TICKLER... I DON'T EVEN KNOW HER

went out yesterday with the crew from the red. that was a good ol' time. got shut down on the classic egg (hard 8) and alf in a blender (hard 6), again... on both. managed to do the classic, 3-star new religion (7), so that was a new, fun one.

tried 4 days on today; couldn't get past the warm-ups. it'll be good to rest today and tomorrow, too. then a tour on saturday and sunday! hopefully will get to west mountain finally. there are 3 problems i want to do there. and a couple more i want to try (potential projects).

pretty toasted right now. gonna go into town for burritos tonite. need some extra red meat to speed up the recovery process.

oh last week i forgot to tell you: we had this guy (who told us his name was frank -don't know his real name) that was hiding out, AWOL, here at hueco and at the rock ranch. his mom ended up finding him and came down from NY with an ex-police officer and took him home i guess. he was a little buggy from the get-go. even had a pair of night-vision goggles he tried to pawn in town, which he had stolen from the army (told everybody they were a parting gift).

that's the big news around here. hope the ice melts soon back in the eastern neck of the united backwoods states of america!!

here's mike and chris working the hardest 9 in the park, french tickler. enjoy!

THANKS FOR THE KNEEPAD, MIKE AND THANKS FOR THE PROBLEM, FRED

got out yesterday with the regular good crew (mike & steph, daniel & nadia, max, john, daniel) on a volunteer tour into the east spur. it was super windy (gusts up to 30 or 40 miles an hour) and mostly cloudy, which made the 70 degree weather a good day for rockclimbings.

we warmed up on the usual stuff at the maze before bumping it up a notch on hector (9). it's super-reachy (even for me: i'm pretty much at my full wingspan), with a pretty intense heel-hook. [you can see video of it in the cut scenes on best of the west, but they misname the problem between the sheep]. i didn't get it yesterday, but figured it all out for next time; i didn't want to spend too much time on it b/c i had other business to attend to. next time it should go pretty quickly, i hope.

next, mike was psyched to try focus (10). so we went over there to get shut down on the initial overhung, super-crimpy lower half. it is a superb climb, and one that we will visit again. after that i rested while john worked out el chupacabra (10) and steph and daniel worked on new religion (7)- daniel did -twice actually- and steph finally got all the moves down; there's a weird dyno at the end, so that was pretty rad to see steph stick that move: she's climbing super strong.

next it was on to my agenda, purple flowers (9/10 -my guess is 9). i'd been on it last week with jimmy and kasia and a few others (the day kasia sent it). i'd worked out all the moves in 15 or 20 minutes, but could only manage it in 3 parts. it's pretty sustained: 2 hard moves to start, followed by fingery, core-intensive roof climbing. so, first go i surprised myself by linking the entire thing to the very end. [you can see video of this problem on the momentum video website]. i used the wrong foot to push off for the swing to the exit boulder and my left hand pinch came loose. oh well; that was super-fast progress for me (i was told it comes together really quickly, kasia was right). so i gave it 2 more bungled go's where i couldn't get the crucial knee-scum (for most people it's a full-on knee-bar and pretty casual the last couple of moves, but my leg is too long and it won't lock in; so i resort to using the knee-pad once again... and a little grunt).

anyway, i was feeling worked and decided i needed more than 10/15 minute rests. so we went around the corner, down to another classic the egg (hard 8). john got close, falling off the top, while others worked out the key moves. after 30 or 40 minutes i felt like my body decided it was done for the day. we packed up to move to some easier, cool-down problems; but, i couldn't let it go. i had to give it one more try, even if i fell trying to do one of the first 2 moves. to my surprise, although a little shakey, i managed to get myself into the knee-scum and grunted my way to the end. my foot scraped the pad after i stuck the swing-over (i don't think it made any difference, but that's how it goes sometimes).

so it should go without saying that i was psyched about another cool problem that i didn't end up falling at the end on. and one that i wouldn't have considered my style. but i think i'm getting stronger on the fingery stuff, which is exciting.


the weather is perfect today; even cooler than yesterday. there's a cool breeze and great cloud cover. i'm off to start working the slopey, temperature dependent (unless of course, you're super-strong like jimmy) black mamba (9/10). this is one of the problems i've been wanting to get on before i even came to hueco last year for the first time.

