Morning view at the Rock Ranch.


Today was the first day climbing at the tanks, and thanks to some friends made along the way, we got to go in with a guided tour of certain areas of the park you can only access with a guide. Thanks again Jackie!
While waiting in line at the front gate to the park, I recognized a van with British Columbia plates, and upon further investigation found not one familiar face, but three! Israel, Tim, and Moses. Otherwise known as the 'Crushers of Squamish'. Three more faces you might be seeing a bit more of over the next few months. With the yearly migration of climbers going south in the winter and north for the summer, it's almost impossible to go somewhere without seeing someone you met in some remote part of the world doing the exact same thing, climbing.

Now I give you today on the East Mountain and the East Mountain Spur.



Ended up that 2 friends of mine from Squamish, Jackie Sequeira and Cody Cox, Happen to be down in Hueco for 2 weeks climbing with some of their buddies from Austin, two of which stomped David and I's asses in foosball last night in the barn at the Rock Ranch.Lucky for us, Jackie happens to be a guide at Hueco Tanks, and managed to get us access to the 'guided tours only' sections of the park with the rest of their buddies on a day where we probably wouldn't have even been able to get in at all due to the fact that we didn't have any reservations, and the first come first served availabilities were gone long before we arrived. Headed out for a quick warm-up in the east mountain, followed by a long and equally as enjoyable session on the classic 'Moonshine roof', which has some of the most amazing features I've seen on a rock! Huge, easy and fun moves to this large prow feature running the entire length of the roof that you pretty much bear hug until you decide you're ready to try and top out. Every movement feels even better than the last, so just pick a problem and go, there's no way you won't enjoy it!

After that, we trekked down to the east mountain spur and put in a good, serious session on another of the many Hueco classics, The Egg. this line has got one of the most ridiculous, yet fun start's I've ever encountered. Jam your right knee into a hole that it shouldn't fit in, then use that and two horrible undercling slopers to pull your bodyweight off the ground. If that's not enough for ya, the first move is to fire with your right hand about 4 feet out and up from where you're hanging from, with one knee and one hand, on the bottom of this bulbous chunk of rock. Then comes the tension. Lots and lots of tension while you traverse on non existent slopers with an ever-slipping toe hook only to come to the crux of the problem, hand/heal match and move into a shoulder wrenching series of gastons and laybacks, only to pop off because you're too tired from a full day of bouldering at Hueco Tanks. That's how it goes though! If ya can't get strong at Hueco, ya might wanna take up ping-pong, which is also conveniently offered in the barn at the Hueco Rock Ranch!

All in all, it was a pretty good first day at the Tanks! I'm excited, at least. I leave you now with the sun setting behind the east mountain. Not a bad day at all!

Here's a panoramic of Hueco Tanks from the road. To much snow for climbing today. Good thing we've got all the time in the world...

Ok, so I'm having trouble getting decent service this far away from anything, so I reckon you're just gonna have to wait to see some pictures once I've made it into town.

As of 9:18 pm, we are officially done driving. Time to set up camp for the night and get some good rest in order to make the first official day a Hueco everything it should be. Oh west mountain, how I've missed thee...

Here's a few 'drive-by' shots of a long day on I-20 west...

Crossed into the Lonestar state about an hour ago, found a gas station to refuel at and stepped straight into my first Texas mud puddle. Lovely. Then I took pictures of it. Even lovelier. Enjoy.

After a quick fill-up and drain-out, we noticed that the Howard Johnson across the street was advertising a "free hot breakfast!" so we took them up on their offer. Yogurt, fruit salad, english muffin, even an extra large belgian waffle with a cold, pulpy glass of orange juice to wash it all down.
Full belly and weary eyes, I happily claim my spot in the passenger seat for rest of the morning. Tried to shut my eyes for a bit, but quickly found out that the coffee I've been sipping on for the past 10 minutes has other plans for me. With that said, I'm going to go ahead and wrap up this post about breakfast and dip spit, and see if the Ho-Jo dark roast can solve this rubix cube before I pass out.

