Another V10 and a Failed Attempt at the Hueco 101

So yesterday I finished Loaded with Power, a V10 here in Hueco.  It's now the hardest climb I've done, and it took me 3 sessions over a couple of weeks to get it.  The first day I tried it I worked out the all the moves up to the final 3 handholds, discovering that for me that would be the hardest part.  The second time I went to the problem I fell about 7-8 times on the same move, the last move before the lip of the boulder and the end of the climb.  To do the move you have to put your toe in one side of a large shallow pocket and your knee against the other side; called a knee-bar in climbing jargon, you're basically jamming your leg into a hole.  I had a huge cut on my knee from my leg popping out of the same position over and over again, and the fact I was wearing thin, stretchy climbing trousers probably wasn't helping.  A little bit discouraged and needing time for my knee to heal anyway I didn't try it again for over a week.

Then, this time wearing jeans, I went back to it yesterday and first try of the day finished it.  I was expecting to have to spend a session wearing through the climb so I was excited to suddenly send it unexpectedly.  Here are some shots of the climb (you can click to enlarge them).  The middle is my favorite because of the look of utter concentration of my face, and in the last you can see the knee bar I previously kept falling out of.

After that success yesterday, I was psyched to try the Hueco 101 today.  The Hueco 101 is a challenge to climb 101 boulder problems in one day, all of them graded V2 (very easy) or lower.  You do the climbs in a specific and efficient order ending with Ghetto Simulator, a really long, famous, and classic V2 (the idea being that at that point you're so tired from the other 100 that the length of the problem will stop you from doing it).  In the end, after doing less than 30 climbs by 1pm, we realized we had started too late and moved to inefficiently to possibly complete the challenge so we went straight to the final climb and did Ghetto Simulator.  

After doing that, we hiked up to the highest point of the mountain where nestled in a gorge is the amazing climb Bloodline.  Following two water runnels up an otherwise unclimbable face Bloodline gets it's name from the veinous and unique shape of the runnels.  It's a very technical climb as you have to balance on small footholds while relying on friction between your hands and the rock to keep yourself on.  Rather than incut holds, you palm the sides of the runnels to move up.  Until you get to the top that is, where there are huge holds I'm hanging from in the picture below.

And finally, here is a picture of Zach, one of the guys I've been climbing with, giving all he's got on a V9.