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Wow does it take me forever to get around to posting this stuff. I'm just now, on the eleventh of December, posting the trip report and pics taken on the Joshua Tree trip the weekend before Thanksgiving. I'll automate this yet...

Joshua Tree

My companions and climbing partners for the weekend were to be Steve, Josh O., and Josh G., all of which would be making a long trek from the Bay area on Wednesday. I joined the carravan Wednesday evening, and Josh O. and I arrived late Wednesday night, well ahead of Josh G. and Steve. Hidden Valley Campground turned out to be full, so we proceded to Ryan Campground, where we found a nice slot with a fin-shaped boulder that looked like fun to futz around on. (It was.)

Josh G. and Steve showed up shortly thereafter, and we proceded to sleep like the dead for eight hours.

Thursday: Lost Horse Area

Thursday dawned breezy and perfect. We set out for the Lost Horse area, looking for a couple of moderate trad climbs to kick off the weekend.

Josh O. and I ended up on Roan's Way, listed in the guidebook as a 5.8. Josh happily tied in and headed up the wall, quickly disappearing over a large bulge in the wall.

I heard Josh call down that he'd reached the anchors and was off belay. I tied in, and started to follow up.

I was excited, but this quickly gave way to nervousness. The climbing was smooth going, but I have no trad experience, and I'm used to the short but challenging climbs of Stoney Point, and always on top rope. 30 meters off the deck, with a belayer I couldn't see, I had to stop once or twice to get my head together. I took a deep breath, enjoyed the view for a second, and Elvis left the building. Smooth sailing through the crux, to a surprise at the anchors: this was a two-pitch climb. The guidebook had left that bit out. No biggie. We swapped ends of the rope, transferred the gear back to Josh's gear sling, and he again took the lead, and again disappeared over a ledge several meters above the belay station. The wind kicked up, and I was completely alone, 50 meters up with the wind in my hair, and a spectacular view of the valley west of the wall. Amazing.

40 minutes later, I realized something was wrong. The rope wasn't moving, and my hollers to Josh were getting no response. I figured that he'd reached the sumit (next belay?), but the wind was swallowing our shouting.

Finally, I heard a clear voice from my left: "Josh says he's off belay!" Thank God. Josh G. and Steve had come parallel with me on a neighboring route (Dappled Mare, 5.7), and were able to relay between me and Josh O. It was time to clean the belay station and get moving. We all made a mental note to bring the walkie-talkies with us on our next multi-pitch. (Alas, this would be our only multi-pitch this trip.)

The second pitch of Roan's Way starts with a step onto a slab with very little for the hands. It's something I've come to expect at J-Tree: the rock is quartz monzonite, and clean, and frictions like a madman. The result is that just about every climb includes a moment (or three, or seven) standing on tiny dishes that your brain cannot believe will hold you. But they're solid, if you keep your weight away from the rock and trust. (As an added bonus, if you don't trust, the same friction that should have held your feet will tear the skin off your knees and arms when you slip.)

Trust I did, and was rewarded with a great second pitch. Fun open-book formations and chiminey-like maneuvers to gain solid feet had me smiling nearly all the way to the summit. Josh had climbed it in his style: solid technique and the balance of a mountain goat, stepping quietly from edge to edge. I climbed it in mine: elbows, shoulders, and backstepping and damn those weak little crimpers. Great fun.

Round Up: Roan's Way

In the Lost Horse area, 5.8, more for sustained 5.7-ish difficulty than hard cruxes. Two full 45-meter pitches. (Tie stopper knots in your ropes, kids!) Solid bolts at the belay, but nothing at the summit. Bring a couple of 20-foot webbing lengths to rig a natural belay anchor, or save a couple of cams; you're going to use all your gear for pro.

Thursday PM: Burger & Beer Dijorno's & Amber Boch

The hike back to earth was more of a down-climb, and time-consuming. All told, by the time both parties had topped out and returned to the foot of the climb, we'd been out for nearly 5 hours. Everyone had expected a single-pitch, so foot and water had been left groundside (a mistake we did not repeat). We ate greedily, and drained the water cache, and decided that we would either cook or shop, but not both. We elected to head into town in search of beer, burgers and a market.

After cruising a little, we finally asked a few locals where we could locate a good burger & beer joint. We were directed to "Time Out", which the locals said didn't have burgers, but did have pizza.

