I left off with a description of our first day in Hueco. Our second day was just as much fun. While I wasn’t feeling that strong, Simon crushed everything he got on. He sent three V10s (one was flashed) and redpointed a V11. I don’t think I’ve ever had a day like that before. Simon’s endurance is phenomenal, but to achieve it he works only two days a week and doesn’t go to school. Simon, your a bum. Freaking strong though, and I’m jealous that you get to climb so much.

We didn’t have any reservations booked for this weekend so Simon and I signed up for volunteer tours. The park hasn’t been as busy as I had expected so getting a guide was easy. On Saturday we went to East Spur with a great group of people. We did some warming up on the Donkey Show boulder then meandered to The Maze. James and Matt, two dudes from Colorado, worked on Better Eat Your Wheaties, a hard V8 that Simon flashed. I gave burns on Crown of Aragorn. There was one move I couldn’t do, obviously the crux, but hopefully I’ll be strong enough to do that move by the end of the trip. A while later some of us tried Jingus Bells, a five-star V5. I didn’t get on this problem. I still have bad memories of twisting my ankle after falling off the dyno during my first trip to Hueco (popped a pinky tendon that same day).

Our group then moved to the Gunks to try New Religion. I played on Full Monty, another problem that I want to send this trip. I’ve done all the moves except the last one so hopefully I just need another day. Simon attempted Focus, but couldn’t get past a sloper that was baking in the sun.

Today we went to East Mountain. I’m doing my best to have my skin endure the tip-torture it receives everytime I touch rock so I took it easy. To pass the time, I took a lot of photos, including a few of some fellow Canadians we met earlier this week. Later we moved to the Dragonfly boulder which also hosts Full Service, a benchmark V10. I’ve got this problem on my tick list so I threw myself at it. I’ve been on it before so the sequence leading up the crux wasn’t too hard for me. However, making the move to the football hold has always eluded me. I just can’t reach it using the standard knee-drop beta, but I found another sequence. I came real close to redpointing it, but I didn’t have quite enough energy. In fact three of us, Simon, Oliver, and I all fell going to the football hold. Consequently we booked another tour for Wednesday so we can all go redpoint!

Sonnie Trotter and Sean McColl are joining us on Tuesday. I’m looking forward to climbing with those guys. Then on Friday Vikki Weldon and Jason McColl arrive. Climbing with five friends is gonna be so much fun!

Today was a great start to a roadtrip. In my last post I mentioned how I was curious to see how in shape I was compared to last year. I figured that attempts on Diaphanous Sea would be a good measure. So this morning, after warming up, I got on it. What a difference a year of bouldering makes! I made quick progress working out the first three moves then on my first attempt at linking them up I stuck the cruxy throw move! The last few moves were unknown territory for me and unfortunately I fell after my heel blew. Two tries later I got to the same spot, but this time I stayed real tight. Tight enough to topout! Diaphanous was seriously the only problem I really really wanted to redpoint this trip and I got it over with on my first day…so PSYCHED!

We then walked up the hill to Power of Silence, a stout V10 that Simon wanted to get on. He pieced together the problem quite well and half an hour later he got his hand into the slot, one move from the top. Setting up on this hold correctly is a crux on it’s own and Simon didn’t get the finger lock quite right – you need to do some more crack climbing, Simon. Frustrated, he threw himself at it for another 30 minutes, but in the end he decided to move on and leave it for another day. He’ll do it for sure.

Feeling tired from the travelling yesterday and the hard pulling today we decided to go to the other side of North Mountain and try some of the easy classics. We did Nobody Here Gets Out Alive and Ghetto Simulator. Then a guy we met earlier, Jim, came by and conviced us to go look at a new Jason Kehl highball V5. We didn’t have any pads and neither did he. Right away I said there was no way I was going to get on it and Simon didn’t blame me. The thing is high. I told Jim that I’d give him a spot but really, with no pads there wasn’t much I could do if he pitched. The guy crushed it. He made it look so easy and that encouraged me to try it. He spewed some beta and before I could think too clearly I jumped on it. The first few moves were fine and I quickly got about 15 feet off the deck… to the crux. I committed myself on a right hand sloper with a high left foot. I need to rock over my foot and secure a good slot-edge. Jim, who’s over six feet tall, didn’t have any troubles. I could barely reach it. Without waiting for the fear to take over I powered myself to the next hold off the shitty sloper. I was just shy of it and somehow managed to intermediate off nothing and bump an inch further to the hold. I crimped it so hard! I matched, went to the lip, and quickly got my body over the 20 foot topout. Holy Shit! I spooked myself big time. Whenever I think about it I shake my head. It was dumb to get on something unknown that was really high and without a single pad or spotter below me. You know those near-misses that make you think about what could have happened? That’s what it’s like for me. All I can say is that I’m glad I didn’t begin my trip with two broken legs and a fractured skull.