Christmas came and Christmas went, now the only thing left to do is post pictures of the little tikes and start doing crunches in hopes of shedding a few of the pounds I managed to acquire over the brief stay with an obsessive cook.









And here's a few shots from a hidden problem at Little Rock City in Chattanooga.





Now, here at 12:35 am on December 28th, we set off on the next leg of our journey. 1291 miles to go before we reach our New Years destination, Hueco Tanks in El Paso Texas. Olé!

Mr Tyler Willcutt a mere fraction of a second after missing the hold on Godfather. Hold your breath buddy, the grounds coming quick!

Two days of cold weather, one a great deal colder (and further north) than the other...

And so it begins...

Goal for today: Get to Washington DC to unload this moving truck and make haste back south as not to get trapped in the largest snowstorm DC's seen in 20 years! Wish us luck...

Here's a few from a cloudy day seeking waterfalls at Moss Rock Preserve.

There's no place like Horse Pens for the holidays...







And here's Daniel and I laying down Odd Job! Well, our combined efforts would've led to a top out... Nothing worse than popping off the top over and over, only to have to walk away without the send simply because you're fingertips are bleeding. I'd like to thank Daniel for the shots of me, Thanks Daniel!

Rainy day up at Rocktown yesterday. Luckily for us, this side of the mountain is home to Petty Johns Cave! 6.5 miles long, 240 feet deep and comfortably set at a constant 58 degrees! Here's some shot's of the entrance and the first series of rooms you come too, known as 'the freeway'. Unfortunately, this was as far as my camera made it. With passages suitably named 'valley of yuk' and 'pulverizer squeeze', I decided this wasn't exactly the expedition for the d300, but next time I'll be prepared with a lovely little point and shoot that will only cost me a few bucks if it gets screwed up.




*note* the flashes of light in this photo are me running around, sparking the flash as to try to get as much of the room illuminated in 30 seconds.

Now it's off to the Citadel for some more climbing. Unfortunately, hunting week at Rocktown has started, so there's no climbing till Sunday, unless you're willing to pay a hefty ticket and/or get shot at by deer hunters. We figure we'll just go climb elsewhere, then get home to re-up on some money before heading out west...

Yet another hardy pasta dish. It's hard, living this good...

Today was a good day at the citadel! Sendfest 09 with a high of 48! David and Josh sent Earl the Squirrel (hard), Naize impressed us all when he laid down the snail (hard) on his flash attempt, I managed to get 2 entirely new and equally as hard problems, and then Josh made it to the finishing jugs on big papa (very hard) only to be too pumped out from a full day of bouldering to finish! Next time, Josh. Next time. Point of the post- Very good day today! Now it's back to chattanooga for some well earned showers, then more rocktown!


Josh- Earl the Squirrel


Naize-The Snail (flashed)


Josh-Big Papa

Even this guy had a great day, eating bread and peanut butter and all that good stuff!

A good number of miles have been covered over the past few days. On Thursday, we left Asheville for Chattanooga, left Chattanooga for Rocktown, Georgia on Friday, Now we just left Rocktown for The Citadel in Fort Payne, Alabama, only to return to Rocktown tomorrow evening, then head back to Chattanooga a few days after that! The lack of order at this point doesn't really make too much sense, but at least the blog's seeing all sorts of cameo's! I now give you Chrissy in Chatty and her amazing dancing hoops!







Now from yesterday and today, including a snowy morning session at Rocktown with Joseph, Shelton and Slidell











Just realized I didn't get any 'good shots' of Shelton or Joseph, and I have a hard time posting bad shots, so the photo of Slidell will just have to represent all of them. Now, it's time for the evening festivities, then climbing tomorrow with another moothead celebrity. What's that? Who is it, you say? I guess you'll just have to wait and find out!

Today, David and I took a trip to the Biltmore Estate. Lucky for us, some buddies from back home were in town celebrating their engagement, and were nice enough to hook us up with their passes once they left, saving David and I $70 each! America's largest home has the largest price tag attached. Here's a few from around the grounds.







Now on to the garden house.









And now for our parting shots.







That's it for today...