[photo added after this post: i made some progress; i believe i can do it, if my feet will stay on after each of the 2 moves that comprise the difficulty of the problem. i can hit the holds, i just have to keep the feet on. i know, that's part of the problem, but only less than 50%; so i'd say i'm doing pretty well for the first session.]

hasta...

THE JOURNEY IS OVER...

"each goal achieved is equally a dream destroyed"
-reinhold messner


waking up yesterday felt like a dream. it was under 50 degrees in the morning, cloudy, and windy. finally a respite from the unseasonally too-hot weather we've been having this past week or so. i was coming off a good 3 day run followed by a great rest day. i woke up feeling like there was lightning residing in my forearms. ...hopes were high; the conditions were good; and i was psyched.

it was clean-up day in the park, so by time we were done scouring the land for trash, after a couple hours my motivation was gone. since i was hungry and had no pressure of anticipation, i just totally relaxed and ate some food.

we finally got to climbing about noon by warming up on some classics in the warm-up area. ready to bump it up to something a little more serious after 30 minutes we got on the slopey/squeezy, powerful stinking jesus (8). after figuring out the best method john & max & i ran the train with this guy andy we met. it was good. the energy was building again.

after that we went to the ultra-classic, 4-star, left-trending highball hershey symphony (1). the climb hovers over a small chasm that's created by an equally angled rock that runs behind creating a "V" which renders the climb unpaddable, but super easy if you keep your head on you. a must-do! a must-repeat. i could feel more electricity in the air.

today was turning out to be a special day, i thought. one full of potential. but then i made myself stop thinking about it, and just enjoy it as it came, no matter what happened.

after that i went and hung out with john, max, and daniel as they climbed on some potential projects -both respectively hard- (sarah and the power of silence), while i rested and waited for a couple more hours until the temps cooled down and my project moved into the shade. i left them, to find ray & michelle on their last day here. i found another classic highball called cast iron (a sandbag 1, felt more like a 3) before i could make my way down "the chains" to the lost boulders . it was a little scarey since i was by myself in this small corridor. the crux is about 10 feet off the ground. it's a dead-vertical face with a commtting high foot off a slopey sidepull/undercling and another slopey dish/gaston to reach a 2-finger crimpy dish. after you get that, another reach on a smeary foot, to what feels like a sinker junk. then half a dozen more casual moves to the end.

the energy of the day was still building; now like a standing wave, ready to crash.

i finally met up with mike & steph, ray & michelle, and the rest of the red crew that showed up this week (roger, corey, matt, eric & jaime) in the martini cave. the sun was fading & the winds were blowing... it was "go time" and i was feeling good!




i had been on the route (i call it that because it is 20 hand moves, with 17 foot moves) my first day and remembered everything i figured out a couple weeks ago up to the first part (probably a 4 if it stood alone).





my first go i didn't throw far enough out of the huge sloper-undercling and fell (the first move of the crux); rested 10 minutes and gave it another burn.






next go i hit the sloper and bumped again to the crimp a little further out; made it to the pinch, got my heel up, and matched hands on the jug. all i had to do was bump my right hand farther out on the jug and swing my foot out. i must not have had the heel-hook in the slot b/c i just fell right out trying to move the right hand: no! a heart-breaker.



at that point most everyone was ready to finish up their day elsewhere and i was left standing under dean's journey (10 -easier if you're taller) with insufficient padding, having how fallen off the last possible place. then max and john and daniel showed up (thank god). so i ate a honey, cinnamon, banana sandwhich and rested 20 minutes before the next go.


the winds were picking up and the sun was retreating more into the mountains. i wanted it this time, and knew i was going to do it...
this time i got the heel to sink in the slot and weighted it...




i get my hands on the final jug and finally got my foot out. i was pressing into the bowl. i'll have to say to topping it out was unbelievable: i couldn't believe it: yes! i was ecstatic! yes! i had done it! woo-hoo! i was standing on top!


i was adrenalized, smiling from ear-to-ear, and the highest i'd felt in a long time (this high was the one of the most natural things i've experienced); with 2 days of work in and now accomplished of one of the hardest, cooleset things i've done.

i was planning on climbing today, but am deciding to rest and bask in the glory of this personal victory.


je suis heureux: i am happy.

