If you are planning to stop at a small town in Nebraska on your drive home, please be sure to check that it is not graduation weekend for the local branch of the state university. Finding a hotel in a cats-and-dogs thunderstorm is no fun.

Posted on 7 May 2010

I’m currently packing the van for our return to Pittsburgh. We’ve spent the last few days relaxing in Colorado, spending time with family, and (in my case) working. While the trip has certainly been good–beyond expectations, really–we are all ready to be in our home, in our beds. (Of course, this hasn’t stopped us from planning our return to Hueco Tanks next spring, however.)

My finger is feeling better, and I’m looking forward to climbing again when we get back. I’ll need to take it easy in the gym, but I’m hoping that by the time we get back on real rock in a week or two that all will be well with it. I’m also looking forward to getting back on the bike. I didn’t miss it much at Hueco Tanks, but I certainly would have like to take a ride here in Colorado. I’m also considering doing a few of the Yellow Creek races, assuming I can get a few dirt miles in my legs before the end of the month. Those should be good fun, methinks.

We also racked up some good information on what we could do better for camping in the van, particularly on longer trips:

* Get Reflectix panels for the pop-top. This has been on the list since last year, but I really need insulate the upper bed.
* Figure out a way to power the cooler with shore power. This was a big one on this trip. Our site at Hueco had an electrical hookup, but we couldn’t power the cooler with it directly. That, combined with the 6:00PM curfew at the campground and no ice availability on site, meant that keeping food cold was a challenge.
* Get a new stove. The trusty two burner Coleman has treated us well for over ten years, but it’s time has come, methinks. Performance is horrible in colder weather, and I had to constantly fiddle with the position of the gas canister to get a good flame.
* Ditch using the big espresso maker. It’s nice to have several cups of coffee in one shot, but on the camp stove, it takes forever to make.

One other minor annoyance: the van has a screen for the rear hatch so we can leave it open when it’s warm. The screen, however, doesn’t connect to the van at the bottom. We keep our food below the bed (rather than outside, for obvious reasons), but every night we slept with the hatch open, some critters could be heard/seen sniffing around the screen. It’s only a matter of time before one resourceful raccoon figures out the screen isn’t fully closed. Also, after a night of camping in Arkansas, I found footprints on our rear luggage box, meaning some critter was sniffing around MY HEAD while I was sleeping.

Posted on 6 May 2010

From Hueco Tanks 2010

Posted on 3 May 2010

We’re currently in Socorro, NM, on our way to Denver, CO for a few days before heading home. Our last week at Hueco was a good one, though we had the full service of weather conditions, including some very chilly temps on the second to last day. Jen and I spent our last two climbing days cleaning up the classics on our tick lists, including Lithologic (V4), the Butter Dish (V2), Thunderbird (V1), Orifice Affair (V1), and the spectacular Moonshine Roof (V4). Jen also finished up Jigsaw Puzzle (V5). Good stuff.

At some point, I’ll compile a full tick list, but here’s a short list of highlights:

* Martini Hotbox (V9)
* New Religion (V7 – flash)
* D3 (V7 – flash)
* Lobster Claws (V5 – flash)
* Schadenfraud (V5)
* Lithologic (V4)
* Moonshine Roof (V4)
* Namedropper (V3)
* Sign of the Cross (V3 – flash) (Really, drawing attention to a V3 flash? On Sign of the Cross, it is completely warranted)
* Thunderbird (V1)
* Orifice Affair (V1)

Favorite problems? Well, the list is topped by something I didn’t do (and couldn’t put effort into after the finger injury): Power of Silence. Totally awesome line. On the top of my tick list for next year. Moonshine Roof was also awesome, due to the surfboard feature on the roof.

More photos will be forthcoming, as well as a few more thoughts on Hueco itself.

Posted on 2 May 2010

We are waiting out a dust storm (with winds up to 60 mph) in El Paso at a Microtel. We have two more climbing days before we head north to Colorado. We’ve been solo for the last week, as Paul, April, and Silas returned to Tucson. The weather has been decent, albeit a bit warm, and we’ve gotten in some good climbing. Tuesday we started at ground level on North Mountain, sampling climbs on and around the Warm-Up boulder. I made decent progress on Winking J (V8), but given the slopers and warmer temps, I didn’t send, but managed to do the hardest moves, which inspired a bit of confidence. Once the temperatures heated up more, we headed to the Martini Roof, where I managed to pull off Martini Hotbox (V9). It’s really amazing what a hard send does for one’s general demeanor–such a weight lifted from the shoulders.

