|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
These
are the routes I've done in JT, from Quickdraw McGraw in 1989
to Finger Food in 2007. Many of these climbs I have climbed
only once, and a long time ago. Details are fuzzy, or non existing
in some cases. Nereltne? Don't recall anything about this route,
but it's in my old notes.
The list is graded from easiest to most difficult. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- finger food .9
Short, but fun. Nothing too
hard, scary or commiting here.
- chicken lizard .10-
No recollection at all about this
climb, but the premise is there for a classic short JT finger
crack.
- stick to what .9
- dazed and confused .9
- quickdraw mcgraw .10-
- c.s. special .10-
- heart n' sole 10-
These five face climbs are probably
good but not my cup of tea. Long since phased out any significant
details from my mind.
- bird on a wire .10-
Really great route. Both pitches
are stellar. Have always belayed at the bolt anchor before
the thin, poorly protected section, even though this puts
you on the crux right above the anchor with weird gear and
factor 2 potential. Finding another way to divide the pitches
might be safer. Nice new bolt at the anchor, though.
- crack #6, 10-
One of many similar cracks in
this hole in the ground behind Bird of Fire.
- mama woolsey .10-
Junk.
- zebra dihedral .10-
Fun, powerful one or two move
affair. Looks hard and is definitely a bit strenuous.
- exorcist .10-
Helps to be tall on this one.
Good crack leads to reachy crux move to jug.
- harder they fall, the .10-
Brilliant route. Really liked
this one, I seem to remember. Another one of Alan Bartletts
many fine discoveries.
- ball bearings .10-
This two pitch outing is really
good, with distinct cruxes, the first of whch is a little
bold.
- against the grain .10-
JT choss at its best. To be avoided
at all cost. I guess the name should have told us.
- taxman .10-
One of the best routes of its
grade. Perfect finger crack that painfully slow widens to
thin hands, then hands, etc. Quintessential Joshua Tree.
- diamond dogs .10-
Photogenic
undercling at ground level leading to less inspiring stuff
higher off the deck.
- chalk up another one .9
Thin face climb. Not fun.
- mr bunny's refund check .10-
If doing Taxman, it is worth while
to include Mr Bunny in the program. Hard start leads to aggreable
thin crack
- watanobe wall .10-
Steep and cruxy. Done it twice
and had to throw a dyno each time. Good pro. Harder, but shorter
lead than Taxman.
- overseer, direct start .10-
This variation turns Overseer
into a super route. Little thin on gear in the hard part,
but overall sufficiently safe. I think I started in that wide
groove around to the right, to get gear.
- poodles are people too .10
Thin finger crack crux, with cool
moves, down low, followed by lots of tense passages up, up
and up to a fine, steeper finish. Highly recommended. Adequate
pro, but no more.
- bisquit eater .10-
Hard. For me at least. And not
that great.
- fisticuffs .10
Straight forward, full-on crack
climbing with a fist to ultra wide fist crux near the top.
Tape up for the match.
- bird of fire .10-
Beautiful line up an ever steepening
wall. Crux at the end dealing mostly with thin hands style
challenges, and requiring some stamina.
- tossed green .10-
Nice and sustained finger crack
on somewhat rough rock. Well worth the walk and easily combined
with Right Baskerville.
- spanish bayonet .9
Mostly this climb is standard
JT fivenine crack fare if it wasn't for that passage around
the bolt. Had a fair bit of trouble there, including numerous
falls. One of just a handful of worthwhile climbs at Indian
Cove, IMHO.
- effigy too .9
Tiptoed around this one for years
hoping to man up for an on sight lead. Finally just TR'ed
it and was glad, I recall. Something about poor pro for the
first many, many feet.
- rock candy .9
Unlike the similar Effigy Too,
I actually attempted to lead this climb. Predictably I got
shut down right where the difficulties soar and the pro goes
out the window.
- dangling woo li masters .10-
Easiest route in the Bighorn Mating
Grotto, but not the finest.
- friend eater .9
There were some moves in the beginning
of this one that we simply couldn't do. Luckily my memory
refuses to recall more details about that embarrasing event.
- ride a wild bago .10-
Don't remember much, if anything
about this route.
- loose lady .10-
- papa woolsey .10
These two routes are in that catagory
of JT climbs that I despise: Thin, painful, insecure face
climbs.
- tinker toys .10
Fun. As the name implies.
- crack #4, .10
Anonymous crack.
- right ski track .10
Polished pinscars and other weirdness
in a very steep leaning corner. Not a favorite.
- brownian motion .10
Hard leaning finger job, with
a crux devoid of useable footholds. Some books call it 10a,
others 10c. Lets call it something in between.
- bloody tax break .10
Squeeze job, hardly worth the
TR.
- right baskerville crack .10
Incredibly hard crux move on this
fine crack.
- left mel crack .10
One of my hardest on sights at
JT, done while none less than Allan Steck was watching. Short
route with an even shorter crux. Safe.
- illusion dweller .10
Amazing.
- solid gold .10-
Sure that first section of
persisting dime edges is spectacular, albeit painful. But
the real challenge is a super scary second pitch. Proceed
with care.
Have neither onsighted nor led
any of the remaining routes.
sidewinder .10
Scary route.
- run for your life .10
Ouch. Finger and toe brutalizer.
Insecure face climbing.
- figures on a landscape .10
By many heralded as the finest
JT route. Wasn't up for leading anything but the final .9
corner so it's hard for me to say. Definitely more intersting
than many of those lower angled crimp fests. An amazing cover
shot (by Rowell?) of this route in Mountain Magazine from
the eighties was instrumental in luring me to the US.
- dog day afternoon .10
Painful, hard. Apparently one
of the must do routes if you're into the thin, precarious
face climbing that's a JT hallmark. I'm not.
