The begining of March, 2011, Scotty G, Matt G and I all took a four day trip down to Hueco. I had taken a trip around the same time last year, but it was to be Scott and Matt’s first times at the bouldering mecca.
We left for Hueco Thursday evening (March 3rd) around 7pm, and started the road trip off the right way… with a speeding ticket just outside of Colorado. We continued down I25, taking highway 3 through a packed town and curvy roads (felt a lot like Europe, and will be referred to as such from now on… sorry Sena, NM), and then continued through the barren New Mexican countryside to El Paso.
Day One - North Mountain
photo by Scotty G
Our first day of climbing was an unguided day on the North Mountain. We spent most of the day getting our groove back. By the end of the day, we were ready to play around on ”Nobody Here Gets Out Alive,” a classic right in the heart of North mountain. A roof transitions to a slab, with the crux right on the transition; the problem earned it’s name because there used to be a cactus placed perfectly below the crux move. Tres Bien.
We finished off the day by pumping ourselves out on ”Ghetto Simulator”. It is a super fun problem, and likely my first destination when I return to Hueco. The problem is a medium-steep wall (~30 deg), with a second medium-steep rock right behind the problem; when you fall back, you only drop a foot or two onto the rock behind you (though you must be careful of sliding down into the crack where the two rocks join… which I learned the hard way). By the time we made it there, we were far too tired to make any real progress.
Day Two - East Spur
Scott, Matt and I opted for a guided tour our second day, and it turned out to be a great idea. The day started with quite a shocker, reminding me of exactly how small the world is, when I ran into a fellow Rice graduate who I graduated with and a Harvard track alumnus who I had run at Rice and attended our epic “Harvard Party” of 2008. We swapped the names of mutual friends, found a few solid connections, and learned about everyone’s post Rice/Harvard experiences. Oh Rice… if only I could transplant you in Colorado.
We started out with a couple V0/V1/V2 problems until a large group moved out of the maze, one of my favorite climbing places from my visit to Heuco the previous year. The maze, for those unfamiliar with the ways of Hueco, is a splattering of 100+ problems within a 25 meter circle. I also had a chance to practice my pro-climber-name-recognition, after a group of half a dozen Popeyes walked into our send party. There were plenty of problems for us to all have our fill worth. And fill up we did, but our eyes may have been bigger than our appitites…
Our next destination was Moonshine Roof, a classic V4 with a very distinctive surfboard of a hold. By this time in the afternoon, I had alreay used up most of my strength, but gave Moonshine a few solid attempts anyways. Well… solid may be a bit of an exaguration. Change that to a few halfass attemts.
Our final stop of the day, though with the energy level of the group we might as well have skipped it, was the crazy problem that is Hourglass. Other dude and I took a look at the problem, tried to twist our body into the start hold, and promply gave up. Big gulps ‘eh? Whelp, see ya later!
Day Three - Rest Day
Our rest day consisted of exactly what I was looking for: absolutely nothing. We had talked about running, playing frisbee golf, and doing other moderately useful activities, but ended up napping and reading the whole day, sprinked lightly with a bit of slackline. It reminded me of my lazy summer days in college, where I would spend the entire day reading until I couldn’t keep my eyes open, napping until I couldn’t keep my eyes closed, and then repeated as long as my lazy endurance would last. I set a few lazy marathon records my Senior year.
We finished the night at a supurbly unremarkable Mexican food restaraunt in El Paso proper. Slow service, bland food, and deceptively expensive Sopapillows.
Day Four - Half day on North
While the Sign of the Cross may be nothing spectacular for the average climber, I still excite easily over moderate V3 crimpy problems. Aaron and I had given the problem a few solid attemps at the end of one of our climbing days last year, but could hardly hold on to the start hold. After a near flash this year (hey, the flash clock resets every year, right?), I struggled to rediscover the beta that came so natural the first time. After a handful of frustrating moments and four letter explitives, I stumbled onto the solid grip of the second hold and sent the problem. Wohooo!
The send happened just in time as well, as our virtual alarms signaled that it was time to begin the 11 hour drive back home. At the strike of noon, we rushed back to hastily stuff our sand covered tents into their stuffsacks, and begin the treck up I25… no Europe this time around :(