porch floor joists - not pictured). We had read somewhere (or someone told us, don't recall which) that raked brick mortar joints were equivalent to 5.11 difficulty rock climbing. Definitely some crimpers. Always elicited a comment from the mailman.
Back to the future:
When too hot to climb - hangin' at the nearby "beach"
