apAdventures

April and I hate looking at the weather report. We gave it up after moving out west. Why? Because every weekend turns out fun. This last weekend just gave us more proof to show people who doubt that climbing/fun is possible when the forcast says 60-70% chance of rain. Heh heh.

Saturday morning started out as usual. April, Dan, Marcus and I made our 1:00AM arrival at the land outside of Hueco. It was cloudy outside but we quickly set up our tents and laid down for a quick sleep. At 7:30AM we woke. The ringing of our alarm wasn’t what caught our attention first, it was the rain pouring against our tent. We figured it would stop and clear so we tore down the site and headed into the park to get checked in. Once inside the park boundaries we met up with Vince and Tammy, thought long and hard and said, “Dennys for breakfast?” We ended up going to a cheap but awesome Mexican place right outside the park which killed a few hours and gave us some fuel for the climbing ahead.

By about 11:30AM we were back in the park pulling into “Pond Parking.” Unfortunately it was still raining therefore we were forced to head to Martini Roof. How horrible huh? Forced to go to one of the best concentration of super classic boulder problems in the park. When we arrived it was pretty crowded but most of the people were leaving. DW left after working “Esperanza (V14).” I would have liked to see him pull off the moves on that! I’m sure we’ll read about the send soon. Since I ticked “Martini Left (V10)” last weekend I started working “Shaken Not Stirred (V12).” It is my favorite at Hueco that I’ve been on, by far. It’s going down! Vince joined me but he started on the second half of the problem which was the original line before the sit start was added by Fred Nicole (I think). The second half which Vince worked, linking move after move with ease gets V7 and is called “Big Iron on His Hip.” Marcus made very impressive progress on “Baby Martini (V6)” for having no warm up at all. ha ha. Dan worked the moves of Baby Martini also and at one point slipped off, totally missed the crash pad but luckily he landed in a mud puddle which cushioned his fall. Yuck.

April who amazed us all, gave several strong attempts on “Shradenfraud (V5)” and slipped off on the last move before establishing on the finishing boulder. After a short rest she gathered up the energy for a flawless SEND! NICE APRIL. She can say that she sent while it was pouring down rain outside!!! Tammy would have been next to send but an unexpected pull on her injured finger caused yet another serious tweak! We all felt for her but her climbing was over for the day and she headed back to search our our wine stash.

Before we knew it over four hours had gone by and we were wrecked from all the roof climbing. So, we headed back to the camp site and enjoyed the amazing dinner that Marcus cooked for us. We all crammed into our new REI tent and drank wine, celebrating April’s send and Marcus’ ability to cook an awesome meal.

Sunday started off cold and cloudy but at times the sun would come out and warm us enough to go about our climbing routine. We started off the day at the Warm Up boulder. The problems were all dry but he ground was wet and it was very cold and uncomfortable trying to get stretched out, especially after climbing in Martini Roof the day before. After warming up we went towards Mushroom Roof. Vince was determined to go there and tick off yet another problem on his list. Before we got there I stopped to try the scary “Roughage (V7)” with Greg. We got a little bit off the ground but were not psyched to do the insane next couple of moves. Marcus, Tammy, Dan and April checked out the super classic “Orfice Affair (V1)” and the “Wonder Hole (V0).”

Finally, we made it to Mushroom boulder. Vince definately gets the MVP for the weekend because as he was preparing for “Mushroom Roof (V8)” he said, “I’m going to warm up my fingers on ‘Left El Murray (V6)’ and then give Mushroom a burn.” But, his warmup was actually his SEND!!! He and I always joked and said that Left El Murray was the hardest V6 ever. Harder than Mushroom! We were all psyched. After that he decided that since the top of Mushroom was wet it was better to try and send “Center El Murray (V6).” And…again, Vince tore it up SENDING Center El Murray. Congratulations to April and Vince The rainy weekend was full of super classic SENDING and a lot of fun.

Pictures and video coming soon…

Here’s strong Tammy showing me how it’s done:

Tammy – Dragonfly Video (70Mb)

Finally, the footage you’ve all been waiting for, Paul sending Martini Left!

Download Martini Left Video (113Mb)

For our first weekend blog, we’re happy to be able to report some exciting climbing news. Paul, myself and our new German friend Marcus met up with Tammy and Vince on Saturday at Hueco. We had some projects lined up in mind and were dying to get to the rock.

To start the weekend off, during breakfast Sat morning Tammy dropped the awesome news. She had sent Dragonfly V5 two days prior. GO TAMMY!!! Now with all of us completely stoked, we began the day warming up at the East Spur Maze (helping out a friend get observed for guiding). Paul was a bit discouraged, as he wanted to get to Martini Roof ASAP to have a go at Martini Left. FINALLY……around 1pm we headed to Martini. Before Marcus could even finish his warm-ups and join us, there was whooping and hollaring as Paul ticked off his first V10. WOOOO HOOOOO!!!!!! And yes, we got it on video…stay tuned.

Sunday was a great day for all. We went to East Mtn with Tammy as our guide. We warmed up at Kid’s Stuff, then headed to the Blender Boulder. Marcus quickly ticked The Ostracizer V2, Claudia did Ides of March V6, and Paul flashed Brutus V5, Ides of March, and Hector in a Blender V7. Vince and the French Dude (can’t remember his name!) did Tri Hard V4 with a dynamic scary finish. Then it was off to Hardman Rock for some work on my new project, Dragonfly. After hearing about Tammy’s send, the pressure was on…but alas, no sending for me this weekend.

The next area was the Dark Heart. The classic problem there is Something Different V8, which was sent by Vince (3rd try) and Paul (1st try). I managed to send a “mungy” V3 called Darth Vader. After that we decided to hit one more area before the day was over, Three Years Dead and the Bitch Still Burnt Me, V6. Splendid sends by both Vince (who topped out the SCARY chossy finish) and Paul (who bailed before the SCARY chossy finish and dropped off – reminded of Nick plummeting off the top of Moonshine Roof after breaking a foothold).

All in all, awesome weekend – one of the best yet.