Hueco Tanks Bouldering! – Day 6 North Mountain
After 2 days of awesome climbing I was dead tired and my muscles were pretty sore. Ideally I would have just used the day as a rest day but it was my last day in Hueco Tanks! All my climbing crew was taking a rest day so I ventured into the park solo. My goal was not necessarily to send any hard problems but check out some of the classic problems I have yet to see. There are so many quality problems that a weeks worth of time is not enough to climb everything you want. People say there is a lifetime worth of problems at Hueco.
The first noteworthy problem I tried was a V4 called the Bloody Flapper. I assume it was named that because of the very sharp “tooth” you need to start off on. Or it could be the real course sand paper like hold a few moves up. Either way I couldn’t send it! It seemed like an o.k. climb but I wasn’t too thrilled about it. It is not on my “must do next trip” list I started assembling. Next stop was the Martini Roof!
The Martini Roof is the host of an awesomely fun climb called the Baby Martini V6. The climb consist of big juggy huecos that you climb completely upside down. I worked out and through many of the moves but I still could not get past through one of the cruxes. The whole climb might be a V6 but parts of the climb can range from V1 to V6. So I recommend everybody visiting Hueco Tanks to check it out. It’s a lot of fun even if you don’t complete it. A pure classic climb :o)
The next climb I checked out was The Lobster Claw.
The Lobster Claw is a pretty cool V5. It is also known as the problem with the infinite betas. There are so many ways to climb the problem everybody seems to have different betas. While I was there I climbed with few fellow boulderers and we all had different Beta. I had to do the climb many times before I worked out the lower portion of the climb and then “stole” another persons beta for the upper portion of the climb. The upper portion of the climb was easier for me when I did it in a dynamic throw rather than the static controlled reach. I could do the climb in segments but had no juice to string the moves all together. The Lobster Claw is definitely making my “must do next trip” list.
I was so tired I did not climb all day. I took a half day and went to meet up with Val and crew to go bowling! All in all a no send day but it was a fun day for sure. I’ll get some of those climbs next time!
Boulder Across America 
is that pad attached to you! that's sweet!
lol, That is an optical illusion I swear!