Golden Temple - Birmingham Alabama

Golden Temple near the Five Points

It was very hard to have the 2 day on 1 day off schedule of climbing. My hands were so raw that I need to take every other day off. Me and Kevin decided to head into Birmingham. We went to the Golden Temple.
The Golden Temple is a vegan/vegetarian restaurant, cafe/store. The store portion sells many items you would find at a health store, various supplements, incense and so on.
The cafe serves many healthy smoothies and vegan/vegetarian food. I decided to try the daily special of Vegetarian Mac & Cheese.

 The Mac & Cheese was awesome! It was super cheesy and tasty but some how feels super healthy! It came with a vegetarian gumbo that was only o.k. but not anywhere as good as a real sausage and seafood gumbo.
The Cafe portion of the store closes pretty early but if you are in Birmingham and want some tasty vegetarian food give Golden Temple a try.

Horse Pens 40 Bouldering! - Day 2

Our second day of climbing started out a bit cold and miserable.  The sun decided to never come out, our fingertips were completely raw and it was cold! It took us a bit before we finally got out motivation but once we did we were ready for a good day of climbing.

Kevin and Victory warming up

I forgot the name...

Growing Stone V2?

Groove Rider V3

As part of our slabby expedition we tackled Groove Rider first. You start climbing up the crack on the right and then make a transition to the groove when you are high enough to get your foot on the good edge. The problem is easier if you got a bit more vertical but I got in a few tries! If you want to experience some groove climbing this is a good one to work on.

Earth, Wind, and Fire V4

We decided to get the "groove" going so we decided to tackle Earth, Wind and Fire. This is a HP40 classic and I would recommend people give it a go. The climb is actually not too hard but fun. As with many slab/groove problems the placement of the foot is key to move up higher. I got it on my 2nd go!

Swirls V4

This was a pretty tough climb! The beginning portion of the climb is filled with slapping frictions and then you have to do a moderately hard top out. It seems like different people have problem with different portions of the problem. To me the slopey portion felt hard and the top out pretty easy but some people seem to have a much harder time with the top out.

The Slag V5

This is the first V5 I did at Horse Pens 40! There are 2 different ways to complete the climb. One is method is a hard dyno and the other is a hard static crimp. Victor sent the climb by doing the dyno move but since dynoing is not my strong point so I tried the crimpy method. It is a bit balancy and you do need to crank on your right hand a bit but definitely easier than some other V4s in HP40.

Excessive taping is futile!

After climbing for so many hours our hands were completely raw! Taping one finger may not hinder your friction too much but taping almost all of your fingers is not advised...

Genesis V3

The last climb of the day for me was ironically the first climb ever established in HP40. The climb is not something I would consider amazing but I really wanted to finish the climb for it's historical significance. The climb is a fairly short one with a dyno. It actually took me more tries than I thought. If you have a hard time sticking the climb you might be just hitting the wrong spot. I'm just glad I eventually got it!

Lucy's Cafe - Birmingham Alabama

Since I had to take a rest day I decided to go out back to Birmingham to hangout at a cafe. This is when I found my favorite cafe in Birmingham, Lucy's Cafe.
One thing you first notice when you go in is a big chalkboard with many names and numbers next to them. My first thought was that it was a wall of I.O.U.s. When I asked the guy at the counter he told me it was a list of people that have actually paid in advance!

Chalkboard is on the right, above the counter.

I was planning to be at the cafe for a while so I got cozy, settled in and ordered a Tuna Melt. The Tuna Melt was mighty tasty! I think the bread is the key. Lucy's Cafe can get pretty busy during lunch time so just be prepared to either get your food to go or sit at a table with some strangers.

Mmmm.... Tuna Melt!

To access the wi-fi you need a code. Each code lasts only 2 hrs but you can pick up as many as you need from the side table next to the counter. This is my favorite cafe in Birmingham but they close pretty early so you will need to find another joint for some evening coffee.

Horse Pens 40 - Forced Rest Day

Some days nature makes you take a rest day weather you want one or not. Oh well. Pretty foggy pics will have to suffice.

Horse Pens 40 Bouldering! - Day 01!

The temperatures were pretty darn nice for my first day of climbing at HP40. Feeling pretty good I decided to start off easy and decided to do a V0- for my first climb at HP40! The V0- I climbed was the Down Climb Groove in the Ten Pins Boulder Area.

The Down Climb Groove V0-! My first climb in HP40!

The funny thing is I did not flash this problem! LOL! The climb was not hard but it was a friction slab climb. I had to shift my mindset from looking for jugs to looking for any place where I can slap my hand on and use the friction on my hand to climb up. I think in that way this was the perfect climb to start off my HP 40 adventures. I decided to get some more warm ups and decided to go straight for the classic Bum Boy.

Vandala V1

Warm Ups

More warm ups

I can't remember any of these climbs names...

The boulder that the Bum Boy is on is probably the one of the most amazing looking rocks I have ever seen. The whole rock looks like a scaly monster! There are three problem on the most bulbous scaly side of the rock. From left to right it is Bum Boy V3, Centipede V4, and Millipede V5. Some guide books including the Dr. Topo guide list each climb as one grade higher but due to all the sand baggery HP40 is known for they have been down graded a grade.