Except that "Time Out" is really more of a dive bar than a pizza joint. The beer selection was Bud, Bud Light, and Amber Buck, and the pizza was Dijorno's heated in the oven. We were tired, wind-blasted, and hungry, and in no mood to argue. Which worked out alright, as the pizza was tasty (but small-- a "large" feeds two people, tops), and the "medium" mugs of Amber Buck we drained were, in actuality quite sizable, and reasonably cheap.

The market (Stater Bros) yielded fine steaks for the Friday night's dinner, as well as ample supplies for the next two days. We planned to spend the remainder of the trip climbing and camping, without having to return to civilization.

Friday: Double Cross, Loose Lady

Friday began with the discovery that a nice stiff wind blowing over the top of the latrine chiminey resulted in a chilly breeze blowing up at you from below. Brr.

Friday was a day of great climbs, but not for me. The cruxes of both Double Cross (Hidden Valley area, 5.8+), and Loose Lady (West of Turtle Rock, 5.9) stopped me cold. Josh O. and Steve had great success with both. Double Cross was, as hoped, an excellent crack line, and Loose Lady was a classic Joshua Tree route: crimpers at best for hands, and smears for the feet. Warm up on a few boulders, remind yourself that the laws of physics don't seem to apply to Stealth Rubber and quartz monzonite, and just go.

Round-up: Double Cross

Hidden Valley area, 5.8+. A 50-meter rope will let you rappel safely to earth from bolts at the summit.

Round-up: Loose Lady

West of Turtle Rock area, 5.9 (bolted). The crux comes almost immediately, the rest is a mental challenge. Power through sketchy feet to the second ledge, then enjoy the J-Tree friction. Our 50m rope was barely long enough to lower off of this one. It doesn't look tall, but it is. If you're going to TR this one (you'll have to have someone lead it to set the anchor) use a 60m rope, and let the leader clean on the way down.

Friday PM: Steak & Potatoes

Pine wood burned at just the right temperature to get our steaks seared outside and slow-cooked inside, and our baked potatoes (placed actually inside the fire) were perfect. Great dinner. And great drinks. Here's the recipe:

1. Slice 2 oranges, 2 limes, 2 lemmons into a two-gallon jug.
2. Add two cups of sugar.
3. Add lots of ice.
4. Empty a party-sized bottle of tequila into the jug.
5. Shake the whole thing like a madman until either frost forms on the outside of the jug, or the sugar disolves, or your hands freeze.

My compatriots called it "Yucca". It is potent. We all slept like rocks, having drained 80% of a gallon bottle of Jose Cuervo in under two hours.

Saturday: Wind and Cold

Josh O. reports that there were icicles on our picknick table Saturday morning. I cannot confirm this, as I refused to leave my sleeping bag until later that morning, when my bladder drove me to the latrine. By that time, the iceicles had melted.

The wind from the night before (we hadn't really cared at the time, for some reason, but it was windy) had only picked up, and the temperature was hovering in the mid 40's. The water on the camp stove wouldn't boil, so we headed into town to the "Country Kitchen" for breakfast, hoping to kill a little extra time in the hopes that it would warm up by the time we were ready to climb.

The Country Kitchen sits just opposite the West Entrance to the park, and does a passable job of feeding you. But that's about it. It was busy, which I consider a good sign in restaurants, but the food was iffy, and the service was bare-minimum, and we all agreed that it wasn't as good as the last time each of us had been there.

The weather had not improved by the time we returned to camp, and the forecast was for colder and windier as the weekend went on, so we decided to cut the trip short by a day. We'd had two solid days of climbing, and were ready to head out. Had we just arrived that day, we might have toughed it out, but scratching out another day in that wind and cold just didn't seem worth it. We struck camp in 20 minutes flat, futzed around a bit on the boulders in camp, and headed home.

Epilogue

I'm tempted to do a quick gear review, but as much of the gear wasn't mine, and I have little experience with camping, I don't think I'm qualified. My Mountain Hardware 15-degree sleeping bag stood up like a champ, and Josh O's recommedation of a Therma-Rest Guidelite pad was right on. I like a cushy, warm bed, and that's what I got.

I do, however, recommend a campsite other than Ryan. It's just too exposed for windy weather. You'll be better off at Hidden Valley, which is a bit more sheltered. (Then again, I think we just got the campsite directly into the wind, so moving to the lee side of Ryan's might be workable as well.)