Its J-Tree Season!

Posted on October 22, 2011 by Ilana M.

The first J-Tree trip of the season

From Tahquitz it’s not a particularly long distance to Joshua Tree National Park (J-Tree), Southern California’s winter climbing mecca. Not feeling like doing the fitness responsible approach hike required at Taquitz two days in a row, we opted for some more car side venues ala J-Tree.

J-Tree climbing is unique. The bouldering can be quite fun but this trip was a strictly roped venture. J-Tree sport climbing definitely makes a strong attempt to keep the sport in sporty; in a will that loose spinner actually holds a fall, and anyone have an idea where the next bolt is or why this one was chopped? My general rule of thumb is to add the letter R to any sport climb and with rare exceptions I typically try to stick to trad lines. Grades in J-Tree also seem a bit stiff until one gets used to the rock. Rock reminiscent of the Buttermilks that will eat your skin alive for the first few days back.

Solid Gold - Joshua Tree NP

Our first day in J-Tree was somewhat of a late start. We attempted to use the old Vogel guide, and the park has changed substantially since its publication. Needless to say we ended up at the wrong trailhead and cactus-wacked through the desert for quite a ways before finally reaching our climbing destination – the Astro Domes. In the fading light we decided not to attempt our originally planned multi-pitch adventure and settled on a quick single pitch classic in the fading light, Solid Gold (10a). As we hiked out in the dark a concrete decision was made to visit the local climbing store, Nomad Ventures, and pick up a copy of the excellent new Wolverine climbing guide, Joshua Tree Rock Climbs.

The White Cliffs of Dover, Joshua Tree National Park

Our numbers grew by one for the second day, with a good friend driving out from LA who I had promised to introduce to trad climbing. As a party of three we decided to stick to single pitch lines and as we scarfed down breakfast in the Country Kitchen double-wide we decided to head towards The White Cliffs of Dover.

We headed out in the scorching heat and easily got sidetracked at the first shady formation we passed, Hound Rock. We decided to warm up on some exciting looking climbs and utilized our third for unique photo opportunities on An Eye to the West (5.9), Tossed Green (5.10a), and Crescent Wrench (5.10d).

Heading up An Eye to the West in J-Tree NP

Alex cranking up Tossed Green at Hound Rock in J-Tree National Park

Warmed up and ready for more we munched on some snacks and finish the hike to the White Cliffs of Dover. The classic line, Popular Mechanics (5.9) was taken but we were recommended some less traveled routes a bit down the left of the cliff, highly recommend Make or Break Flake (10b) and Quest for Fire (11b).

The sun was starting to sit low, but the line we had started out to climb was finally free, “Popular Mechanics” (5.9). Having practiced hiking out of the sharp plant/weapon filled desert in the dark the previous day, we decided to take a quick run at this perfect dihedral. We finished up just in time to crack open a beer at the base of the cliff and watch the final rays of the sun fade away before, looking at eachother and asking who brought the headlight. Whoops…

Selecting Gear on Popular Mechanics in Joshua Tree NP

Categories: Climbing, Joshua Tree NP | Tags: Crack Climbing, Granite, Joshua Tree, Trad Climbing | Comments Off

Count Dracula’s Climbing Legacy

Posted on October 19, 2011 by Ilana M.

A Friend’s Canceled Flight leads to a day climbing the Vampire at Taquitz

Volunteering to take a climber to the airport is always risky. The flight might get delayed, and then, of course, an impromptu climbing mission may be in order. This was exactly what happened yesterday when a friend’s flight to Germany got moved from Tuesday to Saturday.

Taquitz seemed the best place to get to from LA for some stellar trad on short notice. My partner had a double set of cams, and I had my old 60 meter sport climbing rope in the car (which I was taking to get recycled), so we were set to go. My partner had always wanted to climb the Flakes and knew notionally where it was so voila! we had a plan. A leisurely 10am departure from LA found us at the base of the Taquitz’s West Face around 1 o’clock, and the adventure begins.

The Vampire on Taquitz's West Face Bulge as viewed from the start of the approach ledges

My Taquitz experience is a bit limited, 2 days, the first I climbed the Mechanic’s Route while waiting for Open Book, then Open Book, and finally the Left Ski Track. The second trip we wanted to climb Who Dunnit but our leisurely start time lead us to climb the far less trafficked Consolation Route (super fun). Anyways looking up at the steep face in front of me there was what looked like a brilliant splitter going up the lower half of the face and I soon learned the awesome line I wanted to climb was the infamous Vampire. My partner had climbed it before so knew the route and with minimal coercing on my part, and the super friendly group ahead of us offering to let us jump them the climb for the day had officially changed.

