We are now in Tucson, AZ, staying with Paul, April and Silas for a few days. It’s hot here, too, but some cooler temps this weekend should allow us to climb on their bouldering wall for a day or two before we head to California. Gotta keep strong, you know!

I was a little sad to leave Hueco, but it was hot, almost too hot, to be there. Yes, the climbing was fine once you reached the confines of a cave or a jumble of boulders, but hiking between them was terrible, and sucked the life out of you. As far as a post-mortem goes, the trip wasn’t the sort of success I hoped for, but at the end of the day, it wasn’t bad, either. I sent very little from my tick list (I believe the only thing I sent from it was Babyface, V7, which was left over from last year), but did manage to do a bunch of other good problems. I also sampled some completely awesome harder problems that I look forward to doing next year. I did manage to do at least one problem of every grade from V0-V9, so I certainly sampled lots of good stuff. I did leave a long of list of undone problems, too:

* Full Service (V10)
* Notorious D.I.G. (V9 — should have done this one)
* Mojo (V10)
* Glas Roof (V9)
* Big Iron on His Hip (V7 — fell off the end several times, as I have no stamina)

I’m already thinking about how to modify my training for next year so I peak a bit closer to the trip, rather than about a month before we leave. Live and learn, live and learn.

I also planning on doing a few “anatomy of a Hueco Tanks problem” posts on some of my favorites from the trip.

A few more photos have been added to the gallery.

Posted on 29 April 2011