Wednesday we (finally) did a rock art tour. It was a shorter tour, so we didn’t get to see any of the classic masks like Starry Eyed Man or the Tlaloc, but we did see a few masks and other interesting pictographs. I appreciated our guide, who viewed all of the pictographs and petroglyphs, regardless of their source, as part of the story of Hueco Tanks (this included the carvings from the early white settlers, buffalo soldiers, and Texas Rangers). He didn’t discount the religious importance of the Native American art, but he also didn’t discount other markings as mere graffiti (well, except, perhaps for the stuff done recently, over other historical markings). After the tour, we suffered through the heat and headed back up to Martini Roof. We both worked on Baby Martini (V6), but the long line of huecos really bothered my fingers, so I finished up by doing Schadenfraud (V5). We’ll finish up the trip by climbing along the front side of North Mountain tomorrow and doing a tour with Paul and April to the East Spur on Saturday.

Posted on 29 April 2010

So, here we are, back at the Microtel at the El Paso airport, taking a break from the campground. We’ve got a few more days of climbing under our belts, including a couple more tours to the East Spur. My finger has been feeling a bit better, so I’ve been climbing, though still avoiding tiny crimps on the left hand (thus making it difficult to find problems here at Hueco). Good news? Well, I flashed New Religion (V7) at the East Spur, and nearly did a link-up into it (V8). I also spent a bit of time working in the Martini Roof on some of the easier problems. Jen also finished the week strongly, sending D3 (V7) this afternoon.

The bad? Well, my finger still hurts, and I tweaked my middle finger a bit working on the Glas Roof (V9)–a really swell problem. And it’s still difficult to be in certain parts of where I just can’t climb. I tried to do Babyface (V7) today, but the upper left hand crimp was just too painful. Oh well, there’s always next year.

I’ve also discovered that I can’t really toe hook very well, thus rendering most of the roof problems un-doable. Meh.

We’ve had the full range of weather conditions this week, from cold, windy days with hail to 80+ degrees today without a cloud in the sky. The weather is trending toward more heat this week, but we can always take shelter in the Martini Roof. We’ve got three more climbing days before we head north to Colorado.

Posted on 25 April 2010

From Hueco Tanks, Day One

Posted on 21 April 2010

(Photos are forthcoming)

The drive to El Paso, Texas passed without incident. Three days on the road, including one and half to cross Texas. Western Kentucky and Tennessee were particularly pleasant to drive through, but the central part of Texas is horribly ugly, with lots of refineries and oil wells. It is also incredibly windy.

We arrived at Hueco Tanks on Tuesday morning, and headed out to sample the boulders. We began at the Warm-up Boulder on North Mountain, and it was, uh, quite warm. Hot, in fact. Hot enough to make me wish we weren’t there. After suffering for a bit, we decided to seek shade and headed up North Mountain to the Look Sharp Boulder and the Power of Silence boulder. It was actually pleasant in the shade, and the kids had no problems negotiating the slabs. We didn’t do much, but managed to sample some fine problems and stretch our road-weary bodies. Power of Silence looks even more awesome in person than it does in the photos. And despite having pretty darn good holds, it is wicked hard.

Day two brough Paul, April, and Silas, and we headed up the chains on North Mountain to warm up on the Small Potatoes blocks. Good stuff there, then we were off to Nobody Here Gets Out Alive, then over to Trac II to Babyface and D3. I managed to flash D3 (V7), and Jen came close to sending. I should have flashed Babyface (V7), but mucked up the feet. Such is life. Day three took us to the New Meadow, where we did Lobster Claws (V5). I tried to flash King Cobra (V6), managed to come off at the top and ping pong down between two boulders. Aside from cuts and bruises (and bruised motivation), I was fine. Later, we wandered up to See Spot Run (V6) and Barefoot on Sacred Ground (V12). Jen should have sent See Spot Run, though she backed off at the top (given that the boulder is roughly 30 feet tall, I don’t blame her). I worked on Barefoot with Paul (who sent it the next day) and made reasonable progress for such a hard problem.

Day four should have been a rest day, but we had a tour of the East Spur Maze, so off we hiked into the desert. I was tired, and warming-up was a chore. After seeing Better Eat Your Wheaties (V8), I made what would be a poor decision and attempted the flash. After pulling on we all hear a loud pop, and I managed to do something to my left hand ring finger, likely tweaking the pulley. Lovely, but more on that later. Jen nearly flashed Jigsaw (V5) before we headed out, which is pretty impressive given it was day four.

