this means it's about 7:20
got to hang pretty things around the trailer. to give the place "atmosphere"
the frecklage is out of control
rat maze December 30, 2011
An incredible end to part one of my Hueco season, 2011/12. The miracle of hannukah sending came through, after several days of rain and snow, frigid temps and icey top outs. On my last real day out, and the last day/night of the holiday, I finally finished Wheaties.
I was able to put Bush League together pretty quickly as well, and after that Melissa decided I might as well go out with a bang and send two things. So she and I broke off from our larger tour to head down to the maze and join up with the Exposure team from Dallas, who had just radioed into Wheaties. I felt intimidated by the dozen or so strong kids clustered under the problem, but Brian Anathwioeradksfjnne came up and said “back it up back it up give Ann Raber a turn to crush.” I managed to send it first go, using this amazing beta I discovered the day it bit my fingertip off and I fell on Sam Tinghy then bled all over my long johns. When I got to the last crimp on the face, which is quite good, both my feet cut because I was so freaking nervous and shakey. I heard Melissa gasp so loud, I got myself right and said “I’m good.” Then finished, trembling like a dead leaf the whole way.
Here’s my story with Wheaties: I had tried that problem a lot two years ago, and the first move was kind of low percentage, and I couldn’t stick even the first few moves after that with any consistency. Last year I stayed 100% off of it. This year I tried it again, and the first move worked every time. I decided that, whether I make progress or not, I was not going to give up on Wheaties this year. Everytime I went to the maze, which was like twice a week because that is the nature of Hueco Tanks, I focused on it, falling a dozen times and making incrimental, theoretical, psychological progress (I feel closer). Finally I overheard Walker telling Veevers that he could only do it by using this intermediate I had never bothered to try before. That gave me one more move. Huge! After that I fell a lot doing a foot move where I see a lot of folks fall, and where Andy claims to have been falling for 17 years (but I think he is being hyperbolic).
this is andy on wheaties. i stole this off facebook.
Another time out, Melissa and Lori helped me refine my opening moves, enough so that I could think clearly at that foot crux and see a more static way to get established on the face. I’m sorry for all this inside baseball beta talk, but I figure most everyone has been on this problem and knows what I’m sayin, ya know? What I’m sayin? That left foot move? I found a perfect method for myself (step to the start hold and do some riverdance!). Anyway, I’m so happy that it all came together, and that I didn’t give up, and that Melissa had it in mind to encourage me to go down there, and that BA was there to make me laugh before I pulled on. Yay!!
I could’ve left after that, but I couldn’t get motivated to leave Hueco with intact skin and fire-less elbows, so I did an unprecedented second day on with the Team ARG kids and their coaches John Myrick and Morgan, whom I adore. We went, of course, to the maze, where I sat around eating, chatting, and almost pulled off that horrible little painful piece of atrociousness, Brain on Drugs. It took hours to figure out how I could even do one hand move, and then another hour to get from what I thought would be the end of “the business” to the top. I wound up having to put on one of John’s huge Madrocks with a flexible, plastic-y toe to do it. Since I didn’t send, I now have to get myself a pair of slightly loose madrocks with soft plastic toes. I’m cool with it. They’re cheap, and probably will be useful again.
Click for more shots by sam davis of my brain on droogz drama
I’m heading to Hawaii in just a few days now, and I plan on not thinking about beta or bouldering or anything really, other than uke chords and swell reports. Luckily Sam Davis was with us and made a beta memory video for me, so I can do that pile next time I’m at the maze. Which will probably be every week of the rest of my life, if this month is a precedent.
John Myrick spotting me on the Egg. I get so scared at that part! Also, new haircut! I don't love it, but I think it's for the best.
This is an ad for Rock/Creek:
so fine December 22, 2011
First the Good: Climbing is going awesome! My day on day off Hueco thing has continued to produce pain-free, misery-free, minimal-complainy Hueco days. And Hannukah has begun! Which is a very special bouldering time when I stop trying to send anything and just figure I’ve worked as hard as possible and some higher force of love and crimping is gonna have to come through for me. And it usually works, so let the miracle sending begin! But for real, I’m very happy with my time here so far. Best season yet, health and happiness and climbing wise, so/by far. And I finally did shroom, after not feeling even a little bit close on the hard move last year. Yay!
Then the Medium: I got kind of stoked on this cowboy themed trailer box in Truth or Consequences, and it took a while but I gathered the funds, locked in a place to put ‘er, and I’ve been super excited, but I think it’s not going to pan out after all. Renting a proper truck to haul it down here from there will cost like 300 dollars, and that was enough to send the project over my financial comfort level. Weird, where that line ends up being. I’ll plant the cash in the sand, keep an eye out for a closer/cheaper option, and/or wait til i can put away a little more towards it. I’m also a little afraid of becoming a crazy hobo trailer person. Please let me know if that seems like it’s happening.
