B² Productions | Climbing Blog

It was still raining the next morning. The clouds totally obscured the tops of the mountains. We were glad to be on our way again. Don’t get me wrong, I really liked Boulder, but the near constant rain when you want to climb is pretty draining. I was excited for Moab though. The weather forecasts indicated a better outlook for our arrival. We packed up the car in the stare road rain, and headed off on the next leg of our journey. A new state beckoned (our sixth of the trip). We got out of the city quickly, and before long were heading up the winding roads towards the Rockies. I’d done this drive before, the previous year with Snoo. It is pretty stunning. The thick could cover took the edge off a little, but the higher we got, the clearer the views became. Before long, we popped out of the Eisenhower tunnel and started our descent down towards the state line. We crossed into Utah and the landscape totally changed! The lush, snow covered rockies were now far behind us, and stretched out in front was miles of desert. You could be forgiven for thinking that Utah is fairly unimpressive as far as scenery goes (and to begin with, it does have the same dull, southern New Mexico styling) but luckily, we had an ace up our sleeve. Pretty soon after crossing the border, we swung off the I-70 and, ignoring the protests from Tom-Tom joined Highway 128. We briefly pulled over to mount the video camera out of the sun roof in preparation for what was to come. The 128 winds its way slowly down towards Moab. It’s by no means the fastest road, but it definitely is the most scenic. Before long, we were down in the heart of the valley. Massive, red walls and pillars of desert sandstone soared up either side of us, getting more impressive with every bend in the road. I’d been down this way before, but it was all new to Benny. I remembered how I felt when we first drove down this way, and he seemed to be experiencing the same now. It still blew me away however. Like Yosemite, photos and video really don’t seem to do these vast landscapes the justice that actually being there does. We stopped a couple of times to take photos, and we pointed out various landmarks to each other. The silence and sense of space is incredible. I really like this area of America, and the 128 is exactly the sort of classic road trip road you want to be heading down.

The Beast on Highway 128 (Check out the sweet additions!)

We rolled into Moab and headed down the main strip towards our hostel. We’d been recommended this place by Aaron in Boulder, so we thought we’d give it a try. I wasn’t really sure what I was expecting, but it turned out I was expected a bit more than I got. To be fair to the place, it was fine, but it was most definitely a hostel, which comes as a bit of a shock after having been in hotels. What it lacked in quality, it made up for in value – it was dirt cheap! We decided to go with it, and crammed the stuff we needed into the room, stuck the AC on, and decided to make the most of the evening by heading straight out bouldering. The engine of the focus was still warm as we fired it back up and hit the road again. Moab, like many towns in the western United States, basically consists of one long strip of a high street, with a grid of residential streets crossing the main street. It’s a really cool, town and it has a real outdoors-y, bohemian feel to it. One thing that sets Moab apart from a lot of places is the lack of chain outlets. Sure, there are some (McDonalds, Burger Kings, Best Westerns etc) but largely the place seems very independently owned and operated. I think this has something to do with why I feel so welcome and at home there. It’s a little island of chill in a very stiff, starch, up tight state.

The view from Big Bend (Click for a larger version)

We made our way out of town and back down the 128 the way we had come, for about 7 miles. Big Bend is a great little spot. Sat right on the edge of the 128, in the heart of the valley with the river running close by. By the time we arrived the sun was just starting its descent into night time, and the temps were dropping to bareable climbing levels. It felt good to be back there. I had lots of nice memories flooding back of the previous year when Snoo and I had ventured down to see what was there. With no crash pad and no guide book, we just messed around on things that looked do-able. This time we were armed. We had pads and guidebooks, and we were fitter and stronger than the previous year. We began the session warming up with a few V0’s and V1’s on the Black Box Boulder. There’s some really cool problems on there, with all kinds of variations on the perfect, crimps and sidepulls. It felt nice to be moving across the rock with the sun on your back. Unfortunately, getting straight onto fairly heavy duty crimps without warming up is not the wisest of ideas. The middle finger of my left hand started the all to familiar bruised sensation of a strained tendon! Not the start I had hoped for. I tried to warm my fingers up the best I could, while Benny went and sussed out a cool V4 traverse called Trail Traverse on the Trail boulder. Starting from a sit start on good crimps, you make your way right, along a series of ok pockets with very little for your feet. Benny was making pretty short work of the middle section with some deft heel hooks and crafty foot work, while I found the whole thing a lot more difficult. My balance and positioning on the holds was all out of whack, and I soon found myself getting irritated and frustrated with myself. This is never a good situation for me to get myself in, so I decided to step back from it and just spot Benny while he gunned for the ascent. I didn’t take long. After working out an impressive looking, near horizontal reach through move, and some more impeccable footwork, he had linked up the trick moves on the pockets on the rail into the ending. A couple more attempts and he had the entire thing done! Excellent effort – he would do well on the desert sandstone.

Benny on Trail Traverse (V4)

We were both starting to feel pretty tired by this point after the long drive, but not too tired to check out the massive Chaos boulder which sits smack in the middle of the Big Bend area. We were drawn like moths to a flame towards a great looking line on the corner which a guy and his girlfriend were trying. The line turned out to be called ‘Circus Tricks’ (V4). The guidebook informed us that this problem had been “sandbagged” (graded lower than it’s difficulty suggests). Despite the fact we were tried, it certainly felt very tough for a V4! From the sit down start, you have to make a heel hook up next to your hands, before pulling up hard to the next couple of holds on the arete. As the muscles in my legs started it seize up, it was becoming increasingly hard to make the move, and to get my heel to stick in place. We decided to have a quick couple of burns on the moves towards the end. These were super hard too! The problem wasn’t too high, so you could work the ending quite easily. From standing you could get two good, deep crimps, and with your left foot up on a high, large ledge, make a big move up left to (sort of) undercling on the arete. There was very little there to hold, but with enough body tension, you could just about stay in place. I got this move after a couple of tries, but Benny found it a lot harder. The arete was just out of his reach, which meant he had to cut his feet every time. Holding the arete and the one remaining crimper became increasingly difficult here, and he was struggling to stay on. Although I could make the move, I was stuck with what to do next. There was a distinct lack of footholds after the initial good ledge, and I was finding it difficult to hold myself on long enough to move anywhere. It was becoming clear that Circus Tricks would allude us for tonight, and as the sun finally disappeared, we packed up and headed back to town for dinner in the micro-brewery called Eddie McStiffs (which would become our daytime home for the next few days) and some well earned sleep.

The clouds hung low over the mountains in Boulder again. Low, and incredibly threatening. We’d used our only real rain contingency plan the previous day with our visit to the Spot, so we weren’t quite sure what to do with ourselves. The clouds and damp were enough to put you off climbing, but they weren’t anywhere near as much of a hinderance as our now ravaged finger tips! I hate to sound like a broken record, but it was a repeating problem. A lazy breakfast was in order, followed by another stroll round the town. We drove out a little way to a open air mall type place which promised us another outdoor store. We wandered slowly round browsing in various shops with no real agenda. We sat and sipped at smoothies from Jamba Juice, and I found a pair of Sanuk-equivilent-Sketchers for a bargain price. The climbing store offered yet another poor range of climbing shoes, so we cut our losses and headed back to the hotel.

