Hueco Tanks guidebook review

Rock climbing and bouldering are rooted in the idea of exploration, discovery, and adventure but there are plenty of times when you want to spend less time roaming the countryside looking for something to climb and more time climbing. Hence, the guidebook.

Climbing guidebooks have evolved quite a bit over the years. What was once a list of routes and hand-sketched topos is now a combination of high-res digital photos, route descriptions, gear lists, danger ratings, and beta.

Hueco Tanks: The Essential Guide to America's Bouldering Mecca by Matt Wilder and produced by Wolverine Publishing (2004) is a set up from the typical guides of today. Every page contains high quality color photographs making it a cinch to match up the boulder in the field with what you see in the book. Placing the photos alongside the more traditional overview line topos and directions means you should have no problem locating the exact project you want to try.

Hueco Tanks covers all the necessities of getting to Hueco, reservations, access, camping and amenities in a no-frills to-the-point manner that's appreciated by climbers. The route descriptions provide enough info to document the route but not so much to take the surprise out of that hidden crimper you discover midway through the crux.

Being one the best bouldering areas in the world requires a great guidebook and this is certainly one of them.

Rock for Christmas

I can't let the holiday season pass without mentioning a couple of CD must-haves. These are not for everyone - only those who like rocking. The first one is The Darkness's new album One Way Ticket to Hell. As good, if not better than their debut album Permission to Land.

The second album is from a band I mentioned before, The Moistboyz. They're got a total of four albums now and it's amazing, given their ferocious songs, that they've maintained for this long. Still, if I,II and III are good then you know IV is great - I just hope they don't meltdown before V.

Finally, a band that might fit in with those enjoying a little more classic guitar rock, a band from Detroit, The Muggs. They've released their first album this year and my predicition is these guys are going to be big. Check them out on itunes.

Now here's a little treat for holiday season...



Don't Let the Bells End Video

OKBF Chandler Park Guide

I've had a few requests for the guide from the 2005 Oklahoma Boulderfest, which includes an overview of the main upper area of Chandler Park. Obviously, not all the problems are listed in this guide so you'll have to make due with what's here or fill in the blanks as you see fit.

Feel free to make copies - but please respect the copyright and do not pass this work off as your own. That means no copying of descriptions, etc. for the purposes of another guide. If you want to make your own guide, go for it, the resources are out there!

The file is designed so that you can print it out double sided and staple it in the middle - you'll figure it out.

Click here: Oklahoma Boulderfest Guide to Chandler Park

Tis the season!

I'm watching the news this morning before heading off to work and they're talking about the top-10 holiday (dare I say, Christmas?) movies of the season. Of course there was A Miracle on 34th Street , Charlie Brown Christmas, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, A Christmas Carol (strangely enough someone made the mistake of writing Miracle OF 34th Street - was it a typo or had the graphics editor not seen the movie, made me wonder)....but then, listed at number 6 was something unexpected - a movie I hadn't seen - Black Christmas. A horror flick! The anchor said something like, "Black Christmas, isn't that a horror film?" It seemed to throw him off a little. I thought it was interesting that such a movie actually made it into their top 10 Christmas films. I haven't seen it yet but it got me to thinking about other frightening holiday films to put you in that Christmas spirit. Here's a few along with brief descriptions:
Black Christmas (1974)- A sorority house is terrorized by a stranger who makes frightening phone calls and then murders the sorority sisters during Christmas break.
Gremilins (1984)- A boy inadvertantly breaks three important rules concerning his new pet and unleashes a horde of malevolently mischievous monsters on a small town. A classic - special effects are a little dated, but who could hate Gizmo?
Silent Night Deadly Night (1986)- On Christmas Eve a man and his wife are driving home with their two young children in the car after visiting family. A man dressed as Santa is pulled over on the side of the road who they stop to help. The man dressed as Santa kills the parents and leaves the kids there. When on of the two grows up and leaves the orphanage he gets a job at a toy store, when he is asked to dress up as Santa, he loses it and goes on a killing spree. I saw this when I was in 7th grade and it was scary then. It probably sucks now.
Silent Night Deadly Night 2 (1987)- Mainly flashbacks from the first installment as told by Ricky the younger son who is in a mental institution being interviewed by a shrink on Christmas Eve. Let’s just say he escapes and picks up where his brother left off.
Silent Night Deadly Night 3, 4, 5 - Haven't seen 3, 4, or 5 but the story changes quite a bit after 2.
Jack Frost (1996) - Haven't seen it - probably won't. A killer snowman is created when a serial killer is melted by genetic acid which combines with snow.
Jack Frost 2: Revenge of the Mutant Snowman (2000)- He is back! After being resurrected when a cup of coffee falls into the tank of anti-freeze that the killer was stored in. I'm not watching the first one but this one sounds kick ass.
Santa Claws (1996) - Haven't seen this one either. A young man finds his divorced mother having sex with a man in a Santa Clause hat and shoots them both dead. I think there's also a Santa Claws 2. The box cover looks more like porn - this one goes to the top of my list.