A little background for those who aren't climbers....

For those of you who don't know anything about where we are going or what we are doing....

Hueco Tanks (pronounced like Waco, but NOT the same place,) is a park preserve near El Paso, Texas. It has some of the best bouldering in the world; hundreds of problems at all grade levels. This time of year, (peak season) the park is usually stocked with some of the most elite boulderers in the world! Which means about 50 people know who they are.

Anyways, the park is full of petroglyphs that are centuries old. The more drunken/immature/destructive/whatever citizens of El Paso who used to stumble into the park without regulation began to deface and spray paint on/over some of these historical paintings, and thus the park was closed to the public entirely for several years. Climbers, who realized the extreme loss of this park, rallied together and, with the park service, negotiated new regulations that would allow the park to open again. This limits the number of people in the park a day to 200. You can only go in the park 3 days in a row before you must take a day off. Then you can go in for up to another 3 days. This way people can't book up the park indefinately and block access for others. (Although you do need to make your reservations several months in advance.)

A little background on Bouldering...

Bouldering is a ropeless form of climbing. You actually climb on boulders, so it is also realitively close to the ground. Boulders are usually about 10-15ft tall, but can go much higher. Those climbs are called "High Balls". But for the most part we will all be realatively close to the ground. The boulders are also more likely to be overhanging. AT Hueco Tanks that varies from straight up (90 degrees) to straight horizontal (zero degrees). You place layers of "crash pads" under the fall zone and spot each other as you climb. The crash pads are foldable and have backpack straps to carry them. So that should explain all the pictures you will see of Sponge Bob-looking people. With a good group of people, all equipped with pads, you can build up a good landing zone. Bouldering is like just doing the hard part (or crux) of a roped wall climb. It cuts out all the easy stuff and leaves you with complex, technical movements and a LOT of finger strength. Bouldering routes are called "problems" because they take so much thinking, trying, falling, swearing, and skin to figure out.

So...A little climbing lingo...

Crimp - Thin edges, usually incut, you kink your fingers up on it and press your thumb over your index finger to add pressure and friction to your fingers.

Slope/r - Just like it sounds, a slopey hold that has no real "positive" position. Friction is key to sticking to these smooth holds.

Pinches - Again, something you pinch, with your fingers on one side of the hold and thumb squeezing the other.

Jug - BIG hold, great for resting on, very secure and deep, and easy hold to hang on. You should be able to jump and grab this one armed without too much trouble.

Heel Hook - Hooking a foot hold with the back of your heel and using your hamstring to pull in and up. I LOVE to heel hook!

Toe Hook - Same thing, but with your toe levered up. Kris loves this, HATES heel hooking. It's his pigeon toes.

Smear - Pressing your foot/toes on the flat rock, there are no edges or holds to stand on. You are standing on friction alone.

There are a whole bunch more, but you'll digest the termanology more easily if it's injected in stages....

Minnesota Skin

Haven't gone anywhere yet, just getting the blog started....