Crack Tour: Learning how to charm a snake

We've been in Squamish for 4 weeks now. Our original Summer plans didn't include Squamish, but after spending some time with Sonnie in Joshua Tree this Spring, he convinced me to go give a try at Cobra Crack...

The plan has been pretty simple... Climb as much as possible on Cobra when the weather is good and boulder the rest of the time. This way I keep some fitness in the boulders and don't get my hands/fingers too trashed, so when I get on Cobra my skin is perfect... Believe me, you want your skin to be in good conditions to climb Cobra, because she's a painful son-of-a-bitch... Since the route is in the sun in the morning, I usually warm-up in the boulders and go up to the cirque of the uncrackable in the afternoon for some ass-kicking sessions...

So far I've been up to try Cobra 6 times... I can average no more than 2 tries per day on this thing... After 2 tries I can't take the pain anymore and my lock-off strength is reduced to barely being able to pick up my back pack to go back down the trail. And some days the second try is more flailing and pulling on the rope than actual climbing... I'm basically getting my ass kicked big time... BUT.... everyday I get on it, my ass is getting less and less kicked... I guess I can call this progress??? Or maybe I'm being too positive... At least I'm having fun... On my best try I was able to link from the ground all the way to the crux... but was shut-down by the "mono" move. So far I've done all the moves and on my last day I found a different sequence that avoids the mono move. I can do the mono move but I found it way too "low-percentage"... I could do it maybe 20% of the time. My version is more painful but easier (for me anyway)) and not quite as reachy . The last week has been really hot and my fingers tendons started to hurt more than usual, so I decided to take a little break from it... The forecast is looking good for the next week and my fingers are feeling better so I should get back on it soon and hopefully get my ass kicked a little less than last time.