Throughout my life, I’ve always shown up late to the party. I obtained my first slap bracelet only after they were banned by my grade school. I played my Atari until the rest of the 7th graders had moved on to Sega Genesis – only then did I hop on board with Nintendo. I decided Nirvana was the greatest band ever about 4 years after Kurt Cobain died. And as people are flocking to Instagram, Twitter, and other social media, I have finally decided that Facebook can be a useful tool.
It all seems to be happening again. I took my first trip to Hueco Tanks State Park a year ago for my 2014 spring break. It’s was fantastic. I get it now. Beautiful scenery, great weather, minimal hiking, and problems so perfect that they should only exist in… well, Nirvana. Perhaps I should have seen this next part coming. While there were a good number of climbers in the park in spring 2014, this spring we saw very few. There were only around 5 cars in the main parking lot of North Mountain each day we were there. Now don’t get me wrong – I enjoyed the quiet. Not running into climbers all day was great, and created a nice relaxed vibe in the park. But where is everybody?
My wife (find her on instagram @natalieclimbs) enjoying the hell out of Ghetto Simulator (V2)
In the interest of full disclosure, my spring break (I teach, so I still have those) is usually toward the end of the climbing season in Hueco. But a lot of other climbers must be on break as well, right? So where did all of the boulderers go? I think some went to Bishop, but from what I hear, Joe’s Valley is the new hip bouldering destination. Joe's has beautifully featured sandstone boulders, is easy on the skin, boasts perfect landings, and requires even less hiking... at least that's what I’m told. I’m behind the times again.
On Bush League (V8), wondering how I had never heard of this amazing problem before. Photo by Natalie Jaime.
Atari and Nintendo are still fun to break out sometimes, Nevermind is still a fantastic album, Facebook still has something like a billion users, and Hueco is still revered amongst climbers. These things are still great, just not booming with excitement the way they once were. Despite the dwindling hype, Hueco Tanks is the best place I’ve ever bouldered. I will continue to shout this from the boulder-tops even if the more up-to-speed climbers chuckle at my dated declaration.
Joe’s Valley – I’ll see you in 2020.