Ben chilling in Jamba Juice

As the skies opened properly for the first time that day, we decided to put our free time to good use. We’d been shooting all this footage, and I’d been managing to dump some of it over the course of a few evenings – it was time to put a new video together! Our new Ford Focus was fitted with Sirius radio. This turned out to be a God send! We’d managed to find an Elecrtronica/Chill Out station called Chill XM, which played nothing but pretty much constant climbing video music. We’d kept a pen and paper handy to note down all the new artists which we would usually have had to scour the internet for being delivered right into our laps as we covered the hundreds of miles between Hueco and Boulder. So, with new music sourced it was time to get to work. The fruits of that afternoons efforts has already been posted on here, but here it is again…

We were getting slicker now. Granted, the video is only six minutes long but I was still pretty impressed that we managed to turn it over and have it uploading in just over three hours. It was a rest day well spent in my opinion, and we certainly earned our slap up dinner at Red Lobster! After dinner, we got packed up and rounded the night off with a few games of pool in the hotel. As a full blown storm set in for the night, we were ready to leave Boulder and head on to our next destination – Moab, Utah…

It was a cloudy day in Boulder, Colorado. The clouds that had been threatening the previous day were still around. The decision was made for us – We’d head to the gym! Not just any gym though – The Spot. The place where big names like Daniel Woods and Alex Puccio regular crush the holds to dust. It was gonna be cool. Also, our fingers were wrecked. We were still suffering the after effects of Hueco Tanks, and pulling down on the tiny crimps and glassy, sharp pockets up at Flagstaff hadn’t really helped matters. The Spot offered nice, forgiving plastic. We had a bit of a lazy morning, before getting a late breakfast. Before we went climbing we decided to have a little bit of an explore round the town. Boulder proudly boasts the only flagship, dedicated PrAna store which was far too tempting to pass up, so we decided to make that our first destination. I was still on the hunt for shoes, so en route we swung into REI. Another disappointing selection of climbing apparel! We had a quick look round and then returned to plan A. We parked up near where we’d been the night before and wandered around the quiet, manicured streets of Boulder. Boulder had a really nice vibe, the sort of vibe which would be achieved if you injected a few hundred thousand pounds into the North Laines in Brighton. It was well scrubbed up and presentable, but still with an underlying streak of Bo-Ho chic. We found the store and wandered around, trying things on and generally feeling a little overwhelmed. I managed to find a T-shirt I’d seen online and subsequently fallen in love with. It’s been added to the collection. I also picked up a cool pair of lightweight climbing trousers. A pretty good haul I thought.

Once the shopping was done it was off to the Spot. We found the place without too much difficulty and it turned out to be not far from our hotel. After the general signing-your-life-away rigmarole, we were ready to go. We’d been in touch with Aaron from the day before, and he came down to meet us. The previous nights fun and games seemed to be wearing heavily on him though, and he was a lot more lethargic than the previous day. The Spot is a bouldering specific centre (with a few token top ropes thrown in for the kids), with a couple of cool, freestanding boulders in the centre. A long wall runs along the back which finishes up with a pretty high cave roof. There were holds all over the place, and it took a while to get our head around following the coloured tags from the holds instead of the colour if the holds themselves. I liked the Spot instantly. It was chilled, the staff were friendly and were playing good music, The problems were fun and they even had a slack line! However, my one huge gripe was the convoluted grading system. I don’t want this to turn into a grades rant, but seriously, there’s enough systems in the world to contend with without adding a new one into the mix – especially one that seems (to me at least) to make no real sense! For bouldering, I think America have got the best, most consistent system with the V grades. All crags in the states use this, and even the Castle has now moved primarily over to it from the British Technical. The Spot seem to have created their own which, possibly unsurprisingly enough, involves the use of spots with pluses and minuses, and a variety of initials to dictate the use of features etc. The ranges started at 3 spots for a V0/4A or B up five +’s with all kinds of variations in between. It really isn’t a big thing at all really. I’d like to reiterate that the problems were super fun, there was no problem there, it just struck me as odd to complicate things with a new system when a more reliable system is already in place and I’m sure used by all the staff whenever they head out to any of the great climbing spots around Boulder.

Benny on one of the freestanding boulders in The Spot Gym

All thoughts of weird grading systems was soon eclipsed by one of the coolest things I’ve seen in a climbing gym I’ve been to: Boulders you could top out on! It’s nearly impossible for me o go to any climbing gym and not compare it to The Castle – it’s my frame of reference, but The Castle could REALLY do with one of those boulders! Top outs are one of my weak points when I get on real rock, and it would be so cool to have some way to train for that! The Spot has exactly that! The boulders are featured, but not too heavily which is good, and they are also pretty high, which helped to over come some of the fear of topping out high off the ground. After working around some of the cool problems we saw on the back wall (not completing many due to fatique, but still having a good go) we moved onto one of the big boulders. We found a cool project straight off. I’d say it was around V4 or 5 (I have no idea what it was in Spots). It started by getting established on a couple of pretty good crimps, before making a big move up to jug. The next couple of moves felt totally impossible to begin with – A reach back to a high gastone with your left hand, then dropping your weight onto that arm, and catching a side pull underneath. Benny was pretty solid here from the start, but I kept popping straight off! Soon though, it started coming together. The key was a mix of body tension and footwork which took some figuring out. Projecting boulder problems is one of my favourite parts of climbing. It can be hugely frustrating too, but we were making regular progress so the excitement remained. Benny made the next big step – basically a backwards dyno to a big sloper with a little SOS on the top to catch! His feet swung right out and it took a lot of effort to hold it. I tried the section up to there and managed to make the move too – The next part was tricky though. We began linking up to the dyno from the start, but holding it took a huge amount of effort, and close as we came, we’d have probably needed another, fresher session to link through the last few moves to the top. We decided to leave that problem after working it for about half an hour. We didn’t move far though. Benny found a cool problem on the arete just to the right of where we had been. This was really fun too, but very different in style. From an easy sit start, you worked your way up, either side of the arete on slopers. It was super fun as well, and right up my street with a load of big, throwy moves between slopers. We didn’t manage to top this out either, sadly, but it was fun to work all the same.

After that we were pretty spent. We did a few easish problems to warm down and then made our way back to the hotel. By the time we’d chilled out, we couldn’t be bothered to go anywhere else. We decided to explore a bit more of what the Boulder Outlook Hotel had to offer. We donned our trunks and headed for the pool. The hotel had a cool leisure area in just off the lobby, with a pool, spa and most impressively of all – a climbable boulder! We didn’t really make the most of it though, as we were too busy splashing around in the worlds coldest pool! To balance it out though, they also had the worlds hottest spa. We alternated between the two until we couldn’t take any more and went back to shower, change and return for some dinner and beers in the bar, and the first of what would become a regular event, a pool marathon (my pool skills have certainly improved over the course of the trip, even if my climbing hasn’t…).

