Yesterday I went out to Hueco with some guys I met at the climbing comp last week. We went first to the New Meadow where the guys worked on a problem around the corner and I worked on Schwerer Gustov. After about 5 tries I sent it. It's a fun problem. Then, we went to the Army of Darkness boulder and Connor and I climbed this highball problem that was really crimpy. I liked it a lot but I am still not a huge fan of highballs. I am not sure what the climb was, since it is just called project in the guidebook but it was really neat. From there we went to the Babyface Boulders and Connor got PFOS. It was a good send and I really enjoyed our trip out there, especially ending it with El Pasito.
Today I was able to make it out to Hueco in the morning. I went first to Diaphanous Sea and got to work. It was a struggle only because my skin was killing me. The day before yesterday I went swimming and lost all of the callouses I had built up on my fingers from Boston. I was ready to give up because everything felt so sharp but instead I threw my chacos to the top of the climb and told myself I wouldn't cheat to get up to them. On the send, my fingers actually felt much better than the attempts that I bailed off. I guess that I have needed to just climb through the pain for some time now, rather than let myself think I need to build up callouses. Anyway, it was a great day.
In sadder news, however, Sport Climbing did not make it into the 2020 Olympics. It's unfortunate, but it is the harsh reality of the ambiguous nature of sport climbing. Try as they might to inform people, I still have people ask straight off whether comps are based on time. Hopefully 2024!
Do you have video footage of any of your recent hueco sends? And how are you wearing jeans in the summer at Hueco?
ReplyDeleteNot really. I think I still have a bunch of failed attempts on my phone, but I didn't take a camera and ran out of room and took stills. I set the camera up to take every 5 seconds or so. That's why some of the shots totally missed the crux on some of the problems. And the jeans aren't really that bad. I usually wear jeans to climb and I am totally comfortable in dry heat. This Boston humidity is what's killing me. Eventually I'll actually send on a day I bring out a proper camera.(and an assistant)
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