Second day on the rock, me and the Sprinter vanners were up around the same time and ready to go climbing at 9am. During breakfast, we watched a pair of climbers ascend a 5.7 that was right behind our campsite. Michael was later to emerge, so like yesterday, we told him where we were headed and he would catch up later. He enjoys his relaxed mornings.
We both drove this time to vacate the campsite since we were moving on. We headed back to Hemingway wall, this time to climb the main wall. It was a bit warmer today, but our climbing face was in the shade and the wind was up again, so we felt cold. This wall was covered in very impressive crack lines with broken chunks of rock sitting at the base and flakes all over.
Shannon was feeling earnest, so he got us going on “Pre-Packaged”, a 5.10a the followed a thin crack with finger pockets every now and then and not many feet options. It was a nice warm-up on top rope, but I would have feared leading it! Kathi followed tied into the middle of the rope and cleaned most of the gear. I took the rope end and went up last, cleaning the route entirely. It was a nice, tall 25 meter climb that offered views of the Joshua Tree landscape, obviously unchanged since yesterday, but from a higher vantage point, it seemed more expansive. Shannon even pointed out a house nestled amongst the boulders on the opposite side of the road. Apparently a family lives there. I’m not sure how that works with the whole national park thing.
Shannon set up an anchor above “Poodles are People Too”, slightly harder at 5.10b, so not in leading range for anyone in our group. I rapelled down and since this one was just over thirty meters, Shannon belayed me from the top while Kathi soaked up the sun atop the rock. My fingers were already bleeding from the hand jams of the previous climb and my feet were suffering (it had been a long time since I’d worn my aggressive climbing shoes two days in a row) and this climb really made me work. I fell once at the lower crux when my foot slipped off a nothing hold, but besides that, I had a successful and really fun time. It was a great climb that had every kind of jam, from finger to hand to even elbow towards the top. While there was a crux, the climb was sustained the whole way in an awesomely challenging way. I loved it. I couldn’t feel the pain in my limbs until I’d reached the top again.
Some time during my ascent, Michael had showed up with another stray, Jeffy. They got onto “Dung Fu”, a 5.7 to the left of our climb while Kathi and Shannon got on Poodles. With me belaying at the edge of the cliff exposed to the wind, Kathi lent me her jumper which kept me warm enough. Kathi inadvertently climbed the 5.7 next to our climb, called “White Lightning”, the whole time wondering when it would get hard. Ha ha. We informed her of her error three quarters of the way up, so she finished on the 10b, then descended straight back down to do the real climb. She struggled at the same point I did, but got up it after a few tries. She enjoyed the climb as much as me.
As I was belaying Shannon up the climb, Michael and Jeffy joined us at our anchor and soaked up the sun. They were both cold because their climb had been in a corner that never sees sun. Jeffy took off a few minutes later, off to catch up with friends back at camp, so he was only a passing acquaintance. We’d been joined by another climbing couple at the base of Poodles, so I was careful to throw the rope over for our descent. We were leaving the anchor so that Michael could get on the 5.10b. Kathi and I descended to the base so that I could lead “Dung Fu”, on Michael’s recommendation. I had intended to do “White Lightning”, but the new couple had started ascending that, so my decision was made for me.
I racked up with Shannon and Kathi’s gear, this time trying Michael’s technique of keeping quickdraws on a sling over my shoulder instead of on my harness. By the end I decided that I quite liked it. I was actually developing trad preferences! I discovered during this lead that I definitely don’t have the head space for trad yet. I think my spook-out on “Adams Family” yesterday didn’t help my situation, but I got a bit stressed out at a couple of points on this climb. Mostly because I was exposed to the wind, the footholds weren’t solid with my feet sweating in my shoes and I wasn’t making good protection decisions. Kathi gave me great encouragement and made me feel like I had her full attention. She asked how I was going around two thirds up because I’d been so silent. I get like that when I’m spooked, or stressed out, I tend to go into myself a bit. Upon reflection, it was actually a really fun climb. It followed a crack next to an arête so I used both the inverse corner and the arête to ascend. There was even a tree near the anchor point that made for an interesting manoeuvre. The anchor that Michael had built was in a cave, so at least was out of the wind while I brought Kathi up behind me. She didn’t have too many problems with the gear. We walked up to get to the top of the rock where Michael and Shannon were hanging out.