We had to hit the road early, we had big miles to cover to get up to Boulder, Colorado. 740 long miles. It’d be our longest drive so far. We said our goodbyes to Charles and bought our token Hueco T-Shirts. It was sad to be leaving, we had enjoyed the freedom of the ranch and we’d be back to the confinement of hotels for the foreseeable future. We hit the road west back into New Mexico, we’d been told that there were often border checks on the roads out of El Paso but we didn’t come across any. We turned off the highway a few miles into New Mexico and headed north towards Albuquerque. The miles ticked by slowly, the barren desert passed by the window. We laughed at a town called Radium Springs. We drove. About an hour into the drive we hit slow traffic, cars ahead were being diverted through a building on the side of the road. What’s going on? We crawled up the slip road, past ominous looking cameras and sensors. Ah, border control – not where we expected it, but shouldn’t be an issue. Shouldn’t be, but it was. Most of the cars we could see in front passed through without issue, the cop stopped us however and instructed us to wind down the window. “Documents?” in a thick Mexican accent. I handed him my EU driving license. “What’s this?” he spat. I thought he was going to chuck it on the ground. Our passports were in the trunk, it’s fair to say that there was a bit of a communication break down at this point. We got out of the car, unloaded our cases onto the floor, I caught a glimpse of the tailback now forming behind us. I couldn’t see where it ended. I found my passport pretty quickly and proudly handed it over. The cop inspected it, and told me to take my hands out of my pocket. Ben couldn’t find his passport, and by now all our stuff was spread out on the road. The cop had a sudden brainwave and instructed us to pull into a lay by next to the office, we repacked all our gear and moved the car. I waited whilst Ben again rummaged around for his passport, this time with the company of two other burly and surly cops. I’d like to say this story ended happily, but as I write this from a filthy Mexican prison, it’s hard to do so…

I jest, Ben eventually found his passport and we pushed on towards Albuquerque. Ben’s laptop had broken the previous day, so we planned on swinging by the Apple Store there to try and get it repaired. The rest of miles where predictably boring, broken up only by a fuel stop in the ‘Chili Capital of the World’. Albuquerque soon appeared over the horizon, and first stop would be a geek stop at Starbucks to get some wireless so that we could find the Apple Store. Turns out that in Albuquerque getting an internet connection is not as easy as just rocking up to a Starbucks, but rather involves slyly parking outside of an Arbys and stealing their connection. We got the address and where on our way again. We found the Apple Store easily enough. While Ben and one of the very flamboyant Apple Genius’s got better aquatinted I checked my emails and had a browse around itching to get on the road to our actual destination, Santa Fe, about 70 miles north. I was soon informed by Ben and his new friend that I’d now be staying in Albuquerque that night instead. Ben couldn’t get his Mac looked at until the next morning at 10am. We used the Apple Store internet to book a hotel for the night and headed up to the Best Western.

We passed Santa Fe the next morning, Ben now had a working laptop, the sun was out and we were still a good distance from Boulder. Winding up into the mountains, it was immediately obvious that the north of New Mexico is quite a contrast to the south. It’s really lush and mountainous. It does make the drive easier when there are nice surroundings to gaze upon. Rest break. Springer, in hindsight not the best choice. A one horse prison town with a weird petrol station. We stocked up on doughnettes and water and made a hasty retreat, vowing not to stop in any other strange towns.

We didn’t stop at any more strange towns. But we did stop. In a massive traffic jam, pretty much from Denver to Boulder. Just what we didn’t need after a day of hard driving. We crawled a snails pace towards Boulder, the rain was on and off, massive storm clouds coming in off the mountains. It took us about two and a half hours to crawl the 30 miles or so of highway. We drove in to the carpark of the Boulder Outlook hotel tired and hungry, and got checked in. The Boulder Outlook is actually a pretty cool hotel, at least it’s the only hotel that I’ve been to that has climbing boulders next to the pool.

The next morning, we drove up to the climbing shop in the hope of tracking down a guidebook for the area, Colorado was a bit of a wild card in our travels in that we didn’t really know where we were going to climb. We’d probably just pay it by ear. The climbing shop was closed, we were there at 9:30 and it didn’t open til 10. We decided to head across the parking lot and pick up some water and snacks. Heading back across the car park we saw a familiar sight, bouldering pads and a couple of guys hanging around waiting for the shop to open. We approached them and asked where they were heading, they replied that they were heading up to Flagstaff up in the mountains. They said we were welcome to join them and we jumped at the chance. We hung around until the shop opened, bought the local guide book and followed Aaron, Adam and Chris up into the hills. The first spot we hit was a small area with one massive rock and a few satellite boulders scattered around it. We started off on a smallish

Aaron's Dyno

boulder with a few easy (but sweet) V0’s and 1’s that Aaron recommended. We then moved over to the large rock, which has a big long high face with quite a few problems on it. We had a go on a great V3 called ‘Consideration’, I felt it was tough for it’s grade and it took me around 5 or 6 tries. The top out was pretty dicey as it was quite a lofty problem. Ben had a few attempts but got shot down in the same place each time on one of the crimpy moves near the top, meaning pretty scary falls each time. Next up was a small roof problem called ‘East Overhang’ (V2) with a juggy start and a really technical top out. Next door to this was a crazy dyno, not in the guidebook, but previously sent by Aaron. Aaron gave us a demo and stuck it on his 3rd try, it looked awesome. He was also trying an extension to the problem by starting on ‘East Overhang’ and traversing around the corner to get set-up for the dyno. However it seemed the initial traverse sucked that extra bit of power that he needed for the dyno, and he couldn’t quite stick it. Ben and I had a fair few goes on the dyno with Ben coming really close to sticking it, and me a bit further from sticking it. Had we both spent a bit more time on it, I think it would have been possible.

Aaron wanted to show us another area further up the mountain, so we walked back to the car and headed further up the twisty mountain road. Occasionally through the trees we caught glimpses of the stunning view looking down towards Boulder and Denver. The next spot looked really cool with big imposing boulders scattered around on a steep hillside. We walked up towards the first rocks and one problem immediately caught my eye, a crimpfest up a near vertical spotless face. Aaron told me it was a V8, a bit outside of my grade, but I had to give it a go – so he gave me the beta. Ben and I gave the sit-start a go, and whilst it was intensely hard it came together pretty quickly for us both. The next move would prove to be the first crux though, whilst crimping a small edge with the left hand you need to make a huge static move out right for a tiny side-pull edge. Using a crazy high left foot I surprised myself and managed to stick this move, it was a pretty scrunchy move so Ben started to look for another foot placement for this move. After this, the problem is straight up on another couple of terrible edges to a good edge right below the lip. I felt excited now, it seemed possible. After another couple of goes and I was on the upper section, searching for a foot hold to make the move up to the good edge, if I could just get a good enough foot placement. Damn. Back down on the ground. I had a few more goes, getting slightly higher each time, and it felt like it was within spitting distance, the crimps had taken their toll on my right index finger though, gradually slicing it’s way into the flesh, which was now bleeding. The marginal edges would have been impossible with tape on, so I had to give up. I was a bit gutted, but at the same time I had made some good progress on a V8 and it really felt like it might have been possible.

