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Location: CA : Riverside/Orange Counties : Riverside County : Mount Rubidoux : Beach Area : ... : Problem C (V-easy PG13)
By: Chris D When: Feb 7, 2010 | view comment >> |
Comments: I'd call this 5.3, like the guidebook does. Calling it V-anything is sort of deceptive. It's much easier than your average V0. Lots of fun, tho!
An interesting alternative is to skip the lieback and turn around where the climber in the picture is and chimney up the crack to the top. You can treat it as a squeeze chimney or use small face holds with your left foot and make a short off-width excursion out of it.
Even more fun is to climb the face on left side of the right boulder (as in [[... more >>
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Location: CA : Riverside/Orange Counties : Riverside County : Big Rock Area : Main Slab : Wedunett (5.6)
By: Chris D When: Feb 4, 2010 | view comment >> |
Comments: I set up a TR on this route and was delighted to find that there are many challenging variations if you eliminate the edges and just give it a go on friction alone. Lots of fun, and just the right length to keep a new climber close enough to shout encouragement and beta.
I was at the gym tonight, and when I suggested to some folks we met that they join us at Big Rock, one of them responded "Big Rock is boooring."
Compared to the gym, Big Rock is as exciting as the circus on acid. Sometimes... more >>
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Location: CA : Joshua Tree National Park : Lost Horse Area : Atlantis Area : Atlantis Wall : ... : Wet Pigeon (5.8)
By: Chris D When: Jan 29, 2010 | view comment >> |
Comments: Ha ha! Todd, it's easy for me to downgrade this to 5.7...I can always tell if a lead is harder than 5.7 because I generally fall at least once! :) I actually was thinking of "A Snitch in Time," another "5.8" on Jailhouse Rock in IC as a yardstick. That climb kicked my ass, so if that route is 5.8, Wet Pigeon might be 5.4! I guess it's sort of apples and oranges...
I think all the routes on this wall (at least the ones that I can do) are fun. Amazes me that an area that's so popular today m... more >>
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Location: CA : Joshua Tree National Park : Lost Horse Area : Atlantis Area : Atlantis Wall : ... : Wet Pigeon (5.8)
By: Chris D When: Jan 26, 2010 | view comment >> |
Comments: This is an easy climb for 5.8 at Josh. I'd really rate it 5.7 or so, and I don't normally suggest downgrading climbs. Compared to Right Duchess in Indian Cove (5.7) for example, this climb is a breeze. Definitely easier than life's a bitch and then you marry one, or mental physics, both of which go at 5.7.
Still, a lot of fun!
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Location: CA : Joshua Tree National Park : Lost Horse Area : Atlantis Area : Atlantis Wall : ... : Taurus (5.8)
By: Chris D When: Jan 26, 2010 | view comment >> |
Comments: Took my first fall on gear near the top of this route (a #.5 camalot in a shallow crack...it held!)
A fun route, much like the other short routes on this wall, but the crack narrows, flares, and becomes shallow at the top. I believe that the crux is just before the last move.
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Location: CA : Joshua Tree National Park : Quail Springs Area : Trashcan Rock : Trashcan Rock - West Face : B-3 (5.3)
By: Chris D When: Jan 23, 2010 | view comment >> |
Comments: Ha! Led this as one of my early leads, with a girl I'd taught to belay about 3 hours earlier. Figured I'd be fine in a free solo mindframe at 5.3, even though I'd never climbed the route before...
...welcome to Joshua Tree!
This climb is 5.3...if you climb weird, off-width sloping cracks that try to spit you out the whole way up.
Don't get me wrong; it's low-angle, and at it's hardest shouldn't feel worse than 5.5 or so, but it doesn't go at the level that most 5.3s go at.
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Location: CA : Joshua Tree National Park : Indian Cove : Indian Cove Campground : Feudal Wall : ... : Duchess Right (5.7)
By: Chris D When: Jan 18, 2010 | view comment >> |
Comments: I don't know if this is what 5.7 off-width feels like, as it was one of the first off-widths I've done that's more than one move. It kicked my ass. At the crux, the rock inside the crack is like butter and there's nothing on the face until you make a couple of moves. I fell a number of times seconding this, and am pretty confident leading at Josh on 5.7 crack and face climbs like Mentalphysics and Life's a Bitch. I'd have been in real trouble if I'd tried to lead this one!
