The few days spent camping at Joshua Tree National Park have been crazy windy! The gusts are so strong that even our boulder pads are getting blown away. This makes crack climbing a little daunting, especially as this is not our forte. So due to the wind we spent the first day bouldering, getting a little lost and cursing the poorly drawn maps in the guidebook. Coming from Bishop its hard not to compare the bouldering here compared to there. The rock is ultra grippy granite and has been shredding my fingertips, and topping out on slopers is scary! Ryan's still doing well though and getting a little less frustrated because he can actually get off the ground on a V0 problem!
We spent yesterday doing easy trad routes (5.4-5.8) and it got my confidence up again, somewhat. I tried leading one and got a cam stuck/overcamed. After that I didn't lead anymore, I really need to work on my trad climbing skills...Hopefully we'll have some more nice weather here soon, it's windy again today which is starting to get annoying.
We ran out of water last night because a bird had somehow managed to peck into the container which made it leak. We came back from climbing and all our water was gone. Little rascal, we were not impressed.
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| Start of Gun Smoke Traverse (V3) and the infamous Joshua Trees |
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| Higballing it on a 5.6, remember this Nic? |
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| Sand Dunes in Death Valley |
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| Tasting the Salt Flats...yep sure are salty! |
Awesome stuff guys! Keep posting when you can, it sounds like you're having a blast.
ReplyDeleteMani, this is soooo awesome! I'm so jealous of you guys. Hope you're having an awesome time. Sick onsite by the way!
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