Climbing and more Climbing

In the last month we've been getting out to Socorro a fair bit. Linda started working on a really good route there called Bat out of Hell that is quite sandbagged at 5.11d. With all the trips out there I found myself a little project in a new route to the right of the Demon. It even fit in with where I was in training, an easy start up to a hard boulder problem with holds that are all decent size but oriented the wrong way or far apart and topped with a romp to the finish.

It took me 2 sessions on TR, though the first was on self belay, to figure out how to do the boulder problem. Then on a third day I went back, bolted and climbed the route in a couple of tries, I decided to name it Devil's Plaything. Good thing too because it is starting to get too hot out there. We made one more trip out to Major Wall and Linda wrapped up Bat out of Hell, here is Linda finishing out here successful ascent.

At some point in this whole time Mark (aka: Monomaniac) and Kate came out and I headed to the Enchanted Tower for a day with them and their 1 year old. Mark and I got on Child of Light which has really cool movement but exploits all my weaknesses as a climber (shallow pockets and high overhead shoulder moves). While Kate got to run several climbs and get used to climbing outside more. More about it HERE in their blog. 

We managed to get in a trip to Hueco this past weekend. We had made reservations for volunteer tours only to find out that most of the guides left at the end of the week and no volunteer tours were going out leaving us waiting at the gate to get in. We got lucky the first day and some friend that were in line ahead of us knew a guide that was already in the park and was able to come out and get us on his tour. On the second day we checked to see if there was a guide for the tour we had signed up for then headed to the Rock Ranch to set up a commercial tour which is expensive ($20 per person vs. $4). We managed to get on one of their tours and it happened that another group from Albuquerque was with us. Here is a shot of Dylan doing some "V-5" bouldering, as one person on the tour described this wall.

 And Richard, from ABQ bearing down on the start of D.I.G. which is a fun but painful problem that I flashed years ago and Richard flashed on this day. I highly recommend taping your tips if you get on this problem.

Anyway, dealing with Hueco as always turned into a big hassle. 

On the other hand Today I made it back out to Socorro with Dylan and a friend, Karl to put up another new route. Yes, it is now too hot to climb, at least anything hard in the sun there, but this was an easier and friendlier route than the last. The end result is HERE I have not decided on a name yet or know if there was a previous one for the line, but it is another nice option to warm up on for future visits. 

Weekend at Hueco

The trip to Hueco Tanks was pretty good. We stayed at a Hawthorne Inn and Suites, got a pretty good room rate. The hotel had a great hot breakfast with waffles, eggs, potatos and some meat along with everything else you'd expect from a normal hotel breakfast.

On Saturday we went out on a tour with everyone, Mike T, Lori, Chris and Treva, Jake, JC, Vino and Dane. We started out at the Maze where everyone gave Jiggsaw Puzzle a load of tries with a few sends. Then we headed up to Flower Power which several people got on. I did Je Suis Wedge which is one move to a difficult nut crunching mantle and Pirrelli which is another mantle. Next up was Moonshine Roof which Linda spent some time working on with everyone. We finished the day off at Meddle Detector which I managed to repeat, great problem with big moves on big holds out a 45 degree overhang. Dylan was very good all day, just playing and having a blast. The wind picked up towards the end of the day as is usual for the time of year and was pretty brutal as we were walking out. Dylan only managed to nap once we were back in the car driving to the hotel.

On Sunday we stayed on North Mountain and met up with everyone at the Warm-up boulder an quickly headed to Asylum Crack which is fun except that the crux is not lowering yourself into the boulder behind the problem halfway up. I finished off a project that I started a few years ago which is a low start to a V2 to the right of Asylum Crack and is possibly an FA though I doubt it because it is on North, it's not that hard and it is listed as a project in the guide book, but who knows. Anyway, it is really fun and somewhat intimidating as the crux section comes with the same boulder that you have to avoid on Asylum looming behind you if you blow it. Next we headed to Donkey Head which is a problem that Linda had done in the past but it took a lot of work. She managed to repeat it this time in just a few tries. We left a little early so that Dylan could get a good nap in, leaving the park at about 3 in the afternoon, Dylan napped all the way to Socorro, a good 3hr+ away, only waking up to glare at the boarder patrol check point guard.

We made it home a resonable time after stopping in Socorro for dinner and to let Dylan walk around a bit. Yesterday the busy weekend showed as Dylan took another 3 hour nap in the afternoon.

Here are some shots of Dylan as we are getting ready to thead to the car,

And walking to the car to head home.