Joshua Tree - MLK weekend 2012
January 14-16th, 2012
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Great weather (in the 60's F), but 40mph winds on Monday made it
very cold (and Sunday was also a bit overcast/breezy). Flew to
LAX + rented a car this time. 3 visits to Crossroads Cafe in a
24 hour window :) Pretty much zero other climbers on our routes!
Day 1: Pope's Crack, Touch and Go, Effigy Too, O'Kelley's crack
Day 2: Dangling Woo Li Master, Sanctuary (TR), Double Cross, Route 499 (TR)
Day 3: Bird of Fire, Loose Lady, Frosty Cone (by accident while looking for Taxman)
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Starting Pope's crack, a classic Joshua Tree 5.9 |
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Touch and Go, another awesome climb nearby |
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Touch & Go! |
Effigy Too, 5.10a |
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Short, but the start is stout |
On top of Effigy Wall |
Looking back at Effigy Wall |
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Climbing up O'Kelley's crack, 5.10c (haha!) |
O'Kelley's overhangs the whole way |
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Resting after the amazing O'Kelley's crack! |
Hiking into the Wonderland of Rocks, beautiful |
Wonderland of Rocks |
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Dangling Woo Li Master goes through the slot and climbs like a 3 dimensional climb! |
There are a couple of awkward moves to gain a jug on the left |
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And then stemming is the name of the game |
Creative rests |
Airy! |
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Trying to be a Woo Li Master |
The route goes left here through a pleasant crack. For some reason, I decided to go straight up - mistake! |
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Offroute on a 1 pitch climb in Joshua Tree - embarrassing :) |
Apparently I'd rather a climb a wide flare |
Toproping Sanctuary - 5.10b |
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Cool rock formations in the Wonderland of Rocks |
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Not going to miss an opportunity to climb Double Cross, despite crazy winds |
Awesome climb |
Melissa starting Double Cross |
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We lost the sun! Temperature is dropping... |
Toproping the 5.11b underneath |
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The crux moves. It would be a spooky lead for sure... pro is sparse |
At the base of Bird of Fire, wishing for the sun - but at least sheltered from the wind! |
Starting Bird of Fire. Some non-trivial moves off the deck with no gear.. |
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Established in the crack. It becomes overhanging at the lip, cool! |
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Nearing the crux |
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A couple of handjams away from the top |
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On top of Bird of Fire, photo thanks to a couple of friendly folks! |
Melissa on the start |
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Peakaboo |
Rubicon - another time (we hoped to do it, but it was brutally windy + chilly) |
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Houser Buttress |
40mph winds today - but it's relatively sheltered at the belay, so can't be too bad? |
Higher up, battling the 40mph gusts of wind - whoohoo! |
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Houser Buttress - Loose Lady (due to some flexing/suspect holds :)) |
The most bolted climb in Joshua Tree probably! |
The winds are much higher up there! |
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We thought this was Taxman, but it's not - we were on the Dairy Queen Wall, not the IRS Wall :) |
A fun climb, but not 5.10a - turned out to be an easy 5.7 indeed :) |
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We're not in the right spot, but might as well keep climbing |
At the top |
Sun is setting... |
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