Joshua Tree Feb 08

It seemed to be a good idea to compensate the work trip to New Mexico with a few days of climbing in the desert. Ben had made a reservation for a campsite at Sheep Pass a while ago, so Wendy and I left the Bay Area southwards on Sunday morning after I had gotten back on Saturday afternoon. We'd meet up with Ben, Naja and Jun at the campsite later that night.
The drive was rather eventless, we just had a brief stop in Bakersfield to refuel, since we had a huge breakfast at Stacks before we left town. Somewhere between Bakersfield and Mojave Wendy becomes very upset, because she had forgotten to bring the backpack with all her climbing gear in it... Big Bummer!
She decided on the spot, that she wanted to replace the essential items (harness, shoes) in the climbing store in the town of Joshua Tree. Amazingly the place was still open, when we pulled in the parking lot at 6 pm. The rest of the drive was pretty quick after the short shopping stop. We reached the campsite where Jun was working on the campfire, around 7pm. While Ben took care of dinner (grilled salmon and baked potatoes with rosemary) Wendy and I set up camp.

The night was pretty windy, and I was glad that I was spending the night in a tent, which is quite unusual for me. The wind was so hard though, that the tents wall was banging against my back pretty violently. The experience made me wonder how mountaineers in the Himalayas or in Alaska can endure the rough conditions out there.

The morning was rather sunny, but rather chilly. After a quick breakfast we headed to the Lost Horse area, where we climbed 'Men with cows heads' and 'Solar Technology' on Atlantis Wall (the later twice) and 'The Swift' one of the few multi-pitch climbs in J-Tree on Short Wall. We finished of the day by climbing 'Rainy Day Women' on Mindless Mound.
Dinner this night was outstanding! Fresh, selfmade sushi! In the middle of the frickin' desert! AWESOME! We didn't last too long after dinner due to low temps and high winds. The sleeping bags were definitely the most comfortable option for the evening.

One objective for Ben and me is it to climb Half Dome in Yosemite this year. Since neither of us has done any aid climbing, we figured that some aid practice close to the ground would not be the worst of idea. So Tuesday morning saw us heading to Beaver Boulder, where Ben and I did the A1 boltladder, while Naja, Wendy and Jun climbed 'Nutcracker' on the closeby Caprock.
Neither aiding up the ladder, nor jumaring the fixed line afterwards was bad, so we got brave and decided to do the RURP Romp, an A3 on the other side of the boulder. This was a good piece of work but still a lot of fun. I think we're well suited for Half Dome. The next training will be the South Face of Washington Coloum on the first weekend of May.
Wendy and I headed over to Echo Cove, where we climbed 'Fun Stuff' twice. Twice because the rope got stuck pulling it after rapelling off...
This night it was our job to take care of dinner. We had some pasta and stuffed eggplant. Pretty yummy!
Before dinner though we set up a slackline between two of the tables...Can you spell FUN?
It took a while to get a hang of it, but after a few trys I made it across... Ben was the master though...We threatend him that he would have to have dinner on the line, if he wouldn't stop showing off :-)

Wednesday was our last day. We did two fast climbs on Thin Wall in Real Hidden Valley before leaving Joshua Tree around noon. The drive back was pretty smooth, with a dinner stop at the burrito truck at the intersection of HW58 and I5. I love that place...The guys there don't speak any English, and they have pretty exotic stuff... like tongue and brain. I am sticking to chicken though :-)

The upcoming weekend should be fun...tomorrow night is the Banff Mountain Film Festival at Santa Cruz. And there has been talk about climbing in the Valley on Saturday and Sunday. If that doesn't happen I am most likely to head to Aptos to see "Sharkwater" with Lesley.
For Monday night I am planning to see Michael Pollan talking at Stanford...So there are a few busy days ahead...