Trip Reports - 1/7/97 Joshua Tree, California

Trip Report - JOSHUA TREE,
California

January 7th. - 12th., 1997

It must have been the stars: Andy was in LA for a meeting through Jan. 7, Henry had the winter semester off from teaching for the first time in 12 years, and Jason ... well, let's just say he knuckled under to significant peer pressure ..., plus a weather forecast for southern California to die for (figure of speech) while the rest of the country experienced violent weather extremes...

Well, we accepted the propitious circumstances, whatever their cause, and happily headed off for a 5 day climbing trip. Joshua Tree National Monument, now National Park and Wilderness Area (don't ask where the boundaries of one begin and the other leaves off), was the target. Jason and Henry arrived at the John Wayne Airport (Orange County) at high noon on Tuesday (the 7th), and needing to kill (figure of speech) the afternoon waiting for Andy, headed over to the world-famous Rockreation Corral in Costa Mesa for a warmup. This is a first class rock gym, with a large variety of top-roped routes, a huge lead area, a massive bouldering cavern, long traverses, a gym, etc. - definitely a full-service facility! Only $15 for the top-rope and lead checkouts.

View larger photo fo Headstone Rock

Dinner that night provided the first actual opportunity for us to compare notes and expectations, since we all had been preoccupied with other things the previous weeks. Fortunately, our philosophies matched well: climb as many classics as possible, across a range of route types (slab, crack, delicate face), and spread around the Park for variety. Henry had obtained a lot of supplemental information off the California Climbers Network web site (http://www.climbnet.com/ccn/), and the SOCal Select abridged guide (R. Vogel). From this hit list, we agreed to visit four main areas of the Park over the four full days we had, each with several "classic" 7s, 8s, and 9s - not a problem at Joshua, with over 4000 documented routes -- and our list actually contained six days of climbing for the four days we had...

Up at the crack of dawn... So, we left LA at dawn on Wednesday, driving east beyond Palm Springs (and past our first actual Joshua trees), 2.5 hours to the town of Joshua Tree, stopping to book a motel room there and visit the famous Nomad Ventures shop at the junction of the Park cutoff. We picked up a more detailed climbing guide (R. Vogel's Joshua Tree: Rock Climbing Guide, 1992) and just ogled shoes (possibly the best selection in the universe?) and other goodies. Then, on to the assault!!

Enlarge photo of Jason

Our idea was to visit the more popular and easily accessed areas during the weekdays, so we stopped first at Ryan Campground, near the hub of the main JT climbing and camping scene, amidst the unbelievably bizarre bouldery landscape of this high desert park (we'd call it "lunar," but since none of us have been to the moon...). The formations were overwhelming in number, but most seemed pretty harmless and reasonably small -- an optical delusion resulting from the huge scale of the landscape that we soon came to appreciate. The rocks actually derive from tectonic forces pushing them up, in spite of their depositional postures.

Our first objectives were two short 5.6 and 5.8 face climbs on Headstone Rock, an appropriately named piece of granite precariously perched on top of a typical Joshua pile of boulders. Jason led the "THIS is a .6?!", SW Corner (5.6); with 6 or so bolts, this climb was a heck an introduction. After pulling a bulge-y roof, you step out onto a blunt arete, and then you're flapping about in the breeze like a piece of soiled laundry (almost literally), before a quick run to the top. A bit overwhelmed by the windy and exposed conditions, we then TR'd Cryptic (5.8), 15 feet to the right. This was more of an edge-y face with some relatively delicate moves at the crux, about 20 feet from the top.

We were pumped up by this warmup, but unnerved a bit by the still rambunctiously cold wind gusts and remaining snow scattered around. From Headstone Rock, one can see Saddle Rock about a mile or 2 to the east, looking "sort of like a giant snowmobile, going downhill," as described to us by someone who "sort of" knew where he was. So we headed over to our next classic, Walk on the Wild Side, a 2-3 pitch route variously rated from 5.7+ (guidebook) to 5.9 (local opinion). By consensus, we'd rate it around 5.8 for a 10-foot section just below the end of the first pitch (below the belay cave) -- the balance of the climb is a solid 5.7. The approach is about 3/4 mile through great desert vegetation - we began to notice the diversity of cacti, for example - along the marked trail, complements of The Access Fund.

View larger image of Saddle Rock

The route begins in the center of the bulging SW face, and is bolt protected (at JT, this means there are bolts generally right next to the panic button). This climb would test our route-finding skills. From the frigid shade at the base of the rock, Henry led the first pitch, shoes gripping well and feeling comfortable and excited. Jason lead what we thought was a short pitch 2 to a second anchor (at a small cave), then Andy struck out for the top. As daylight began to slip away ... along with Andy's enthusiasm, while he searched for the elusive top anchor at least 50 feet away, but still out of sight... the sun really began to set (Jason and Henry enjoyed the sunset anyway).

But then Real Live Coyotes began to howl, the wind grew cold, and we realized that while we'd remembered to bring our headlamps to California, we hadn't figured on needing them the very first day, so there they sat warm and snug in the trunk! We rapped off, leaving Andy's bright new locking carabiner (a Christmas present from Dad -- Thanks!) for retrieval the next morning. We made the car as darkness settled, and shook off the chill over a great Thai dinner (Hot!) in town, over which we set to revising our obviously overambitious plans...

Thursday morning found us back on the Walk, where we switched leads, with Henry pushing the final pitch past a sharp-left traverse at the top of the third pitch to a bolt, with a runout over the break in the slope to the top anchor, with only 3m left in the 60m rope. Whoopee! Last night's coyotes had nothing on him then. Jason came up second, and by the time Andy made it to the top, Henry was still babbling about the view, the quality of the rock, the beautiful weather, how he felt as the slope eased off, the beautiful view...Two double-rope raps and we were down, and this time really pumped!