Benny on the V8 in Flagstaff

The storm clouds were beginning to roll in off of the Rockies by this point as they often do in early summer, so we headed further up onto the hillside to a juggy lowball boulder with some easy fun traverses and straight-ups. I think the altitude had gotten to us by this point as we were both shattered, and even the easiest problems were feeling difficult Aaron told us that it took him months to get used to the high altitude when he first moved to Colorado. We arranged to meet Aaron later that night for dinner, said our goodbyes and headed back to the hotel. It had been a good morning.
We drove down off of the mountain headed back to the hotel. We swung by The Spot on the way back for a quick look around and vowed to head there for some indoor climbing the next day. After a bit of relaxing back in the room, we walked up to Southern Sun, a nice bar/restaurant with it’s own microbrewery to meet Aaron and Chris. I won’t go into great detail, because I don’t have much memory of the night. But it involved a lot of food, even more beer and a long walk. Everyone was going to be a bit worse for wear the next day but I was pleased to be in Boulder as I fell asleep that night.

The next day was our last in Hueco, for now. We were tired and our fingers were sore, but we were determined to make the most of it. The previous evening, when we’d been down to Asylum Crack, we’d seen a big, long boulder at the very top of North Mountain. This was ‘The Mopboys’ and would be our destination for this morning. We were back in the park again early and we made our way wearily (still worried about Rattlers) to the foot of North Mountain, just opposite where we had been the previous night. The hike up to The Mopboys was pretty much a boulder problem in itself. We had to scrabble up a mish-mash of steep slabsas we zig zagged our way to the summit. By itself, this wouldn’t have been a problem, but when you factor in having to carry up the pads and the rest of the gear it becomes a lot trickier! We got to the top before too long, and started getting set up. It was a very sunny day, but hugely windy in our exposed position. The Mopboys boulder only had a handful of problems on it, but it looked cool. There was a huge array of Huecos all over the place, and many of them were really positive. We’d spotted a couple of good, V1 warms that started next to each other, but finished on the same lay back crack to the top. We despatched these pretty quickly, and decided what to do next. At the very right hand end of the boulder was ‘The Mopboys Taverse’ – a 3 star V6. The problem was long. Very long. But about two thirds of it was made up by a section of excellent Huecos, which would provide good rest points. However, we never got that far to find out! The problem started from a sit start on good holds, behind a small tree. From there you made a couple of fairly easy moves before have to make a big throw back with your left hand to a bad crimp. Benny seemed to be able to deal with this move better than I could, but eventually I found the right position to hold it. The next was a really intense cross through move to a small, sharp side pull crimp. It took e even longer to get this! The body tension required was a lot, and it was a tiring move. We worked this for a while until our fingers couldn’t take anymore and decided it might be a good time to try something else. Luckily, we had something in mind.

Benny on the Mopboys Traverse (V6)

Directly opposite was a problem we’d seen online called ‘Lithologic’ (V4). It was a cool looking problem on the roof of a small cave. It was easy to spot – there are two bug, juggy holds at the start and they were a brilliant white colour against the blank, holdless expanse of the rest of the roof. We arrange the matts as best we could on the sloping landing section and started sussing out the moves. The roof part is essentially five or six moves to the lip before, what looked to be an easy-ish top out. There are few foot holds at the start, so I just took to campussing the first three or four moves to get matched on the second jug. The first part felt good, but then it got tricky. On the video we watched, the guys doing it were using all kinds of elaborate foot swaps to get them to the lip. I couldn’t seem to see how they made this work. I did however find a sequence that seemed to work. There is a big, shallow sloper which I could jam my right heel into, almost up level with my hands. It felt weird and uncomfortable at first, but as I got my confidence up I found that I could actually stick the small edge just round the bulge of the lip with my right hand. There was also a crack which runs long the ceiling, with one pretty good crimp near the base, and a pretty bad (yet still chalky) one towards the top. We experimented with that for a while but I couldn’t seem to make it go. Time and again I hurled myself at the lip, sticking the move 80% of the time, but then coming unstuck when I had to move my feet. Unfortunately, the way I was doing it seemed to out my hands the wrong way round for the top out. There was a good hold further out right which I tried bumping too, but couldn’t seem to make the stretch. Benny was struggling too. He had been trying the move to the lip in a similar way to me, but never seemed to be able to stick it. It was a fun, but frustratingly hard problem. As the sun rolled round over head, the temps started getting hotter and our fingers started getting sorer. We’d been in the park for about four and a half hours by this point, but the effects of the previous five days were starting to show. We decided to call it a day. We packed up our stuff and made the hike back down the Mountain to the Car Park.

Ben on Lithologic (V4)

We were going to make a decision later about whether or not we’d head back into the park for the afternoon when we were back at the Ranch. When we got there however, the lure of cold beers and movies was too strong to resist. We didn’t make it back to Hueco Tanks that day. We chilled in front of the TV for a while and started to get our stuff sorted out for the two day stint if driving ahead of us. I loved Hueco, but we were both ready to move on. We needed a few days off, and some civilisation again. Plus, we knew we’d be making another flying visit at the end of the trip, so our Hueco adventure wasn’t over quite yet…

The next day was to be our earliest start yet. Trying to beat some of the heat, we left the Rock Ranch at around 7:40 and made the short drive to the park. When we arrived, the gates were still locked. We sat looking at the view over North Mountain and waited. A few minutes later a ranger arrived and we were the first people into the park. We signed in and up at the pond parking lot about ten minutes later. We got loaded up and began the hike along path towards the lower chains and out towards Daily Dick Dose. Benny was slightly ahead as we wandered along chatting, until all of a sudden he stopped dead and had to pull up short to avoid walking straight into the back of him. “You ok?” I asked, before I realised why brought on the brisk halt. In the middle of the path lay, coiled up, a snake. It didn’t take long for it to dawn on us what sort of snake it was either. To be fair, it did drop us some pretty big clues, particularly when it coiled up into attack position and raised it’s rattle up over its head! Unsurprisingly, we beat a hasty retreat! I’ve never been so close to a really dangerous, wild creature before and it did scare me up! We got back to the car, and we were both noticeably shaken up. We’d been the first people down that path of the morning and obviously disturbed him from his morning sun bath. We decided that the right thing to do would be to tell the rangers, so we drove back to the ranger station and informed them of what we’d seen (we also made the judgement call to ignore the “advice” from one of the other park visitors in the centre to “just bite it back…”). We soon saw a couple of rangers head out the way we’d come, and we followed them back to the parking lot. We gave them about a five minute head start before we gingerly made our way back down the path again. We passed the rangers as they were heading back out empty handed, and told them again what we’d seen. Apparently, the cave near the lower chains is where a lot of Rattlers hang out, and they have been known to make their way onto the path. Something to be aware of if you find yourself in that part of the park first thing in the morning!