The bat crack, the Vampire’s first pitch, looks a lot lot easier from the ground, but maybe my perspective had warped because the “4th class” approach according to my partner seemed a bit more like 5.6 or 5.7 to me. (Note: as it turns out most sane climbers agree, and I would recommend roping up the first time you do the ledges approach.) The first pitch begins with a few awkward moves to establish yourself on top some blocks and at the start of a brilliant, deceptively overhanging finger to off hands crack. There is a sweet rest where the “standard start” links in. Don’t cheat yourself with this “standard start” though, you would be eliminating some brilliant climbing. The crack backs off in angle to vertical or maybe slightly less here and leans up and rightward before leading to some tricky crack and face warm up mantle moves and then the real business to the anchors. At which point you might find yourself shaking like a martini you would prefer stirred or straight up having gained what might be the most exposure possible anywhere from one 140 foot pitch. I found myself having to mentally yell at my legs to behave in order to pull the final mantle.

Pitch 2 might be my favorite. The reach around move to start (protected using the leftmost of the anchor bolts) leads to awesome lie-backing in amazing (potential huge understatement here) positioning completely hidden from the belay. The start makes you look around, down, out and there I was yelling at my legs again. Choose gear locations behind those flakes carefully, or hang on tight when a bat flies out at your face right at the infamous bologna slicer. The batwalk makes for an exciting way to end this pitch and leaves you looking up at the mental crux of the climb.

Looking up Pitch 2 of the Vampire at Taquitz

Pitch 3 seemed like the business, you know, when you have to pull a move above your gear. I recommend getting here while its in the shade because in the baking sun at 3 or 4 in the afternoon I think the boulder problem becomes a bit harder. Technical note a metolious zero (purple) in the bottom of the pocket after the crux places well for those of us seeking mental security. Anyways a little bit of trickery, don’t want to give to much away, and you find yourself wandering up seams and cracks to a gear belay, or maybe with a 70m you can gun it and pull the summit roofs to belay on top.

We made it. I smiled. I smiled some more. I found I could not stop smiling. I wondered why I went to the climbing gym yesterday, or why I ever went there. In the fading light we began the friction descent and made it back to the car just in time to go grab pizza and beer at the Idywilld Pizza Company and began reminiscing about what might be the most fun you can jam into 3 pitches.

Fading lights over Taquitz

Categories: Climbing, Tahquitz and Suicide Rock | Tags: climbing, tahquitz, the vampire, Trad Climbing, west face bulge | Comments Off

The Weekly Roundup

Posted on October 17, 2011 by Ilana M.

Twitter, Facebook, Google+, blah blah blah. There are so many information outlets and so little time. Lot’s of great stories, some useful and some just plain interesting, and so little time. Here is a roundup of our favorite stories around the interweb this past week:

How to Handle a Yuppie in the Woods, by Trails Edge – We all have a well to do friend or loved one, that sees the exciting pictures from your latest epic adventure, that wants to partake in the madness. Here is the perfect how-to guide. Love this madness!
POLL: When do you Hire a Guide?, by Adventure Journal – An interesting discussion on the American versus European views of hiring a guide.
Route Profile: Johnny Vegas, by American Alpine Association – A Red Rocks classic! A welcoming (5.6) three-pitch trad route with many variations. I climbed this in April as an approach to other climbs and enjoyed it. [(Johnny Vegas (5.6, 400') -> Solar Slab (5.6, 1220') -> Rainbow Buttress (5.8+, 1200')]

Giveaways/Crazy Good Deals (Not Sponsored and Hand Selected):

Tweet your coldest experience to win a pair of Bugaglove Max Electric Gloves, Columbia
Winter Sale (20% off Black Diamond C4s), Bentgate Mountaineering

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: alpine, climbing | Comments Off

Office With A View

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Ilana M.

It’s been nearly a week in “reality” since I have returned from the grand climbing tour of the American Southwest and I should be somewhat ashamed to admit that I haven’t done anything but surf. More appropriately, I’ve been rabidly hunting for surf. The few swells we had were consistently inconsistent with most sets in the ankle to waist department, one rogue head high wave would roll through as a teaser on occasion. This allowed for plenty of chit chatting in the water.

One session, I rode with a friend from Odina Surf and got caught up on their environmentally friendly swimsuit line. Being a girl who surfs, I appreciate what this company has done with swimsuits – sexy and functional. They are coming out with some really cool color combinations, so keep your eyes peeled.

Between paddle exercises, I snapped some shots of my water buddies doing their thing and getting their shred on.

