Joshua Tree
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Joshua Tree, Thanksgiving, November 2007
The Stanford Alpine Club (SAC) goes to JTree over Thanksgiving. This seems to have become a tradition, and all the SAClers got really excited about it weeks before the trip. SAC books a group site early in advance and gives it to the members for free, so this was super convenient. The rest of the trip however was organized using the web 2.0 google spreadsheet wiki approach no problem! So I pick up Justin and Rasmus and we jam packed the Jeep with all our stuff and got on the road, looking forward to some 9h driving. Justin and me were going fast, he even a bit faster than me, some people may say too fast, but hey, we saw the first Joshua Trees after 5 hours and were in the park shortly after sunset.
We were supposed to meet Sarah at Hidden Valley campground, but we couldn't find her, though the site number was correct. Oh, but there she is- laying on the ground cuddled in her sack! Looked weird to us cause it wasn't that late, we hadn't learned yet this is just what you do in JTree: Get up with sun, climb as soon it's warm enough, cook dinner when the sun's down, sleep. We woke her up with the sound of Coronas being popped open. Soon Sarah present to us two options: Either going over to three climber chicks who would heat up glogg (Rasmus the Swede is smiling), or - guess I don't even know anymore what the second choice was. Turns out the three girls were hilarious. One of them fell in love with Sarah's $8 down jacket (yes, eight) and kept coming up with all kinds of things and services she'd like to trade. Two old shirts of hers, a bowl of freshly made guacamole (do it, Sahra!), making fresh pancakes and bacon and eggs for all of us for breakfast (deal, Sarah!) ... We had oatmeal instead.
On Sunday Sarah, Rasmus and I climbed in Hidden Valley. Took us a while to get used to the new conditions, sharp rock, smears, stout rating, runouts, no smooth Yosemite cracks. Our topo had a ton of routes in it but almost no beta on them. So where do we start? Sarah lead Dogleg, 5.8, which went ok - except for the first move where the green alien became handy. Rasmus followed and belayed me up. When I got to the top, Sarah already had rapped down, running for the next crag I guess, so much energy! We took our time. First time on top of a JTree boulder! Later Rasmus did a brave lead of Buissonier, 5.7, which is only 5.7 if you know how to keep your feet in the leaning crack which the Swede didn't. Didn't look comfortable! Toproped Papa and Mama Woolsey, 5.10a/b. Super thin faceclimb where you only have steep smears and naily flakes for hands which feel like they come off every second. Sometimes they even do. At the end of the day we had four pitches done, which seems to be the standard in JTree. Back at the SAC site on Sheeps Pass we grilled the meat we brought, had some beers and went to bed early. It gets chilly when the sun is gone!
Monday was a fun day of straightforward croud climbing. A whole bunch of SAClers went to Lost Horse, all doing the same climbs, hanging out at the base. A bunch of swiss guys were there, too. I was like hey, that sounds like German, but I don't understand a thing... At some point Sam's red linkcam broke- in the exact same way mine had broken the other day in Yosemite! I'm really convinced now Omega Pacific changed the design of the linkcams because of that. Rasmus and I did Poodlesby, 5.6 (lead Rasmus), Frosty Cone, 5.7 (lead Moritz), and Mr. Misty Kiss, 5.7 (lead Rasmus). For the top belay on Frosty Cone I used the "guide's belay" from the anchors book to practice it: set up an anchor far away from the cliff, munter it, belay yourself to the cliff, put a figure eight on a bight to lock off and to create a second master point, belay the follower from there. Worked fine! We had about half an hour before sunset, and Rasmus tried the guide's belay on the ground, too.