FOR THOSE OF YOU JUST JOINING US

i quit my job back in november. i worked for lexington coffee & tea as a route salesman/ delivery driver for almost 6 years exactly. it was a locally owned small business that was great to work for, but i was ready for a change and ready for a move. so, seeing as how i was going to be in between jobs i thought it a good chance to use some hard-earned money i've saved to make a road-trip out of my in-limbo of employment and living situation. so i'm on a journey around the west before running out of money and finding a place to re-settle for a time. get a job, make some money, maybe go back to school. but most importantly, see the rest of the U.S. and climb in more and more places.

when i wasn't visiting my family the weeks of thanksgiving or christmas, i was climbing. i used a couple weeks in november and a few weeks of december to clean up some projects that i had in kentucky and down south (the southeast: tennessee, georgia, and alabama -although at HP40 the big one got left behind). i was able to climb with tommy and patrick a bunch, as well as dev and greg and kyle a little bit to during that stint. some FAs were made and some new lines were officially established, as well as many repeats of some of the hardest lines in the state. (forgive me for not going into detail for all the players involved). you can check out what's happening back there (along with other great, sometimes vaguely-climbing-related, exposition) at it came from the garage.

anyway, had a going away party and celebrated the new year, and made my way out here to western texas, just outside of el paso, at hueco tanks state historic site. you can google it to find a better overview of what it is since i don't really feel like writing a report on it. thanks for understanding.

so here i am. resting and relaxing. playing and pondering. loving life. and loving the freedom i have, for now, to do only what i want to do. i've met lots of good friends already here at the ranch and at the park. with more time left than what time i've spent here so far. then on to who-knows-where. flagstaff, joe's, maybe bishop (that seems to be the next hot-spot for march -and only for those of us who are at hueco and not out there in bishop with so many others that are having a great season so far). my plan is to end up in denver colorado; to play on the outrageous number of bouldering areas that surround it. will see what happens. here's a picture of the campsite from atop my van.

now i'm living out of my van. sleeping on bed i made to fit specifically for it. cooking out of the tail-end, and riding around with other climbers looking for boulders, burritos, and beer.

speaking of which...

let me tell you about the food down here. when we're not cooking mac-n-cheese, rice and beans, or making a pb&j we're driving 6 miles to el pasito. it's a little market (tiny actually) with a kitchen in the back with some booths. it's satisfying, super good, and only 3 bucks for a burrito with everything. also, we don't refer to it as mexican food down here; just food. cos, well, that's what it is for most everyone: food.

adios, amigos!

"DOES THAT BLOW YOUR MIND? THAT JUST HAPPENED!"

here's a havalina jaw-bone we saw on a rock art tour last week. there's been sightings of mountain lions in the park this season. this havalina was obviously food for something bigger than itself; and i don't know of any climbers that desparate for food, to illegally kill some hueco wildlife.

...

so, my friends. tendonitis has set in full-force on the left elbow. 2 ibuprofen sets the flame to embers as if the rain were to descend on a wildfire. i'm running out of time here before the park closes, so i will make this 2-day catch-up brief.

yesterday: didn't get to go to dean's journey, but did get to check out dean's other problem: dean's trip (the bane of my trip so far; the hardest 5 in the park). this one, they say, will single-handedly teach you how to knee-bar; apparently they're right; and apparently i didn't know exactly how to knee-bar until then. also the first time i've ever worn a knee-pad (my guess is, wearing a knee-pad is what they meant by "teach you how to knee-bar").



also did pfos; "you know, the problem over by baby face" (that's how everyone refers to it anyway (the full name is pumped full of s e m e n). you just don't get back to camp and tell everyone that's what you got today... was psyched about that though; i had to try hard at the end. fun, powerful, tense moves with a big throw to a half-pad flat crimp rail, big match and a tenuous, sharpest-crimp-i've-used-yet crimping top-out. they call it a 9, but probably not if you're taller.



























