When Luke and I planned a two-day trip to Joshua Tree I knew it would hard. But I had no idea exactly what flavor of hard it would be.
We warmed up on the Thin Wall in Hidden Valley. It was in the sun, but not too hot. We lapped three routes quickly. One scramble off, and two rappels. I broke the ice with a warmup huck off of No Calculators Allowed. Definitely set myself up wrong and pitched off while flailing through the top.
Next up we headed over to Gateway Rock. I had my eye on a short 10a called Broken Glass, an intriguing zig-zag dog-leg hand crack. Kinda awkward, but ultimately secure. Just some weird positions but good jams. Crux was probably the very brief offwidth finish. Pretty fun.
And now we were ready for the main event. Luke was aiming to get Illusion Dweller. It was weighing heavy on his mind, but he felt ready. We meandered into the canyon and spotted the line. Truly a compelling feature. After getting racked up, there was nothing left to do but go for it. Luke moved slow. Super deliberate. And intentionally taking rests. About halfway up his foot slipped. He placed it again, slipped again, and managed to back off and reset. Impressive control, and a fun dramatic moment. After a rest he nailed the section, and continued on to the top.
Once I was on belay, the first move kinda sobered me. Serious stuff right off the ground. The rest felt pretty manageable. Lots of good holds and jams. At one point (maybe the slippery feet that Luke struggled with) I think I switched a top-side-lieback, walking up the crack while using low hands for counter pressure. The roof was intimidating, but went fairly well. Until right at the top, inches from the belay, I started to slide off. But just before ruining my flash my right hand accidentally caught a scoop and stopped the slide. I’ll definitely be using that hold next time!
Next I was looking for a chill 5.8, and so we picked one out of the book. The Fingertrip Traverse of Josh. It was near where we were headed, so we went for it. Not worth it. Not worth the time, not worth the effort. The fingers traverse was fun for half a second, but the rest was… not worth it. Plus I screwed us on the rappel by making a goofy anchor that threaded the rope. Whoops.
Last climb of the day was Coarse and Buggy. Which took a lot of finagling to set up the top rope. We were tired and still high from our successes on Illusion Dweller, and forgot to set directionals. I volunteered to go up and set them up, since I secretly was planning on skipping the route. Figured I’d scramble and rappel and leave Luke fresh for the attempt. But in the end we both went up and added stuff to the anchor to make removal a bit safer. A bit down I realized I had a rope twist, and had to ascend the ropes to fix it. Then the swinging and finagling of the directionals took even more out of me. While I belayed Luke up this obviously difficult climb, I definitely didn’t plan on even attempting it. The sun was getting low angle, and the setting was beautiful. I had a great day and felt very satisfied.
Of course I got talked into it. I set off with very low expectations, but this thing was amazing. Bouldery fist jams led to chimneying, then a pivot into the stemming corner. The corner was unreal. Fingers and small feet became finger-pods and dishes, and then gave way to tips and nothing. With every step upward I was grunting and exclaiming. I think I alternated between “This is SO hard!” and “This is SO fun!” The roof block was a relief, not a hindrance, as it took fingers, and finally gives you hands again. Then thin hands lead to more secure hands.
I was flashing back to Jimmy’s enthusiastic recounting of the route (section by section) when we camped with him and Luke at Sheeps Pass in January. I remember thinking, that sounds amazing, but I’m never even going to try an 11b, so whatever. And now I was actually climbing it. And it was all as good as he reported.
The overhanging lieback up top did me in. My arms were trembly, and I pitched off into my harness. Luke exclaimed, eagerly trying to convince me to stay on and try to make it, but I couldn’t hear him over the raging success in my own head. I felt absolutely on top of the world, and after achieving so much more than I aimed for – I felt happy to sit and rest. Honestly I considered lowering, but of course Luke wouldn’t have that. So I managed to power through the most difficult part of the climb (supposedly 5.10). Another rest after that, and I finished the last few moves and climbed up and past the anchor. What an amazing accomplishment. I cleaned the anchor and headed down.
The next day we hiked out to Wonderland to take a look at Solid Gold. Such a classic, mythical route that I’d been considering for years. But at the base the reality set in. It looked hard. And extremely slippery. Also sharp. I played around on the lower moves while Luke scoped the upper section, and it just wasn’t very inviting. We opted not. Luckily Breakfast of Champions was right around the corner.
Luke took the first pitch, making a comment on the first wide weirdness. I took the second pitch. A bit spookier the second time. The first time I climbed it I was expecting such difficulty that the actual experience felt mellow. This time it felt slightly more serious, since my memory told me it was going to be easy. A fall here would be gnarly, no doubt, but I would seriously believe you if you insisted the pitch was only 5.6.
We topped out and then began our rappel, slowly, with saddles, mindful of the other party below us. But turns out they were super welcoming. I was invited to swing into the hueco and stand on his rope. I shared how our plans shifted. He completely agreed, adding “Yeah… I don’t lead that one anymore…” Their plan was to rap Solid Gold so he could set up a top rope and share the first pitch with his friend. We should have thought of that!
On the way out I figured we couldn’t pass up High Strung. Luke cruised it (with a little futzing with gear on the wide), and then I followed, glad that the day was winding down. I was tired.
We’d planned to get a third climb on the way out, but apparently we were in a different wash system. There was talk about cross-country maneuvers to get over to Barker Dam, but my skepticism was met with hard reality as we scoped the terrain we would have to cross. Wonderland Wash, so close, and yet so far. And with that we walked back to the cars and wrapped our trip. A mellower second day, but overall we got tons of awesome climbing.
No Calculators Allowed
5.10a – 50′
with Luke
It’s a lieback type move to pull the roof.
Broken Glass
5.10a – 40′
with Luke
Nothing smaller than purple (anchor might have been grey).
Rack everything on the right side.
Down climb 5-easy chimney on climber’s left. Somewhat serious descent.
Illusion Dweller
5.10b – 100′
with Luke
Sustained. Probably 5.9 for the majority. Fairly secure though. Take rests.
Get creative with moves.
Luke took triples in blue to green. Hexes should work.
Final roof pull benefits from scoop for right hand up above.
Roof is easier than Right Baskerville, but intimidating after all that climbing.
Fingertrip Traverse of Josh
5.8 – 70′
with Luke
Don’t do it.
Coarse and Buggy
5.11a/b – 80′
with Luke
Wide stem to fist jam (but chose the right hand to open up legs), reset legs, stem upward, turn to the left and chimney past block into corner. Stem w fingers, to pods, to tips and no feet. Hallelujah block allows finger/thin hand jams, then decent hand jams up into overhang area. Rest, then lieback to two hand sidepull (higher pocket is better). One more hard pull to a positive rail on the left, just use whatever to finish up. so hard. So fun.
Top rope anchor: #2s and #3s, plus tree for backup. Directionals: red, purple, grey.
Breakfast of Champions
5.8 – 170′
with Luke
Luke took first, I took second.
Might be harder once you know it’s “easy”. It’s serious for sure!
High Strung
5.9 – 80′
with Luke
Always fun.
