apAdventures

So remember when I said winter was over here in the southwest? Well, I spoke too soon. Monday a cold front blew in and yesterday we awoke to FREEZING and WINDY conditions. I’m not at all exaggerating. It was 25 degrees when we headed to the office around 8:30am to snag some North Mountain walk-ins. Because I had been waiting sooooo long for cold temps on Bloody Flapper Traverse, v9 (which bakes in the sun), I felt it would be stupid not to get on it. So we filled the thermos with hot chocolate, bundled the bambinos and headed out.

The short hike to the climb carrying Ivan was enough to get me warm. I pulled onto the easy parts of Bloody Flapper Traverse and felt amazing! Light as a feather! I quickly did the v4 ending using some new non-condition dependent beta (a sequence that replaces reliance on a greasy sloper that I inevitably slide off of when it’s warm and sunny with a bigger, dynamic bypass of the hold). I then started lower on the climb, trying to link the harder crimpy moves into my new finishing sequence. My performance however quickly deteriorated as I got colder and colder and colder. I couldn’t climb enough to stay warm and I couldn’t rest enough without getting colder. I finally called it and we headed back to the van. It was close to noon now and our thermometer said 30 degrees, without wind chill. And, while we’d been out a light dusting of snow covered the mountain tops. No wonder I was cold!

We made another thermos of hot chocolate and warmed up in the van a bit before heading back out to part two of our day’s mission: Slashface, v13. Lucky for Paul the sun finally came out and the wind stopped. Another classically perfect Hueco climbing day was now our’s for the taking. Paul had excellent progress on Slashface. First go, starting at the beginning, he stuck the “big move”. He’d stuck the big move a few weeks ago but not from the beginning of the climb. THEN, starting from the big move he did the “crossover” AND “held the swing”. This was a first for holding the swing. All climbing jargon aside, what this means in layman’s terms is that Paul can not only finally do all the moves on Slashface, but has it linked into 2 segments. Woot whoot!

From Slahsface we moved over to Mo Mojo, v11/12. Paul was too tired though to send after all the Slashface attempts. Maybe next time. So then we were off to Ultramega, v8. It’s been logistically annoying for my project to be on North Mountain and Paul’s to be on East Mountain, so Paul recommended I give Ultramega a try to see if I liked it. Normally I wouldn’t get on a brand new v8 this late in the season, especially in the middle of a trip. But Ultramega being at the same angle as our climbing wall at home, with relatively straight-forward left, right, left, right beta, Paul convinced me it was right up my alley and I could probably tick it off relatively quickly. I think he’s right. I put all the moves together and linked major sections in just a couple hours. And now it’s all I can think about. 🙂 Ok, ok, I’m still thinking about Bloody Flapper Traverse too. And this other v9 that I’ve been dabbling on a bit here and there that I haven’t even mentioned yet. As well as handful of other climbs…. I could go on forever here. 😉

Sticking the swing on Slashface, v13

Making my way up Ultramega, v8

posted by arr

Since the holidays we’ve been spending quite a bit of time at Hueco – surprise, surprise. We’re in our groove, training hard after putting the kids in bed at night, driving to Hueco at the end of the workweek, camping in the van and spending day after glorious day at the boulders. One would think that it would get old, but it doesn’t. Not for this family anyway.

January started off with snow! It’s not everyday we get to see snow at Hueco. Kids LOVED it.

And with cold Hueco weather comes plenty of hot chocolate! Kids love that too.

Bundled in their cold weather finest: synthetic thermal underwear, flannel-lined carharts, sweaters, smartwool socks, down puffys, snow hats and mittens!

Snug as bugs

Hot chocolate mustache kiss anyone?

And then winter was over. 60 and 70 deg temps have stuck around ever since. I feel naughty typing this seeing as our eastern friends and family are currently being pummeled by an endless winter right now. Sorry! Uh, come visit us?

Ivan finds an neat little nook to draw in

While Silas watches for birds

West Mountain Gate gymnastics

A trip to “the bone cave.” The kids and I found this spot with our friends Jen, Seb and Oren a few years ago on a rest day. Owls and other large birds must like to bring their dinners here – apparent by the multitude of little critter bones, owl pellets and big splatters of bird poop everywhere. Cool!