anyway, today did chris's arete (8) and mouise adame -probably the most fun and weirdest 7 i've done ever. then hiked to the summit boulders and did some highball 0s and 1s; and then stretched and took a nap in the sun.

this week is hot. i know i can't really complain, but it is a little warm for january and makes it a little hard to do some of the problems that are on my list. no worries though. happy to get the new stuff i've found and not fall off the top for once.

peace and love

FALLING FROM THE TOP OF EVERY PROBLEM I DON'T FLASH

i'm getting more accustomed to hueco it seems. up until this week i've been pretty sore after a climbing day, but today i feel pretty good (coming off of my first 3 day climbing stint; which went pretty well). not to mention last nite was the pimp's & ho's ball. (i'll let you know where there are pictures when they get put up).

as it goes you either dress up as a pimp or as a ho. i went with the former. there was much drinking and much dancing. after 4 glasses of sangria, shots and beer i ended the dizzying nite in a restful stupor. to my suprise i woke up feeling good, but going for a rest day seeing as how we have a big day tomorrow on north mountain with some friends from the red...

fast forward into the future... now is the day after i climbed which is the day after my rest day...

went out with ray and michelle and helped show them around the east mountain with steph. it was a fun day. flashed a long 5 called dragonfly: a 4 out of 4 star gem.












but as the story goes fell off the very top, yet again, of another semi-hard/semi-highball problem; this time it was dry dock (7), a slightly overhung big-moved power/compression somewhat blunt arete. [that's me sticking the first huge move; the left hand is on the starting hold] my 3rd go i fell trying to go out left at the top (which is for the shorter statured). 4th go i fell off the top trying to go out right (which is the way i'll do it when i get back). i did get two moves on full service, a reachy, powerful, good-slopey holded monster to the right of dry dock. full throttle is a sharma problem that links the two.


here's another pic of dry dock. it's not a very good one, but it shows you a little bit of the climb. the lowest hold on the right is your starting heel, and the lowest part of the huge chalked area is your starting right hand slopey pinch.



that makes three 7s and a 10 (which is easier for taller people) that i've failed to do in less than an hour or two, after having pulled through each respective crux. it's only my second week, so i'll be changing that mode of operation tomorrow when i go out with mike & steph and ray & michelle. i'm planning on cleaning up dean's journey and guns of navarone, while hopefully working out loaded with power, a knee-bar/somewhat beta-intensive problem of high-profile half-way up the mountain.

wish me luck!

"IT'S CALLED A BUM, JULES"

here's where i spend my cold desert nites (average of 30 degrees). this is the barn.

the interweb at the front desk of the tanks has been down for the last couple of days so i have been unable to post anything lately; and for that i am sorry. i'll give a couple photos here to placate your insatiable thirst for information, until i can get online before a climbing day when i haven't done 2 too many scary, highballls. this time a 2 or 3 and 5. all rad, but death-defying i tell you. . . deathdefying.

anyway, some pics and no big sends yet. motivation is hard to muster lately. too much rock -nay, too much good rock. i know, boo-hoo for me.

this is my friend dan on the start of an awesome highball 7 called guns of navarone that he did the other day. i fell off from 3/4s up, which is the top of the photo (there's 2 more moves and the top-out which are not visible in this photo). i'll be back to it next week.

here i am working my own special magic on aforementioned problem.

more tomorrow, hopefully. it's a rest day.

be good. lots of love.