Categories: Surfing | Tags: environmentally friendly, odina surf, surfing | Comments Off

When The Wheels Fall Off

Posted on October 8, 2011 by Ilana M.

A car packed with climbing gear and two incredibly eager climbers set forth on this crazy ride over two weeks ago with one purpose, to drive through the American Southwest and climb until our proverbial wheels fell off. Today, it appears as though we have achieved that goal.

Late last night, we left Zion National Park and headed toward Vegas. Exhausted, we threw up our tent somewhere in the desert and counted our sheep. We woke up to much warmer weather than we had become accustomed to (no snow, rain, etc.) and immediately admitted defeat. My tendons were on strike, my fingertips had been sanded down to pink flesh and I was in overall Central Nervous System failure mode – brain and body spoke different languages and neither was bilingual today. There will be no climbing in Red Rock NP, it was time to call it a trip, or rather time to start planning the next.

Five hours later we were violently tossed back into reality. Assimilating back into suburbia, being thrust into the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles and having to socialize with more than one other person. It makes the past two weeks feel like a dream, a dream I was crudely awoken from to sit in traffic. This is the beauty of such trips.

The not so glorious part of these trips is the cleanup – if you want to keep playing, you have to take care of your toys. The nitty gritty involved cleaning my tent (pitching a wet tent in the front lawn invokes some awkward stares), hanging my down sleeping bag to air out, washing my uber dirty clothes I had abusively worn and sorting my gear (cams, nuts, inspect harness, rope, climbing shoes, caribiners, slings and webbing). It all eventually gets put away; ready to be pulled out at first whiff of my next climbing trip. About three hours of chores and I was ready to give myself some TLC – a shower and dinner.

Big plans for my rest week: surf, surf, eat, surf,…

Categories: American Southwest - Winter 2011, Road Trips | Tags: climbing, gear, road trip | Comments Off

Climbing Castles Made of Sand

Posted on October 7, 2011 by Ilana M.

Road Trip – Day Fifteen
Iron Messiah, 5.10c III – Zion NP

While I nursed the evidence of my mountain biking debacle and the heavens unleashed copious quanties of rain and snow, my climbing partner drove us to Zion “the land of sanctuary” or more aptly a place with giant sandstone walls and a forecast with only a chance of rain.

We woke up an hour from Zion, where we had set up a hasty camp during a break in the inclement weather, to snow covered mountains and clear crisp skies. Excited, we broke down camp and headed into the park. A few shuttle stops later we arrived at the Grotto Picnic Area, the launching point of the days adventure. Aside: Zion’s shuttle system is an absolutely brilliant way of solving what would otherwise turn into the horrible traffic mess which has become Yosemite Valley.

Wet sandstone is not good to climb on, its bad for the route and in my experience often not stone. Still, we were itching to climb and decided to hike up and see what the rock was like. After a lot of holding the guidebook up and twisting either it or our heads, we found ourselves racked up and scrambling up the most 5.6 like “class 3″ gulley either of us had ever encountered to the start of the route.

The rock was dry and so we embarked. The first pitch was sandy, making it what we hoped would be a rather unique if not challenging experience as one had to brush the sand off each hold candidate in order to determine whether it was a hold facilitating upward movement. Unfortunately, pitch two turned out to be more of the same and by pitch three it was falling out of my hair and I was fearing permanent retinal damage.

Chimney Love on Iron Messiah (5.10c) - Zion, Utah

Many cold and tiring chimney pitches later which could have been twice as long had we had not linked most of them, we arrived at the top, and as I sat there I began to appreciated how accurately named Zion was.

I saw, I climbed and I can comfortably say that Zion was not my favorite climbing area. It’s not the bullet proof, sand bagged granite of Yosemite. The route reminded my climbing partner of Epinephrine in Red Rock NP. Red Rock has many more long free moderates without the drone of cars echoing below the sandstone cliffs of only slightly less grandeur.

Categories: American Southwest - Winter 2011, Climbing, Road Trips, Zion NP | Tags: Chimney Climbing, climbing, Crack Climbing, guidebook, Iron Messiah, Sandstone, Trad Climbing, Zion National Park | Comments Off

A Rest Day Gone Awry

Posted on October 6, 2011 by Ilana M.

Road Trip – Day Fourteen

What does a rest day mean to you? Maybe kicking your feet up and watching some movies or how about throwing back some pizza and beers with friends; I’m guessing either of these options sound like an appealing rest day to the majority of you.

Our definition of a “rest day” went horribly awry when the idea of ‘mountain biking in Moab’ got stuck in our thick skulls. Let me preface this by outlining my mountain biking experience level – hugging the line of training wheels on and training wheels off.

