Not one of the famous alex's

 https://ridewithgps.com/trips/157521899 Fingers were sore in the morning so we didn't climb and went scrambling. I had just seen a YouTube video talking about getting to thunder mountain summit through a wash from the andante trailhead instead of the terrible devil's bridge one; then I saw a faint line on Google maps for the scramble, so we went for it. We ended up not really following the original route up and not quite the same way down. I recorded with ride with gps hoping to follow the breadcrumbs on the way back but it was unreliable and often didn't show so we navigated by landmarks more than gps. The scramble was super fun. First we followed a trail up to a wash, then followed the wash. I think ideally when the washes fork you should take the right hand wash, which we did, but then take a trail back to the left hand one, which we didn't. So a little above the limestone band we got somewhat cliffed out and saw the trail going up from the wash on the left so we tr...

 Went bouldering in groom creek. There was a party there already, otherwise it was empty and nice. We warmed up on the slabs on the canyon (the one right of the vertical crack felt spicier than last time). Then we moved to the superman area and did two more slabs. Walked around a bit trying to find another problem. Played with risky business but it felt like every move was taking a huge chunk of skin because of all the grainy slopers. I did the bucket again, first attempt this time, while L worked it and got another high point. I could do one move on tootsie roll but the next move felt harder and very exposed. Tried the obscure arete but didn't figure out a single move. Then finished the day failing to get off the ground on the pocket problem and doing the walk in the park next to it which has an extremely scary top out.  Cool oak hall on the way out.

It's been about 1.5 years since we started climbing and I wanted to document in a little more detail than just photos and mountain project logs, so I can remember details later. This weekend I got time off work so we went to Cochise stronghold for a few days, taking the van. It's a five hour drive, so the first day we just went up to sweet rock to do the moderates and get used to the rock. We started on good and plenty 5.7, then whatchamacallit 5.8 and finally kit Kat 5.8. Kit Kat was considerably harder than the other two, with less obvious moves. I asked to take on the slab crux and on the first roof might have gone off route since I clipped a bolt on the right to protect the move which I then back cleaned. The second roof went with a heel hook to a dead point to cutting feet. Probably not the most efficient. The rock itself was amazing. Solid holds everywhere except for the hollow sounding block on good and plenty, and a lot of friction without abrasion. Bolt spacing was p...