A Honeymoon in Hueco

When my husband first proposed the idea of going to Hueco Tanks for our honeymoon, I must say, I was somewhat skeptical. The last time I visited Hueco was during the winter of 2007 and I was there for approximately one month. In my opinion, even one month is a short amount of time to make a 20 hour drive worth it for trying to send hard boulder problems. I’ll be honest, that’s what I’m all about; sending hard boulder problems. For whatever reason, I like to repeatedly fail and suffer an undue amount of frustration before I finally send something. I get such a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction from this process. The more I put into a boulder problem, both physically and emotionally, the more I enjoy the success when it comes and success does come. It may be five years down the road, but it comes and boy does it feel it good!


The Sprinter Van, a perfect honeymoon accommodation.

Mike had arranged his nursing schedule so he had 10 days off in mid-November. What this would boil down to for a trip to El Paso was approximately 3 days of driving, and 7 potential days of bouldering in Hueco, which would have to include rest days. Seven days is a ridiculously short period of time to send anything difficult and I was nervous that I wouldn’t be able to actually do any projecting. In my experience, it takes a week or so just to get used to the new style of rock, then it takes a bit to find a good project, and then a week or so to send it. Ideally you find a couple of projects to go back and forth between so you have more chances of sending something. Even with 30 days, it is risky business trying to send a project. If you put all your eggs in one hard basket, you might come back home with nothing. Alternatively, you could go send problems below your project level and go home with many sends, but in my opinion, this is less rewarding. To me, it is well worth the risk of coming back with nothing, to potentially send a problem at my project level.

I was also legitimately apprehensive that I wouldn’t even be able to get to my projects in Hueco. What if I became addicted to a problem, but then couldn’t get back to it because of park logistics? In 2007, it was much easier for me to project because I was a guide. I would avoid the North Mountain reservation conundrum by guiding in the backcountry. Back in the day, I used a loop-hole to make sure whenever I went into the back-country, I only took one other person who also wanted to project. Most of the other guides were supportive of my selfish strategy because it freed up paying clients to go on their tours. I wasn’t interested in making money to support a whole season of bouldering in Hueco like them, I only had a month and wanted to send my projects. So I would split the cost of my partner’s entry fee to make it worth their while. I realize now it was totally worth their while regardless of cost just to be able to get to their projects reliably, a constant struggle in Hueco. I had risked it all that winter of 2007 trying to do my first V10. I was in Hueco for a month and I was very close to doing “A Good Day for a Swiss Crisp Mix”. I ended up popping a pulley on this problem on my last day. I was disappointed I didn’t send but proud that I had given it everything I had, even to the point of injuring myself. I don’t risk injury anymore though.

My concern now, 7 years later, was that things were different in Hueco Tanks. The park had actively sought out and destroyed any possible loop-holes and I was worried it would be difficult to project in the backcountry. However, Mike was certain if we went to Hueco during mid-November, before the crowds, we could get onto North Mountain every day. I am a very determined person and I know that where there is a will there is a way. If we wanted to get in the park, we would, I just wasn’t sure whether it would be worth the effort and stress.

So, I reluctantly agreed to go to Hueco with my husband, not sure what to expect. I came up with a very small list of problems I thought would make good projects for me on North Mountain; Free Willy, Chbalanke, Rogered in the Shower, and Theatre of the Absurd; all V10 and higher. I had tried most of them in the height of my dirtbag seasons spent in Hueco. I wasn’t sure if I was in V10 Hueco-shape since I had been doing circuits of V7 to V8 on southern sandstone for the previous few months in preparation for the Triple Crown and hadn’t been projecting much of anything harder than that.

We got onto North Mountain no problem and after we warmed up, I tried one of my potential projects, “Free Willy”. The sharp crimps on this boulder were ripping off what little skin I had regrown on the drive out here. Competing in the Triple Crown had destroyed my skin and keeping skin on my fingers since then, was a constant struggle. I did all the moves quickly on “Free Willy” except for the end dyno. But while I was practicing the dyno, the crimp hold I was moving off of was so sharp, it removed a layer of skin with each attempt. I loved “Free Willy” but I knew my skin would not hold up for very long on these sharp crimps. I was also somewhat discouraged by witnessing the attempts of a climber who said he had been trying to link up the dyno for 4 months! I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to make short work of this problem knowing that my biggest weakness, like him, is having the power to do long moves at the end of a problem. This was not the time for working weaknesses, not this one week in Hueco. I crossed “Free Willy” off my list, making the short-list even shorter.


