Hueco

I'm down in Hueco right now and taking a rest day while the 2 inches of snow that fell last night melts. Yesterday I took a tour out with some of the kids from the ABC group at the Boulder Rock Club. It was inspiring to climb with those kids. They are so positive, super strong and confident, and have tons of fun. The highlight was watching Sean Rabatou climb a problem called Mangum -- V9 at age 11 and height probably just over 4 ft is super impressive.

Since I've been down here, I've been mostly just going on tours in the backcountry. My main goal is to find some new lines that are really cool. On other trips, especially last year, I was more focused on repeating established lines. This year, I'm psyched for new things. It's lots of fun to explore here. I found one line that I'm especially psyched on and have tried a bit. It's a 25ft arete with a slab that behind it at just the right distance so you can step off onto it but it doesn't get in your way when climbing. I've figured out all but one move on the problem and it has some crazy beta. I think it'll be a classic if it goes down. Here's one picture that doesn't really do it justice. If it goes, I'll probably try to get some better photos and perhaps some video.

Cheating Reality Video Shoot

Yesterday I went back up to Cheating Reality with Chuck Fryberger to capture some video of my new route. I'm really psyched because I think we killed it. It's so beautiful up there and the climbing moves are so interesting that we couldn't go wrong. Still, judging from the few stills I've seen and Chuck's impression, we got some amazing stuff. I can't wait to see the whole footage.

This footage will go into a new film Chuck is making and planning to release this coming Spring (2010). It sounds like he's got lots of other sick footage so I'm sure the video will be great. He also has an amazing camera that is movie studio quality. He and I are planning to do more shooting over the next month and a half to put together a section that profiles me as a climber and as an individual. I'm psyched to be working with him. Check out his blog to see some of the other filming he's been up to: http://www.chuckfryberger.blogspot.com/

For now you'll have to do with a few single frames from the video that will come out in the Spring. It'll be worth the wait for the real deal though, I'm sure. Just check out this amazing perspective!!!