Spring Break--Joshua Tree March 2012
Annie and I met up in LAX for another Spring Break climbing trip. We’d done two trips to Red Rocks but the last time it was a bit chilly, so we opted for Joshua Tree for warmer conditions. In addition to rock climbing gear, I had brought ski clothes for Annie and Marcia—they would meet in SLC right after our four days in Joshua Tree. See a couple of photos of The Swift at my picasaweb site.
We stayed overnight near the Ontario airport and forged on to the park on March 2. As soon as we stepped out of the car we experienced unexpectedly cold and windy conditions. The winds at J-tree can be brutal, and this was one of those times. Fortunately, we had warmer and calmer conditions for the other days. Today, however, we had to bundle up and seek sun. We were hoping to “warm up” on Right On, a multipitch 5.6 on Saddle Rock, but we could see it was way too cold. I thought it might get sun in the morning but as it turns out, it never gets any sun at all this time of year! The next good option seemed to be Mike’s Books, also 5.6 on Intersection Rock, but that was occupied. So we went around to the other side to do Overhang Bypass, 5.7. Turns out this was a poor choice for a warm-up climb since it has a couple of really testy sections. On the first pitch, one has to work around an overhang capping a trough by moving either right or left. Going right would have meant doing runout 5.7 face on faith alone, since one couldn’t see the face one was traversing onto. Going left looked easier with some pro at the start but also blind higher up and I didn’t have the confidence to plunge into it at this point. So I lowered off a sling over a knob (recovered with a flip of the rope!) and we humbly retreated. Probably just as well as the second pitch features a hand traverse with no feet, hard to protect for the second. Back to Mike’s Book, still busy, so we headed over to do Southeast Corner, 5.6 sport. This is on a dramatic block sticking up into the sky. I knew it would be windy and sure enough we were buffeted. But it was a fun climb. I was thinking of toproping Cryptic 5.8, but didn’t set the rope up well, so we were lucky just to get the rope back, let alone do the toprope. Back to Mike’s Book—the folks there were rapping off as I headed up. This climb features an odd start with a traverse about 10 feet up, a little tricky. I didn’t like the looks of it for Annie following, since a fall there would result in a swing into a wall. I finished the first pitch and thought maybe I could help Annie up with tension going straight up, but it was too steep, actually incut at the base. So I rapped off. At this point I was thinking we’re out of shape, or the J-tree ratings are tough, or both, so we went over to do the Eye on the Cyclops (5.5)—a fun, steep wall leading to a hole in the cliff through which one exits to the other side.
The next day promised warmer conditions, but it was still somewhat chilly in the morning. We headed over to check out Bong 5.5 on the Blob, but that was in the shade and still too chilly. On the way back we found Toe Jam 5.7 on Old Woman, and this was in the sun and went pretty smoothly (although Annie had the usual beginning crack climber reluctance to really use and trust the crack for hands and feet.) We thought now might be as good a time as any to do Right On, since it never would get sun. This is an unusual climb for Joshua tree because of its length--the guidebook lists it as 4-5 pitches, but we did it in 6. Turned out to be something of an adventure. The first pitch is very long and wanders up a slab and is supposed to continue up past a bolt and then a long section of unprotected 5.6. Since there was a nice belay stance before the bolt I broke the pitch there so as not to have to do the runout part and the rest of the pitch with a lot of rope drag. It was all there, but you had to go the right way or it would have been a lot harder. These J-tree 5.6’s really get your attention! The next pitch was short bit climbing alongside a wide crack. Pitch 4 went up a chimney with a tough entrance move. This is rated 5.6+ and it took me three tries to get. I know I’m getting older, but since when did people start adding plus ratings to 5.6? I left the pack at the belay so I could squirm my way up the first 50 feet of the chimney. When the angle eased, I pulled it up, dragged it for a bit, and then finally was able to finish the pitch wearing it. You really had to think about where to go on this pitch so as to keep the climbing moderate. Annie did great with the chimneying (but she pulled on the bolt at the start to get past the 5.6+ entrance move). Two more fun, easier pitches led to the top. All in all, this had to be the hardest 5.6 I’d ever done. On the descent we found the wind and cold had disappeared, so we could shed our warm clothes and experience the park the way it was supposed to be in March. It was getting late in the day, so we headed over to Trashcan Rock to do something short. We did Karpwitz (5.6), which was steep and fingery, it definitely made me think a bit at the crux. I tried to toprope Profundity (10b) but this was ridiculously hard. Maybe I just needed some schooling on J-tree friction, but it seemed way too steep to do as a friction climb, and there were almost no holds.
