Red rock and Joshua tree trip

Hello all. Me and my wife will be making a trip out to red rock jan 16. We will be climbing there for 3-5 days. After this brief stint of climbing we will be heading out to Joshua tree. We will be climbing in Joshua tree for 7-10 days. I bought a very comprehensive guide on red rock and a beginner climbs climbing guide for Joshua tree. My questions. What climbs are absolute musts in these areas? Should i be spending more time in red rock and less in Joshua tree? A little background to help answer these questions. I'm a new climber from the east coast. All of my climbing has been done in either the adirondacks or the gunks. I consider myself a 5.9 leader in these areas. I have very limited experience in chimneys and huge off widths and would prefer to keep it that way. Not scared of a little runout and i prefer short approaches, under an hour. Would like to compile a hit list of everything from single pitch to multi. Both trad sport and mixed. Please just point me to the best moderate climbs in the area. Oh side bar, are the ratings stiffer or softer out West?

Hi. I've climbed at Joshua Tree for nearly 20 years and for a number of years either lived in Joshua Tree or close by in the low desert.

Both Joshua Tree and Red Rocks are fantastic, but different, types of climbing areas.

Joshua Tree has very little sport climbing and very few mulit-pitch climbs. Those routes which are all bolts can be slabby and somewhat run-out. Protecting and reading the rock can be somewhat different until you get use to it. For a first-time visitor I would recommend you concentrate on Lost Horse, Real Hidden Valley, and Hidden Valley Campground areas and concentrate on the well traveled and highly recommended moderates (you can find those here on MP). Don't push your leading limits until you have a few easier routes under your belt. The rock at JT is much rougher and tougher on the skin than Red Rocks so if you want to get alot of climbing in you may want to spend more time at RR than JT. Approaches are generally short ... and you have access to literally thousands of routes less than a hour from your car. But given your short time in JT you probably don't want to leave any of the areas I recommended above. JT ratings sometime seem stiff to newcomers and has a number of old-school sandbags. Do some research on the route databases on MP or similar sites to see what others think about the ratings.

I've spend much less time at Red Rocks (unfortunately) than JT so I'll leave it to others to give you more details.

If you have any questions about any specific routes in Joshua Tree, send me a PM.

Enjoy your trip.

J-Tree:
Double Cross 5.7
Walk on the Wild Side 5.8
Overhang Bypass 5.7 / North Overhang 5.9
Pope's Crack 5.9
Gem 5.8
Hobbit Roof 5.10+ but only one hard move with a cam above you.
The Flake 5.8 full body grunt fest
Sail Away 5.8
Illusion Dweller 5.10b if you are confident at 5.9 in the Gunks, seriously consider giving this one a shot. It's well protected and maybe the best climb at JT
SW Corner 5.6

I've been to Red Rocks twice. Crimson Chrysalis 5.8 is an absolute necessity.

Ratings are all over the place out west (as well as here in the east). The Gunks is about as hard for the grade as anywhere else with the sandbag label. I think J-Tree grades are harder than Red Rocks, but I'm me. The climbing at J-tree will be very different than you are used to at the Gunks. Take care of the pads of your fingers while you are there. It's like climbing on sandpaper.

Great post. I'll take your advice and will be sendinfg you a pm after a little more research for specifics. I'm literally trying to plot day-day route-route for optimal efficiency.

You and (Sara right?)might consider using the MP search tool on the MP homepage. This tool will effectively print out a nice working list of top rated routes for each area. Top rated by and starred by MP users.

I love using that feature when visiting new areas. When you're on limited time you want to hit the highlights, not spend hours thumbing through guidebooks.

Try it out by answering a few quesetions....

destination
Type of climbing Trad, sport, mixed or all above
Enter grade range
Enter minimum star value

Voila! Print the list and carry it with you. It also helps as it clusters by area which may help you from walking around a bunch.

If the weather holds you'll have excellent spring like conditions.....it's been 70 the last few days!

~Susan

I've spent a bit of time in J-Tree, what the others have mentioned seems like a good way to get into the climbing there. I would say that the climbing is graded pretty well, but it takes a day or two to really get to know the rock, so plan for a break-in period.

