apAdventures

Recently we’ve been psyched. Psyched to climb harder. Our frequent visits to Hueco have exposed us to people from all over the world climbing hard! April and I have been wondering what we could do, how we can train so we can get strong like the many climbers sending the classics all around us. “It’s time to up the ante,” as April put it. So, over the last few weeks we increased our intensity of training. We started pushing our limits more than ever. Check out Ben Moon’s advice www.moonclimbing.com for some ideas that we think really work!

While training or climbing over the past few weeks we both kept asking each other, “Hey, do I look stronger now? Am I climbing harder after all this training?” For sure, yeah, we noticed the improvement in our abilities but we’ve only been linking and doing individual moves on problems at or above our limits. For example, I recently tried “Right Martini V12” and for a first time ever, did all the moves. I can’t tell how far off I am from a send but I can definitely tell that I’m stronger than ever and progressing every week.

Last weekend I managed to send “Dirty Martini on the Rocks V12” but that climb kinda sucks and it is probably more like V9. April repeated “Baby Martini V6” while Iaughing and then nearly sent the awesome “Big Iron on His Hip V7.” After a couple other pretty cool accomplishments that weekend we still were not satisfied and we craved harder sends.
Well, today, I think we got what we wanted.

Paul:
Sent “Predator V10” 1st go (worked out the full sequence last weekend) and “ V6” (I could never figure out how to do this one previously). Repeated “Daily Dick Dose V7” (warmed up the fingers for Predator), fell off “Double Vision V7” several times and tweaked something! And repeated “Big Iron on His Hip V7” to test out the tweak. Yep, definitely tweaked something in the left hand. No more climbing today.

April: 
Cranked out her best climbing day….E V E R. Decided to try out “Daily Dick Dose” just cause we were there for me to warm up, and then went ahead and promptly SENT the damn thing. A Hueco classic and her first V7! We then moved on to the Martini Roof and she laced up for “Big Iron on His Hip V7”, a much better climb in my opinion that is harder and much longer, and the climb which she had been projecting the last few weekends. She fell three times at the last move, fingers an inch away from the finish hold. Then rested. Then sent. April’s second V7.

Stay tuned…the sending train is just gettin’ started.

Ouch! This hurts. Typing that is. My fingers are thrashed from a RAD Hueco weekend! No major sends to report but both April and I are getting close on our current projects. Recently, after working on problems way at my limit I have had to adjust my mindset for the constant days of getting humbled. Many times when the climbing is really really hard and I keep failing I step back and say to myself, “This is fun, right?” “Hell yeah it is!” I usually get psyched at the thought and try again, try harder, and fall off. I look at my torn up fingers and feel all the sore muscles in my body, thinking am I ever going to send this thing? For me, this is awesome! The challenge of the problem lures me in and I can’t get enough even when I’m bloody and dead tired.

Although my enjoyment may be unique, shared by only the community of climbers like me. I often wonder what an “outsider” must think. What if someone who doesn’t understand what bouldering is just happens to look on at what we are doing? Ok so here is the picture: we are barely making any progress, trying sooo hard, nearly killing ourselves when we tear off moves crashing into the ground. Swearing, hi-fiving, yelling and saying goofy things. For example, the Brits we sessioned with this weekend were psyched. They came to the US to experience Hueco but recently the weather has been horribly cold and they got off to a slow start. Yesterday, after making great progress on Power of Silence V10 and falling off one guy yelled, “It’s been so F-ing Bloody Cold this is the first time I’ve been warm on this trip.” After hearing that all of his super strong friends chalked up and got in line to reach the same high point. To me, the 3 moves they all made was inspiring. I joined in and made it as far as them. When I fell off and caught my breath we all shared beta, “Dude, where did you grab that crimp?” “Grab the left part and smear on that shitty foot” “Toe hook with the outside of your left foot” “No no, use your heal and lean” “This is bloody fantastic!” Obviously, to us, each climber did something totally different. We were all psyched and kept at it.

Ok so back to the “outsider.” At this point they would definitely wonder what 6 guys are doing down in a hole where it’s super cold, speaking a weird language with a few expliciives thrown in. They may ask “What are you doing? Is that fun? Is that a sport?” “What are you guys doing, just walk around to the top of the boulder if you want to get to the top (you wouldn’t imagine how many people really have told us that).” What’s even better is when they go to the top and say, “Hey look how easy it is.”