Day 3: We headed up to do Double Dogleg (5.7), a sweet crack in Rock Garden Valley. I toproped the next climb over, Split Personality (5.9), another great climb (but on the lead it would seem a bit of a project, steep and strenuous, thin crack). Then we moved the car down the road a bit and headed over to do The Swift, a 3 pitch 5.7 which the guidebook said was one of the best in the park. This was a busy day but fortunately the climb was free. A group in the parking lot said they had gotten off route on it the day before and taken 6 hours. So I was a bit paranoid about staying on-route. On the second pitch I stayed with the crack system and it worked out. The third pitch exits right out of the corner to a wild, airy handcrack. Not unlike the place I backed off of on Overhang Bypass, but at least here you could see what you were heading for. At this point we were pretty tired from the climbing and descending in the sun, so we headed over to do some toproping at Echo Cove. Someone had left a rope up on a slab, they said there was a 5.8 and a 5.10 to do, but they seemed ridiculously easy, like 5.7. I had to look these up later in the big guidebook, they were both 5.8 (Sound of One Shoe Tapping, and WAF). I also made a half-hearted attempt to TR Pinky Lee (10d/11a) and then toproped Swing Low (7+/8-)
The last day we went to Hemingway to do White Lightning (7+). This was a terrific line, very long and somewhat strenuous. I broke up the pitch since there was a nice belay about 100 feet up. Annie did great but needed to hang so she could put her belay glove on to protect her hand in the crack. We set up the next climb over for a top-belay toprope—Poodles are People Too (10b). This was a terrific line, I got all but one move. We went to the nearby Dairy Queen Wall to do a group of shorter climbs, all recommended in Gaines’s guide. I led up Scrumdillyishus (7) and Annie got it with one hang. Then, we toproped Frosty Cone (7). After some leaning over the edge of the cliff I found the right spot to toprope Mr. Misty Kiss (8) and Annie got that with one hang. These are fun climbs, steep, but with big scoop-like features (is that why they call it Dairy Queen wall?) and juggy holds. The rap station shown in the guide was not there, as far as we could see. Annie rapped off the TR anchor and I was going to scramble down, but I didn’t like the looks of that so I ended up rapping off a single bolt near the top of Misty Kiss. At this point we were pretty tired, so we thought it would be nice to go back to Bong to finish off the day. This was a fun, short 5.5 handcrack. The only problem is the descent, which I had trouble figuring out from the description in the guide. The folks ahead of us said it was pretty sketchy. Annie rapped the route, and I tried to find the descent but gave up and rapped off a sling I placed on a horn. I could see the descent involved steep, airy downclimbing, although on good holds. Still, it’s kind of strange to gear up for a casual 5.5 crack and then try to downclimb scary 5.3 with lots of exposure. Even with the rap there was a bit of steep downclimbing to get back to the base of the route.
Altogether it was a fun trip—Annie gained some confidence in crack climbing, and I got back into the leadclimbing game after a long absence. My last time on natural rock was a trip to the Gunks with Bob Nov 13, 2010.
We stayed overnight near the Ontario airport and forged on to the park on March 2. As soon as we stepped out of the car we experienced unexpectedly cold and windy conditions. The winds at J-tree can be brutal, and this was one of those times. Fortunately, we had warmer and calmer conditions for the other days. Today, however, we had to bundle up and seek sun. We were hoping to “warm up” on Right On, a multipitch 5.6 on Saddle Rock, but we could see it was way too cold. I thought it might get sun in the morning but as it turns out, it never gets any sun at all this time of year! The next good option seemed to be Mike’s Books, also 5.6 on Intersection Rock, but that was occupied. So we went around to the other side to do Overhang Bypass, 5.7. Turns out this was a poor choice for a warm-up climb since it has a couple of really testy sections. On the first pitch, one has to work around an overhang capping a trough by moving either right or left. Going right would have meant doing runout 5.7 face on faith alone, since one couldn’t see the face one was traversing onto. Going left looked easier with some pro at the start but also blind higher up and I didn’t have the confidence to plunge into it at this point. So I lowered off a sling over a knob (recovered with a flip of the rope!) and we humbly retreated. Probably just as well as the second pitch features a hand traverse with no feet, hard to protect for the second. Back to Mike’s Book, still busy, so we headed over to do Southeast Corner, 5.6 sport. This is on a dramatic block sticking up into the sky. I knew it would be windy and sure enough we were buffeted. But it was a fun climb. I was thinking of toproping Cryptic 5.8, but didn’t set the rope up well, so we were lucky just to get the rope back, let alone do the toprope. Back to Mike’s Book—the folks there were rapping off as I headed up. This climb features an odd start with a traverse about 10 feet up, a little tricky. I didn’t like the looks of it for Annie following, since a fall there would result in a swing into a wall. I finished the first pitch and thought maybe I could help Annie up with tension going straight up, but it was too steep, actually incut at the base. So I rapped off. At this point I was thinking we’re out of shape, or the J-tree ratings are tough, or both, so we went over to do the Eye on the Cyclops (5.5)—a fun, steep wall leading to a hole in the cliff through which one exits to the other side.
