One of my favorite rock climbing routes in Connecticut is Thor’s Hammer. It’s up at East Peak in Meriden and reliably delivers chills and thrills at each ascent. I’ve talked of its majesty in the past. It’s just great in every way.

I hit up Thor’s hammer a few weekends ago with Pete and Ben. We got out there reasonably early, set up our rappel lines and then zipped down to try our luck. Other than some heavy heat, the day was successful.

As an added bonus, I got to do some ascending with Pete’s equipment as well. Ascending requires using special equipment to quickly ‘climb’ ropes. Here’s a picture of some of the equipment that hovered above me as I ascended.

The advantage of setting up an ascending line adjacent to the climbing route is that it allows us to get a unique perspective for taking climbing photographs. Pete has a beautiful Canon 10d camera, so it’s always worthwhile to spend some time setting equipment to help with photos.

We each climbed Thor’s Hammer twice. This route is unique in that it has two roofs that require either stretched lean backs or furious fist jams.

Here’s a picture of Pete working his way to the first roof.

Here’s Pete again working the second roof.

It was a great day and a gorgeous climb. I hope that I’ll be able to climb it a few more times before the season ends. I desperately want to lead the route.