Tony and Margaret arrived last night and we spent the evening eating delicious pizza at
"Pie for People" to celebrate Mike's Bday.
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| Echo Rock |
Today we spent the day at the Echo Rock Area to introduce Tony and Margaret to J-Tree. We climbed 3 routes at Echo Rock:
Route #10b: "Double Dip", 5.6, Echo Rock
A fun casual mixed route that Mike led up to the top of Echo Rock. A bit run-out at the top, but it gets easier the higher you get on the slab. You need two ropes to TR this route, it's long! There is a relatively straight forward 3rd class walk-off to descend.
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| "Double Dip" |
Route #11b: "Try Again", 10b, Echo Rock
This route is beside Double Dip, so we figured we'd give it a go while we had the rope up. It's fun and balancey with some thin steep slab moves at the crux. Again, you need two ropes to TR this route and There is a relatively straight forward 3rd class walk-off to descend.
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| "Double Dip" and "Try Again" |
Route #12b: "Stitcher Quits" (aka Black Tide), 5.7, Echo Rock
Next Mike wanted to try his hand at the Classic route "Stitcher Quits". This route is also long, a 70m route gets you to a ramp when you rappel and then you have to down climb about 10ft to get to the ground. The route is crazy run out, but the bolts are exactly where you want them. Only 4 bolts in 35m+, yikes! It has a good backstory to the route name.
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| "Stitcher Quits" |
After we finished up at Echo Rock we went back to top rope "Eff Eight" on the Mounds, and I got it clean this time! I was stoked since I full on flailed on it a couple weeks ago! Tony and Margaret got there first taste of J-Tree sandbags while they battled up this route in the heat.
We finished the day at the Snickers Wall in the Candy Bar Area where we climbed two fun routes:
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| "Funny Bone" and "Humorous" |
35/60: "Funny Bone", 5.8, Snickers Wall
Route #13b: "Humorous", 10b, Snickers Wall
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| Margaret and Amber at the Snickers Wall |
Day 24, Monday Nov. 2, 2015 - Climbing at J-Tree National Park
Today we headed back to the park and climbed at Dairy Queen Wall at the Hemingway Buttress. We climbed 4 routes, which felt a bit stiff, but were overall fun routes and well worth climbing. There is also a rappel anchor in place that allows you to avoid the 4th class gully/chimney down climb, which was a nice surprise!
36/60: "Scrumdillyishus", 5.7, Dairy Queen Wall
37/60: "Frosty Cone", 5.7, Dairy Queen Wall
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| "Scrumdillyishus" and "Frosty Cone" |
Route # 14b: "Hot Fudge", 5.9, Dairy Queen Wall (TR only)
38/60: "Mr. Misty Kiss", 5.8, Dairy Queen Wall
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| "Mr Misty Kiss" |
On the way back out of the park we stopped and re-climbed "Granny Goose", 5.7 at the Left Hand of Darkness crag.
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| "Granny Goose" |
Day 25, Tuesday Nov. 3, 2015 - Climbing at J-Tree National Park
I seemed to have come down with a cold, so I just hiked and hung out at the crags today. Mike, Tony and Margaret climbed "Hands Off", "The Bong" and "Toe Jam" at the Hidden Valley Campground.
Mike had done those routes before, but enjoyed them and was happy to go climb them again. It was quite cold and windy today. I think our summer weather is gone!
After climbing we went for a short hike out back to Baker dam to show Tony and Margaret some of the sites.
Day 26, Wednesday Nov. 4, 2015 - Climbing at J-Tree National Park
I was a bit under the weather today so stayed in town and took a rest day. Mike, Tony and Margaret headed out to the East end of the park for some fun climbing on routes like "Gargoyle", "New Toy" and "Where Two Deserts Meet".
Day 27, Thursday Nov. 5, 2015 - Climbing at J-Tree National Park
Tony and Margaret wanted to explore the park a bit so Mike and I thought climbing "Mental Physics" at Wonderland of Rocks again would be a good way to do so.
We enjoyed a nice, scenic hike to the route and then re-climbed one of our favourite routes. It is a beautiful and peaceful location to hangout for the morning.
After getting back to the car we headed over to the Real Hidden Valley area. We enjoyed a leisurely lunch at the picnic area and then re-climbed "Aint Nothing but a J-Tree Thing" and "Almost Vertical"
at Thin Wall.
It was Tony and Margaret's last night in J-Tree so we headed back out for another yummy pizza dinner to celebrate an awesome week of climbing together.
Day 28, Friday Nov. 6, 2015 - Rest Day
Today we said goodbye to Tony and Margaret and then enjoyed a much-needed rest day. Went to the park to hike a bit and scout out some more routes in the morning.
Afterwards we explored
Pioneertown where we had a delicious lunch at
Pappy and Harriet's, an old school saloon, and then we relaxed for the afternoon.
That evening we headed into Palm Springs to pick up Aaron at the airport and hit up In-N-Out Burger for dinner.
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