Michael had just finished Poodles and had enjoyed it as much as the rest of us had. He is definitely a guy that gets high on climbing. He was chuffed with what he’d done and also stoked for everyone else, fist bunting me for my work on “Dung Fu”, even though he didn’t see it. I explained that I needed to find my lead head because I seemed to have left it somewhere in my past.
We sat in the sun atop the rock and chilled, talking about our different climbing experiences mostly and where we’d gone wrong. From there we got on to how we’d heard of people dying while climbing…. After a good hour, we decided to rappel down off some nearby anchors using two ropes, making sure to double check our gear after the stories we’d just heard. It was nearly 4pm by the time we were all down at the base and I had said I needed to head off, not just because of time, but also because I didn’t think my feet could take any more shoe-time. We packed our gear while we watched the climbers next to us try to retrieve a No. 3 cam they’d got stuck in the crag. He was armed with a hammer, pick and ice-axe, determined to save his $50 piece of gear. He was still working on it when we left.
About half way back to the cars, Shannon realised he didn’t have his hat, so went back to retrieve it while the rest of us hung out in the no man’s land of the desert, in the shade of the rock we’d just climbed. Shannon eventually returned with his hat and we made it back into the sun by the cars. We all hung out a bit more, chatting, while I washed my hands, face and even gave my hair a wash. With that and some food in me, I felt fresh as a daisy. At some point during our hang out, I noticed that not only one, but both of my mountain bike tyres were flat. What?! I think maybe the elevation changes over the last few days had something to do with it because surely I couldn’t be that unlucky. To be investigated later, for now, I just tightened the wheel straps.
During our time in the carpark, we had three different groups come up to us to complement Michael on his van, asking to take photos. I was feeling left out so bantered with the admirers that my van was also pretty damn good, along with Shannon and Kathi’s! Just because Michael had a weird paint job! None of us wanted our new-found friendships to end, we were having such a good time, but I eventually called it, wanting to find camp before dark. Hugs all round, and all information exchanged, the three vans split ways. What a pleasure to have trad-climbed (for the first time in years) with such great people.
I listened to some somber music as I exited the park via the north road. I had planned to hike to the top of Ryan Mountain on my way out, but decided that I had already seen some pretty amazing views from my belay points, so didn’t consider it necessary. I enjoyed the drive out through the trees, which got more sparse the closer to the park exit that I got. They were completely gone by the time I reached the ranger’s hut. I drove on the outskirts of a town called Twenty-Nine Palms, which is right next to a very big air force/military base, so I guess the town houses all of the men and women stationed there. Just in the few minutes I was driving in its vicinity, I saw a number of people in their cars in full uniform.
I drove on a very straight road east until it turned north towards a tiny spot on the map called Amboy. The setting sun created beautiful colours not only in the sky, but on the mountains and the desert brush around the grey-blue road. For the first time, I found a campsite using freecampsites.net. They registered a spot at Amboy Crater which is on BLM (Burea of Land Management) land. Michael had told me that BLM land is land that is free for public use for anything, whether it be camping, 4wd’ing, shooting, whatever you want. There was already two caravans stationed here which was nice to see. When I stepped out of the van, I shouted in relief as I felt warm evening breeze hit my face. After the cold of the last few days, it was a beautiful respite. I still needed long pants and a light jumper, but nothing like the three layers of last night!
I could see the silhouette of the crater nearby the carpark, so I’ll make sure to go have a look in the morning. I made chicken cordon bleu for dinner as some trains rolled by on the nearby railway line. As I sat and ate it, I noticed a fox outside the van, probably scrounging around for the scraps I’d thrown into the bush. He spooked me a bit (with those glowing eyes) so I shut up the van for a few minutes, but he was scared of me, not likely to cause me any threat. When I got my balls back, I finished off the dishes, then sat back in my comfy chair for dessert of yoghurt and bananas.