Tuesday I get to lead the classic Double Cross in Hidden Valley! It's rated 5.7+ which probably means 5.8 which sounds about right for a vertical handcrack with quite some extra holds. Then Rasmus leads up Toe Jam, 5.7, which felt a lot easier. Some guy told us about a nice 5.6 chimney which we wanted to do. Took us some time to find the crag. It's somewhat hidden and you don't see any other climbers from the base. I jump into it, and it's fun. A bit squeezy at times. But no way this is 5.6! Ok, I'm not an experienced chimney climber, but anyway! I had a hard time placing pro because my rack turned into a mess and I couldn't unclip the pieces. Also this thing was eating my big stuff so I had to stretch it. I was happy when I reached the top. But it shouldn't last long, because soon I realized there were no bolts up there. Nor could I find rock structures allowing for an anchor which would have met my standards. All there was was a spot way to the left from the exit, where some flake runs sort of parallel to the ground for about a foot. I put two almost topped out cams in it and a big nut. The cams better don't move, but I planned to belay right there and to keep a close eye on it. I also placed a redirectional piece consisting of another topped out cam equalized with a shitty tricam, both in a badly flaring crack. After what must have seem forever I yelled "on belay" and Rasmus followed. Two minutes later he was topping out. "Oh, hi! That was easy! Look!" and he was doing the last chimney moves in front of me... I improved the anchor using the gear Rasmus had cleaned and we set up a toprope for Good to the Last Drop, 5.10a. Thin and sharp, not frequently climbed, but fun. Rasmus had some fun with the scary walk-off after cleaning the toprope. But since he's the better scrambler it was his job!
Wednesday we climb together with Justin and Emily. We do two more classics, The Jam, 5.8, and Colorado Crack, 5.9, in Conan's Corridor at Jumbo Rock. I feel a bit shaky today so Rasmus does all the leads. But it's fun! I enjoy the different landscape at this new place in Joshua Tree. It's amazing how much it changes in only a few miles. No other vegetation any more except thick bushes, no Joshua Trees, many warm, friendly, sharp boulders and a zillion of little canyons. The top bolts of Jam and Colorado Crack are bad, one is even moving under load. I only rap off of them because Justin's trustworthy anchor is still in place reinforcing the bolts. Later we walk off. We drive over to Split Rocks, Future Games Rock and do Continuum, 5.8+, and Invisibility Lessons, 5.9. Both somewhat leaning finger cracks. Good work leading this, Rasmus! Back at the campsite we cook pasta and sausages and hotdogs. Rasmus likes sausages, so he has quite a few. But it turns out four days in a high desert are not exactly recommended storage for sausages. Especially not when you plan to have a lot of them before they are thoroughly cooked... So a couple of hours after dinner Rasmus feels sick, real sick. He goes to bed and shall have a hard night. Justin was fine, and I was too.
Thursday, Thanksgiving. Rasmus still is sick. And mad at himself. "So stupid. I should have known this! Aaahh!" Whatever, we'll just have a rest day today and check out one of the nice hiking trails. We do the Barker Dam trail, passing large patches of cactuses, a couple of families, and nice Joshua Tree rocks. Eventually we arrive the lake, which is completely dry this time of year. We find a sign indicating we're not supposed to swim here... Funny view in the middle of a high desert. Everybody gets back early to the camp and prepares Thanksgiving dinner. What a feast! A friend of Sarah's has even brought a full sized deep fryer in her RV! We fire it up on a big gas stove, keep a close eye on the temperature and have delicious deep fried turkey! Sarah's friend was like "well, we wanted to have turkey for Thanksgiving. But how do you prepare it in the desert? Deepfrying seemed the only option! So we got this fryer over there...". Even Rasmus enjoys a bit of turkey. I believe it's the first food he has today...
Friday the weather changed. It still was sunny, but it just wouldn't get warm. Plus the wind was blowing like crazy. All or stuff was covered in dust. Rasmus and I decided to do our little project anyway, the Overhanging Bypass, 5.7. The climbing was easier than I had expected, but it took quite some committment to trust your numb fingers and to convince yourself that the wind is not going to blow you off those smears, although it blows so hard it makes noises in the helmet and on the sharp edges of the rock. Later we did Eff Eight, 5.8, which hat a bit more sun and a bit less wind, and Funny Bones, 5.7. That one was easy, almost gym 5.7! Last route we did was Sail Away, 5.8, which we finished in moon light. Back at the camp we found it deserted. We learned from Dave SAC had accidentally booked only through Friday and the next group had arrived already. Cool. Apparently they were ok with us staying a night longer, but we were supposed to get dinner in town. Well, I guess the local places are used to the appearance of climbers- no shower in a week, funny hair because of the wind and dust, sunburned faces, North Face and Mountain Hardware fleeces, fucked up hands, going like "So, Dave, how did you like Wangerbanger?". We went for a cool asian place at the main road.
Saturday Rasmus, Justin and I drive back. We get to Palo Alto around 10pm.