Benny back on Daily Dick Dose

The rest of the trek across the park was uneventful, although our senses were heightened to each every noise! We made our way across the meadow, sticking rigorously to the paths and steering well clear of the long grass. We got up to Daily Dick Dose again, and rested for a few minutes while Benny recounted what had happened for the camera. It was soon time to get down to the business in hand, and we started working the problem again. The previous afternoon, we’d watched some videos of the problem in order to try and glean some valuable beta. Snoo (back in London by this point) had sent me a link with an alternate start to the problem, which involved laying back the opposite way to Benny, and having a foot up on the hold he uses for his left hand. I tried this unsuccessfully a few times, but eventually managed to stick the move upto the next handhold. It’s still pretty tricky from there though, as you need to bring your right foot up next to your right hand, and make a big move back to the good undercling! I still found this really hard, despite repeated attempts. I think flexibility is something I need to work on. Benny tried the problem this way for a few attempts too, but decided ultimately that the heel hook way is better suited. After having managed to link the first three or four moves together at on our previous visit, he was keen to get the whole thing, and was confident that if he could make it to the undercling it would be in the bag. After around an hours worth of off and on attempts, he managed to do just that! Looking solid from the start, he got to the undercling quickly. A controlled cut loose at the lip was held, and made his way up the good face holds to the top. The ascent came seemingly out of nowhere but was hugely impressive! His first V7 in the bag, and three star classic no less. Excellent work! It was getting on for 11:30 now, and it was heating up. Despite being in the cave, it was still hot, and as I continued to throw myself at the problem, the holds were getting increasingly hard to hold, despite laying up the chalk. I decided I needed to let this one go for today, and make a conscious effort to train the required weaknesses, should we return soon. We packed up and made our way back into the park in search of some more classic problems. We headed back down the chains and out towards Bloody Flapper (V4) – another 3 star classic. The name was slightly off putting, especially to Benny who’d given himself exactly that in Bishop, but we thought we’d have a look at least. The sun was right on the problem when we arrived. It was hot and exposed, but we tried it anyway. The problem starts on a toothy, in cut crimp, and a good side pull, with high feet, up to a heavily chalked up, triangular sloper. Or so we thought. Later research has shown people totally skipping that hold and making a dyno up to the good rail high above – I personally wouldn’t have believed this move had I not seen it on video! We gave the problem a good short, but found the sloper increasingly harder to hold. The midday sun beating down into our eyes didn’t really help either, and after about another hour we admitted defeat and decided to head out of the park for a while, and get some lunch at the Rock Ranch.

Ben G's fingers after five days on in Hueco!

Charles was around when we got back, and asked us what we wanted to do about settling up the accommodation. We thought this was as good a time as any, and headed off into town to get some cash, and chill out. Our fingers were really starting to hurt by now, and we were both sporting impressive looking blood blisters and big chucks of absent skin. Maybe five days on with only one rest day were taking their toll. So, we made the drive up into town, got some cash and food supplies and then visited a nearby Starbucks. I purchased a $5 Starbucks card which gave us access to the internet, and so we stayed there for an hour or so, browsing the web and sipping ice tea. It was nice to hide out in there, making the most of the air conditioning. In hindsight, we’d lucked out, weather wise, in Hueco. The rain and cloud cover had kept things cool, but now the skies had cleared and the heat was stifling. We made our way slowly back to the Rock Ranch and decided what to do with ourselves for the rest of the afternoon. It was starting to get late now, and it had been a long day. At about 4pm we decided to go back to the park for one last blast of the day. We were going to look at another classic, the 3 star ‘Asylum Crack’ (V3). We got back to the parking lot, got loaded up and wandered round at ground level to the problem. By the time we found it, it was almost 5pm which only left us an hour before the gates shut again. We sussed out the moves, and the problem did look cool, but neither of us seemed to have the energy or enthusiasm to try it. We called it a day and went back to the car and to the Rock Ranch again. The place was deserted when we got there, so we spent the evening cooking, watching movies and enjoying another beautiful sunset. We hatched our plan for the morning too. On our way to Asylum Crack we’d seen the long bulge of the Mopboys onto of the hill. It looked cool. There was also another cool looking V4 up there called Lithologic which we’d seen on YouTube earlier in the day. So, our destination was set for the following day. All that was left now was to get some rest, and hopefully re-grow some skin…

Another Rock Ranch sunset. (Click for Larger Version)

After an intensive 3 days of climbing, Sunday morning soon rolled around and Snoo and Ashby were packed and ready to head home to England. We loaded up The Tank and set off for El Paso International. We stopped on route to fill up with fuel, Snoo and Ashby weren’t the only ones we would be bidding farewell, for The Tank was too big for mine and Ben’s needs (and we could do with something that didn’t drink fuel like it was going out of fashion). We arrived at the airport in good time. It was sad saying goodbye at the gate, we’d certainly miss Snoo and Ashby over the coming days.
Heading back up to the Rock Ranch in our newly acquired Ford Focus (from hereon named ‘The Beast’), we bought some ice cream and talked about what we would try over the next three days at Hueco. We spent the rest of the day kicking back watching DVD’s at the Rock Ranch, Ben cooked up a storm in the kitchen producing a beautiful Spaghetti Bolognese.
The days had steadily been getting clearer and we were in for some hot climbing days. The sun was blazing the next morning as we drove to the park, our plan was to head out to the See Sharp boulder and try A Minor(V2) and Be Flat(V4). We parked up and performed the daily geek ritual of blogging, twittering, facebooking etc and headed up onto the mountain. See Sharp wasn’t too much of a hike and we were soon presented with a impressive slightly overhanging wall with perfect crimps. On the far end was A Minor(V2), a short problem up some good crimps to a nice sloping top-out. Ben was soon shoed up and ready for an attempt, after an initial mistake with hand placements, he went on to send the problem easily. Following Ben’s beta, I made an ascent soon after. Next on the list was Be Flat, a couple of grades harder, but it looked doable and worthy of some time spent. It immediately became obvious that Be Flat deserved it’s extra grades, we were struggling to get off the ground from the sit start. Ben spent some time working the sit start and eventually found a good foot placement on the incut at the base of the rock. This meant that he could hit the next hold, though sticking it would be another matter, the crux moves we’re definitely low down on this problem. I had a few more attempts and began to make some progress using the same foothold as Ben. After a few goes I could stick the move, a big throw left and up to an incut crimp. As I went for another go, crack!. The good foothold had broken off. Bugger. Had we just added a couple more grades?
Ben sat down to figure out an alternative start, as it turned out the broken hold had revealed a new (and better, according to Ben) foothold underneath. Phew, it still might be possible after all. The sun was starting to appear over the boulder, so things would be getting to hot for this crimpfest soon. Ben was making good progress by this point and sticking the first couple of moves with relative ease. Until. Crack! Another hold now just a pile of dust on the ground, this time around there were no new holds, just choss, a spanner in the works. In the meantime, I had already been working an alternative start, as the new foothold put the next move out of reach for me. We didn’t have any choice but to put a foot up on the face, making the sit start even more strenuous. We were now both stuck with the harder sit start, with a right foot high on the face. I eventually began to stick the first move and get my feet in position for the next hard move, a big span right to one of the better holds on the problem. From there it’s a move straight up followed by a big move to the top – it’s not technical just big. I threw for the top and my legs swung out behind me. I had a good hold on the lip and topped it out without too much trouble, cool, first Hueco V4. I felt like I’d earned it on that roasting hot morning too. Ben carried on for a few more tries, but the heat meant the friction just wasn’t there now.