Silas and Ivan pretending to be birds themselves

Van life. Paul reading the kids a big-boy-chapter-book, Charlotte’s Web.

Quiet time with crossword puzzles and coloring

Ivan builds a nest in the van. Can you tell these two like birds?

Friends of our’s that used to live in El Paso came back for a long-weekend visit, Mike and Raquel. They invited us to camp on Raquel’s father’s land with some of their friends. Excellent group of people. We all had a blast.

The view of Hueco from the land

Getting ready to climb while the kids find yet another interesting cranny to play in

And last but not least, climbing! Lots and lots of climbing! Silas sends with dad and Ivan on spot

Ivan’s turn

And now dad’s turn. He sends The French Tickler, v9

And mama too – I tick off Locals Only, v7

And then there’s the unfinished business. The Bloody Flapper Traverse, v9. Still a project. What IS IT with this climb?!

McBain, v8

Hebro Sausage, v5

Mo Mojo, v11/12

…and Slashface, v13, Paul’s season obsession.

We’re currently on a two-week vacation here. Hopefully we’ll knock out some of these projects as well as many more. Wish us luck!

posted by arr

And the final chapter of our 2014 Hueco season:

Posted by arr

Happy Valentines Day!  For all the Hueco lovers out there, here’s Part II:

Posted by arr

At the close of 2014 we had put together a little homemade video of our Hueco Adventures from 2014, primarily featuring the time spent on our 2 week Thanksgiving trip with our Pittsburgh friends.  I’m finally getting around to posting it, woohoo!  It’ll be in chunks since it ended up being about 30 minutes long.  We’ll call this opening segment Part I:

Posted by arr

For Christmas this year Paul and I decided to give the kids an ‘adventure’ versus ‘stuff’. On Christmas morning Silas and Ivan opened envelopes containing tickets for A RIDE ON THE DURANGO & SILVERTON NARROW GAUGE RAILROAD!!!!!!! Now, having been in Durango earlier last fall on our Anniversary Trip, the kids did have a clue as to what this meant. They remembered the big old black no-kidding steam engine well. The steam engine that, yes, puffs steam and yes, goes chug chug chug. I had glued fancy gold glittered paper to the backs of the plain and boring paper tickets that had been emailed to me, printed and cut out with scissors, just to add to the wow-effect on Christmas morning. As expected though, gold glitter and all, the enormity of such an adventure didn’t quite sink in at first. But….ever so slowly….with each passing day….their excitement began to grow. It grew until eventually it was a countdown as to exactly how many days it would be until we were going to ride the train. Four days at Grandma and Papa’s house and then we would drive to Durango. Three days in the van and then we would arrive in Durango. Sleep one night in Durango and then the next morning we would wake up, grab our tickets and go get on the train. Silas went over the schedule again and again and again, subtracting off the spent days until finally, FINALLY!, we pulled into Durango around 6pm Friday night and drove past the glorious train station. “TRAIN!” both boys screamed from the back of the van. We were here to ride the train.

Posted by arr

What happens to boys that are forced to sit too long in their carseats? Uncontainable goofiness.

And what happens to their parents? A fervent desire to stop at the So iLL Climbing Gym in St. Louis to flex their muscles.

posted by ARR

We’ve had our Sportsmobile camper van for nearly eight years now and it’s never once driven in snow. It “saw” snow briefly the one time in snowed in Tucson in 2013, at our house parked in the driveway, but that doesn’t count. Luckily we didn’t have to actually drive in much…just mostly over little bits of it and next to piles of it plowed off the roadside.

The van looking very much out of it’s element parked at my parent’s house in upstate New York

posted by ARR

No visit at my parent’s is complete without a trip over to “Digger Man’s” house for a digger demo. This year was especially special because not only did Ivan get to ride the backhoe loader for the first time, but Silas GOT TO OPERATE IT!

posted by ARR

Posted by arr