Also, most routes don't have anchors (coming from SW Utah this was a shock to me), so bring some static line or lots of cordolette to set up top ropes. The top of most climbs can be accessed with an easy scramble, so setting up a top rope is often the easiest way to get lots of routes in and/or climb above what you are comfortable leading.

As for Red Rocks, Crimson Chrysalis is good, I would also suggest Johnny Vegas to Solar Slab (climb the whole thing for 2000' of 5.6/5.7 with a long and beautiful hike off. Dark Shadows is classic as well, but in the shade. As is CC and it can be damn cold in the shade there. I'll leave it at this; there are lots of really tall moderate trad climbs, most of them will require a 30 minute or more hike to access. Anything that is marked with two stars in your guide book is worth doing while you are there. The sport climbing is good, but is kind of like missing the woods for the trees.

worth russell wrote:Great post. I'll take your advice and will be sendinfg you a pm after a little more research for specifics. I'm literally trying to plot day-day route-route for optimal efficiency.

You might want to leave yourself some flexibility. Joshua Tree can be cold and extremely windy in January. IMHO, many of the better moderate climbs and walls are shaded (Sail Away, Hemingway Buttress, Dairy Queen Wall, Rock Garden). If it is cold and windy you will find yourself seeking sheltered and sunnier walls (Indian Cove, Echo Rock, Old Woman) ... or stay at RR and climb on the south facing walls on the Loop Road.

One thing I forgot to mention that the sometimes the descents at JT are tricky so if it's not obvious or detailed in the guidebook, scout out the descent first. The previous comment about lack of anchors on most climbs was spot on.

Cheers.

I keep hearing about crimson chrysalis. Pics look sweet and it's a definite must for me. As far as gear goes am I good with double cams to 3 and 1 cam of 4,5,6 of bd c4s. I have no big bros or crazy sized hexes. I'm also very intrigued by the Johnny vegas solar slab linkup. Time wise what am I looking at. Approach pitches and hike off? Just trying to get a feel for the time of a big multipitch such as this. I'm a strong climber and have a good head for leading but I've never done anything over 5 pitches.

worth russell wrote:I keep hearing about crimson chrysalis. Pics look sweet and it's a definite must for me. As far as gear goes am I good with double cams to 3 and 1 cam of 4,5,6 of bd c4s. I have no big bros or crazy sized hexes. I'm also very intrigued by the Johnny vegas solar slab linkup. Time wise what am I looking at. Approach pitches and hike off? Just trying to get a feel for the time of a big multipitch such as this. I'm a strong climber and have a good head for leading but I've never done anything over 5 pitches.

JV to Solar Slab is a III climb, it'll take most of the day with the hike in and out, but every belay except the last two are bolted, you can move fast and link pitches. Hike off will probably take 2.5-3 hours, hike in is maybe 30-40 minutes(these are rough estimates). I try and start all my longer climbs in RR at sunrise.

Your rack will be fine, bring a set of nuts with you, leave the hexes and tri-cams in the car. Most routes in RR seem to be fine with a single rack to BD# 3 or 4. Have fun!

Plan to be at the gate at opening. Shorter daylight during winter means needing as much time as possible. Be sure to alert the park to a possible late exit to avoid a ticket. You will for sure get one if you are even a bit late. Both Crimson Chrysalis and Solar Slab have lines during the regular season. Those add as much time as anything. I have no idea about this time of year, though.

If it's cold, hit Birdland but get there early since it is full sun all day. I did Lotta Balls yesterday when it was in the 60's in town and my fingers got a bit cold but overall it was fine (no wind). That, combined with Black Magic, may be a good test of what is climbable in the shade before committing to something like Crimson or anything else in the shade. Frogland would be an excellent choice too since it is a walk off, outside the loop and an absolute must do.

Some suggestions:

Red Rocks - South facing routes: Birdland, Johnny Vegas to Solar Slab, Cat In The Hat

Joshua Tree - Lost Horse area: The Swift, Dappled Mare

Red Rocks ratings are soft. Joshua Tree ratings are stiff. At least to me.

One October, I sat at the base of Crimson Chrysalis for 90 minutes watching a couple of guys from Anchorage fail on the first pitch due to lack of ability and the cold. I about froze my butt off waiting on them. So yeah, take a jacket.