Next up was Skimmer(V3), a bit of a wildcard as we didn’t have a photo, just a two line description. We made the hike to the top of the mountain and had a look around for the problem. It’s not the easiest to find, as it’s set down in what is essentially a hole in the rock. We soon found it, and were glad we had. It looked like a great problem, with big side-pulls and good rails, like something you’d do in a Gym. Ben made short work of the problem and I followed shortly after. A definite classic.
It was past midday by this point, and approaching unbearable heat, so we made the hike down off the mountain and headed back to the ranch.

After a bit of lunch and some fluids for rehydration, we had a flick through the book looking for a project for the afternoon. Ghetto Simulator(V2) was our choice, listed as a 4 star classic in the book. Being on the far side of North Mountain, and not accessible from the perimeter path, it would be a long hike in. We headed back to the park, up the chains past Nobody Here… and across the meadow. As we reached the summit we could see Ghetto Simulator in the distance, a long way away and over rough terrain. It took us about 30 minutes to get to the problem and it was immediately clear that this thing was a monster. A row of big perfect huecos running diagonally up and right to the crux, a crimpy set of moves to a tricky and scary top out. If it wasn’t for the fact that there is a neighboring rock that backs onto the problem, the top-out would be about 35 feet off the ground. As it is, it feels safe enough to not use mats. Very unique. It feels more like climbing a route rather than a boulder problem. We started working the moves and made good progress, on the lower half it’s all about not getting too pumped for the top section. I had a good attempt and made it up to the crimps, but had got the sequence wrong halfway through the problem meaning I was too pumped to top-out. I practiced the middle section a few times to get it wired. Ben, having had tried only the first few moves previously, went for the send. Climbing the lower section with effortless ease he had plenty of energy left for the crux. He powered though the crimps throwing a big scary move for the top, and topped it out. Great work. With time ticking before the park closed and 30 minute hike out, I’d only have a couple more attempts. Luckily I did it on my next go. What an awesome problem. We hiked made the hike back and got to the car before closing time, exhausted.
We’d be doing it all again the next day.

The next day signaled an end of an era. It was Snoo and Ashby’s last day in the states with us. We all had pretty mixed emotions – it had been an awesome trip, but it was sad that this portion of it was coming to an end. On the plus side, the sun was shining and it was a much nicer day than the previous two. With our spirits lifted by the weather, we decided to make the most of the last day with the four of us in Hueco Tanks. Ashby was really psyched to try and send Nobody Here… before he left, so we made that our goal for the day. We headed to the park and hiked our way up the chains again, and stopped at the Small Potatoes for a warm up. While we were doing a handful of V0’s and V1’s, Benny had his eye on a steep, overhanging arete pretty much next to Mrs. Potato Head called And a Bag of Parts (V2). We threw the matts down for Benny, and tried our best to spot him on the awkward landing. On his first attempt, he made it to the end of the overhang without too much difficulty, but due to a tricky hand sequence, had to abort before the top section. After a short rest, he tried it again and made a quick ascent, making a solid, yet scary looking move from the overhanging arete onto a similarly thin slab version. A very positive start to the day!

Ashby on Nobody Here Gets Out Alive (V2)

By now, Ashby was itching to get back onto Nobody Here… so we gathered up the stuff and made the short hike across towards the edge of North Mountain. Ashby was straight back on the problem, and gave it a couple of good burns where he managed to get to the edge of the roof again but couldn’t link it the whole way through. While he rested in between goes, me Benny and Snoo went round the back of the boulder to another problem, a short, crimpy V1 called The Dud. Snoo had a couple of goes, but was struggling to make the big move to a crimp from the scrunchy sit start. Benny and I both sent it after a couple of goes, by which point Ashby was ready to try Nobody… again. After some initially reluctance, we finally convinced Ashby to try the top section, coming onto the slab and up, in isolation from the rest of the problem. Trying the section from a standing start helped him figure out the moves he needed to make in order to get established on the bottom of the slab from the roof. Doing this helped with the mental side of things as now he knew he can physically do it – he just needs to put in the start! Simple. And it turned out to be just that – he got back on the problem and went straight up the whole thing! As he stood at the top grinning down at us we all congratulated him on a job well done! Now it was time to start a new project. We gathered up our stuff and headed across the meadow to Daily Dick Dose (V7).

Benny on Daily Dick Dose (V7)

We scrambled up the tricky approach and dumped all our stuff down. Benny and I were both psyched to try the problem, although Benny was far more confident about getting it a than I was. The first few moves are pretty tight and require a lot of body tension. We placed the matts down, and so began the project. Benny was trying the start the way we’d seen on videos with his left hand out on a bad gastone, his right on a crimp, and high right heel hook pretty much next to his hand. This seemed to work pretty well for him, as he could hold his weight in this position and, after some experimenting with shoe combinations, he could move from this position to he next hand hold. Although he couldn’t stick it at this point, he was making good progress. Sadly, my progress wasn’t so quick. I tried it Benny’s way a few times, but due to the the nature of the placements and my long limbs, I seemed to get tied up in knots and would just deck out onto my back! Very frustrating. I scouted around a few times for alternative footholds lower down which would keep me a bit more stretched out. I found myself a few (just about) ok foot holds and proceeded to throw myself at the next hold. We were both going for a tiny crimp, and although I could latch it, and after a while hold myself up on it, the footholds were just slightly too low down meaning I cut my feet, and the roof of the cave was so low that I couldn’t keep them up off the ground. Very annoying, and proof to the statement that I make to many non-climbers that my height isn’t necessarily always a bonus in climbing. I stuck at it regardless though, until my fingertips were too sore to carry on. Benny was still making progress, but the fatigue of three pretty intense days on was beginning to show on him too. We decided to call it a day. We hiked back across the meadow, over to and down the chains and back to the car. Ashby and Snoo bid Hueco goodbye for now and we headed back to the Ranch.

As it was Ashby and Snoo’s last night, we’d decided to go out for dinner. Charles at the Rock Ranch gave us a recommendation of a good Mexican place on Montana Ave. where he used to work called Rancho Escondido. We all showered and changed and headed up there. As it was Ashby and Snoo’s last night it wouldn’t have been fair to make them drive, and since Benny is a sucker for a Margarita it was down to me to be the sober, designated driver. We headed to the restaurant, and from the road it looked pretty non descript (and also, quite closed). We did finally find the entrance round the back, and we were treated to a really lovely, tardis like restaurant inside. As promised, the food and drink was great. Charles also arrived as we were finishing dinner and he joined us for more drinks. Benny must have sunk about 5 Margaritas (as did Snoo) and Ashby wasn’t shy of a few Buds either. We had a lot of fun as we joked and reminisced about the trip with Charles. We needed to head up into town after to get some supplys from WalMart (not the classic post drinking destination). Just because we were in WalMart didn’t mean the fun had to stop, however! Benny and Ashby got hold of the shop mobility scooters from outside the store and started racing them (albeit at low speed) around. Amazingly, no one said anything as they crashed their way up and down the isles, and I was left in their wake in a hysterical, laughing pile on the floor! So, so much fun. A perfect last night and a great way to top off our first two weeks in the states! I couldn’t wait for more to come!

