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Silas giving mama a High Five for a Hueco season well done

Well, we are officially finished with Hueco for the season. Some really nice cool temps stretched just barely into May this year, which was a treat. And our grand finale was a ~2 week vacation with our good friends Jen & Brian and their little climbers Seb (6 years) and Oren (4). A first-time Hueco trip for them, all the way from Pittsburgh. Showing newbees the classics is just so fun.

Overall, both Paul and I are extremely pleased with this year’s season, especially given our latest family addition. A lot of people have been asking me if I’m surprised at how quickly I got back into shape. No, I’m not surprised. But I reason it’s because I have an overly ambitious (and most of the time, completely unreasonable!) mentality when it comes to climbing. “v10 by fall? Heck yeah!” (I’ve been convinced of that for about 2 years now, haha). I don’t really seem to get too bummed out when I don’t reach my goals, and I get damn strong trying, so it all works out. :-)

As for Paul, he’s just been demonstrating his regular strong-Paul-self. Who would have guessed that taking most of last summer and all of the fall off from climbing on real rock outside would have fueled him to accomplish his biggest season’s ticklist ever?! Go figure. Cause I haven’t yet. Perhaps he can thank P.T.A. (”Pain, Torture, & Agony” training).

So let’s tally our highlights, shall we?

Me:
* Repeat of Nobody Here Gets Out Alive, v2 in December, Silas’ 2nd month old
* Repeat of Skimmer, v3 in January, Silas’ 3rd month
* Repeat of Lithologic, v4 and Be Flat, v4 at Silas’ 4th month
* Repeat of Lobster Claw, v5 at Silas’ 5th month
* Repeat of Namedropper, v3
* King Cobra, v6 at Silas’ 6th month
* Gums, v2
* Repeat of Schadenfraud, v5
* New Religion, v7 in May, Silas’ 7th month!!!

Paul:
* Repeat of Left Martini, v10
* Dean’s Journey, v10
* The Governator, v10
* Full Service, v10
* Power of Silence, v10
* Free Willy, v10
* Repeat of Loaded with Power, v10
* Flying Marcel, v10
* El Techo de los Tres B, v11
* Schwerer Gustav, v11
* Diaphanous Sea, v12
* Barefoot on Sacred Ground, v12

This list will be fun to look back on someday. :-) And finally, I’ll share some end of the season pics. Beware, “Silas Cuteness” contained in the following:

Jen’s send of the v3 country classic Sign of the Cross

Brian showing off in front of the fam on Daily Dick Dose, v7

Jen’s turn to show off. Daily Dick Dose, v7

Silas chillin’ in the campground

Paul and Silas on the top of North Mountain

Father & son

Paul entertaining the kids

The kids: Seb & Oren

Silas in the trees

Brian working Glass Roof, v9

Seb & Oren goofin’ around

Seb showing daddy how it’s done

Jen trying New Religion, v7

More Seb & Oren cause they’re so darn cute

Jeff & Raquel cruisin’ on Jeff’s super cruiser

The Hueco locals: Jeff, Mike, Raquel, me, Silas, and Paul

posted by arr

If you’ve ever climbed with us you’ve heard us say, “One more try…” Well, we made one more trip to Hueco this last weekend and “one more try” is all it took for April to tick off her next goal. April’s goal is one V-grade per month as Silas grows. Congratulations to April for ticking New Religion, v7. Now v8??? The clock is ticking…

A recap of our season at Hueco and some more highlights still to come…

April getting her feet setup on New Religion, v7

Hands setup for the crux dyno

Going big

Still going…

Stuck!

To all those who say the season was already over…they should have been at Hueco yesterday. On May 2nd we were dressed for winter weather and some crisp sending conditions. I ended our rampage with a send of Flying Marcel, v10!!!

Me, moving along the traverse on Flying Marcel, v10

Linking into Babyface

On the way to sending. btw my fingers were frozen at this point. It was soooo cold

My buddies all bundled up

Posted by pjv

This is a long standing project for April which she can finally add to her tick list. Congratulations!

Click on the picture to play the King Cobra video

Posted by pjv

My friend Raquel got the proudest send of the weekend when she mastered the crimp challenge of See Sharp, v6. This climb travels up a beautiful wave feature on some very bad crimps. It doesn’t look that hard but I dare anyone to try it. Just try it. Go ahead. It’s sharp and with the slightest imbalance you’ll find yourself standing on the ground crying in pain. It takes technique, balance and strong fingers to tolerate the sharp crimps. If you can master those elements then you’ve got yourself a proud send.

Click on the picture to play the See Sharp video

Posted by pjv

April is secretly working some projects so no major ticks to report from her end just yet. She is busy cleaning diapers this week since I won our little weekend bet. Here are some of the points I scored to win:

I can’t convey how big this send is for me. I’ve worked this thing on and off for a long time but never got serious. Over the last few weekends I got serious and I got it! Another four star classic, ticked.

Power of Silence, v10

This one went down quick. I knew when I figured out the moves late last Sunday it would be a matter of coming back fresh. And, that’s all it took. A nice roof with a bunch of powerful moves. My favorite style.

