Leaving Hueco

It's starting to warm up here in El Paso (not good for climbing), so I'm heading to Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California tomorrow.  But my time here ended awesomely!  I did my first V11 yesterday, a climb called Dark Age.  It's one of the more famous V11s in Hueco and climbs through an overhang onto a corner, and from there you climb right into a tall V6 (the V6 is well known too; it's called See Spot Run and is a very high classic).  After my first session working Dark Age I was falling at the beginning of the V6, because after climbing the eleven I was so tired and out of breath the V6 moves felt almost impossible.

Then I went back yesterday and after falling at the same point a few times I broke through; only to fall when I placed my foot in the wrong place close to the top.  Disappointed and starting to feel tired I knew I only had a couple of attempts left with full strength, which I need to climb something so hard.  I rested for a quarter of an hour, then psyched myself up to try again.  As I started climbing my arms felt fatigued and I realized that this would be my last solid attempt.  Thinking that I pulled through the hardest moves and found myself half way up the V6.  Feeling tired and quite high (my feet were about 10 feet off the ground and I was only half way up), I took a couple of breaths then pressed on through were I had fallen before and topped out the boulder.

It's an awesome feeling to climb something really hard for yourself, and especially on a climb of this grade where I wasn't expecting to be do able to do all the moves in isolation, never mind climb it from start to finish.  It was good way to end my time in Hueco, and it coincided perfectly with my departure and the start of warmer weather.  I'm spending today in El Paso doing chores getting ready to go, before after a morning of climbing tomorrow I'll head to SoCal.

Thanks for reading!

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.

More Hueco

Last week I did what is probably the coolest boulder I've finished.  The climb is called Dirty Martini on the Rocks and starts on two small opposing ledges with high feet.  After a delicate left hand move to an even smaller hold you sink down for a second before exploding to a good left hand hold.  The crux is stopping yourself from swinging off after this as your feet rip backwards off the wall.  The attempt I did the climb my right hand pops off the first hold before I have a chance to establich control, but luckily I managed to stay on and finish the boulder.

Here is the video.  Luckily I was there with quite a few people and since they all had cameras there's a bunch of angles.

The New Zealanders I was climbing with when I first arrived have all left now, so I've been climbing with a couple of Americans (one of them a Berkeley grad), and a Canadian.  The Canadian, Jesse, works two weeks on two weeks off so spends half of his time in his van climbing.  He's going to be in Utah the same time I'm planning on being there in late March.  On top of that he'll be spending all summer at his local crag, Squamish, British Columbia, somewhere I hope I'll make it too during June.  He'll show me around both areas!

The campsite I'm staying hosted the Hueco Rock Rodeo last weekend.  The rock rodeo is an annual climbing festival and competition held in Hueco, and so over the weekend the area flooded with climbers (some of them sponsored professionals) who were here for the competition and the festivities. There were a ton of climbing brands sponsoring the event, donating prizes, showing their gear off at their boothes and giving away a ton of free stuff (I finished the weekend with three new hats, two new t-shirts, a pair of shorts and a ton of koozies; all of them were free).  New Belgium Brewery (makers of Fat Tire) also sponsored the event so the parties that went on Friday, Saturday and even Sunday night got pretty lively.

Hueco Week Two

I've done tons of climbing in the past week.  Some hard stuff and a lot of easier stuff (higher numbers after the V mean harder climbs).  I've done the classic Hueco problems King Cobra V6, which is super hard for the grade because the climbing is so good that everyone does it and the holds have been smoothed and caked in chalk; Lobster Claw V5, which climbs a really uniquely featured and overhung corner; Nobody Gets Out of Here Alive V2, a cool roof climb with huge holds (hence the low grade); and I'm super close to climbing the classic V10 Fully Loaded, I just keep falling at the last move!

The pictures below are of the hardest move of a V9 I did today.  I almost did it first try, which would have made it the hardest climb I've ever done first attempt, but I came an inch short on the move below.  I got it second try though, so I'm still pretty psyched about that.  I've climbed V10 but I haven't actually done a V9 before, so this was my first.  And I'm representing Wales with my Llanelli Scarlets jersey.

And this last picture is of one of the Kiwis I've been climbing with working a V6 called Short Order Cook.  It's a cool problem just above one of the car parks so it has a nice view of the surrounding desert.