Climbing the Reds, going to Graceland

Each night our sleeping conditions improve as we build upon what works and doesn't work. After almost a full nights rest we awoke to overcast skies, but no rain. The air was damp and was bone chilling, it felt more like a fall fishing day than a day to climb. We decided to take a chance at trying to find a dry crag after it was raining the entire day before. Well nature wasn't completely cruel because to our surprise we found walls that were completely dry at the torrent falls crag. We were able to get in a full days worth of climbing on some pretty interesting rock. Entire walls were honeycombed. But don't let the photos fool you the pockets aren't as deep and you may think.

As you can see in the photos just posted we are sport climbing, which means there are bolts in the rock with hangers that we clip into as we climb. Not only are there pockets everywhere but the rock itself is pretty textured, which allows our climbing shoes to bite better. But it also feels like climbing on sandpaper, when you see a crack or pocket just out of arms length and you have to throw for it you know you'll stick it. That's reassuring when in the back of your mind you're thinking about your last anchor that is 10-15ft below you and a fall would be 25-35ft. Its more of a mental game than anything, since the bolts are normally bombproof.

After checking the weather report, which was calling for snow and freezing rain, and as we watched the skies darken and temperature drop we decided to head to texas where the average november high is 70. We'll be doing some extensive bouldering just east of El Paso, Texas at Hueco Tanks State Park. It's where the modern bouldering grades come from. So it'll be interesting to compare our skill levels from other areas to the area where it all started.

We are currently 130 miles outside of Memphis, Tennesse. Its still overcast but we're watching the mercury rise as we head southwest. (Its currently 58* at 10am central time) We have approximately 1200 miles to go until we are climbing.

Now for larry's favorite part...listing the music we've listened to:
Faith No More- Introduce Yourself
Red Hot Chili Peppers- Stadium Arcadium disc 2
Jimi Hendrix- Experience Hendrix
Janes Addiction- Just a bunch of random songs, no album
Black Sabbath- Black Sabbath
Manchester Orchestra- I've got Friends
Black Crowes- Greatest Hits
Foo Fighters- One by One
And in honor of being on the road that leads to Memphis, Tn we played Paul Simon- Graceland

I know some of you were wondering how we were posting the photos and writing to the blog. We are doing all of this from our phones. So when we post is totally dependent on the cell service we are getting.