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...
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