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| High stepping with the resurfaced hip |
So I've been climbing a lot recently. Well, a lot, I suppose, considering that I'm a 57-year-old math professor, father, husband and home-owner who really needs to do some yard work. I guess I'm just lucky enough to be able to take some free time at this point in my life. The new hips help, too.
The weather has been almost continually dry and warm, although, perhaps, with a bit too much humidity to achieve absolute climbing perfection. The farmers aren't too happy about the lack of rain, but I've been able to average at least three days a week climbing outdoors since returning from the USA. Except for a couple of times in my gym, all of my climbing has been on La Barrosa. .
When there's no one else to climb with, I go out bouldering alone. This suits me fine. Gaby is climbing with me on the weekends, but she hasn't hardly climbed for years and she's a little too wigged, right now, even for easier bouldering. She's mostly interested in doing moderate climbs on top rope. However, she did go to the boulders with me a couple of times and take some pictures. For example, she took this sequence of me on an old V2 problem at the Middle-earth, that involves a couple of steep finger jams in a short crack.
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| First shot of a sequence on a problem at the Middle-earth with Mica looking the other way |
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| Jam the fingers on the left |
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| Jam the fingers on the right and set up for a big move. The chalk bag shows how steep things are |
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| Mica's watching now, but the rest is a cakewalk |
Gaby managed to send a long V1 traverse across the main face in the Middle-earth. Although it used to be easy for her, she had to work it some before completion and this was her first time across in many years.
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| Gaby does the right to left version of a long V1 traverse. |
Me doing the left to right version of a V2 traverse in the Middle-earth
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| V2 traverse shot 1 |
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| V2 traverse shot 2 |
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| Shot 3 |
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| Shot 4 |
Just before the end of the V2 traverse, there is a is a beautiful and classic V2 problem, called Bilbo, that goes up to the right of the triangular roof seen above.
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| A beautiful and classic V2 problem called Bilbo |
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| This reach to a jug is followed by a big move to the horizontal crack above |
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| Finishing up Bilbo |
To left of Bilbo is a semi-highball V3 that goes up and over the left side of that triangular roof. On this V3 problem, the big jug on Bilbo is too far to the right to be any help. The problem was first done by Mariano Maceri and Diego de la Torre some years back and I managed to do it for the first time in my life, just recently (no pictures, though). It's really not so bad: one just has to commit to an intimidating, off-balance move out right in order to get up and reach a solid side pull in the triangular roof. That intimidating move out right is pretty much all there is to it.
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| Buster at the Usual Boulders |
About 100 meters northwest of the Middle-earth is the area we call the Usual Boulders, where Gaby snapped some photos of me on a long traverse. Done in its complete form, this traverse probably weighs in at V4.
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| Heel hooking on a long traverse problem |
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| With all this climbing, my back is starting to get ripped again. |
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| Still a few moves left on this V4 traverse |