Recently I’ve been laughing about what a non-climber would think about my attempts at problems that are really hard for me. I can see where they would come up with those questions but it was today that I found a moment where I seriously thought any non-climber would appreciate the scene of people bouldering.

I stood at the base of Mushroom Boulder, a super classic area with tons of awesome problems. My attention was caught when a few cheers eminated from Mushroom Roof V8. A British girl (from the crew of Brits) was cruising. She naturally locked off the crimps on the steep roof, exhibited no strain and as she neared the top-out, caught the last good hold with ease, flexing her muscles which were comparable to the guys that spotted her. To my right a guy grabbed the lip of a tall problem, cut his feet, threw his foot up to the top and cruised over to celebrate his warm-up send. In the distance there were three people climbing the high-ball Mellon Patch V0. Three, all on the climb together! Jokingly they were pulling on each other as they climbed as if they were trying to cause each other to fall off. But, really they were so calm that it appeared as if they were on level gound playfully bumping into one another like playing a game of tag. Everyone was demonstrating skill that seemed so natural. It was as if we, humans, were meant to climb. It was a display of talent from people all around the world. I would even compare it to the show that olympic athletes put on that impress viewers who have no clue what snowboarding is or what’s possible on ice skates. Today I saw a demonstration of climbing that would impress any non-climber and maybe interest them enough to try, to have fun and join our underground sport.

Too bad this scene was only shared by us, many miles from the nearby city, on the boulders in the desert, away from the spotlight and away from all the “outsiders,” the non-climbers. Maybe someday people won’t wonder what our underground sport is all about?

Sorry for NO video footage or pictures. Our video camera broke and our camera battery has seen its last recharge.

posted by pjv

….Hueco reservations, that is. No need for New Year’s resolutions when you’ve got Hueco reservations for the next three months. I will climb more. I will climb harder. I will send only sick projects. – Not because I have incredible will power or the determination of an olympic athlete. Not because I’m willing and ready to make psychotic sacrifices. It’s because I simply enjoy climbing. Dedication is effortless when it’s for something you truly love. And Paul and I just can’t seem to love this sport enough. 😉 Ahhh, the sick sends are just around the next bend…er, uh, weekend.

posted by arr

Just a few updates on some things. Over the past week, Paul and I have made substantial progress toward deciding on our dream car that we’d like to get soon: A campervan! A Sportsmobile, to be exact. The perfecto climber-mobile. For the obscene amount of climbing roadtrips we rack up per year, I think it’s the general consensus that we’re long overdue on this one. We’ll keep ya posted.

Last weekend we actually decided to bail on Hueco (gasp!) and headed up to Flagstaff instead for some Priest Draw bouldering. We left late Sat morning and got up there around 3pm. With only a few hours of daylight left, we had decided to take along some warm clothes and our headlamps with us for a little ‘evening session’ of night-bouldering. It was quite pleasant – the woods were all quiet, the air was crisp and the stars were amazing. For those of you that have bouldered with us at the Draw over last two summers, you’ll be pleased to hear that I finally ticked off Badass. It’s about time!! 🙂 Paul gave some good sending go’s on The Receptionist, but was sadly shut down once again – falling after the “answering the phone” move. I again worked Anorexic. I’m able to link up all the moves, but not start-to-finish. If we would just spend a few consecutive weekends at the Draw, I might be able to report some more exciting sends to you. Ah but alas, so many projects, in so many places.

We’re running again. Neither Paul nor I had ran a step since the Grand Canyon Adventure . The minute our feet hit the final south rim of the canyon back on October 1st, we jumped head first into climbing-mode and let the running fall by the wayside….the Grand Canyon being our grand finale for the year. But that has now slightly changed. Just slightly though. We’re still in full-on climbing mode, but we kinda sorta just want to do some running too. On the side. Like icing on the cake. Little runs. For fun. Cause we like it. 🙂

And here are some crazy upcoming plans of ours that will surely knock your socks off. Due to ridiculous airfare prices this year (and our lack of pre-planning), Paul and I will be staying west for the Thanksgiving holiday. We’re a bit bummed out by this one. Ok, a lot bummed. Nothing quite compares to spending the holidays with family. :-\ So to cheer ourselves up, we’ve of course made some sort of climbing plans. That’s what climbers do when they have a 4 day weekend and can’t go home, right? Now, where to go, where to go…..Hueco?…nah. Joshua Tree?….nah. Flagstaff?…nah. Indian Creek?! WHAT?! Hold up. Did you say Indian Creek??!!!! As in, sandstone splitter cracks? Handjams? Trad gear? No crashpads? Yep.

