Area 57

photo courtesy of bloodyflapper.com

I went to Area 57 today just north of Austin. Area 57 is this sick limestone cave 30 ft deep and 150 ft across. The weather turned even colder with temps in the 30s and no sun. It was difficult to warmup considering the fact that there is nothing easy here. The warmup called Bitch Tested Slut Approved is probably a litte easier than Anorexic at the Draw. I was able to repeat it in a few tries. I found a few subleties that made it climb a bit smoother. I climbed on Subterranean for a little bit, but didn't make any progress.

Roger's Park

I went to Roger's Park today in Central Texas. The weather here has been strange as of late. It was 78 degrees yesterday and today the high was in the 40s plus a lot of wind. Needless to say it was miserably cold, but Flag has somewhat desensitized me to it. I climbed on my roof project out there and made a lot of progress. Dry holds and good temps do wonders. I was able to link from the bottom out the tufa section and bumping section to the first crux. The first crux is releasing a toe hook. I have the climb in 3 sections now. The second and hardest crux is the long lock off to the lip. I was able to do this move without a powerspot this time. This climb is sick. Once again I wish I had some more time.

Hueco Tanks Part II

It rained on Wednesday night so I took an additional rest day after my volunteer tour. I wanted to let the lip hold on Shake N Bake dry out. I knew if I climbed on it right after the rain it would break. I went to it on Friday and made progress. I was able to do the transition foot moves into the crux move from the start. I wish I had more time now that I have the Hueco psych back.

Hueco Tanks Part I

Best of the Best

So I arrived at the Hueco Tanks Thursday night. I hung out with RickyO the legend, Adam Wood, Kim, Jay and Claire, and a few other friends that I haven’t seen in a while. The next day I went on RickyO’s volunteer tour. We went to Belly of the Beast first. I almost repeated Belly of the Beast first try. I was able to do it next attempt. I started working Burden of the Beast. Jay told me some beta that made the crux easier, it involved dropping the right foot and using just a left heel to do the move. I figured out some beta for the post-crux section. It involved turning around and toe hooking in front of me, climbing feet first. After a couple of tries to link the climb, I stuck the crux move and finished the climb. We went over to Star Power and I was able to repeat it. Star Power climbs out a steep roof that is about 30 feet long. It is probably a 25 move super classic. The next day I took out a tour on East Mountain. My friend Marlon came along as a second guide. We started the day out at Warm-up roof and then moved over to Hardman Rock. I warmed up on the climbs in the corridor behind it, and then repeated Dragonfly. I took the group to the Darkheart and climbed on Shake N Bake. I was able to do all the moves, the crux of which felt impossible at first. We finished the day out over at the Blender Boulder. I still can’t figure out Try Harder, but I climbed Hobbit and the Ostracizer again. The next day I took a group from Tucson out to West Mountain. They were pretty cool people and it made for a great rest day. On Monday I went back to Shake N Bake with Dave, Tash, and Bob. I was able to do the crux move every time, but I found the hardest part to be the foot transition into the crux move. It involves smearing on nothing feet on a roof to get a heel hook. I think it will go on the next day. We climbed all over East and the East Spur that day. Bob and I did Ultramega, which climbs like a limestone sport route. Dave and I did Backdoor Man. Bob did The Tall Cool Red One, an impressive highball. We finished the day out on the Egg and in the Gunks. The next day Dave, Tash, Bob, Andy, and I went to West Mountain. We warmed up at Star Power and then went over to Adventureland. We climbed on Best of the Best. I was able to do all the moves with the beta Yuri gave me last year. My high point was one move into the crux section. Best of the Best climbs up this overhang with unique holds. It has a pretty bad landing. It was put up by John Sherman back in the day. Nobody would go up there with him to spot the gently rising rocky landing. So he did it with pillows stuffed in his clothes and a helmet. It is definitely one of the best problems in the park. After that Andy and I showed them Animal Acts, Between the Sheets, and Bodysnatcher. It feels great to have a break from school and not worry about anything for the next month.

Draw

Pat and I went to the draw today. It's finally starting to feel like winter in Flagstaff. The high today was 41 degrees and it felt great. We climbed at Anorexic roof. Pat started trying Meateater and came really close to doing it. I worked on BK Broiler for a little bit without making any progress. Before we left I repeated Meateater. I forgot how power-endurancy the problems on this roof can be.

Kelly Canyon

Pat, Eric, Zac, and I went (or tried to go) to Cherry Canyon Today. I have only been to Cherry once, and that was back in June. We drove around for a while and I couldn't find it so we went to Kelly Canyon. We warmed up in the trailer park area, and I did a new climb. I did the steep overhang 2nd try. It was a pretty good climb. Then we went to Dope Lounge. Dope Lounge is by far one of the best climbs in Northern Arizona. I repeated it, and Eric was super close. Pat and Zac were getting to the crux throw. It was pretty cold down in the canyon so I tried to do it static to stay warm. After a few tries I was able to do the crux throw by locking off. I found new beta for the top too, which is much easier. My feet don't even cut on the climb anymore. Then we went and climbed on a semi-steep wall halfway back to the trailer park area. I worked on this compression problem with a strange toe hook for a bit. I was able to do some of the moves, but it will definitely take some work to figure out the rest.

Commitment

So last January I decided that my goal for 2008 was to run 1,000 miles. This morning I hit the 1,000th mile. It feels really good to have finished such a long goal that I dedicated myself to nearly a year ago. There were several mornings where I just didn't want to get out of my truck or bed and go running. Sometimes it was too hot (TX mornings), or too cold (Flagstaff mornings), or I just didn't want to get up (Hueco Tanks) but I finally finished.

Here is the mile count:
January-76.95
February-50.50
March-90.05
April-85.50
May-102.15
June-100.60
July-106.00
August-90.95
September-91.80
October-118.15
November-76.2
December-12.15 to date.

I'm formulating a new goal for 2009. I think that it's going to be to visit 15 new climbing areas, local or afar.

Priest Drawing

Pat and I went to the draw today. I haven't been to the draw in 2 weeks because of my trip to Bishop. It was really enjoyable to climb back home, away from the crowds, number chasers, and beta sprayers. We climbed at Puzzlebox. Pat made significant progress on Pufferfish. I tried Huffalufagus. I was able to get through the knee-bar crux, and I fell on the redpoint crux of the climb on my first attempt. The next two attempts were lame. I had a foot pop, and then on the subsequent attempt my hand dry fired out of the undercling. On my last attempt I got through the kneebar crux but my heel-toe cam blew out a few moves after that. I ran my circuit over there and then went home. Hopefully I'll be able to post pictures soon. My computer is in the shop being fixed finally.