Day 1, again had severe wind advisory, with some of the weather sites stating gusts were up to 60+mph. Having a guide was definitely valuable since Brandon knew of areas that were more protected from the winds.
From the parking lot of the campgrounds, we hiked in through the Tabloid Pass in the direction of East Spur.
For warm-up, Brandon brought us to an area of wind-protected boulders (Not definitive on the exact boulder.. but I think it's The Beehives?) with a bunch of easy climbs, several V0s, V1s, a V3, and also an overhung V6. The kids were just as excited as us to get climbing.
Here are Emilia and Liam both climbing a V0.
Even the easy rated V0/V1 climbs felt a level more difficult than the V0/V1 ratings at the gym.
Here I am working the V3, all good except for the top out. Still sketched by big movement at the height of the top out.
Ryan and Roger have no problem with the top out. Ryan's send:
E just hanging out.
Next we continued across the Tabloid Pass and to the East Spur Maze (southeast). We re-warmed up on some easy routes on the 10ft Wall --> Clumsy Plumber, V0 and Udder Destruction, V1 and a few climbs on Dihedral Rock --> The Flexin' Texan, V1 and worked the main focus climb here, Jigsaw, V5.
Roger working the crimpy start of Jigsaw.
Check out Ryan's half crimp!
While we climbed, the kids were playing really well of imaginative play with the surroundings. At times they were taking food orders and "cooking" for us with the dirt, rocks, sticks. Other times, they took our shoes and lined them up, and proceeded to sell shoes. Here, they were playing superheros and wanted me to take photos of their superhero poses. Notice their "aprons" are on from their previous "cooking" play. =)
Our fingers could only handle working Jigsaw for a finite amount of tries. Crimps are hard on the finger joints. We moved on to scope out one of Ryan's potential future projects, Javelina V8, on the northwest section of the East Spur, on The Bomb Boulder.
Interesting side fact, Javelina, is the name of a wild pig, aka skunk pig or peccary, that lives in Hueco Tanks. Brandon and Roger actually spotted one while we were hiking, but the pig hid before the rest of us could catch a glimpse.
Ryan's first go on Javelina and makes great progress!
Javelina is also one of the projects Brandon is working on.
Hueco Tanks park closes at 6pm. That is, all cars that plan on coming (campers) or going (day visitors) need to be in or out of the park by 6pm. The gate does not re-open until 8am the next morning. We had just enough time to hike over and check out one more climb for the day. A hike away, was my objective project of this trip, Moonshine Roof, V4, located near the middle-southern part of East Mountain.
By this time of the day, the winds were howling and our fingers were tender. It took a couple of tries to figure out the start of Moonshine Roof, as it is not an easy start. There is a small nub to place your left foot, and then a toe hook for the right foot that was better suited for taller people. The first move is a power core move to a nice jug, but quite reachy. I surprisingly had no problems with the start or the roof portion to the surf board. The moves out of the surf board though was again reachy and I couldn't figure out short person beta to continue on. =P
Roger though, crushed it! It was the end of the day, we were tired, but he gave it max effort. With mad gusting of winds, Roger even did the full top out.
Check out Roger's send of Moonshine Roof.
Perfect way to end the first of the guided days...
(Day 2 To Be Continued in Next Post..)
Pre-Climbing - El Paso Zoo
Climbing Day 0
Climbing Day 1
Climbing Day 2
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