My climbing partner, Eric, was really pushing to ride “The Whole Enchilada”, a 26.5 mile trail with a 7000’ descent. I was really rooting for this one, but it had rained the previous morning and was forecasted to dump rain today. This being a problem for the Kokopelli portion of the ride where the trail is clay, leading to giant cement goops that will permanently put that shiny bike out of commission. With the potential of this venture being realized now in question, I volunteered the only alternative I knew of – the infamous “Slickrock Trail“. Definite upsides quickly presented by my local, mountain biking gurus being (1) you can ride it in any weather and (2) it can be done from town – no need for us to waste cherished moolah on a shuttle.

A couple of phone calls and we had secured our steeds for the day from a local outfitter, Chile Pepper Bike Shop – Giant Trance X2 — my first full suspension and all in all a rather plush experience. Adorned with two wheels apiece, we were off. 100 feet or so later I realized that I might have been grossly misinformed about the gentle nature of the climb to the trailhead. Only slightly peeved by the joyous cheers of our fellow riders so effortlessly passing us in their cars (grumble grumble), we made it. The gate attendant sympathized with our plight and gave us several water bottles with our rather nominal entry fee when I asked about water availability on trail having finished the 1.5 liters we brought for the actual ride.

Slickrock is a unique ride. The rock has incredible friction allowing one to ride amazingly steep ups and downs, which may-or-may not be unnerving to those experiencing it for the first time (queue mental image of me acrobatically flipping over the handlebars). My partner watching me fall, walk, crawl, and roll towards him opted to take me around the two plus mile practice loop before setting off on the full double black diamond skull and crossbones experience. As I accumulated bruises and experienced some blood loss, my climbing partner patiently looked on before gracefully breezing on to the next suicidal downhill. The joy of this experience began to dissipate at about the same pace as the weather. It seemed like an eternity or possibly just the longest hour of my life, but I eventually finished the practice loop. Shortly after the trail proper began, I ran into a fellow female rider also looking for an experience less akin to extracting semen from a raging bull and told my climbing partner to press on, be one with the wind. My new buddy and I rode the practice loop backwards and just as I was getting the hang of this demonic, self inflicted plight we gained sight of the trailhead and the threatening skies let loose. Mother nature pelted us with hail and rain from an impressive horizontal angle, leaving us thoroughly soaked before we could reach cover – giving me ample time to reflect on my climbing partner’s thoughtfulness of leaving me with a water bottle and not my rain jacket as well as suggesting mountain biking as a great rest day activity (grumble grumble).

Slightly distanced (fed and dry), Slickrock was an amazing experience and I definitely want to go back and ride the trail again but with a bit more experience and not with “Mr. Breezy”, my closet mountain bike-riding freak of a climbing partner.

-> Click here for trail map of Slickrock Trail – Courtesy of BLM

Categories: American Southwest - Winter 2011, Road Trips | Tags: Moab, Mountain Biking, Porcupine Ridge, Rest Day, road trip, Slickrock Trail, The Whole Enchilada | Comments Off

The Tower Climbs That Weren’t

Posted on October 5, 2011 by Ilana M.

Road Trip – Day Thirteen

Well, it looks like winter has indeed arrived. It rained heavily last night and the wind is blowing at about 24mph with 30mph gusts. With more rain in the forecast and the relentless gusty winds, our plans to climb The Rectory via Fine Jade and Castleton Tower via The North Face were changed to climbing in Indian Creek. I can’t lie, both my climbing partner and I were bummed that our desert tower climbs had been cancelled yet again due to bad weather. Unfortunately weather plays a large role in climbing and that’s something we just have to respect. Queue the smallest violin playing in the distance.

Well, enough of the pity party. It’s not like our alternative climbing destination was chump change. Indian Creek is a world renowned, crack climbing mecca. There are endless, perfect splitter cracks and the weather, though cold and somewhat windy, participated with our plans to climb here. It looked as though the gray skies held back a lot of other climbers, because Indian Creek was not the mob scene it is usually. We had the Supercrack Buttress pretty much to ourselves with only about five other groups of climbers.

