Joshua Tree with Kris

Published on 2003-12-23 by Michael Stanton

Joshua Tree Climbing, December 23, 2003

Kris and I climbed for about a 1/2 day here on these formations:

Trashcan Rock - "B-2" (5.3): Pretty nice crack climb, which Kris followed. "Tiptoe" (5.7): bolted slab climbing. "Karpkwitz" (5.6): thin crack over a bulge.

Atlantis Wall - "Men with Cow's Heads" (5.5): pretty steep crack climb for a 5.5. "Wet Pigeon" (5.8): Only on top-rope, the boulder problem start made me pause.

Hemingway Buttress - "White Lightning" (5.7): A really great hand crack with off-width start. I had some difficulty cleaning the route, because Kris couldn't lower me all the way. So I fixed the line at the top, rappelled, cleaning gear. Then I reclimbed the route using a prusik self-belay. Then I coiled the rope to go find a rap station that would let me descend from the buttress with a single rope rappel. By the time I was down, it felt like I'd done three climbs. It actually started to rain, so we left.

Kris and I spent the late afternoon hiking to an "oasis" in a bowl between mountains. It was about 3 miles round trip. On the way back, I went cross-country across some ridges and basins, eventually meeting up with Kris at a high pass with views of the town of 29 Palms. Their lights were coming on and it looked purdy.