Take big gear. O... more >>
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Location: CA : Joshua Tree National Park : Indian Cove : Indian Cove Campground : Feudal Wall : ... : Duchess (5.6)
By: Chris D When: Jan 18, 2010 | view comment >> |
Comments: Fun lead at the grade, was surprised to find a relatively new bolt about 2/3 of the way up. Probably not necessary, but seems okay, as it is just a few inches from what looks like an old, chopped drive-in.
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Location: CA : Joshua Tree National Park : Indian Cove : Indian Cove Campground : Moosedog Tower : Tranquility (5.6)
By: Chris D When: Jan 18, 2010 | view comment >> |
Comments: Neither crack is part of this route.
It's a fun route, but it's misrepresented in the main beta photo here on mountain project. See the photos I added for the correct route. If you read the historical route info, you'll find that it's clear that this route goes up the exposed arete above and to the right of the roof.
If you follow this route, the climbing remains easy and is quite exposed, really adding to the mini-adventure of it. Lots of opps for pro, including slinging a nice plate bef... more >>
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Location: CA : Joshua Tree National Park : Indian Cove : Indian Cove Campground : Moosedog Tower : Photo
By: Chris D When: Jan 18, 2010 | view comment >> |
Comments: The route shown here for Tranquility is not as described in any of the three guidebooks I have.
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Location: CA : Joshua Tree National Park : Indian Cove : Indian Cove Campground : Jailhouse Rock : Cellbound (5.5)
By: Chris D When: Jan 18, 2010 | view comment >> |
Comments: For Indian Cove, this is a fun little climb, worth doing if not for the 5.4 climb, then for the 4th class downclimb off the north side, which descends a wide, blocky dike past ledges.
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Location: CA : Joshua Tree National Park : Indian Cove : Photo
By: Chris D When: Jan 12, 2010 | view comment >> |
Comments: "actual patient."
Does not live in 29 Palms.
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Location: CA : Joshua Tree National Park : Wonderland North : Unreported Rock : Squeeze, Pull, and Yank (5.7)
By: Chris D When: Jan 11, 2010 | view comment >> |
Comments: Note that a large rockfall altered the top of this route in 2009, but it still goes at 5.7
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Location: CO : Boulder : Eldorado Canyon SP : The Bastille : The Bastille - N Face : The Bastille Crack (5.7)
By: Chris D When: Jan 10, 2010 | view comment >> |
Comments: I climbed the first pitch of this last September. My second lead at 5.7, and yeah, the step below the crack is slippery, but if you reach into the crack, there's a tiny ledge of rock inside the crack on the side that you're stepping from that you can wrap your fingertips around and get a pretty solid grip (or was I dreaming). I had to feel around in the crack for a bit to find it.
It was a lot of fun, and just the first pitch deserves classic status for being as vertical as it is at the grade... more >>
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Location: CA : Riverside/Orange Counties : Riverside County : Mount Rubidoux : Island Area : ... : The Entertainer (5.9)
By: Chris D When: Jan 10, 2010 | view comment >> |
Comments: We did this a number of ways today, all with a spotter standing on the steep rock landing. It would be a long fall if you popped then tumbled down the landing to fall of the face below (the ramp leading to this route is at the top of Island Crack).
Anyway, you can climb the right crack as a lieback, lieback-traverse across the top of the flake, then finger-jam down the left crack. Or you can do it the other way! Awesome. Never even went for the roof and had a blast. Probably mostly 5.7 and... more >>
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Location: CA : Joshua Tree National Park : Hidden Valley Campground : The Blob : The Blob - North Face : The Bong (5.4)
By: Chris D When: Jan 3, 2010 | view comment >> |
Comments: The climb is a blast, and was my first lead at Joshua Tree. Having never followed it, and not knowing about the flake on the left alongside the roof, I scratched my head for a while wondering how it could be 5.4, but it is. You just need to find the hold to get you past the crux. Easy and obvious once you stop to take a look/feel.
The downclimb is just plain awesome. There are a couple of exposed moves where you would get badly hurt or killed if you fell, but there are good holds. slitheri... more >>
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Location: NV : Red Rock : Calico Basin : Cannibal Crag : You Are What You Eat (5.4)
By: Chris D When: Jan 3, 2010 | view comment >> |
Comments: Handren calls this route "Cannibal Crack"
I agree that it feels like a sandbag, but I think that it's mostly just really awkward. While I like this sort of climb, I wouldn't want to do similar climbs all day. Still, good practice to get in something different.
