Joshua Tree National Monument...
is a beautiful high desert environment east of LA. Needless to say its hot, very hot and it's at about 5000ft so getting there was something of a chore for Cynthia who got very hot dragging us up the hills. We arrived at about 4:00pm on Friday before the long Memorial wkend and got a good spot at a nice first come first served campground in the park. Minimal facilities but a beautiful location. There are granite domes all around and in the campground. Some campsites you could belay from your tent/car! The climbing is a good mix with a lot of cracks which for H and are are something of a punishing environment. We got our first climbing in of the trip whilst in J-tree and it was a rollercoaster ride.
Our first climb was 5.3 which relates to <4a or a mod. A sensible starting point we thought. We both puffed and panted our way up the thing. Rusty would be an understatement. The altitude got to us along with our less then svelt physiques which is a little embarasing but there we go. That's where we're at! We tried a 5.1 the next day and I started up it thinking this would be super easy. What a mistake! The crux of the route was a flared pea-shaped pod about 10ft high with no holds. Trying to climb this was a mystery to me and as there was little or no gear on the 30ft slab below it was made all the more spicy. We both managed to overcome this obstacle and the rest of the route was quite good. We did manage to push the epic envelope a little more by taking about an hour to get off the 60m dome we'd got to the top of. There was no clear way down so we slid, down climbed and bum shuffled our way to the bottom. 3hrs to complete a 5.1! Oh boy we're we made up!
The following day I chose a 5.6** to go at (Surely this is the wrong way up the scale for two unfit climbers, possibly!) which was a long single pitch with some nice cracks in it and another of these flared pods! I should have walked away then and there. The climbing to the pod was good but once again I was presented with a holdless pod/squeeze which required body tension and opposing pressure to keep yourself in/on the route. With my current level of fitness it was a struggle of epic proportions that should have tales written about it. I would suggest the title, "How a fat bloke who's out of shape should not pick his first route of the season." Might I also suggest pictures of a suitable porky person (I am available as a model) stuck in peapod type squeeze sweating and cursing. Hannah very cleverly demured on the second and I stripped the route from the top on abseil.
The next day we nursed our bruised ego's (or I did and Hannah once again cleverly stuck to the real world) and had a rest day. J-tree is incredibly rough granite, our fingers and hands were rubbed raw and feet were sore. Tuesday saw us back on the rock with a little more success we ticked and, more importantly, enjoyed a classic 5.4**, a 5.1*** and two 5.7's *** around the campsite. We finshed the day with a fire and some beers feeling like we'd improved a lot over the few days we'd been there! It was a really great few days of beautiful weather and the kind of mini adventures you can't pay money for.
We saddled up and headed to LA with a certain sadness in our step. We had an appointment with a doctor!
Our first climb was 5.3 which relates to <4a or a mod. A sensible starting point we thought. We both puffed and panted our way up the thing. Rusty would be an understatement. The altitude got to us along with our less then svelt physiques which is a little embarasing but there we go. That's where we're at! We tried a 5.1 the next day and I started up it thinking this would be super easy. What a mistake! The crux of the route was a flared pea-shaped pod about 10ft high with no holds. Trying to climb this was a mystery to me and as there was little or no gear on the 30ft slab below it was made all the more spicy. We both managed to overcome this obstacle and the rest of the route was quite good. We did manage to push the epic envelope a little more by taking about an hour to get off the 60m dome we'd got to the top of. There was no clear way down so we slid, down climbed and bum shuffled our way to the bottom. 3hrs to complete a 5.1! Oh boy we're we made up!
The following day I chose a 5.6** to go at (Surely this is the wrong way up the scale for two unfit climbers, possibly!) which was a long single pitch with some nice cracks in it and another of these flared pods! I should have walked away then and there. The climbing to the pod was good but once again I was presented with a holdless pod/squeeze which required body tension and opposing pressure to keep yourself in/on the route. With my current level of fitness it was a struggle of epic proportions that should have tales written about it. I would suggest the title, "How a fat bloke who's out of shape should not pick his first route of the season." Might I also suggest pictures of a suitable porky person (I am available as a model) stuck in peapod type squeeze sweating and cursing. Hannah very cleverly demured on the second and I stripped the route from the top on abseil.
The next day we nursed our bruised ego's (or I did and Hannah once again cleverly stuck to the real world) and had a rest day. J-tree is incredibly rough granite, our fingers and hands were rubbed raw and feet were sore. Tuesday saw us back on the rock with a little more success we ticked and, more importantly, enjoyed a classic 5.4**, a 5.1*** and two 5.7's *** around the campsite. We finshed the day with a fire and some beers feeling like we'd improved a lot over the few days we'd been there! It was a really great few days of beautiful weather and the kind of mini adventures you can't pay money for.
We saddled up and headed to LA with a certain sadness in our step. We had an appointment with a doctor!
posted by patrick at 12:10 PM
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