These two boulderers are going crack climbing this weekend. Stay tuned….

Paul and I are volunteer tour guides at Hueco Tanks. Back in the late 90’s, restrictions were put into place to protect the delicate natural environment and rich cultural history of Hueco. Part of these restrictions include “guided only” areas of the park, which means the only way one can climb (or hike, birdwatch, etc.) in these areas, is to be taken out by a guide. The volunteer tours are limited to 10 people max and they are free (just need to pay the regular $4 entrance fee to the park). Anyone can sign up….just call the park and reserve yourself a slot.

Paul and I have guided many tours over the past couple of years. And people often ask us, ‘how is it…guiding strangers…people we’ve never climbed with before?’ ‘Are the tours usually pretty fun?’ ‘Do you ever get any real demanding a**holes that stomp their feet and throw a tantrum cause they can’t drag the entire v0-newbee tour participants to their v12 project for the entire day?’ Haha, no, no demanding a**holes….yet. However, Paul and I have guided enough tours that it’s easy to distinguish, right off the bat, if today will be a “Good Tour Day” or a “Bad Tour Day”. And this last weekend, we had both. Saturday, I guided the Good Tour. And Sunday, Paul guided the…well, not so good tour.

The Good Tour Day vs. The Bad Tour Day:

1. A Good Tour Day is when the tour starts off hiking to the first destination and the tour participants are literally on your heels…psyched to get to the boulders and get climbing ASAP….forget the beautiful scenery, forget the wildlife….we’ve got boulders to get to and projects to send…..being held back only by the guide in front of them. A Bad Tour Day is when the guide actually needs to STOP AND WAIT for his/her tour to catch up. Not once…not twice….not three times….but the WHOLE STINKIN’ DAY. Come on people! What the heck is going on back there? Did some birders accidentally sign up for a bouldering tour? This is like trying to walk a kindergarten class to the cafeteria!

2. A Good Tour Day is once we get to the boulders, the pads open up, the chalk is out, and the shoes are on. Stretching? Bah. Too impatient to stretch. This v0 warm-up will stretch me out just fine. In a matter of minutes the climbers are on the rocks and “sick dude” is being uttered at least every other move. A Bad Tour Day is once we get to the boulders, everyone stops, asks if ‘we’re here’, throws their pads down, and then sits. Just sits. And just kinda stares at the rock. And each other. Maybe this is some sort of pre-climbing meditation-type warm-up?…..just sitting…staring…not really saying a whole lot….just kinda sitting, really.

3. A Good Tour Day is when there is a decent amount of heckling going on. Fart jokes, fat butt jokes, puny forearm jokes, big kahuna jokes, small kahuna jokes, etc. All good fun all day long. A Bad Tour Day is when you think one of your tour participants is playing a funny joke on everyone when he decides to sit down, put his head on his knees and pretend to fall asleep under the crux move of this big roof problem the other 9 participants are trying. Only….he’s not joking. He’s sleeping. Really.

4. A Good Tour Day is when a tour participant sticks the crux of the climb he/she has been working and the crowd goes wild: In unison, “YEAH!!!” Or when the climber blows off the finishing jug that he/she has been so desperately lunging to grasp for the last hour and the crowd goes even wilder: “NO!” The roar is loud enough to scare away small animals and turn the heads of climbers across the mountain to see who sent what sick line. A Bad Tour Day is when a tour participant sticks the crux move and the crowd says nothing. Falls on the finishing jug and the crowd says nothing. SENDS THE PROBLEM and the crowd says nothing. Now if that’s not motivation….

5. A Good Tour Day is when the end of the day comes and we all cheers with a beer, head out for some margaritas and mexican food, invite one another over to chill at our campsites, exchange emails/phone numbers, or at the very least find out when the next tour together is going to be. A Bad Tour Day is when the end of the day comes and you mutter to yourself ‘Thank God’ (with no worries of anyone hearing you b/c they are all lagging way way waaaaay behind again anyway). You wonder to yourself if everyone was just having a bad day…not enough sleep….maybe didn’t drink enough espresso shots that morning? Does it really matter? No. Not really. This is Hueco and it’s hard to spoil our day in The Mecca. We don’t mind. Just as long as none of them sign up on our tour again. 😉