We had the afternoon left, so headed back to the Real Hidden Valley Campground area in search of Hidden Tower. Around and under and around the boulders and eureka, the beautiful 5.8 finger and hand crack called Sail Away. Andy felt up for the challenge, or at least he felt up for it while still standing at the base, looking straight up. Round about 50 feet up, he began to seriously question his motives for being involved in a sport as reckless and foolhardy as rock climbing, and by the time he reached the top, he announced his gear was for sale to the highest bidder. Henry seconded the lead, and Jason finally topped out as the sun set on yet another picture-perfect desert evening.

See bigger photo of Henry

Day 3 (Friday) began, as all the others, in the comfort of Kim's, an excellent cafe serving a great variety of quality breakfast food and endless coffee. We thanked them every morning with a good tip and a table full of dirty dishes. We planned our last weekday at the busiest road junction and camping area in the Park, to tackle several routes on Intersection Rock and The Old Woman. Henry lead Overhang Bypass (5.7) with an interesting move out of a small cave mid-route, followed by an airy handrail traverse out of a large and shallow cave (with great holds, though) and onto an exposed (bolt protected) face near the top. We all warmed up on this climb, then Andy took off to enjoy some of the world-class boulder problems 100 yards to the southwest.

30 feet from Bypass, Jason racked up for his first full-on gear lead of the trip, The Flake (5.8), which starts with a 30+ ft high, unprotected wide stem/offwidth. The climb follows the left edge of a massive flake to its top, then finishes with about 20 or 30 feet of face climbing (2 bolts). Jason led out in grand fashion, and the others followed. The vertical midsection of this climb was deceptively tricky, and Henry was heard calling for his mommy at one point. As Jason and Henry waited a few minutes for the last climb of the day, Andy "It's only fun if my fingertips are bleeding" Mitchell checked out some more nearby bouldering problems.

The last climb, we'd decided, would be Dogleg (5.8) on Intersection Rock. Here's a climb worth waiting a few minutes for! A secure hand-and-finger crack arcs up to a few fun face moves and presto! a comfy belay cave. This climb cooks on a sunny afternoon, and it was nice to rest in the shade for a few minutes while Henry climbed....actually "clawed" was more like it...his way to the top. When the climb was finished with him, he looked like something the cat dragged in, but still somehow, he had a grin of satisfaction on his face. Great climb! Freshly pumped out from his vicious bouldering, Andy worked his way up, and we rapped off. Definitely a great climb with several fun moves, and enough rests on the way to recover your courage.

Enlarge photo of Andy

We had planned Saturday as the most difficult and remote day, to avoid the hordes of expected climbers in the other areas and because we felt on Tuesday that we would really be ready to go all out on our last day. So, we set off from the Barker Dam area through the Wonderland of Rocks; over a mile of narrow, convoluted trail, over and under boulders, around the manzanita and cacti, through Wonderland Valley , past the wild-looking North and South Astrodomes to Lenticular Dome, a beautiful friction slab with a top somewhere, always somewhere off a little higher. The last 200 ft of the approach to the base is a nightmare if you don't do it right (go just past the rock, then take a sharp right and head back to it), as Henry found out, turning an ankle badly while hopping from one boulder to another. And when we made it there, finally, ... the 5.7+ crack we'd hoped to attack (Mental Physics) was occupied. But, when you're smack in the middle a Wonderland of Rocks (truly), why wait? So, Andy and Jason alternately lead the bolted Dazed and Confused (5.9), just a few feet away. An excellent edge and face climb of some 90 ft, Dazed and Confused is steep and frictiony with a few positive edges right where you need them the most - a most rewarding climb.

As Henry limped off back toward civilization, Jason and Andy headed over to the northeast side of South Astrodome and Breakfast of Champions (5.8), a wide crack-flake on the flank of the dome. Jason led the first pitch, struggling inelegantly over the first 8 feet, but then moving quickly up the easy crack/ledge to the anchor at a shallow cave. The group just before us combined the climb in one sustained pitch, but Jason gallantly offered Andy the lead of the second pitch; Andy was developing a real love-hate relationship with this friction-slab stuff, and the second pitch would be no exception; especially when he peeped out from the shelter of the belay cave and looked down...

So with a chalkbag full of courage, he borrowed a small tricam for luck (just in case!) and cast off. Jason tried to console him by reminding him that even if all his quickdraws busted loose, he still wouldn't hit the ground because we were so high up already, unless, of course, the belay chains failed or the rope snapped...

See larger image of Jason

The view from the top was spectacular: snow-capped mountains way to the north, a bird's eye view of the rugged Wonderland - our last view from the top ...

Andy and Jason rejoined Henry, his ankle barely distracting him from his painful right shoulder (turned out to be a damaged tendon) at the parking lot as the evening came on, having finished the day after Breakfast, and not crazy about starting another route. The drive out was subdued; we all knew this was the last time we would drive out, and we'd have to leave J-Tree before dawn the next morning...

As we passed the The Old Woman in the final minutes of twilight, Andy suggested we work some more boulder problems. After poking around for a few minutes, we found Mantle (5.10-), a straightforward pull-up and press-up which seemed a custom-made one-mover for Andy. Our last problem was appropriately named Old Triangle Classic (5.10), and what a classic it was. Primo balance moves, finger-tip face crimping to the top, straining all the way down to the tips of your toes to stay on, this "Classic" was the perfect way to end a truly exciting trip.

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