Keeping busy.

I have managed to have a fairly productive day today, which is good because it stops or at least slows down the continual ache in my brain of things people have done or said, or not done and said, as the case may be. I have always found it incredibly difficult to stop this self inflicted mental torture from happening. I can not just let things go. I always hope that other people will be like me and want satisfactory answers and conclusions, especially when it comes to relationships, but they just never seem to. I don't know if this a difference between men and women or wether it is just me, but it drives me insane. I always want answers and I never ever get them. The art of oral communication seems to be lost on some people.

Anyway, moving on. I have eventually had some prints done of my big climbing trip and popped out to Ikea this morning to get some frames. I am quite pleased with the results especially my jaggy heart shaped cactus which I took in the amazing Hueco Tanks National Park, Texas. Seeing it on display in my hall every day will hopefully help bring back lots of great memories of fantastic climbing and fabulous people.

I had quite a good session of climbing down at the wall tonight, although for some reason my legs were really shakey for no good reason which was a bit off putting. I think it may be a result of my fairly alcoholic weekend. However I managed to haul myself up a few lines which were quite satisfying. I have been unmotivated for climbing these last few months, which in itself is upsetting as it is one the few things in my life that I really love to do. I know where the lack of motivation is coming from, for the most part, and am desperately trying to turn this around. I would hate to fall out of love with climbing as it has been a great companion and helped me through many troubled times. Yet you can't force these things, like any good relationship you have to give respect and care in order for it to be healthy and worthwhile. 

Happy moment of the day, being given a box of homemade gluten free mince pies by the lovely Nick. Very delicious. xx

End of part one (almost).

North Mountain

My time here in the good old US of A is nearly over, for the time being at least. I fly out of LAX on Saturday and head to Vancouver. We are having a rest day today partly due to rain and snow overnight, so hopefully 2 days of climbing left in the Tanks and then the long drive back to LA on Friday.

I am pleased with my achievements here although maybe I could have pushed myself a little harder, but as I keep finding as I move to new destinations it takes me time to get accustomed to the styles etc and Hueco was no exception. I have learnt many new techniques and found that I can do a variety of climbs that I would once have thought impossible with some work and perseverance. I happily achieved two V4 climbs, one was called T bone shuffle and the other most recent one, Girls of Juarez. I was extremely pleased with this as it was along a roof and then topped out over a lip. I needed to use a couple of toe hooks and involved what I would consider some tricky moves.

Now that I only have a few days left I am not sure if I will complete any other problems but I started working on a V5 yesterday. It may have to be finished another time!

I am looking forward to my new adventures in Canada, at present I have no particular plans other than try and navigate myself through the Olympics to meet and stay with some old family friends, buy new shoes as my trusty 5.10s now have a rather large hole in the sole and get a hair cut. My hair has not been cut in about 8 months and is looking rather tatty, I need to pretty myself up again!

I have had the most incredible time here and am thankful to all the wonderful people that I have met a long the way. I am especially thankful to Wes for putting up with me for so long. What started out at as a chance meeting at a boulder in Joe's Valley way back in September has turned out to be the making of a very good and hopefully life long friendship. I will treasure many incredible memories of people and places till the day I die. Good times xx

Who knows what Canada will throw at me, hopefully more incredible people, more kick ass climbing and plenty beautiful scenery to photograph.

My Evolves with added rubber for essential Hueco toe hooking.

I had to purchase new headphones as my old ones were only playing through one ear. The instructions made me laugh. I always wondered what the L and R were for ;o)

All photos by Caroline Harvey

Overhangs, heel hooks and shenannigans

I have been in Hueco for just over two weeks now and have done a fair amount of climbing but mostly V0 to V1 with a few V2's thrown in for good measure. This is not to say that I have not tried harder grades, I have tried some 4's, 5's etc also, but usually failed at a few crux moves or just could not get my butt off the ground. There is climbing here that suits all styles but many are on over hangs and require heel hooks, toe hooks or other any other funky beta that you can think of. I generally am not that great at any of these, but am learning fast if i want to achieve anything here at all.

The other day I came back to a climb, a V3 called Lip Sync, that I had tried a few days previous and I knew with a little time, beta remembering and some patient spotters I could do. Thankfully after about 5 or 6 goes I made it. It was very pleasing as I think I was on the verge of giving up ever being able to do anything harder than V2. What makes it slightly harder here is that everyone seems to climb nothing below V7, so you end up feeling like a bit of a punter. Anyway, I enjoyed my moment of glory and will now seek out something else that will suit me.

Not much else to report here from Texas, the weather is still a bit mixed. We have cold nights and warmish days for the most part, but it did snow at the end of last week very briefly and we have 2 days of torrential rain. This morning looks like it will be bright and sunny when the sun gets to full strength in a few hours.

Ok the Park office is now open so I need to head off to get 2 passes for North mountain as we only have 2 reservations between 4 of us.

Love to all my girlfriends, really missing you all.

Jagged Little Desert

My mobile home.

Well I have eventually made it to Hueco Tanks, Texas, and so far apart from some rain all is good. There is going to be plenty of climbing to keep me occupied for a while that is for sure, although no significant sends to report yet. There are a lot of rules and regulations for climbing here, but so far we have not found it too much hassle. One thing that you do have to watch out for are the plants, everything seems to be very spikey and I do not want to land on any of them, so good spotters are a must on some problems.

Cactus

Big thorns

Thorns and cactus

Spikey yuccas

Photographs by Caroline Harvey