The next day promised warmer conditions, but it was still somewhat chilly in the morning. We headed over to check out Bong 5.5 on the Blob, but that was in the shade and still too chilly. On the way back we found Toe Jam 5.7 on Old Woman, and this was in the sun and went pretty smoothly (although Annie had the usual beginning crack climber reluctance to really use and trust the crack for hands and feet.) We thought now might be as good a time as any to do Right On, since it never would get sun. This is an unusual climb for Joshua tree because of its length--the guidebook lists it as 4-5 pitches, but we did it in 6. Turned out to be something of an adventure. The first pitch is very long and wanders up a slab and is supposed to continue up past a bolt and then a long section of unprotected 5.6. Since there was a nice belay stance before the bolt I broke the pitch there so as not to have to do the runout part and the rest of the pitch with a lot of rope drag. It was all there, but you had to go the right way or it would have been a lot harder. These J-tree 5.6’s really get your attention! The next pitch was short bit climbing alongside a wide crack. Pitch 4 went up a chimney with a tough entrance move. This is rated 5.6+ and it took me three tries to get. I know I’m getting older, but since when did people start adding plus ratings to 5.6? I left the pack at the belay so I could squirm my way up the first 50 feet of the chimney. When the angle eased, I pulled it up, dragged it for a bit, and then finally was able to finish the pitch wearing it. You really had to think about where to go on this pitch so as to keep the climbing moderate. Annie did great with the chimneying (but she pulled on the bolt at the start to get past the 5.6+ entrance move). Two more fun, easier pitches led to the top. All in all, this had to be the hardest 5.6 I’d ever done. On the descent we found the wind and cold had disappeared, so we could shed our warm clothes and experience the park the way it was supposed to be in March. It was getting late in the day, so we headed over to Trashcan Rock to do something short. We did Karpwitz (5.6), which was steep and fingery, it definitely made me think a bit at the crux. I tried to toprope Profundity (10b) but this was ridiculously hard. Maybe I just needed some schooling on J-tree friction, but it seemed way too steep to do as a friction climb, and there were almost no holds.
Day 3: We headed up to do Double Dogleg (5.7), a sweet crack in Rock Garden Valley. I toproped the next climb over, Split Personality (5.9), another great climb (but on the lead it would seem a bit of a project, steep and strenuous, thin crack). Then we moved the car down the road a bit and headed over to do The Swift, a 3 pitch 5.7 which the guidebook said was one of the best in the park. This was a busy day but fortunately the climb was free. A group in the parking lot said they had gotten off route on it the day before and taken 6 hours. So I was a bit paranoid about staying on-route. On the second pitch I stayed with the crack system and it worked out. The third pitch exits right out of the corner to a wild, airy handcrack. Not unlike the place I backed off of on Overhang Bypass, but at least here you could see what you were heading for. At this point we were pretty tired from the climbing and descending in the sun, so we headed over to do some toproping at Echo Cove. Someone had left a rope up on a slab, they said there was a 5.8 and a 5.10 to do, but they seemed ridiculously easy, like 5.7. I had to look these up later in the big guidebook, they were both 5.8 (Sound of One Shoe Tapping, and WAF). I also made a half-hearted attempt to TR Pinky Lee (10d/11a) and then toproped Swing Low (7+/8-)
The last day we went to Hemingway to do White Lightning (7+). This was a terrific line, very long and somewhat strenuous. I broke up the pitch since there was a nice belay about 100 feet up. Annie did great but needed to hang so she could put her belay glove on to protect her hand in the crack. We set up the next climb over for a top-belay toprope—Poodles are People Too (10b). This was a terrific line, I got all but one move. We went to the nearby Dairy Queen Wall to do a group of shorter climbs, all recommended in Gaines’s guide. I led up Scrumdillyishus (7) and Annie got it with one hang. Then, we toproped Frosty Cone (7). After some leaning over the edge of the cliff I found the right spot to toprope Mr. Misty Kiss (8) and Annie got that with one hang. These are fun climbs, steep, but with big scoop-like features (is that why they call it Dairy Queen wall?) and juggy holds. The rap station shown in the guide was not there, as far as we could see. Annie rapped off the TR anchor and I was going to scramble down, but I didn’t like the looks of that so I ended up rapping off a single bolt near the top of Misty Kiss. At this point we were pretty tired, so we thought it would be nice to go back to Bong to finish off the day. This was a fun, short 5.5 handcrack. The only problem is the descent, which I had trouble figuring out from the description in the guide. The folks ahead of us said it was pretty sketchy. Annie rapped the route, and I tried to find the descent but gave up and rapped off a sling I placed on a horn. I could see the descent involved steep, airy downclimbing, although on good holds. Still, it’s kind of strange to gear up for a casual 5.5 crack and then try to downclimb scary 5.3 with lots of exposure. Even with the rap there was a bit of steep downclimbing to get back to the base of the route.
Altogether it was a fun trip—Annie gained some confidence in crack climbing, and I got back into the leadclimbing game after a long absence. My last time on natural rock was a trip to the Gunks with Bob Nov 13, 2010.
posted by John Imbrie at 8:32 PM
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