"THAT'S THE WAY WE GET"

her name was natalie. i'll have to say the hour long massage she gave me was pretty good; never long enough though. as it goes for most climbers, i imagine, she told me i definitely needed another session: "one is just not enough. if i would have known how bad your back was i would have spent more time on it." so, since the offer for a free massage at the technical college stands until friday, i'm making plans with a couple other people to carpool out there. it's about 30 minutes from the rock ranch, but well worth it.

so the rock ranch. a bunch of land in the desert about 8 minutes from hueco tanks front gate. there are port-a-potties, a cooking "shed," a renovated barn to hang out in at nite, and a big circular gravel road with campsites all-along. it's pretty cush for the desert: there is a tv, vcr/dvd, microwave, shower, foosball, and mini-bar. i kid. . . not really: no mini-bar.

on the climbing front. went out on tour with this local named trevor yesterday [that's him in the picture trying to look mean], along with steph and jason. trevor took us around the end of east spur on a bunch of problems they put up this summer. so that was cool climbing on some stuff that's not even in the guidebook. we did flip, and, or, flop. flop was the hardest (got it 2nd GO), maybe a 5, i don't know; the others were 3s or 4s, maybe. super fun though. we also did an awesome squeezy arete problem/feature that came in around 5 or 6 named tremors (which i laid the flash down on- definitely "my style*"). did another real short power problem that came in around 6 on the sandmaster boulder.

got a dabbed ascent of a fingery big cross-over move problem named dune left (7?) (so i didn't really do it yet). the true line goes to the right as you come out from the overhang. all in a super-cool area that felt like an ancient indian world or something. you can see video of jason kehl doing the FA of dune at MVM online.

here's jason working a project that almost went today.

second day on today, we went all over west and east and east spur with another good crew. i didn't know any of them, so met some more new friends. met a cool girl named jackie, a funny, smart guy named kris (we call him beastie), and some other folks. pulled down another 5 flash walrus in a blender (i think), did that hi-pro glow (6) in a couple go's. got bouted on a 7 and another crimpy 5, and was super close on a rad problem called uncut yogi (6). ended the day (exhausted) on a highball 3 called rattlesnake tracksuit: scary, cruxy topout; i knew i was exhausted cos i was struggling on it. luckily i didn't fall.

ready for another rest day tomorrow. thanks for the comments; they are all appreciated. keep in touch and let me know how you all are doing.


*when i say "my style" it usually refers to a problem that relies less on finger strength and more on core, upper-body muscle/power. not that i'm very strong; it's just what i usually do better at.

AND NOW WE CLIMB

i went out for my first day of climbing on wednesday. it started slow. i was signed up for a tour at 9 and showed up 15 minutes early as is recommended and strongly urged. much to my chagrin there was no guide available for the tour, which was canceled. so i sat as the fifth car at the gate for about an hour and a half until there was availability for walk-in reservations on north mountain. while we waited, inevitably a hack(y sack) circle was formed and i met half a dozen new friends.

inside i serendipitously met up with with some friends i had met back in chattanooga a couple of years ago, along with the others i had met. we had a great crew and fun day all around. we warmed up on a couple v3 highballs and a couple 4s and 5s. to my surprise i flashed all of them. i had been off for 3 days during the drive across country and was psyched to climb anyway.

one of my friends chris is here and got me psyched on this rockclimb called dean's journey (the kids give it 10 points). i got shut down at the crux multiple times before finding better beta. the bad beta was fed to me from my great friend mike. he's a strong climber and a sort-of mentor, but he gets his left and right confused easily. so after he got on it with us we realized it was a key left foot and not a right. after i figured that out i made great progress. great progress meaning falling off the finishing jug! this was a big surprise for me even though i didn't finish it that day. i know i can do it next time i get back to north mountain because i fell three times in a row going for the jug, which is not the hardest move by a long shot. i don't know how i missed it a different way every time, but i did. and even though i didn't send it, i was pleased to almost bag my first 10, in a day at that, and my first day at hueco this year!

don't by any means take this as bragging. because i finished the day out flailing all over a v4 that everyone in the crew sent besides me; i couldn't even do the move in isolation. that's hueco for you (not to mention different climbing styles in general).

it was a good first day.

here's a picture from thursday, on our tour of east mountain. i was pretty much wrecked from the previous day, but managed to squeeze out a v4 flash and a classic v5 second go (hobbit in a blender, i believe) and got close on a 7-pointer (the name escapes me). once again, i got the snot kicked out of me on try hard, v4; so it goes.

today's a rest day. a new friend of mine from british colombia, alysha, and i are going to the technical college a free hour-long massage after coffee and internet. it'll be my first professional massage. i'm psyched to say the least; i would also say it's long overdue.