Liv Sansov on Power of Silence. Photo from Hueco Guidebook by Matt Wilder

Mike was interested in “Power of Silence”, a problem he said he had always wanted to complete. I was remarkably not interested in this problem, and to my recollection, had never even tried it! It was way above my league the last time I spent any time on North Mountain when I was probably projecting V6 or V7. I was vaguely aware of its reputation for being hard for the grade. At first, I wasn’t that excited by it. I tried using the glassy starting foot-hold and my feet just wouldn’t stay on, even though I found the hand crimps to be very good. I remembered a photo of Liv Sansov on the problem in the guidebook. I studied the picture a moment and tried to figure out start beta so that I could get into the problem via the dihedral like Liv was pictured. After my foot still kept slipping off the glassy hold, I looked around for something not so slippery and found a little nub in the dihedral. After a few attempts, I realized I could campus my feet into a drop knee in the dihedral and go from there. It actually didn’t feel too bad. At the end of the first day, I was moving through the intermediate crimp and falling at the pocket. To boot, the crimps on this problem were polished and were not grating my skin off. I could try the problem for as long as I had power without damaging my already thin skin any more. I was suddenly psyched on "Power of Silence" and couldn’t think about anything else.

I was in need of a rest day though, mostly to grow back skin from previous attempts on “Free Willy”. Nothing was working fast enough to get me more skin; hand salve, filing, watching my fingers, licking, washing, nothing. As soon as a layer of skin would grow, it would crack and peel off like leaves of a cabbage.

Next climbing day, a little worried we might not get into the park because it was a weekend day, we drove in to wait at the entry gate early. We arrived at 6 am and were not even the first in line. People were off to the side camping, also waiting, but not in line, and we were worried about an altercation. Amazingly, everything went smoothly at the office and we headed up to “Power of Silence”. My first go, I climbed all the way up to the pocket-pinch and was set for the throw but I couldn’t generate any momentum. I felt my weight pulling me off each time I threw for the crack. It seemed like this move would be impossible, I was just too heavy. Throughout the day, I took many good long rests while going back and forth to Mike’s projects but I couldn’t make any progress on the throw. Eventually, Mike pointed out I wasn’t winding up for the throw. It was true, I was just uncomfortable up there for no reason, the landing was flat, and padded, and I just wasn’t really going for it. I decided to give it one really good go before I lost all my power. I finally got my fingers in the crack. I wasn’t entirely sure I had grabbed the crack but I noticed the crack had taken a layer of skin off the length of my finger. I almost did the crux move and I felt good on it! Mike had helped me by providing great beta once again!

Another rest day for me followed because of skin issues but Mike wanted to climb, so we decided he would climb and I would be his caddy and I would climb the next day and he’d be my caddy. For some reason I started putting “newskin” on the holes in my skin and remarkably, it was stopping the cabbage effect. My skin was finally growing back.


New Skin I love you!

Then it was my big day after 48 hours of fretting and feeling a lot of pressure from myself. At this point I knew what it would mean to send this problem. Not a lot of women have done this problem. Mike was impressed at my progress on this climb and said it would be a big deal and I wanted to prove I could send it to him and myself most importantly. There was a lot building up in my head about this boulder and I think I lost more sleep over it than the night before the Triple Crown competitions. I was ready, I had told myself I could do it, there was nothing stopping me except for myself. I had butterflies. I had put all my eggs into the Power of Silence basket and I fed off the pressure of this knowledge.

I decided to perform in true Triple Crown style and not really warm up. This had worked out for me when I needed every last ounce of energy to complete 10 hard problems. We hiked our stuff over to “Power of Silence” and got set up. I did everything right on my first go and I wound up and stuck the crack, literally, my finger was stuck in it! I went to match the crack and my foot slipped off and I was falling. I was so disappointed and frustrated. It’s hard to think of it now, seems very spoiled to be so upset after making so much progress in three days on a project like this. It was only my first try of the day after all! But I had wanted to do it fast to convince myself I had made progress in my climbing. I wanted to be the kind of boulderer that could do hard V10 fast. All this build-up was going on in my head. Mike pointed out another foot that he thought wouldn’t slip when I matched and he was right. I sent “Power of Silence” next go. This was by far the best, most rewarding and fulfilling accomplishment of my life and worth every risk I have ever taken to achieve it. Thanks Mike for being so supportive of me and taking me on this wonderful honeymoon!

A Wohner Honeymoon in Hueco from Patti Wohner on Vimeo.

Please enjoy this video I made of our honeymoon to Hueco.