Keen to get back in the park, we were all up and ready early again. We’d been delayed the previous day by the red tape of forms and videos which we needed to sit through before we were allowed into the park which we could pretty much bypass today. Our rough plan of action was to head up the chains again, and work our way back towards Nobody Here… so that Ashby and Snoo could work the problem further, but going via the Gymnasium area which we’d been recommended the day before. The clouds were over head again, and it looked like it was threatening to rain again so we needed to be quick. We hiked up to the top of the chains, and warmed up on a few easy problems on the Small Potatoes boulders before making our way towards the Gymnasium. Similarly to Sign of the Cross, getting to The Gymnasium seemed to be a boulder problem in itself. The way we’d been told to enter was through a crack between two huge faces, which was littered with chock stones. It was no easy feat to get in. We had to form a bit of a chain gang in order to get all our stuff through, and utilise some creative smearing, chimneying and full on body jams to get through and over of the stones. It was a little too close to caving for my liking, and I was far from comfortable with the whole thing. After a great team effort, we and all our stuff was in and we were ready to start on some problems. The area was basically one long wall which was littered with Huecos, dishes and pockets as far as the eye could see! We lugged our stuff down into the middle of the of the wall which was the lowest part, and we started on some V0 problems (Solid Pleasure, World without Lawyers and Jimmy Hats on Parade) to warm up. Just next to the series of warm up problems were two V3’s, split by a black water streak. Benny and I started looking these over and trying to suss out the moves. The first, Only Little People Pay Taxes (V3) was to the right of the water streak, began with a sit start on good Huecos for both hands and feet, with a big move up to shallow dishes, the bottoms of which sloped away making for really hard, bad crimps! We made the first couple if moves ok, but no amount of elaborate footwork, pulling, pushing or flat out throwing ourselves around seemed to make the the next move up to a high edge any easier! Benny and I must have spent the best part of an hour, if not more, working this problem and not really getting anywhere. We turned our attentions to Rhymes with Rich (V3) on the other side of the water streak. The first few moves on this were better, with some crimpy moves up to a good rail, but there was another big move up to the lip which we were still struggling with. Finally, we decided that we’d had enough of the Gymnasium area, and decided that we should make a move onto some more classic problems. We wrestled our way back out through the crack to the main path, and headed back up to Nobody Here… again so Ashby and Snoo could continue their project.

Both Ashby and Snoo were really determined to do Nobody Here…, and when we got back to it, they both fired up to get started. Snoo mainly began working the big throw back from the thin rail to the lower hand holds at the bottom of the face. The high feet she needed did make the move harder, and although she came close to latching the handhold a few times, it was just a bit too much of a stretch to keep her feet on. This didn’t prevent her from trying it over and over though! Definitely a great effort. Ashby also made some good solid progress too, and managed to link the roof section all the way to the lower part of the face, but came a cropper with getting established on the slab. After a while, Benny and I decided to make the short hike across the meadow to have a look at the V7 classic, Daily Dick Dose, which was another problem we both wanted to have a stab at. We left the other two to it, and wandered across through the long grass, and hiked our way up the low boulders to the cave which houses Daily Dick Dose. We sat under the roof and looked at and felt out the holds. We pretty much knew the sequence pretty well from watching videos online, but it looked a lot different up close. We spent twenty minutes or so discussing our plan of attacked and decided to come back the next day and give it a crack. By this point, the clouds were starting to rear up again as we scrabbled back down to the meadow and headed back to where the other two were still plugging away on Nobody Here. Ashby was getting pretty close by this point, but also quite tired. It didn’t look like he was gonna get the problem today – especially as the rain had started to fall. Before too long, the heavens had opened and we were sheltering from under rocks from another downpour. As we sheltered under the rocks, we flicked through the guidebook to try and decide what to do next. As the shower started to let up, we gathered up the stuff and made a quick, yet cautious exit down down the chains towards the Martini Roof.

Benny on Baby Martini (V6)

When we eventually found the Martini Boulders, it happened again. I was star struck by a piece of rock. It’s a weird experience that hadn’t happened to me before until I saw, and touches the holds on the Mandala in Bishop. When you watch and absorb as many climbing films as we do, it’s hard to explain, but getting into that cave was like being at a Hollywood film premier, and all the stars had turned out. To my left was the mighty Esperaza (V14) which I’d watch Chris Sharma try and send many times in the film Best of the West. Sitting underneath it, and feeling out the holds for real gives you a real sense of how much of a phenomenon Sharma actually is. There’s barely anything there! Incredible. The cave is totally full of classics. Esperanza is a 3 star classic. Deep in the back of the cave was the 4 star Left Martini (aka Shaken Not Stirred) which also features in BotW and the other 3 star problem which we’d come to try, the V6 Baby Martini. This was another problem we’d had our eye on previously, and one reason we’d spent so much time in the Catacombe at The Castle. Baby Martini is a fairly long, intense roof problem along a line of good Huecos. We threw the matts down and Benny gave it a shot. It was hard for us to judge where to place the matts as Benny moved along the problem, especially as none of us, including him knew the exact sequence! We got a harsh lesson when his foot popped off a hold and he decked out hard onto his back, inches to the left of where the matt was. Luckily he came away being only a little shaken up and a bit bruised, but we knew we needed to up our game on the spotting front! We laid all the pads out in a line, and I gave the problem a go. I felt pretty solid on the holds, but when you’re on the roof, it’s awkward to know where to go. After a while, Benny and I began to work our the sequence and we could both link to what seemed to be first crux – a big reach back to a bad pocket. The hold itself wasn’t too bad, but the big stretch back made it hard to keep your feet on. We worked the problem for a while before we were too tired to pull ourselves off the ground. It was looking like it was threatening to rain again, and we were all pretty hungry too by now. Plus, we had a hot date with the big box of Buds back at the Rock Ranch so we decided to knock it on the head. Packing up the gear, we made another careful descent down the chains and back to the Ranch…

Waking up the next morning, the clouds hung low in the sky. It certainly looked like it might rain and threaten our first day in the park. Determined not to let that happen, we had a quick breakfast and headed out towards Hueco Tanks. We won’t bore you here with the process you have to go through, to get into the park (you can find plenty of disgruntlement elsewhere on the web). It’s not actually too bad, and 30 minutes later we had access to North Mountain. The rain had held off so far, and the temperatures were good.

A view of the clouds from the Rock Ranch

First stop was the Warm-up Boulder, it’s a nice area with some good problems, however things are starting to get a bit polished. It would keep us busy for a bit though. Snoo, Ashby and Ben started off on Decent Warm Up (V0-) on the main face and both made short work of it, I had my eye on Barnstormer (V1). It felt hard for it’s grade, mostly due to the fact there are no footholds down low and you pretty much have to campus the first few moves. Ben then came to join me on The Butter Dish (V2), whilst Snoo and Ashby headed off to check out the rest of the boulder. The Butter Dish is a cool problem, starting from a couple of shallow underclings, with a big move up to a good rail. Then it gets a little unnerving. You make a big move up to a shallow, smooth, sloping hold with a small edge at the back of it (the butter dish hold presumably). Then You dig your heel into the large rail before rocking over to a good jug, before a scrabbly (in Ben’s case) top out. The top out would be totally fine, had it not been for the overgrown tree which you have to maneuver round to top out. The problem is super fun though, and Ben and I soon despatched it after a few attempts.

