New Crag Circa Aldama

On a tip from a friend, Mike and I went out exploring yesterday to see if we could find this crag off the highway near the town of Aldama. We'd been told about the two-hundred foot splitter cracks just a half hour from the city and with only a five minute walk-up. We almost turned around before we found it because it was really more like 45 minutes out, and it was a 15 minute walk up to the nearest end of the cliff-band. But once we were there, it was great. There's nothing like a little adventure climbing to get you rejuvinated. Click on the images below to see a large version of each one.


Here, Mike is ready to begin the onsight, FA (as far as we know). The first placement is well off ground level, relative to the ranch down below so the whole thing felt pretty exposed. The pic on the right is of us at the top of the climb.




Another summit victory photo. This cliff-band faces east so we were climbing in the shade all afternoon. But once on the top, we were back in the sun. The pic on the right is of Mike checking out other lines to the right of the line we climbed. You can see our line, the wide dihedral crack, off to the left. The hardest part, mentally of the whole climb, was topping out the pillar and then stepping back onto the face for the last fifteen feet. Talk about feeling exposed! Up til then we'd had the dihedral to work with on two sides, sometimes even cramming ourselves into the chimney for a bit. Then we got to the top of the pillar and we were back onto a normal face climb with 180 degrees of exposure.


On the top we found ourselves in an untouched 'forest' of ocotillo and cactus. It was really cool to see the land the way it would be without the imprint of humanity on it. Definitely a landscape that was unfamiliar to me, but I was glad I was wearing sneakers and not my tevas.

Split Rock Topout Flashback

Last summer Mike and I found a tough boulder in the woods at Mt. Major State Park in Alton, NH. The toughest part of this short boulder was the topout, which was mostly blank while the face was slightly overhanging and while we tried in vain to hold onto the tiny holds on the top, gravity kept pulling us back off the lip and onto the ground again. The lip is only about eight-and-a-half feet off the ground so the fall wasn't bad but the video from the top ended up being rather comical watching us fall over and over again.

More Pics

Teamwork

This is what we call teamwork. Now no one can say we don't work like a team. I don't know if this will count for the tick list, but you do what you gotta do.This is at a new area Mike found over the weekend. We have affectionately named it the Toilet Bowl Area because of the wind and water worn bowls shaped into the hills. Better rock quality than the Men at Work area but just as much sun. This was at about 3 pm - the rocks all face west. Fortunately today topped out at about 75 degrees, tomorrow is forecast to reach 85 degrees or higher.

Men At Work

I've finally been able to get back out rock climbing! If I were still in NH there wouldn't be any climbing going on, unless I wanted to take up ice climbing. But I'm in Mexico now and Mike Kelly, Ryan Worley and our friend Sergio have found something worth tearing up our hands right here near where we live. Granted, rock climbing isn't as common or popular here as in NH so the local "crags" are untouched, loose, crumbly and dirty. Some might be tempted to call it choss, but it's what we've got close to home and it'll do. It's actually pretty good once you get it cleaned, which is an ordeal but totally worth it to be climbing again.

This crack is on a bluff out behind the hospital, and today it was sunny, hot and windy. We haven't given this a name yet, we're saving that for the first ascensionist, but I suggested "Men At Work" due to the dangerous nature of the falling rocks and the necessity of a helmet. And, this has worked us all over for two days of climbing so "Men At Work" is appropo.

The Chisel

Just before Ben left for the long trip out to the west coast, we got to climb at Whiteface Mt one last time. I got this video at one of my favorites on the mountain. The Chisel is a great short climb that consists of a bunch of hold that feel like someone chiseled them into the side of the cliff. This is unadulterated rock, its the way God made it, no one has chiseled the holds. That's just the best way to describe it. A good pumpy climb that is always worth doing.

Happy Days are Here Again!

Went back to Whiteface Mt last week with Tony and Ben. Ben never thought he'd like climbing but now he's into it. He's pretty good too, has some really natural talent, and he's 6'4" with an unreal wingspan. He can reach off the ground some holds that are two moves up for me.