It’s hard to believe that it’s been over a month now that Grit and Manu arrived here from Germany. Time flys when you’re having fun and now their trip is coming to an end. Manu left for home last week. And Grit is on a final solo tour of more Joshua Tree and Bishop and will head home next week. I think I can speak for them both in saying that they indeed had a great visit. They climbed it all: Hueco Tanks, Joshua Tree, Bishop, Red Rock Canyon, Priest Draw, and even some local Tucson climbing at Milagrossa Canyon. Their tick lists are amazing. Paul and I were fortunate enough to be able to squeeze out some time off from work to join them climbing at a few places. And we all had great times just chillin’ here in Tucson – bouldering on the woody, drinkin’ Tecate, cooking good food, watching climbing videos, and just plain hangin’ out. Paul and I, yes, are a little bit bummed that the Grit/Manu visit is nearing its end. However, at the same time we are still psyched. Psyched because we know the fun is going to pick right up where it left off. Next spring. We have another Fontainebleau, France trip in the works….and guess which two Germans are going to be there….

Awe yeah. 🙂

We took Grit and Manu to Joshua Tree last weekend. It was sweet. Check out the video.

Grit is back. Back in the USA. This time, she’s brought her boyfriend Manu with her. And this time, she’s here not to work or study….but to climb, climb, climb! Grit and Manu arrived from Germany last week and they’ll be here all month; chillin’ in our guest house, drinking margaritas, and roadtrippin’ to the country classics of climbing: Hueco Tanks, Joshua Tree, Bishop, Hueco again….and maybe again. 😉 So without too much persuasion, Paul and I have now put our days of trail running on hold for a bit…just a bit…just for maybe about the next 5-6 months….cause the temps are good, the itch has returned, and the HUECO SEASON IS ON, BABY, AWWWWE YEAAAAAH!

News flash: On Grit’s first day back to Hueco, Friday, October 6th, around noon, with myself, Manu and Paul as her witnesses, her project that she’s been dreaming obsessively about for 1 whole year went down, effortlessly, smooth as butter,….2nd try: LOBSTER CLAWS (v5). Yeah Grit. Nice.

Get psyched.

We’ve put together a video of the “Super Bad” duo, Holly and Joe, ticking off some of the classic boulder problems at Priest Draw in Flagstaff, Arizona. Watch out, they are climbing S T R O N G.

Currently, the Brins fire and others are burning up around Flagstaff. Due to the extreme fire danger, they’ve closed the Coconino National Forest until the monsoon rains come. Unfortunately, this means Priest Draw is closed as well. Hurry up monsoons!! We’ve got more climbing to do!

This weekend Paul, myself, my sis Holly, her boyfriend Joe, lil Morgie and our friend Matt headed up to Flagstaff, AZ for some fun in the cooler temps. We camped at the campground on Upper Lake Mary and bouldered Friday and Saturday at Priest Draw. The beginner duo (Holly and Joe) is climbing strong, I must say. We showed them the classics and they ate them up, one by one, until the skin on their fingers was toast. Paul is currently working The Receptionist, v10, and making strong links (falling while “answering the phone” – for all you familiar with the climb). I’m working Anorexic, v6, and slowly sussing out the moves. Paul and I have a trip to Canada coming up soon so unfortunately we may not be back to the Draw for a little while. No biggie, our projects will be waiting when we return.

Sunday, Holly and Joe sped off with their mountain bikes to the Mt. Eldon trails, Matt sped off with his bike to Sedona, and Paul, Morgan and I headed up to Mt. Humphrey for some Imogene training. So far in our training, our runs have been successes. We’ve completed every trail run that we’ve set off to do and have loved every second. Well, today’s run was a bit less of a “success”. We hit the trail this morning at 9:30am. Way, way, WAY too late. We had planned to run a 12 mile loop that included the high point of Mt. Humphrey at 12, 000+ feet. About 6 miles in, however, as we stared up and up and up at the peaks above, we made the decision to bail. Yes, BAIL. Believe it. To sum up our position: we were low on water and hot as hell. Running above treeline in this kind of heat would be too much for little brown dog Morgie, and us too I suppose. So we turned around and ran/walked the 6 miles back to the car. Out-and-back runs = blah. 90+ degrees when your psyched to bag a 12,000+ footer = blah. A tired dog with tired legs and that oh-so-pitiful look of “take me home please” = blah. But, knowing that this stellar loop with amazing views exists and is only a short 4 hour drive away = CAN’T WAIT TO COME BACK AND TRY AGAIN!!!! 😀