The Horrible: That whole, ‘toss caution to the breeze and step boldly into the opportunity for summer romance part 2, fall edition’ thing fell apart. I’m very very upset. One could truly hurt themselves doing this crap. Trying not to let it cast a shadow over my hope for a long and happy life, but ya know, it’s a crux and I feel like a total idiot. All things Canadian, musical, and francophone now sting. I’ll be watching hugh grant movies in the rav if you need anything.
The Better: Nine more days in Hueco with a gorgeous forecast, a visiting ARG team, Molly, Emilia and lots of other fun friends are out, and I’m going to see the Nutcracker on Friday.
The even Better: Hawaii = sooner every day.
another hueco pun! December 12, 2011
Couple things: Blame the horrible ranch barn wifi, but I managed to delete a bunch of comments the other day. They all appeared to have duplicated themselves multiple times, and when I tried to correct that, well, comments go boom. Sorry bout that.
SendAnn is an official media link of the 2012 HuecoRock Rodeo! Thanks baby. If this one thing works out, and this other thing that I hope works out doesn’t happen, I’ll definitely be there!
Hueco so far has been wonderful. For the first time I’ve accepted the “day on-day off” schedule that is the favorite among my most prolific and experienced Hueco climbing friends, and (go figure) it’s working brilliantly. It always seemed like such a relatively small amount of climbing time, I couldn’t justify it. I’ve just gone for two on-one off from the getgo. On that system a typical day goes like this: I warm up, eat, complain about my skin and muscles, sleep through the last half of a tour, and only ever have strong days after two days of rest. But so far on the one-on-one-off system, I’ve impressed myself with my day-stamina. I’m giving “one last go’s” at every stop, and working hard at limit problems all day. So it’s probably an as if not more efficient use of my climbing time to just take every other day off and shut up.
My hopes and dreams list for Hueco is getting worked out too. I’m sending old and new stuff, getting over other stuff, and adding new things I hadn’t heard of. Here’s an update:
Did: troglodyte, bloody flapper (!!!!!!!!!), apres mort
Punted: Egg, Loaded, Alf
Over: new religion sit, because after revisiting the stand for review ema convinced me that the sit-start degrades the quality of the problem. Good enough, moving on!
Reshuffled: turns out “that tall thing by julio” and “The tall cool one” are actually the same problem.
Added: Bush League
Betas April 1, 2011
Last time I went to Hueco I went on that super fun 2 person tour with Gustavo, and we beta’d out the Long Haul. He sent it as soon as we had it figured. I had this one really close go, then I started melting down a little, then a lot. I had the moves, but honestly I was never very precise on it. To have sent would have been desperate, and it’s a little too hard for me to thrutch through. I did figure out an easier way to do the last move later. Dag. I think the only way I can do problems that are at my trickery limit is perfectly. I can’t have any little feet-off things or misses that waste my strength and headspace. So that’s good to know.
Toolin time March 16, 2011
and all the sudden, my Hueco season was so over.
I guess we’ve been thinking about it all weekend, but today and yesterday’s high of 83 sealed the deal, and it is time to go home. There’s been all this vague, “end of the month” talk among my friends at the ranch and shindaggar, but it looks like we’ll all be gone by Thursday morning.
I went out on my own to North yesterday, but I’m still pretty shaky on the climbing alone idea, since my horrible solo ride at MK a few weeks back (hip and butt are fully recovered, thanks!). I also didn’t have any coffee or tea in the morning, and never quite woke up in the first place. I was hoping to run into Gustavo and the Mallorca boys, but they never appeared. I almost stormed off the mountain and headed home in a huff a few times before I got motivated to hike up to Big Nose Millie, which I haven’t tried this year. A few days ago I sent Something Different with one shoe on, and it went so fast, like, 3 tries. After many dozens of attempts over the last year.
So, riding the wave of one-shoe motivation, I tried Millie with one shoe, and experimented will Allen’s no-shoe method. Surprisingly, but also of course, I made the crux moves easily with my big toe all dug into a hole. I couldn’t hit the last move, though. It was nice to be alone and in the cool dark cave. I stayed there for 4 hours in this strange, suspended time kind of state. I ate, played with the holds, never saw anyone else, read an old edition of Light on Yoga I found at Goodwill yesterday, and practiced the moves in various stages of shoelessness. And I came up with this little system for thinking about my performance on projects.
When I’m working hard on a problem and it isn’t coming together I ask, Do I have what it takes to do this problem today?
Do I know and trust the beta?
Do I have the physical energy, strength or flexibility to make all the moves and transitions?
Do I feel safe gear/spotters wise? If not, is my fear manageable?
Do I even care?
I take this little inventory and consider my situation. It’s not about excuses, which I suppose all of these could be characterized as. Working at my limit, I have to be realistic about the circumstances I’m working under. Here’s what I think was going on today on BNM.
