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| Happy New Year!! |
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| Young Stunners |
I’m sitting here in Kate’s apartment preparing to spend an evening on “the strip” in Vegas, eagerly anticipating the in and out burger that I’ve been told is one of Vegas’ best kept secrets. Right now my thoughts are focused on the past six days, most of which were spent enjoying the wonderland of rocks known as Joshua Tree.
Joshua Tree National Park is a climbers’ paradise and is widely regarded as “the place” to be in cooler months, as the Mojave Desert’s climate tends to offer up warm temperatures during the day and bearable temps in the evening.
Stuart, Kate, and myself had planned on hitting up Joshua Tree for New Years eve, figuring that we could enjoy a few days there before returning to Vegas where Stu and I had grand plans to climb some of the long traditional routes in red Rock Canyon just West of the city. So it was that Friday afternoon we loaded up Kate’s truck and headed to J-Tree intent on proving ourselves at one of America’s crown jewels of climbing…
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| Kate Following Boussonnier |
A few hours later I was about 40’ up an easy climb hanging on a piece of gear whimpering and feeling sorry for myself. Unfortunately my strep throat had returned with a vengeance and the Dayquil and amoxicillin cocktail I’d consumed had yet to kick in. Uncertain if the shakes were from my fever or my fear, I slowly made my way to the top of our first route and wondered if I was going to enjoy climbing at this place. A rather technical (a.k.a don’t fall) down climb through a chimney ended the day and we headed back to Jumbo Rocks intent on celebrating the coming New Year with some good beer and a meal around a campfire. I won’t get in to too much detail about that evening but I will tell you that the three of us mastered the art of the auto-tune and are looking to sign a record deal w/ Lil Weezy or T-Pain in the near future.
On our first morning in Joshua Tree we awoke to a beautiful light that we came to learn was the norm in the high desert. After a fantastic breakfast Stu and I drove Kate to the J-Tree Saloon so that she could watch the Alabama/Michigan State game. Stuart and I made our way back to the park and spent the afternoon bouldering in a place known as the outback.
This ended up being a great call, as we were able to focus on enjoying J-Tree’s climbing rather than worry about the beat down that had been handed to us the day before. On the back-end of the day Stu and Kate climbed a classic route at trashcan rock while I met with a potential future employer to discuss specifics about a position in the area. More on that later…
Our final day of the weekend proved to be the highlight of the trip. We made our way out to a cliff called the thin wall and climbed a number of classic routes there (see the photos below) before heading out to climb the classic “Sail Away”. This route was fantastic offering up great exposure, wonderful movement, and engaging climbing on a spire-like feature. The climb was the perfect way to end a wonderful New Year weekend.
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| Kate atop Sail Away |
I intended on providing ya’ll with a much more interesting post, but figured it was better to get this out (a week later) rather than keep you all waiting. I have more to write soon, though I’ll need a good night’s sleep and a strong cup of coffee before that happens. In the mean time I hope everyone is doing well.. Keep your eyes peeled for my next post, J-Tree Part II: When Red Rock Weather Stinks.
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| Me Leading Sail Away |
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| Kate following a route on ThinWall |
This ended up being a great call, as we were able to focus on enjoying J-Tree’s climbing rather than worry about the beat down that had been handed to us the day before. On the back-end of the day Stu and Kate climbed a classic route at trashcan rock while I met with a potential future employer to discuss specifics about a position in the area. More on that later…
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