Crazy looking rock! Bumboy V3

There are at least a handful of ways to go up Bum Boy. The hard but frictiontastic way to go up is to slap up to slopers and somehow magically sticking. :o) If you are looking for a shorter strong person beta move right, get you left hand in the inverted V shape under cling, move your right hand to a decent sloper and then step up high with your left foot and push up on your legs and go straight for the better bulby slopers with the right hand. It took me many different betas before Amanda(I think that's her name... sorry if I got it wrong!) showed me this beta. During my many attempts at Bum Boy I met Will, Liz and their great group. They even fed me! I think it's amazing how many amazingly friendly people I have met during this trip. While hanging out with Will and crew I flashed Chicks V1, Dope V2, Moms V2, Panty Shields V3, and Eight Balls V2.

Panty Shields V3

Arrow pointing at a guy on the rocks!

Lot's of fun easy problem on the Front Slabs Boulder

Will and crew decided to leave a bit early but I still had a lot of climbing left in me. The next problem I attempted was the Crown V3. For a V3 the start move is a bit burly. It's a high twist up with the left hand to a pocket. The problem I was having with the climb was actually not the beginning but was the end! I was trying the tall beta and was failing miserably. The Short man beta that I eventually figured out made the problem seem so much easier. The trick was to place the left foot below the right hand and twist up with the left hand when you are going up to the "crown". I spent a fair amount of time working the problem and this is when I met Kevin and Victor.

Kevin and Victor were on a climbing trip from Indiana. We climb together for the rest of the day and became good friends over the next few days of climbing.

Some of the more fun problems we did that day was a pocketed Hueco climb called the Wasp V2 and the funky start Uniball V3.

 

Huecos in HP40? Yup! Sandstone friction-y sloper huecos! Wasp V2

The starting move on Uniball V3

I'm glad that Kevin and Victor figured out the beta. Logan told me about the beta but I completely forgot about it. The way you start is with the left hand, right hand right foot match. You then move up with your left hand to an under cling. It's a super cool interesting start! It can be a bit tricky but a lot of fun. What an awesome day of climbing!

Horse Pens 40 night!

My first day at Horse Pens 40 was a rest day. I was just roaming around checking out the area when I met Logan. He was super friendly and showed me around to many of the classic climbs. Thanks Logan!
Later that night I decided that it might be fun to wander around the boulders. It was a lot of fun just walking around these surreal rock formations.

While I was wondering around I met a group some night time bouldering. HP40 allows night time bouldering so if you want to get some night time climbing in bring your head lamp and a gas powered torch.

 

Man with the Slow Hands V4

Red Arrow V4

Horse Pens 40 - Crag Beta

Too wet to climb but pretty to look at.

Location:

Horse Pens 40 is located on a private land near Steele Alabama. When you are traveling on highway 59 you will see signs for Horse Pens 40 and once you get off the highway there should be big signs that point you towards HP40. These signs maybe hard to see at night.

View Larger Map

Access:

The climbing area is only accessible by paying a $5 day use fee. The problems are highly concentrated and the approach is very easy. If it's not too cold you should not have problem navigating the terrain with flip flops.

  

Guide Books:

The guide book you want is the same book as I mentioned for Moss Rock Preserve. The new guide book for HP40, Moss Rock Preserve and Palisades Park is published by Greener Grass Publishing [link] The book should cost $24.95 and is available online from the publisher and locally from the First Ave Rocks Gym in Birmingham [link] or local Mountain High Outfitters. I have been told that the book will most likely be available for purchase at the general store in HP40 in the near future. This book has many maps and color photos to help you locate the problems.

The book was not available for purchase while I was at HP40 so I used the Dr. Topo guide. The Dr. Topo guide is fairly comprehensive and should help you find almost all of the more famous climbs. I would still recommend you purchase the Greener Grass guide book but if you are on a very tight budget the Dr. Topo guide should be more then good enough to get you going. If you need help locating the Dr. Topo guide please send me an e-mail and I'll try to help you find it.

Where To Stay:

If you look carefully you can see my tent.

HP40 has a campground where you can camp almost right at the rocks. The camping cost $10 but that includes the $5 daily climbing pass. The campground has a small general store, shower stalls, bathrooms with running waters, porta-potties with hand washing stations. The showers had piping hot water and the bathroom even has a heater. There is even a small general store where you can get snacks, camping gear, non-alcoholic drinks, climbing chalk, and even eggs and sausages. Although the store has a lot of things I still recommend you hit up a grocery store before heading up. There is a small cafe that is open when there are a lot of campers.

Food:
If you get tired of cooking there is a small cafe at HP40 that only operates when there are a lot of people camping overnight. If you don't mind driving down a bit there are handful of restaurants in Ashville. I recommend the Mexican restaurant called Mi Casita in Ashville next to the Piggly Wiggly grocery store and order the dinner special if you are hungry and don't mind eating unhealthy for a night.

HP40 Cafe

Wi-Fi:
The closest place to get internet access is the Subway. But test the internet before you buy something and settle in. Apparently the internet is often not working. I heard that the Jack in the Box has internet too but I heard that they will hassle you to keep buying food to continue using the internet. If you are taking a full on rest day I recommend you head over to Birmingham and hit up Lucy's Cafe.

Etc:

Laundry: There is a coin laundry facility located next to the subway .

Pets: The policy at the time of my visit was no dogs allowed in the campground and climbing areas.