Hueco
After leaving the South and making the boring two day drive across Mississippi, Arkansas and Texas, we arrived in Hueco Tanks.  The last time Jamie and I spent a long time here was two years ago on our first big road trip.  Because of increased media coverage and the publication of the guide book, Hueco was a madhouse that year.  Countless hours were spent waiting at the gate, and when we did manage to get in the park, we were often frustrated by warm temperatures.  With that previous trip in mind, I came to Hueco this year with few expectations.  Luckily, we had good temperatures this time around and managed to get in a lot of climbing in our 12 days there. 

I was worried that going to Hueco after being in the South would be stressful, since I had been to Hueco in prior years and felt that I had some unfinished business to take care of.  My main objective in Hueco was Chabalanke (V11), and it did weigh on my mind a bit when I arrived in Texas.  I wasn’t sure if twelve days would be enough time to do this problem, especially if I added other problems to the mix.  I had tried Chabalanke a few days in warm temps two years ago and again on a weekend visit last year.  When I came back this year, I was able to remember my beta relatively quickly thanks to some notes I had jotted down last year.  The crux of the problem for me revolves around getting a right hand pinch, crouching on my left foot, placing a right toe hook, and finding the right body position to move my left hand up to a small three finger crimpy pinch before my body falls away from the wall.  This is followed by a four-move transition into the start of Sign of the Cross.  After refining my beta and practicing the transition into the upper section, I thought I had a chance to go to the top if I did the crux on link.  Luckily, the crux is only preceded by three moves, so trying the boulder from the start isn’t extremely taxing.  After falling on the crux for a day, I did it on link.  To my delight, I was able to do the boulder the first time I did the crux from the start.  I was happy to finish it up early on in this year’s trip because I was left with ten days in Hueco to climb on everything else.