Hueco Tanks I : Intro & North Mountain

Hueco Tanks is known for being one of the best spots in the world, top-notch for bouldering (rock climbing), and a desired destination of ours for a while. But it is not a short trip, and takes a bit of effort for us to get there especially with kids in tow. In the past, weather, time, and misc things just didn't align for a trip to Hueco... until now. We had our first family adventure to this bouldering Mecca and an amazing natural playground of Hueco Tanks.

View from Atop of northeast side of North Mountain

Hueco Tanks is not only a first class bouldering spot, but also a very unique and sacred historical place with many remnants of prehistoric life. There are historical artifacts, petroglyphs, and unique plants and wildlife. Because of the fragility of this place, there are rules to follow and a limited number of visitors are allowed. The North Mountain is the only self-guided area with a limit of 70 people a day. The East and West Mountains are only accessible on guided tours.

Prior to our trip, all the reservations for North Mountain were already taken, and so we arranged 3 days worth of guided tours for the East and West Mountains. To add to the fun factor of this adventure, our trusty climbing friend, Roger, decided at the last minute to come out and join us for the guided days!

We arrived in El Paso a day and a half prior to the tours. So on Day 0 (pre tour day) we headed out bright and early to line up at the park entrance in hopes of scoring a walk-on spot for the North Mountain. I believe they have 60 reservations and leave 10 spots open for first-come-first-serve walk ons. Luckily this is end of the climbing season at Hueco so there are less people, and we were first in line (~7am) before the gates opened at 8am. We easily scored the 4 walk-on spots. Once we were in, I packed us all snacks and a sandwich to put in our daypacks, grabbed our crash pads, and off we went to hike up and spend the day in the North Mountain.

Day 0 : North Mountain

Climbing outdoors is very different than the indoor gyms. The rocks are sharper and harsher on the hands. The route to the top is not clearly marked or defined, and there can be many factors that affect one's mental aspect - the height, weather/wind, surrounding fall area.. whether the landing zone is flat or angled or if there are boulders in the way, and there is limited fall protection.. aka only the crash pads that we carry with us. Day0 and Day1 were both high wind advisory days, with gusts up to 35mph.

Ryan has been to Hueco many many times in the past, so lucky us, he's an old pro at knowing the climbs. Day 0 was more of a warm-up day for me to get my bearings. Ryan took me to try out a classic problem Nobody Gets Out Here Alive, V2. No photos, but the key tip that helped me out during the crux move, which was the transition from the overhang portion to the slab, was to lock and press the right arm. First day jitters, I could do both portions separately, but didn't have enough left to put it together.

Ryan leading the way with reference from the guidebook.

Kiddies doing their thing.. creative play. =)

The winds were way too strong during the later half of the day to make it to another climb that we wanted to check out, Ghetto Simulator, V2, enough that it was hard for the adults to walk and the kiddos would have been easily blown away. Day 0 definitely clued me in that these climbs at Hueco are challenging and awesomely amazing.. and brutal on the hands and fingers! 3 more glorious days...

More to come...

Pre-Climbing - El Paso Zoo
Climbing Day 0
Climbing Day 1
Climbing Day 2