Horse Pens 40. It's a boulder field on a plateau in northeast Alabama (between Birmingham and Gadsden) currently owned by the Schultz family. It is on of the best places to boulder in the Southeast and is only one day's drive from Florida (note the sarcasm). The place got its name because it was originally part of a 160 acre area claimed as a whole unit divided into sections of 40 acres. The boulder field is located on the 40 acres used for horses, hence Horse Pens 40.
The Schultz family does still keep some horses on the property as you can see in my previous post. Many of the areas of the park are off limits to protect the Native American heritage and natural beauty of the area. Mr. Schultz is very serious about this and will take you on a long walk with his ever-present gun and giant knife if you decide to break the rules, so I wouldn't recommend it. ;)
Every year, the SCC (Southeast Climbing Coalition) hosts the Triple Crown Series bouldering competition. Sloperfest, as it is affectionately termed, at HP40 is one of the three comps in the series. Much of the rock is sandstone, which results in many "slopey" holds rather than something you can actually grab onto; you basically slap at the rock, hope your hand sticks, and "whale it up", humping up the rock on your belly in order to top out. It's great fun... and only a little frightening knowing that if you fall mid-hump that you're going to lose all your skin on the way down.
Sloperfest usually takes place in early March and is smooshed together with something reminiscent of a music festival. This year it was in the 20s at night but the days were just lovely. I have discovered the joy of fleece sleeping bag liners. Wonderful things. Changed my life.
This year Bo and I decided to actually give the comp a try rather than just tooling around on a couple problems. I reached my goal of sending enough problems to get to the second half of the score sheet (woot!). Bo, however, placed third in his age group and won a little prize (including new shoes!), which I think is just awesome. I'm much more excited about it than he is, but that's fine with me. :)
I didn't take too many pictures because I spent a good amount of time climbing and spotting. Most of the pictures I did take are of Bo. Go figure.
And the requisite sun star shot: 
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