We had a very good introduction to our December Hueco session. Tomorrow we’re going to spend some time on Free Willy, Right Martini and Loaded With Power. As for the rest of tonight…it’s time for bed.

I’m currently sitting at gate E79 waiting for my flight to Dallas then to El Paso. Simon Parton is with me… barely. He got caught up in US customs cause they thought there was no mountain climbing in Hueco. Climbing starts tomorrow with a reservation to North Mountain. I’m planning to try Diaphanous Sea right away. It will be a good test to see if I’ve gotten any stronger since my last trip to Hueco last February.

I’m armed with camera equipment too. My most recent aquisition is a Sigma 10-20mm ultra wide-angle lens. It’s going to be a lot of fun testing it out this trip. Expect to see photo posts often.

Unrelated to climbing is a video I watched the other day. I’ve seen videos like it before but this one was definitely eye-opening. It’s called Zeitgeist. The movie is rather long and the first five minutes are just filler but make sure you watch it. I’d love to hear your opinions in the comment section.

I’m back on the 22nd. I hope all of you have a great December!

And here’s that video.

What do Christianity, 9/11 and the Federal Reserve all have in common?

Last March I spent two weeks in Hueco. It was a great roadtrip and just thinking about it makes me want to go back. In fact, I’ll likely spend the first three weeks of December there this year! During that trip I redpointed a problem called Rumble in the Jungle, a V12 on the softer side, in my opinion. Nevertheless, it was a huge confidence booster for me. It felt good to be climbing strong again. Lev Pinter was there with a camera and he got it rolling just in time to capture my redpoint send. Check it out:

You hear my good friend, Rich Kupskay, encouraging me in the background. If you want to send a problem, have this guy nearby. He’s been with me for all 5 of my most recent hard sends! Isn’t that a great stat? Rich’s extra energy helped me send Dark Age, Rumble in the Jungle, Something Wicked This Way Comes, Black Magic, and Vince Pinch. Thanks, Rich!

Monday was my last full climbing day at Hueco. Rich and I got a late start; we didn’t head into the park until 11am. Lev and Rich Castillo tagged along. We warmed up near Bloody Flapper, but none us actually sent that horrible problem. I then tried Free Willy once, but the last move didn’t go down. Plus it was kind of painful so I didn’t bother working it. We then hiked to the top of the chains where we had planned to meet Louis, a French-Canadian dude who is great company. Him and I were going to try Dark Age, V11 together. However, he didn’t show; he ended up taking a long nap back at the Ranch. Rich was taking a rest day and Lev and Castillo went to film someone on Babyface so I worked Dark Age on my own.

On my last trip I tried the first few moves of Barefoot on Sacred Ground, which shares the start to Dark Age. The sequence I had come up with before didn’t really apply so I had to come up with entirely new starting beta. For the first 20 minutes I couldn’t figure out the initial moves. Do I go left hand to the next hold or right hand and cross the left up to the sidepull-pinch? The latter sequence made it hard to pull to the hold around the corner so I settled for the former beta. It took me some more time to figure out that I needed to do a scrunchy heel hook to get established on the left hold and ready to move out right. I then tried various sequences to get to the holds on See Spot Run (Dark Age finishes up this high ball, but classic V6). After about an hour and a half of working out the moves and resting I gave it a redpoint burn. It didn’t go because I mistakenly turned my right heel to a toe for the throw to the See Spot hold. It was something that just felt right while I was climbing, but turned out to not work. Sigh… So I rested for a while before my next burn. I knew I’d do the problem, I just had to wait. Then a bunch of school kids showed up, making a bunch of noise. They left, but then the sun started to send blinding light through the corridor making it impossible to see the hold I had to throw to. So I waited some more… After more than an hour I was able to get on the problem again. I cruised through the bottom moves and hit the See Spot hold well. I hadn’t been on this terrain for a long time. I got myself into a position where I couldn’t reach a right hand crimp. I was on a worse crimp just to the left of it which felt very unsecure. After some fighting, I managed to top out. Phew!

Out of nowhere I managed to tick Dark Age on my third day on, which was also my last day in Hueco. I’m actually quite proud of this send because I basically arrived at the problem with no beta and barely able to do the first few moves. I had to unlock the sequence entirely on my own. And then after only a few hours of work, I muscled an ascent. I think this is the first time I’ve sent something that hard in that short of time. What a great way to end off my trip to Hueco.

Now that I’m home, I’m already thinking of getting away again. There are still plans for Rich, Gary and I to rent a house in Squamish for the season. I can’t wait for that to happen.

Sorry for the lack of photos in this post. Hopefully the video will do you good enough. And if you still want more to look at check out Gary Foster’s new blog. He’s known for his bad grammar, but it reads quite well. Take a look.