DAY TWO: LA SAGA CONTINUE: STROKE OF BAD LUCK

what a monday:
i'm up at 7am for an oil change and out the door by 7:30; on the highway by 7:40 and into 3 hours of freezing rain by 8. . . priceless

welcome to texas...?

first of all, i didn't realize it was cold in texas. ever. sure this acknowledges my ignorance, but it should go without saying that most people probably think the same. which again acknowledges another kind of ignorance, i admit, but i wouldn't have a good lead into this post without it.

i probably accumulated about an inch or so of ice on my van during its (the freezing rain's) duration, which would have been considerable even for kentucky. as it turns out the ice was the least of my worries.

the first of my stroke-of-bad lucks happened a couple hours into the frain (obvious portmanteau of freezing rain). my car stalled out while i was cruising at 70 mph. technically it was still running, the engine was just getting enough fuel to keep it idling- nothing more, nothing less. it was more like a wash of bad gas, i imagined, creeping into the engine -or water that froze -or something like a gremlin hiding under the hood, wreaking the first of many purported havocs.

after 5 or ten minutes of cleaning ice off windshield and wipers, and poking around under the hood like i know what i'm doing to any passerby (which only really included making sure my belts were still attached to their appropriate "wheels") i get back in and do the next logical thing: try again that which previously was not working and i push the accelerator to the floor. this time it rushed fuel into the engine and vvrroooomm! wow, i thought, whatever i did worked! (note to self: don't break my arm patting myself on my back). so i was back on the road and roaming free.

enter again, the gremlin... and again. and again. after another couple of times of the engine virtually stalling out (though still barely idling), pulling off to the side of the road and poking around under the hood at nothing, inconsequentially, i break down at an actual exit with actual gas stations and restaurants. i wait again just long enough for the engine to decide it likes gasoline, and get it to a service station. of course at this point it's not acting up and the mechanic is at a loss to help me only beyond what the computer in my '97 chrysler town & country lxi can tell him (which is barely better than what i could describe to him what was going on when the gremlin was acting up. barely, just barely; i don't want to fain superiority here).

long story short, i am the proud owner of a new fuel pump and fuel filter. most people might have guessed that's what was going on (i had an inkling), but when it's your vehicle you kind of tend to think the best until it's too late. so here i am traveling half-way across the country only 2 days into my journey-come-adventure. luckily it wasn't too late for me and i'm not stuck in the middle of west texas in the middle of the nite waiting on some trucker to pick me up, hoping he's not one of those guys they'll make a movie about in a few years on down the line.

i finally pull into mike & steph's apartment complex at about 10:30pm in el paso, texas.

this is basically what i wake up to the next morning as i climb out of my van. . .

tuesday i take it easy. . .

wednesday i climb!

DAY ONE: LE DÉPART: STROKE OF GOOD LUCK

so i left lexington, ky on sunday january 4 at noon-thirty for the greater reaches of big sky country out west. hitting memphis in the evening brought storms, and a flashing "your battery is dead" light coming at me from my captains chair... good timing.

i was 6 or so hours in i guess, and making good time. excited for unprecedented living (i've lived in the bible belt for the entirety of my 32 years and was finally leaving the nest of the great southeast) and ready to hit little rock, arkansas and bed for the night. it didn't look like i'd make it that far.

i pulled off in benton, found a wal-mart, and parked under a lamp-post in case this was as far as i'd make it for the nite. i'd gotten as far as i could (comfortably) on what was left of my tank of gas and was ready to see if my battery was in need of a written requiem. i'd learned how to check to the alternator by taking off the positive terminal while the car was still running, and sure enough the alternator was good; that was stroke-of-good-luck number one. stroke-of-good-luck number two came after i turned the car off and upon attempting to restart it, it did just that: it restarted. the crazy dead-battery light went off and i was free to roam.

i overshot my original stop-over, driving around 15 hours that day and made it to fort worth by 4 am and slept next to an NTB awaiting a gravely-overdue oil change early the next morning.

crisis averted. . .