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Trip dates: 2006 Nov 19-26 Click me for a guide to climbing slang used in this TR In October of this year while climbing at Las Vegas' Red Rock Canyon with Steve M. and Bob M., Steve proposed that we meet in Joshua Tree National Park over Thanksgiving week to do some more climbing. Bob and I agreed that this sounded good and went off home dreaming of climbing in a warm place in November. It turns out that there are something like 6,000 named climbing routes (N.P. website says 7,000) in Josh - seems like a lifetime of climbing possibilities. I went into this thinking that I only wanted to learn enough technical rock climbing to enable Carol and I to complete our goal of climbing all of California's 14'ers. I came away with a different point of view... 11/19, Sunday - Day One. Bob arrived at our house late last night. We stayed up late over a bottle of wine catching up, watching "Canyoneering The Colorado Plateau" and watching our Mt Tyndall DVD. Early morning, finish packing the truck (there's always a "finish packing the truck" day), off we go toward Josh. No significant drama, just a LONG drive to Twentynine Palms and then into the park. Camped at Jumbo Rocks CG. 11/20, Monday - Day Two. Up early, joined by "J.P." who was camping singleton in the same area and looking for climbing partners. Off to Hemingway Buttress to climb "Poodlesby", a 5.6 trad climb. J.P. led, Bob cleaned, and I followed on toprope. Fun. Next we went to the IRS Wall to climb "Mr. Bunny's Tax Shelter", a 5.5 (according to the Yosemite Decimal System) trad climb. I wondered how these things get rated, 'cause Mr Bunny seemed harder to me than Poodlesby - I did this lieback on a flake with a heel hook - seemed like a tough move to me - but everyone has their own strengths. As I remember, I went second and cleaned pro - J.P. came up last. Lots of fun. Climbing on a toprope is a blast - worry free 'cause if you slip, you'll only slide a couple feet and maybe get some rock rash - unless you've pissed off your partner somehow and they are giving you some "penalty slack"... I didn't carry a camera today; too much new stuff going on to mess with it. Back at camp, Carol has been off on a desert hike and brought back some nice scenery pics of Josh. Spent a nice evening at camp - found out it gets dark about 4:40 here in the southeastern part of CA - and it cools off quickly. Campfires become a priority somehow. 11/21, Tuesday - Day Three. Up early; we had researched the local climbs for something I could do my first trad lead on and came up with a three-star climb called The Eye, rated 5.1 in the guidebook I had. We get to Cyclops rock, hike out, I look up at "The Eye" and - sorry, guys, but I don't see me doing this onsight as a first trad lead. Bob concurs; he leads, I second and clean and J.P. follows last. A tricky climb; it goes vertical and has some spots that don't seem 5.1 to my partners - I don't know any better yet. Carol is with us as the team photographer and takes some nice pics. Carol and I split off to hang out together; Bob and J.P. go off to find J.P.'s "blind date" Nepunnee and do another climb. Later, back at camp, Nepunnee joins us for a libation; meanwhile J.P. is packing up and heading home - "My nose is cold at night" - J.P. lowers the bar on cold tolerance, for sure. Later, I pick up a more detailed guidebook and The Eye has been re-rated to 5.3. 11/22, Wednesday - Day Four. Bob, Rick and Carol head off to Cyclops rock again to climb The Eye. The plan this time is that I will execute a trad lead while toproped. I should mention that Bob is as big a safety hound as I am - so we're proceeding quite deliberately. I get to practice placing trad pro in a realistic situation without any real risk. I like it. Geared up, toprope is set, off I go. Lots of fun - I had no idea how much fun - solving the problem of how to protect oneself from a fall by placing nuts, cams, hexes, slings, etc. in the little cracks, flakes, horns, etc on the rock. What a blast for a problem-solving engineer type. I make it to the top; Bob follows and cleans and says some kind words about my placements. Way fun. Carol then heads off for a hike while Bob and I gear up and climb another route on Cyclops called Business Trip, a 5.4 trad route. Most of the difficulty is in the first 15 feet; once that's cleared you're in a big crack and a chimney. Once on top, 'tho, there's more fun - the "Class 4 walkoff" has some interesting spots where we decide to set pro just in case - I'm glad 'cause some of the moves are a little spiffy and exposed. Great climb, great fun. Pick up Carol, off to town to get stuff for our Thanksgiving feast, then back at camp for another chilly night with a warm campfire. 