El Techo De Los Tres B, v11

My buddy doing baby crunches getting ready to send

In-between climbing play time. Life is perfect.

Grab the crimp. Free Willy, v10

Go!!! Free Willy, v10

GOOOOO!!!! Free Willy, v10

Soooo close. Free Willy, v10

This is why it’s addicting. This is where I ended late on Sunday. I’ve never been able to reach the finish hold. Now…it’s sending time. Can’t wait to go back.

My buddy checking out the texture

posted by pjv

Next up is Dragonfly, v5. Congratulations to Tom on the flash! Have a nice weekend…

Click on the picture to play the Dragonfly video

Posted by pjv

For starters, the climb called Full Service on the Hardman Rock is described by the Hueco guidebook as a mega-classic. It’s been over 3 years since we’ve gone on a tour to the East Mountain area of Hueco so I figured it was time to add this one to my tick list. I knew the beta and feeling stronger than ever, I pulled on and slipped off….whoops! Then I pulled on and sent! It may be my favorite v10 ever. You can hear Silas cheering for me in the background, or he was just excited because the trees were blowing. Probably both. Enjoy.

More to come…

posted by pjv

The “crew” went to Hueco this weekend. The sending was insane. Trip report coming soon. …with video!

Last weekend marked the first of many at Hueco for us. We’ll be spending a lot of time there over the next couple months…including an extended stay with our Pittsburgh friends, Brian & Jen & little Seb and Oren. This is what we’ve been training for, and so far….well, so good.

First up for the weekend was my request to go to the New Meadow. I have a silly little goal of ticking a grade for each of Silas’ months. v2 when Silas was 2 months old (just *barely* scrapped my way up Nobody Here Gets out Alive!), v3 at 3 months, v4 at 4 months, and so on. Well, he’s 5 months now so I tried to repeat a v5 gimme - for me, anyway. I’ve probably done Lobster Claws at least 30 times. And yes, Saturday I did it again. Wooo!

Next up was some work on my first real project I’ve picked out (post-Silas), King Cobra, v6. And based on my performance on it, hmmmm, this climb may go down sooner than expected (hopefully before Silas turns 7 months so I don’t blow my silly little goal, haha!)

Then it was on to Raquel’s obsession, See Sharp, v6. For those of you that have been on this climb, you know I mean when I say “dang it’s a feisty one.” Not very tall, not very steep, and not very hard-looking. Uh yeah, until you touch the holds. Raquel though, is totally styling the moves (and the heinous crimps! Yow!). Styling so well in fact, that her performance on it has lured me in too. I, however am *very* far from ticking this one. Go Raquel! This one’s your’s girl.

Next up on the list, a little clean-up action by Paul over at the Terminator area. As you might recall from our last Hueco trip in January, The Governator, v10 was close to going down. And it did, first try. That was too easy Paul, you need to get on something harder. ;-)

Which brings us to the final highlight of the weekend: Alma Blanca, v13. Paul’s new project. Stay tuned…

My two boys. Ready to hit the road and head to the boulders.

Raquel styling See Sharp, v6.

Paul trying to look as good as Raquel.

And me just trying to get my butt off the ground!

A surprised Silas

A happy Silas

The Governator, v10

Paul on Power of Silence, v10. Still a project.

Oh the places Silas’ bouncy seat will take him: propped under blowing shrubs and trees and grasses (Nature’s Mobiles)

..or under the swirling colorful roofs of little caves.

posted by arr

A Hueco Tanks boulder problem, yes. But also the vibe that’s been lurking out back at the woody as we train to be something great, sneaking around and nipping us in the butt when we let go from a climb, bail on that last pullup, or heaven forbid….begin to whine. “It’s time to get serious people,” as Paul loves to say.

One of the wonderful things about our sport is that there is no prescribed training recipe. You want to run a 5k? Well google “train for 5k” and all kinds of info pops up, easy. For climbing though, most of us are left to our own training concoctions. And there’s oodles of room for creativity. Core training: let’s do L-sits, no even better, how about L-sit pullups? Then let’s add 90 degree lock-off hangs to the L-sits, plus the L-sit pullups. And do this after a climbing session, or before? Now, let’s train fingers. What’s more effective, hanging as long as you can on the sloper, or hanging until failure at .5 seconds on the micro-crimp? Or what about adding feet to the equation and doing this on the woody? And now what about cross-training? Run 30 minutes. No, 60 minutes. No, 30 minutes plus speed. And do this after a climbing session or before? Oh jeese, and now let’s talk about food. Protein for muscle-building. No, carbs for energy. No, both! Aahh! Well, you see how it can get very complicated very quickly.

So now, after gathering all the tribal knowledge we can from various people, websites, and our own experiences, we’ve come up with our own little regimen that we’ve been taking very seriously over the last few months. We’ve adjusted our attitudes and trained like we’ve never trained before.* To sum it up, our recipe is this: Serious training + a psyched attitude + a fun environment = hard sending. Right? Well, that’s the plan anyway. And now it’s time to see how all that training pays off. We’ve got Hueco reservations, baby! See ya’s at the boulders.

posted by arr

*Going through pregnancy and watching one’s middle stretch out to the size of a watermelon can give one a motivation that is unprecedented!. ;-)