Hueco

Well today was my 4th day of being in Hueco Tanks, and I'll have to admit it, I am absolutely getting my ass kicked on everything I touch. It is quite disheartening. My skin in unusually bad too, and has never seemed to recoup fully from the beating that it took down in Rocktown.

Either way, Hueco is a beautiful place. One of the most beautiful that I've ever been to. Every sunset and sunrise is better than the last, and it is hard not to be psyched with all of the strong men and women hanging around down here.

I'm pretty tired though and think that I'm just gonna close this one off short though. Hope everything and everyone is doing well!

Adios Arkansas

Well today looks to be the last at the Hartlerode house hold for me. I really enjoy being here; there is great discussion, food, and a feeling of home that makes me hesitant to leave.

The climbing has been a lot of fun too, and my skin is destroyed. The last three days have been spent at Horseshoe, Fountain Red, and Area 74. All amazing sandstone crags, that will make your tips bleed from the ultra-high friction slopers.

It looks like we'll spend tomorrow doing a little more pulling at HCR before heading further south back to Conway, AR where Wayne goes to school. On Thursday it looks like I'll then move west to Austin, TX to hang with a few friends from the Y, and then on to the final destination of Hueco Tanks.

I'm beyond psyched and can't wait for the interesting change of scenery. Hopefully the camera will be up and charged by the time I get there. I need to get on the ball.

Moving on up...errr...west

The past week and a half has been a whirlwind, and I've nearly been out on the road for two weeks now. Most of my time has been spent at Rocktown outside of LaFayette, Georgia, but the weather has caused me and my car to move locations.

Yesterday, with Wayne, I headed out from Rocktown hoping to escape the snow storm that was sweeping across the south. Great plan in theory, but it just landed us on top of another mountain north of Chattanooga bouldering at a crag known as Little Rock City. It was a good day, but cold to say the least, and snow was plentiful. After a few hours at the crag, and some nagging on my behalf, we finally bailed; and just in the nick of time since they closed that solid sheet of ice/road off 20 minutes later, and would have stranded us on the top of the mountain.

We ended up fleeing all the way to Nashville that/last night and hung out with Kevin Bogard and his family for the night. Early this morning we then rolled on out towards the Arkansas area, and I now find myself in a strangers apartment with a full belly and at a state of near exhaustion. It is good to be here though, and we have plans to climb on through Tuesday or Wednesday after which it will be off to the beautiful establishment of Hueco Tanks. I can't say enough about how psyched I am.

Still no pictures or video. I need to do a better job.

Georgia. Brrrrrrr...

Today was cold. 28 degrees to be exact. Haven't experienced such mind-numbing coldness in a long long time.

I've been out in Georgia now for nearly a week climbing here at a great sandstone bouldering crag. The times have been great and I've met some great people and enjoyed the climbing a lot too.

Today I made it in to the nice little town of La Fayette for the first time and it is a really nice, quaint town. Reminds me a lot of home. Made it a point to get a shower and I feel like a new man. I also picked up some gloves which makes my hands all happy.

No pictures or videos to share at the moment: being in Krystal's parking lot bumming internet doesn't help the matter either. Either way, the trip is going well and I've found some great projects for the remainder of this weekend and the rest of the next! Can't wait for Hueco in a few weeks!

Preparations

Christmas is over, and the time is drawing near for the road trip to begin. The route has severely shrank, but the psyche is still there and I'm hoping to get things officially kicked off on Monday!

While at my Grandparents' house for Christmas I was able to make some small changes to the Jeep so it will be more compatible with the road trip lifestyle. Papaw and I managed to snag the seat bottom out and then add in a small sheet of plywood over the top to allow for a little more headroom and also to create an awesome little storage nook for all of my food. Today, I started packing things into some small tupperware containers and getting the last of my laundry done up so that things will be ready to go a.s.a.p.

If I do get to leave on Monday I'm going to be heading down south to Georgia for the first leg of the trip. The destination: Rocktown; an epic bouldering crag outside of the small town of La Fayette. Right now, I have the intent to hang there for around 2 weeks and then it will be off to Arkansas to pull on some more stellar sandstone slopers! I can't wait to get things rolling!

A week in SoiLL

Well the last week has been spent in the company of some great old friends, and also with a few amazing new ones. We've explored some great new areas in SoiLL and have been fortunate enough to get some sends along the way. It was great to climb so long with Wayne too, he's definitely kept steadily improving and he did very well for himself in this new sandstone environment. Here are a few pictures from Wayne's camera from the week...

Sending Buzz Arete V4 at Giant City State Park

Wayne flashing the Center Line V3 at Giant City State Park

Wayne nailing the crux of R.I.P V6 at The Graveyard

Sticking the crux move on Bug Eyes V5 at The Graveyard

Sporting the awesome scarf that Mom made me.

Phillip cruising Shorty the Pimp 5.13a at Jackson Falls.

Wayne working into the crux of Shadow of a Man V5 at the Holy Boulders.

Inspired.

Topping out Enlightenment V5 at the Holy Boulders.

Beautiful sandstone slopers at the Holy Boulders.

My ticklist for the time here looks something like this...

V6

Pinch Me

Big Dyno Problem

V5

Enlightenment

No Name Problem

Bug Eyes

V4

Buzz Arete

Wedlock

Arete Problem

Broken

Gill Roof - Flash

No Name Problem

V3

Punch Drunk

The Center Line

Big Pinch

Skeleton - Flash

Formaldehyde - Flash

Hornball

Mollusk - Flash

Face Problem - Flash

V2

No Name Problem

Cracked Skull - Flash

V1

The Tomb - Flash

V0

Devil's Arete - Flash

Eye Sockets - Flash

Next Week

Well Graduation is today, and tonight will be some festive events. But, starting Sunday night I'm gonna be chilling in Carbondale for a week at Kevin Martin's house and climbing all over SoiLL. I'm psyched and Drew and Wayne are gonna be cruising in too, with the possibility of Brian Martin being there as well. I'm gonna be getting left behind by everyone. Crap! At least I have a tan.