Next I wanted to try the 3 star classic Thunderbird (V1). Thunderbird started in the same place as Barnstormer but instead of traversing up and left, you go straight up a crack to the top. It’s cool as you start with cool, power campus moves at the start, sand then it quickly changes to a technial, pretty balancey problem at the top. Two flashes from me and Ben. Definitely worth it’s stars. Meanwhile, Ashby and Snoo had sussed out a cool looking Hueco Jug-fest problem called Bitch Magnet (V0). Snoo, after having some initial footwork issues, was making good progress as was Ashby. Despite it’s low grade, this problem is trickier than it seems. Like many walls in Hueco, you’re confronted with a ton of holds but not all of them are good. It sometimes takes a while to suss out the decent holds and work the sequence accordingly. Ashby soon managed to link the whole thing together, and Snoo, after having to figure a slightly different sequence wasn’t far behind. The weather was looking ominous still, and a few spots of rain started to fall. The one place we’d all just taken for granted that it would be sunny and scorching hot and sunny would have been Texas, but apparently not. Sigh. Undeterred, we pushed on further into the park in search of more classic problems.

We hiked up the rock towards the 3 star Memento (V1). To get to it however, we had to squeeze us, and our stuff through a small cave which housed another 3 star problem Sign of the Cross (V4). Ben and I couldn’t help but take a minute to suss out the line, and decided to come back and give it a go after we’d visited Memento. Once we were out of the cave, we found Memento quickly. The line is quite high, with a nice series of edges and crimps before a good top out. The landing was pretty dodgy, but with a crafty array of pads it wasn’t really an issue. The fact that all four of us flashed it also rendered the slightly ropey landing null and void. Four flashes and four very different styles and sequences, but we all agreed that it was a cool problem. Next it was back to. Benny and I were now keen to get back to Sign of the Cross and give it a try. We squeezed all our stuff into the cave, and while Snoo and Ashby tried a problem called Lughead (V0-) on the adjacent wall, Ben and I cleaned off the holds and tried the first initial moves. And boy, did we get shot down! The problem starts, matches a couple of ok holds, with a big move up to one of a possible two crimps. The wall bulges out however, and it was hard to keep your feet on the starting holds. Time after time Ben would make the first up to one of the higher crimps, only for his feet to cut and his left hand peeling off the lower hold. I was struggling to even get established that far. Sadly, no amount of elaborate footwork seemed do any good, and we decided after about half an hour to move onto something else.

We hiked across the (incredibly ugly) dam which cuts across part of the park and up towards to the chains. At the top of the chains we were greeted by the Small Potatoes  boulders. There seemed to be a lot of cool looking stuff here, with holds and chalk beta all over the place. We had a quick look through the guidebook and found a few things which looked like they could be fun. Snoo and Ashby started working Chive Sucker (V0) while Ben had his sights on cool, slightly overhung problem called Mrs. Potato Head (V1). After a couple of attempts at sussing out the low footholds he made a quick ascent: Four or five intense moves through crimps and edges to a solid top out onto a triangular flake. I followed behind with a flash ascent, before Ashby and Snoo came to join us. Ashby had a few attempts, but suffered with the same low foothold issues that Ben did. He decided to rest of a miniute, and while he did, Snoo stepped up. Pulling down on the starting crimps, she worked her feet high, pulled down hard and made the reach up to the next good, left hand hold. Looking solid, she popped for the lip and got it! We cheered he on hauled herself up and over the top for a flash! Excellent work! We were even treated to a little celebration dance at the top. Ashby then got back on the problem, and made a quick ascent too. As we sat and chilled, a couple of a locals guys wandered past on their way through. They stopped and chatted for a while and recommended we checked out the Gymnasium area, the entrance to which it turned out, we were right next to. We made a mental note to work that into our itinerary while we were here. After they left, we packed up and continued along the ridge, stopping to look at other classic lines, like the mega high ball, See Spot Run (V6) and one of many Fred Nicole Hueco test pieces Bare Foot on Sacred Ground (V13)! As we continued towards the edge of North Mountain we found one of the problems that Ben and I had been obsessing over for months: Nobody Here Get’s Out Alive – A four star V2! There aren’t that many four star problems in Hueco Tanks, but the ones there are are, obviously, world class. Nobody… is certainly that. When we got there, the guys we’d seen early were trying it. We tossed our pads into the communal pile and they stepped aside to let Ben have a go. He spent a minute or so sussing out the sequence before jumping straight on. This problem is right up his street: A horizontal roof, big holds, big moves and heel hooks galore! You could tell he was excited! Sitting down at the starting jug, he pulled and hooked his way through the hoof, getting to the point were it turns through 90 degrees into a steep slab to the top. Getting matched on the low hand holds of the slab, he threw his heel up onto the big rail, made the huge rock over and before you knew it, he was at the top and happy! I got on next and made another flash ascent, utilising a few more excellent holds which Ben hadn’t really needed due to the extra reach. Charles at the Rock Ranch had said that Nobody… had pretty much been built to be climbed, and it certainly felt that way. The sequence is tricky, but fairly obvious, the holds are all there and all solid and it flows so well. It was so cool to be on it at last. Ashby and Snoo both got on the problem as well, but both ran into problems on various moves. Ashby was struggling with some of the foot work to get established to the big throw back to the end of the roof, and Snoo, who made it through to that point, didn’t quite have the reach or strength in her arms to make the reach back. They both worked the problem for a while, until the black clouds started to roll in over the horizon. Not a good sign. A couple of minutes later and the heavens had opened, and thunder crashed over head! We gathered up our stuff and fled for cover under a nearby roof. The downpour was huge, and massive channels of water ran past all around us. We decided it was probably time to call it a day. We waited for a break in the rain and a dash for the car. As we made it back to the Rock Ranch, the thunder started up again and we were treated to a downpour like nothing we’d seen for a long time! Stair rod rain, hail stones the size of marbles, thunder and lightening crashed down for hours, and watched out of the windows as the previously desert landscape was flooded.

The sunset as seen from the Rock Ranch (Click for a Larger Version)

With nothing else for it, chilled out with some beers and climbing magazines while Ben prepared dinner. As we ate, we watched the excellent climbing feel ‘Spray’ and longed for dry conditions. About two thirds of the way through the film, Ashby sprang up like a Meerkat and urged us all to look outside. The rain had subsided, and the sky was an incredible firey orange! The storm had treated us to the most incredible sunset to over the mountains. Cameras were hastily grabbed, and we rushed outside. It was still raining, but that didn’t stop us. Sheltering under the hatch back boot of The Tank we watched the sun drop over the mountains. A few more beers later and it was time for bed. We were all psyched to get back to the park, and we all had our fingers crossed that it would be drier. It couldn’t get much wetter…