Some climbs that we shoved our hands into here were:

3am Crack (5.10b-130′) – warmed up for first 10′, found a good stride for the next 100′, then cooled down the remaining 20′! Everything you have heard about Indian Creek being the land of 5.10′s is true. Being from Southern California (excuses, excuses), my crack climbing technique was way off. It appeared that my Wall Street warmup yesterday didn’t translate into being amazing today.
Incredible Hand Crack (5.10c)
Unnamed (5.10-50′) – Offwidth into a flake next to climbers left of keyhole. Very exciting climb with a super committing step across from a large offwidth to flake crack. About the length of crack I can handle without blowing an internal fuse.
Keyhole Flake (5.10)
Supercrack (5.10)

Eric killing it on the Incredible Hand Crack - Indian Creek, Utah

Eric on the sharp end of the rope on Keyhole Flake - Indian Creek, Utah

Props to the Access Fund, Friends of Indian Creek and the countless other companies and individuals that were involved in the clean up of Indian Creek. The cleanliness of the crag, the new pit toilet and the parking lot were much appreciated.

Categories: American Southwest - Winter 2011, Climbing, Road Trips | Tags: 3am crack, climbing, Crack Climbing, Incredible Hand Crack, Indian Creek, Moab, Offwidth Climbing, road trip, Sandstone, Supercrack, Supercrack Buttress, Trad Climbing | Comments Off

Wall Street aka “Sport Trad”

Posted on October 4, 2011 by Ilana M.

Road Trip – Day Twelve

We couldn’t have timed this leg of our climbing road trip any worse. The weather was not being cooperative with our original plans to climb Jah Man on Sister Superior in Castle Valley. So rather than dealing with an exciting weather situation in a desert tower, an executive decision was made over eggs and bacon that we chase the good weather and climb a local Moab crag. We chose Wall Street, what Moab-ians refer to as “sport trad”. Wall Street is a street side crag with multiple single pitch trad routes.

Well fed, my climbing partner and I pulled up to the start of Wall Street and climbed any route that looked attractive. It wasn’t until it rained on our little climbing parade that we flipped through the guidebook for the names and grades of the routes we had climbed. It looks like we got on:

El Cracko Diablo (10a)
A Fistful of Potash (10a)
Another Roadside Distraction (10b)
Bad Moki Roof (9) – our guidebook says “its fun until the slightly over the roof into the sand” and I couldn’t put it any better.
Lucy in the Sky with Potash (10a)
Baby Blue (11a)
Static Cling (11a)

As the rain petered off, a beautiful rainbow appeared and the sun set. Our climbing day was over and we were off to meet up with our friend, Matt Moore – Canyoneering Guide and Owner, Desert Highlights. We devoured a pizza at Zaks in Moab and crashed for the night.

A special thanks to Donna Chase, who happened to be taking photos of us climbing at Wall Street unbeknownst to us, she took the photos for her family scrapbook and insisted she send them to us as well (she even offered to print and mail the photos). Usually when climbing in a team of two, it is somewhat difficult to capture the excitement of a climb in a photo. Thanks to Donna, we have a moment captured, that we would have otherwise not.

Categories: American Southwest - Winter 2011, Climbing, Road Trips | Tags: Crack Climbing, Moab, road trip, Sandstone, Trad Climbing, Wall Street | Comments Off

Travel Days Don’t Always Have to Suck

Posted on October 3, 2011 by Ilana M.

Road Trip – Day Eleven

Ahh, another travel day! Nothing beats sitting in a car for 12 hours with every muscle and joint begging for mercy. We spiced this travel day up by cleaning ourselves up a bit and putting on our best tourist face. With that, we were off from Jackson to Yellowstone National Park. My only demand of this long day was that I not leave until I see a Moose. I think that is a completely rational demand and oh boy did I get what I want! With the Tetons as a backdrop, three moose posed for some local animal paparazzi and we joined in on the shutter clicking fun. We waited for about ten minutes for the bull moose to stand up and bare his horns, of which he was having no part of so we settled on our lady moose photos and carried on to Yellowstone. En route to see the Old Faithful show, we also saw wild horses and a rogue Bison crossing a geothermal flat.

Bison on Geothermal Flat, Yellowstone NP

After about an hour of driving from Jackson and several animal sightings later, we entered Yellowstone. At which point, we waived our National Parks pass and were given a park map (standard issue) and a bright yellow warning sheet warning of visitors having been gored by buffalo.

Being in tourist mode, we headed straight to Old Faithful to make it to the 11:30 +/-10 min show time. She did not disappoint and I had a little fun emulating her eruption. Not ready to get back in to our torture chamber (aka car), we walked around the geysers surrounding Old Faithful and finally retreated back to the car to carry on with our road trip. We did make one last stop in Montana, before heading to Utah. We had to have a buffalo burger.

10 hours of driving from Wyoming to Montana to Idaho, we finally arrived in Price, Utah. A lightning, thunder and snowstorm halted us from driving any further and we were ok calling it a night and driving to Moab in the morning. We splurged and got a motel. Either because a tent was too much work at the late hour or we just wanted a shower, most likely the former.