Hueco Tanks Bouldering! - Day 1 North Mountain.

The Split Crack V0

The drive out to Hueco was much shorter than I thought but much wetter too.  As soon as I left Tucson I was driving in rain all the way there. I had reservations for North Mountain for Thursday and I was very worried that I wouldn't be able to climb at all. Luckily for me the rain stopped early morning and there were some rocks that dried out enough to climb.

Place that is not so dry... That's the trail, not a stream...

It was a fairly laid back day of climbing V0- to V2s. In the morning I climbed with a friendly group from New Mexico and towards the afternoon I met up with Matty and "The Dude Man" and climb with them the rest of the day.

At the warm up boulder doing the Thunderbird V1. Top out is definitely the crux.

 It was definitely nice to climb with other folks. The company was great and so was the spots and extra pads. Many of the top outs at Hueco are fairly tall and often seems to be the crux. Although most climbs had fairly good landings but then there are some known for their horrible landings...

 

Melon Patch V0

The Melon Patch is a fairly mellow V0 that is quite fun but it is not for the faint of heart. The climb is pretty tall and the landing is terrible. I would not recommend it for people that aren't climbing V1s comfortably and am fully comfortable climbing outdoors. If it wasn't for Matty and "The Dude Man"'s pad and spotting I probably would not have tried it. It is important to remember that no matter how good a climber you are safety is very important. Nobody wants to get hurt and have to take many weeks off.

Southern Hospitality V2

My favorite climb of the day was a 2 star V2 called Southern Hospitality. I had to work out my beta before I could finish the climb but I had fun figuring it out.  If you try the climb but am struggling a bit try changing your beta to something that might not seems quite as obvious. If you want my beta e-mail me and I'll tell you how I climbed it.
One thing I definitely learned about Hueco is that you don't have to climb really hard climbs to have fun. Even the easier climbs can be a lot of fun. :o)