So, the finger. It was pretty bruised after the initial trauma, but didn’t swell terribly. I tried climbing a bit after a rest day, but the finger didn’t feel great, and I didn’t push it. The next day, I tried again, this time doing Sign of the Cross (V3)–uh, crimps?–and trying Choir Boys. After about 30 minutes total of climbing, the finger felt pretty bad, and I was ready to jump in the car and head back to Pittsburgh. To say that it is difficult to be in Hueco Tanks, surrounded by strong, motivated climbers, with an injured finger, would be a great understatement. It sucked, and I was less than pleasant to be around.

Today, however, we headed back to the East Spur Maze, and I found honest to goodness sloper problems–The Long Haul and Quetzlcotel–and worked those for awhile with decent progress. Yes, it would have been nice to send one, but simply being on the rock, without pain, doing hard moves, was good enough. We’re taking a break from our van and are staying in a motel this evening, and tomorrow is a rest day. I’m looking forward to heading out on Thursday and trying Black Mamba (V10), which could be a good long-term problem for the trip.

The boys are having a blast, climbing everything in sight. They’ve also been hiking champs, managing the slab approaches without much complaint.

The campground at Heuco is completely awesome, aside from the 6:00 PM moratorium on leaving the park. It is nearly empty, the sites are spacious and shaded, and the bathrooms are clean and heated. And it’s super-cheap–$14 a day for up to six people. Good stuff!

Posted on 20 April 2010

Orion Magazine posted an excellent essay by Bill McKibben regarding the recent accusations of cattle farming as a chief cause of global warming. McKibben points out the following bit of history:

Still, even once you’ve made that commitment, there’s a nagging ecological question that’s just now being raised. It goes like this: long before humans had figured out the whole cow thing, nature had its own herds of hoofed ungulates. Big herds of big animals—perhaps 60 million bison ranging across North America, and maybe 100 million antelope. That’s considerably more than the number of cows now resident in these United States. These were noble creatures, but uncouth—eructate hadn’t been coined yet. They really did just belch. So why weren’t they filling the atmosphere with methane? Why wasn’t their manure giving off great quantities of atmosphere-altering gas?

Indeed.

Note that McKibben isn’t defending industrial farming (in fact, he agrees that it is damaging to the environment), but instead defending small-scale, grass-fed, pastured cattle operations, as they essentially mimic the grazing habits of the ungulates of yore.

Posted on 1 April 2010

Recently, it came to light that Laurent Fignon, the professorial French rider who served as Greg Lemond’s foil in the late 80s and early 90s, doped during his racing career. He admitted as much when he also admitted that he had cancer, and that perhaps there was a link between the dope and his disease. This has lead some to wonder, hmmm, how many times did Greg Lemond beat Fignon? How do you beat a doper? Additionally, others have written that if the Alps destroyed mean like Bernard Hinault, how could the current Tour contenders drive over them?

Now, before I go any further, let me say that I think much of PRO cycling is dirty. That much is true, and we’ll see the usual story lines play out during the Grand Tours this year. I also think, however, that the rampant doping has made everyone cynical about the sport, and the possibility of a rider being genuinely strong without the aid of pharmaceuticals. To make my point, I want to pull a page or two from climbing history.

In the late mid to late 80s, the bar for purely difficult climbing at the crags was rising rapidly. Britons like Ben Moon and Jerry Moffat established severe routes both in England and in France (the epicenter of rock climbing then). Both also lived in caves, hitch-hiked to the crag, and ate bread with ketchup for dinner. They pushed limits by approaching hard climbing in a whole new way, both through specific training (the School Room is their lasting legacy) and a willingness to push the limits. To think that they could even afford dope is ridiculous (read that line about bread and ketchup again). Around the same time, a German climber, Wolfgang Gullich, set about rethinking training, and through the creation of the campus board (among other things), he ushered in the Ninth grade with his route Action Directe. Much like Moffat and Moon, Gullich lived simply, though he allowed himself such niceties as a house.

In the mid 90s, Gullich was invited to be Sylvester Stallone’s stunt double for the fantastically horrible film Cliffhanger. In his biography, Gullich admitted there was pressure to use steroids to bulk up and gain strength (remember it was Stallone’s flick). He and Ron Kauk both turned aside the offers, and still managed to impress the bodybuilders who worked with Stallone (Gullich could do a pull-up off one pinkie finger. No, really).

What’s my point? Well, don’t dismiss success so quickly as the product of doping. Again, nothing surprises me about cycling, and if I read tomorrow that Carlos Sastre and Denis Menchov both doped last year, I’d shrug my shoulders and move on. But don’t necessarily believe that means that everyone who has beaten them in the past is a doper, too.

Posted on 22 March 2010