We stopped at the anchors at the top of Caliban here and were going to TR that route until we saw the anchors. I don't even know what they were...two spinner metal "hooks," both loose, both worn from rope pulls, both wide open at th... more >>
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Location: NV : Red Rock : First Pullout : Panty Wall : Sacred Undergarment Squeeze... (5.8)
By: Chris D When: Jan 3, 2010 | view comment >> |
Comments: I don't think there's a bolt missing on this route...
Most of the routes on this wall went up in the 90s. The first ascent of this route was made in 2005, so maybe a different idea of where the first bolt needs to be?
As it is, the first bolt isn't much higher than most would be willing to boulder. I had no trouble getting to it on secure holds, and I'm barely comfortable leading 5.7 trad.
I had a good chuckle, though, watching people try to stick clip the first bolt by hoisting each other ... more >>
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Location: NV : Red Rock : Calico Basin : Cut Your Teeth Crag
By: Chris D When: Jan 3, 2010 | view comment >> |
Comments: Maybe these routes are cleaning up. Coming here from the Panty Wall, I'd say the ratings are a little stiffer, but still reasonable.
Beautiful place! What a view...
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Location: NV : Red Rock : Calico Basin : Cut Your Teeth Crag : 1. Interproximal Stripper (5.7)
By: Chris D When: Jan 3, 2010 | view comment >> |
Comments: I agree with George. Near the top of this route is a loose block that could probably be pulled off with catastrophic results if you didn't know what you were doing, but it seemed okay so long as only downward force is applied.
Route seemed pretty clean to me Christmas, 2009.
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Location: NV : Red Rock : First Pullout : Panty Wall
By: Chris D When: Dec 27, 2009 | view comment >> |
Comments: We climbed most of the bolted routes here the other day and the area is a lot of fun, sunny, warm, and just a short walk from the parking area.
Not to be a contrarian, but I honestly can't imagine being concerned about anchoring your belayer here, at least for the sport routes. You'd have to be drunk to fall off the belay ledge, and there's only one route where the bolt is high enough to be concerned, and that's an easy start for anyone who can climb 5.8. Frankly, I was surprised to see peopl... more >>
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Location: NV : Red Rock : Pine Creek Canyon : Mescalito : Cat in the Hat (5.6)
By: Chris D When: Dec 27, 2009 | view comment >> |
Comments: Climbed this route with a friend on Christmas day. Couple of observations:
All the descriptions of this climb call it sunny and warm. It was neither. We were really slow going and actually spent most of the day on the route, and aside from it being a cold day, the sun teased us all day, generally leaving us to shiver in the shade as it moved up and down the route as it peeked out from behind Juniper Peak, always seeming to be just half a pitch above us. All told, we got about an hour and a ... more >>
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Location: CA : Joshua Tree National Park : Wonderland of Rocks : Lenticular Dome : Mental Physics (5.7+)
By: Chris D When: Dec 20, 2009 | view comment >> |
Comments: Led this route last Sunday, my second or third 5.7 lead at Josh. Very interesting climbing with lots of options. Probably more a reflection of my (in)ability to spot gear placements than anything else, but the "60 favorite" guidebook says it eats gear; It might eat cams, but I found that placing passive pro was harder than some climbs I've done at this rating. Spent too long trying to place a tri-cam only to watch it pop out ten feet below me and ten feet above my last piece. There ... more >>
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Location: CA : Tahquitz & Suicide Rocks : Tahquitz Rock : Maiden Buttress : White Maiden's Walkaway (5.1)
By: Chris D When: Dec 16, 2009 | view comment >> |
Comments: To really appreciate the route, buy a copy of Chuck Wilt's 1979 edition of the guide for Tahquitz and Suicide. You can buy it at Chessler Books for 99 cents!!! Here's a link that worked as of today.
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Location: CA : Joshua Tree National Park : Barker Dam Area : Dissolution Rock : Marital Sin (5.10c)
By: Chris D When: Dec 14, 2009 | view comment >> |
Comments: We TRed this one after leading Life's a Bitch and then You Marry One. Nobody in our group was up for the 5.10c grade, but we found fun climbing anyway; the hard part of the route can be skipped by traversing to the right below the first bolt, getting a foot on the large knob overhead, then stemming out to the only obvious hold to the left to get back on route. You're not really climbing the route, but there's a lot of fun moves none-the-less. If you climb it that way, it's maybe 5.8... more >>
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