Over the last 4 or 5 days in the Pit, we have managed to meet up with some awesome guys psyched on climbing. It has been a blast crushing boulders by day and hanging out around the campfire by night.
The Buttermilks have lived up to their reputation of being sharp and tall...my type of bouldering. The Happy boulders, on the other hand, have proven to be quite powerful and gymnastic...far from mine or Cam's strengths but fun none the less.
Due to technical difficulties (read: forgotten memory card) we have limited documentation of the last few days, but here are a few pics I did manage to snap.
As you can see from the first photo of Tommy sending, the allure of Bishop is not just its bouldering. This place is flat out beautiful. The east side of the Sierra Nevadas form the backdrop of this small high desert town. With world-class winter bouldering, sunny weather sport climbing, and some of the best scenery in the US, it is no wonder why so many climbers winter in Bishop.
Matt and I kept ourselves entertained for our last few days at Joshua Tree. By leafing through the guidebook, Matt found a secluded crag three or four miles from the road. One of Joshua Tree's main advantages is its short approaches; many stellar climbs only require a two minute walk from camp. After getting lost two or three times and endless scrambling, we arrived at the Fortress crag. Wanting to build on Matt's onsight of Coarse and Buggy (5.11a/b), I found a four-star 11a called Natural Selection. After getting stuck at the crux for a while, I monkeyed up the climb and claimed my own onsight! With a crack that slowly widened from tips to hands and a couple of small roofs, the climb certainly deserved its stars.
Walking back to the Truck
Fresh out of enthusiasm for the area (as we had now accomplished all of our goals for JTree), we decided to practice aid climbing on Friday. The weather rolled in that afternoon, and the rest of the day was spent huddled in the truck avoiding the rain. While killing time in a coffee shop on Saturday, we found that Bishop CA had five days of sun forecasted! So off we went.
Mt Tom, Bishop
New Campground
In addition its world-class bouldering, Bishop boasts the Owens River Gorge, California's premier sport climbing area. The climbing here has been a world apart from Joshua Tree. While JTree's granite provides unlimited friction, the Gorge's welded tuff is quite slick. However, we are learning the local style and are really enjoying the area. Below is a quick list of our favorite climbs so far:
The last few days here in J-Tree have been awesome. Yesterday Cam and I had a 15 star day. Meaning, we climbed 4 climbs equaling 15 stars in total. It was amazing. We started off the day with a warm-up on the ultra classic Illusion Dweller (5.10a/b). Illusion Dweller is a sustained 5.9 right slanting crack that varies from fingers to hands with a crux coming right at the very end. Cam made easy work of it first thing in the morning with the onsite, with me following up with a flash.
Next, we were hoping to get on Runaway (5.11), a classic J-Tree bolted face route. Unfortunately there was a party on the climb, so we decided to hope on Fisticuffs (5.10b). Fisticuffs is Indian Creek in the Tree. The climb starts off with perfect hands and finished up with good fist, all while overhanging the slightest bit. This thing is a burl-fest for sure.
The third climb we jumped on was Clean and Jerk (5.10c). This climb served up a nice slice of humble pie for both Cameron and I. Clean and Jerk has a very bouldery start and remains sustained for the length of the climb. It was good to see where our weaknesses are though. We have climbed very few overhanging routes on the trip thus far, so it was good practice.
Our final climb of the day was our hardest yet. One of my goals for J-Tree was to onsite a 5.11 trad route. In lay terms, climb bottom to top on a hard (for me) route, while placing all my own gear, without falling. The route of choice was Coarse and Buggy (5.11a/b). This route is a striking dihedral containing 2 cruxes. The first comes about 20 feet off the ground and involves stemming up the corner with very little in the way of hand holds. The second crux come right at the end and requires laybacking up a nice finger crack ending at a hallelujah jug.
Despite the amazing day of climbing, there was a bit of sadness. First sad bit of news, the weather forecast for the upcoming week does not look too good. But we really haven't had bad weather for the entire trip, so I guess our time has come.
Second, our campsite partners Lyle and Loraine had to leave the lovely J-Tree. It will be a little quieter around the campground for the next few nights, but I'm sure Cam and I will find new campmates before long, although I doubt the new neighbors will be cooking delicious scones on the camp stove.
The Regular Northwest Face of Half Dome was the first grade VI climb ever completed in the US. The climb was completed by Royal Robbins, Mike Sherrick, and Jerry Gallwas in 1957.
Pretty much, these guys are my heros. They ventured out onto a 2000 ft face with no idea if the route would even make it to the top. After 5 days of climbing and suffering, the trio stood on the summit of the tallest face climbed in the US. The epitome of badass.
Despite the superhuman free solo ascent of Half Dome in 2010 by Alex Honnold in just a few hours, Half Dome is still considered a very serious route and takes a competent team of climbers 3 days to complete.
Cam and I have decided to give it a try come May. So in preparation for such a challenging climb, we devised a few training days to help prepare us for the long days on the rock.
The climbing on Half Dome is broken down into 3 days of climbing.
Day 1: 3 pitches
Day 2: 13 pitches
Day 3: 6 pitches
In order to simulate Half Dome, we choose 23 pitches to climb over 3 days of equal or harder difficulty as the pitches encountered on Half Dome. Enjoy the short video of a few of these pitches. Peace..
We have just finished our second stint in Joshua Tree National Park, and have found some incredible climbing. Matt and I have got to experience a wide range of routes including: slabs, overhangs, off-widths, finger cracks, and perfect hand cracks. Moreover we are slowly ramping up the difficulty of our climbs.
For those that both care and are addicted to Mountain Project, here is a little sample of what we have been climbing.
The Talking Fish, 10c/d
Sig Alert, 10b/c
Bird of Fire, 10a
Crack 5, 9
Crack 6, 10a
Waugh Crack, 10c
Friday morning we set up the GoPro to take sequence shots every thirty seconds. The results have been compiled into the video you see below. Hope you enjoy!
(EDIT: Sorry about the super huge video, YouTube's embed feature is acting a tad funny)
The last 4 days, Cam and I have been hanging out in Joshua Tree National Park located in southern California. Joshua Tree (J-Tree) is THE winter destination for rock climbers. When everywhere else in the continental US is covered in snow (even Dallas), J-Tree is known for its warm days and granite cracks.
Joshua Tree photo by Dan Morin
After pulling into the park, Cam and I decided that we would try and share a campsite with another group of people in hopes of keeping the cost down and having someone to socialize with. On our first try, we met 2 guys from Quebec on a similar trip who were super friendly. We spent the next 3 days and nights rock climbing together and enjoying beer and dinner around a cold picnic table.
We were able to get on some ultra classic climbs during our first 3 days of J-Tree climbing, including Double Cross 5.7, Hands Off 5.8 , Damper 5.9.
Cam and Granite on Hands Off
Dan leading Double Cross
Cam leading Double Cross, me on belay photo by Dan Morin