11/23, Thursday - Day Five. Bob, Rick and Carol head off to Cyclops rock yet again - today I'm going to do my first "real" trad lead. Too cool. Gear up, rope attached and I'm off. Carol once again is photographing. BTW, all this looks like great fun to Carol; Bob and I encourage her to try, but the Achilles' heel thing is too troubling - up on a vertical wall with sketchy hand and footholds is no place to find out your leg is weak - so she declines (wisely, 'tho it's a bummer). The climb goes great, but I do spend a lot of time hanging at the crux and my grip is starting to go. Brief thoughts of bailing and getting lowered down; instead I find a comfortable pose and rest my hands. Pro is set, time to go for it. I climbed The Eye 4 times on 4 succeeding days; I'm sure I did the crux 4 different ways. Climb the rest of the way up, completed my first trad lead ever - feels like a big milestone. Set up a belay and bring Bob up. Congratulations, pack up and head back to cook Thanksgiving dinner and look at pictures. What a great Thanksgiving!!! 11/24, Friday - Day Six. Bob, Rick and Carol head off to Cyclops rock yet again - I'm going to repeat the lead 'cause I know can do better. Same story - gear up, rope in, off I go. I complete the climb in 2/3 the time it took me yesterday. Just for entertainment, I use almost all new placements. Carol's pics. Mat 'n Nat arrive with Bob (another Bob, we rename him Pat as in Mat 'n Nat 'n Pat). 11/25, Saturday - Day Seven. Mat 'n Nat head off with Pat. Bob, Rick and Carol head out and stop at Sheep Pass CG. We're looking for Rich and Rena, who are supposed to be there with the Southern California Mountaineering Association. Bob and I are looking for Rich's VW Vanagon. We reject one; Carol spots one and we stop. Turns out it's the wrong color (close), but the right place. We find Rich and Rena. Rena is not feeling well. We head off to the Lost Horse area / Atlantis wall which has several beginner / intermediate climbs. Turns out it's really popular - the wall is covered with climbers and there's a queue (fun fact - queue is the only English word that's pronounced the same if you remove the last 4 letters). Off we go toward Mount Grossvogel. A little navigation and we're at the bottom of Roboranger, a 5.5 multipitch trad climb. Rich leads, Bob follows, Rick is last. Fun climb, have to do a lieback on an overhang at the beginning - the crux of the climb, really. I get up to the belay station; Rich and Bob switch off and Bob leads the second pitch. Interesting climb; I attempt what the others did and do a little slider. Regroup, do a lieback off the crack all the way up - hard on the hands, but feels really secure. Downclimb, back to the start, Bob and Rich are now doing Dr. Seuss Vogel, one variation of which is a 5.7. I want to go, but my left elbow has been giving me pains. Off Bob and Rich go; Carol and I wander around doing the photography thing. Back at the car, Rena is up and about. Bob, Carol and I head for town - I want to call my sis on her birthday, plus we need more firewood to survive the evening... Pictures from the day... 11/26, Sunday - Day Eight. Mat 'n Nat, Pat, Bob, Carol and I head off. Bob stops by Sheep Pass to catch Rich and Rena; sadly, it turns out Rena woke up not feeling good again and they made the decision to head home. Seems like the right thing. We all meet at Cyclops rock again - Mat is going to do his first trad lead on The Eye and Nat / Pat are going to follow. I set up an anchor and rappel partway down the cliff to get a fresh angle for pictures. Carol's at the top taking pictures, too. At one point, Carol is taking pictures of Rick taking pictures of Mat. This fun ends when Rick upclimbs to look at Mat's anchor and biffs the WP camera on the way up. The bad news is Carol had warned Rick this was going to happen. Mat completes his first trad lead on The Eye (the same as Rick!), Nat follows and Pat cleans. Here are the pictures... Climb down, a quick study of Bob's climbing rack, goodbyes (sniff) to all, and Carol and Rick head back for SJ. Little do we know what we're in for - we spend 2 1/2 extra hours on the drive home thanks to "record" Thanksgiving traffic... Aftermath:
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