The beta? Eh, no. I never stuck the last move convincingly, and I wasn’t sure how I was going to match the jug without dabbing either. No, I don’t really trust it yet. Allen gave me some tips later on.
Energy? Kinda. Granted I was napping, but I do well on projects when I’m in a tired haze, so I’ll say that was fine.
Strength/flex: Yes, I was long and strong enough to hit and reach everything.
Safe? No, I had my one pad, and was scooting it along move by move to avoid slamming the rock on my back or hips. I wanted another one or two thin ones for the length of the problem.
Care? Yeah, I haven’t done a v9 before, and this one it so funky and well suited to my roofy, pocket strength and long bony toes. I’m excited to send it, but it looks like it’ll have to be next year.
Anyway, that’s my little project inventory tool. Matters of weather, attitude, posse or distraction are purposely absent, since I’ve had a lot of success in bad weather surrounded by jerks while hating everything and bad music playing out of someone’s phone. I think weather would fall into safety and trust anyway.
Planning to leave early Thursday morning. Yoga and mastodon cleaning today.
sluddin it up March 14, 2011
I was feeling pretty apathetic about my spring break trip to Hueco. I figured it would be hot and boring with most people gone already, and a heinous spring break college hell crowd. But, as usually happens when I come out here, I pulled up to the Mastodon, saw the stars, felt the dusty breeze, and big surprise I’m still in love. A lot of my favorite seasonal folks are gone now, but I had forgotten that my very very favorite month here is November, before anyone arrives and when it’s quiet in the hood. The vibe is similar to that again, and I’m feeling quite comfortable and at home. Joey and Lisa from Boone are still here at the Shindaggar, Gustavo and some other Mallorca boys are around, and even Jordan Shackleford, a cool dude I met in Bishop who doesn’t know what Prana is (in the yogic or tank tops sense of the word) is out for the break! Everyone who’s still here seems happy to be, and the park is full of new climbs and old projects in cool, shady caves.
Yesterday I tagged along on West with Allen and Andy and Ashley for some projects new and old. We found a possibly new but perfectly valid warm up area at ground level, tucked in with the grass. This short dome had 3 nice juggy lines and not far away there was a fun sneaker slab. We went to a fun hard project of Allen’s, and I figured out some beta for a slightly lower start, which felt like, ya know, a contribution. He sent it too, which was glorious. I was telling Allen that, since we’ve both been on the road and kind of out of our minds for most of the year, I think of us as being on parallel journeys. He was not amused, but the fact that he’s looking so strong, physically and in the mental/emotional sense after a tough year, is inspiring to me.
Ashley got this shot while Andy and I shuffled pads. Allen sounded kinda doubty about this project a few times during the session, and it was great to see his attitude shift and then annihilate it. THe problem is scary -- super steep, crumbly slopers, and a not ideal landing zone. Yeah EMA!
After that we went to Shroom, which I had tried earlier in the year and loved, but for this one hard move I couldn’t do. Well yesterday I still couldn’t pull it off, but the rest of the problem is fun and chill, so I don’t mind having to go back a few more times. The move I can’t get yet feels like McKinney. Same angle, close to the ground, sharp, just like the first move on Power Sludt. Heinous.
Today I was going to rest but instead went rogue with Gustavo. I had a tragic fall at the top of the Long Haul, which I was very psyched to have figured out with no beta and nailed almost ALMOST ALMOST all the way through in a couple hours. (video featuring some difficult to remember beta coming soon)
Next time. Then we went to a new problem he put up last week, and I got a nice little v3 ffa, “Beautiful Weirdo”.
I’m hoping to make it back to Austin by Wednesday or Thursday, to catch some friends who are in town and do some sxsw-ing with Rebecca and the neighborhood kids. But I’m having so much fun, I don’t know if I’ll be able to make myself go before I absolutely have to. OH, also, I did another totally valid v8 the other day, which makes, like, 5 or 6 of them! I think it’s my new 5.12. Ok that’s all. Andy’s about to boot me from the bathhouse!
Rodayo! me say roo-oo-oodayo February 10, 2011
My bff of climbing Emilia Rafaela Consuela Bonita Barrows-Brown has been working her face off all season in Hueco, in a basement, on a computer, putting together the Rock Rodeo. It’s almost here, and I’m so proud of her!
click through for their fancy website
BONUS, Possessed by Paul James is playing the party
I’m heading back out next week for a few days, one last trip for El Trooper before I start thinking seriously about cleaning it out and possibly maybe putting it on C’s list just to see what happens maybe possibly. Here’s a very silly video I made a few months back to help me remember which holds to use on my project. I sound and look like a total idiot, but it gets the job done. Kevin held the camera, and his young friend Liam sat around wondering what mental disorder I was acting out of in this particular moment.