- caught inside on a big set .10
- book of changes .10
These two routes blend together.
Both good, but I remember we found the Grotto climbs slightly
overrated, quality wise, in the Vogel book.
- absolutely zero .10
Non-descript.
- friendly hands .10
Tried leading this one twice,
but still have had to hang. Bad size for bigger hands.
- a womans job's never done 10
Balancy, feminine moves.
- rollerball .10
Spectacular route. Some moves
down low felt real hard, ensuring a good pump before the strenous
roof moves. Must lead this one before turning fifty.
- bearded cabbage .10
Cool show that always draws an
audience. Hard to get from that pumpy handrail to the crack.
- clean and jerk .10
Steep brutal start, that probably
deserves the quality rating if one can actually do the moves.
- edge of doom .10
You can have it. Impossible crimper
nightmare.
- quantum jump .10
Don't remember much expect a feeling
of way hard moves on classic JT rock.
- crescent wrench .10+
Tried in vain to lead this one
in a bout of foolish optimism. What was I thinking, being
a fivenine climber? There actually might have been a woman
involved.
- o'kelley's crack .10+
Besides that baffling flare on
the fiveelevenish start, there's some really fine, strenous,
gently overhanging crack climbing on this atypical JT route.
- importance of being earnest .10+
Scary lead it looks like. Belaying
was bad enough. Barely did the route. |
|
|
|
- minotaur .7
- white lightning .7
Surprisingly good.
- nereltne .7
- stichter quits .7
- mental physics .7
Long walk to an area that really
has only one route that I find good. One could just wish for
it to be a little harder.
- double cross .7
Really good moves getting into
the crack from the right (I assume you won't go straight up),
followed by lots of hand sized grovel.
- gem .8
Hand crack. Good straight forward
jamming practice.
- overhang bypass .7
- as the crags turn .7
- headstone rock, sw corner .7
One of the two doable routes on
this overrated, much photographed boulder.
- lazy day .7
- dappled mare .8
Good. Hardly 5.8, but long and
high quality.
- feltonian physics .8
The warm up route on the Hemingway
Buttress, at least for us. Good climb.
- nurm's rumb .8
- walk on the wild side .8
This one is wildly popular. Classic
JT dime edges and friction moves. One of the first routes
I did here with a guy from New Mexico. He suggested we do
it with full bivvy gear and spend the night on the last ledge
before the top. Interesting.
- dinker doinks .8
- catch a falling star .8
- r.m.l .8
- double decker .6
- nobody walks in LA .8
- sail away .8
Undeniably classic. Worth waiting
in line for.
- hands off .8
- continuum .8
Can be awkward and strenous on
a bad day.
- scrumdillishus .8
- frosty cone .8
- mr misty kiss .8
Three fine, but strangely similar
routes. One was noticeably harder than the rest, but which?
- wet pigeon .8
- bambi meets godzilla .8
- dogleg .8
Seems like the Marines from 29
Palms like this one a lot. Distinctly masculine thrash fest.
- the flue .8
- flake, the .8
- jim cruise .8
Steep face climb with a crack
for pro.
- season opener .8
Last time I did it, I got shut
down for a while at that little overlap where all the cracks
run out and things look a bit commiting.
- annoited seagull .8
Another fine Atlantis area climb.
- euthyphro .9
Love this climb. Soft for a nine,
but continously interesting. Crack with face holds and great
pro. Must look up the name in a dictionary some time.
- young lust .9
- mare's tail .9
- room to shroom .9
Clean white Quartz Monzonite at
its finest, with a pleasant, smooth, ever widening crack running
up to a funny outside corner and a blank, but easy traverse
to belay.
- western passage .8
- cake walk .9
Super pleasant wide finger crack
with an abundance of footholds. Classic JT.
- colorado crack .9
A good route despite less than
ideal rock.
- looney tunes .9
An early epic of mine.
- double dip .9
- smithereens .9
- popular mechanics .9
Don't remember much besides making
love at the base...
- high strung .9
- comic book .9
Kinda lame. Super cruxy.
- peadody's peril .9
- touch 'n go .9
Ahh yes. Quintessential JT crack.
No visit is complete without an ascent of Touch n'go. Steep,
pumpy and solid.
- dummy's delight .9
Got spanked on this one in '89,
but returned recently and discovered that the years have been
kind to me. It is awkward, though. Use your feet well, and
stay low.
- just another crack from LA .9
- grounder .9
- crack #5, .9
- cryptic .9
- nobody walks in LA .9
Two of these. One is some bland
face climb on Cap Rock, one of the first routes I did here.
The other is classic JT crack climbing on the Freeway Wall.
- enforcer, the .9
- roan's way .9
- vorpal sword .9
Good one and an added asset to
the fine Atlantis area. Balancey moves around and beyond that
protruding block.
- hot crystals .9
The best climb at Atlantis. Discontinous
thin cracks with a hard crux down low. Small but adequate
gear.
- la reina .9
Short but steep power fest up
an overhanging corner with a handcrack. Most fun there's to
be had at lame Indian Cove.
- wild wind .9
Worth doing while waiting for
your spot on Sail Away.
- progressive lizard .9
Awkvard flare. Best route on this
dimunitive rock.
- right lizard crack .9
Boulder move on a short climb.
This area gets clogged with top ropers.
- blue belly .9
- count on your fingers .9
- north overhang .9
Pretty wild around that overhang.
Plug and go kinda thing. The rest of the climb without character.
- captain kronos .9
A bit loose. Still worthwhile,
though
- nobody's right mind .9
Neighbor crack to Peabody's Peril,
and actually a little better, if I remember correctly.
- m & m's plain .9
Probably good, but I'm drawing
a blank.
- short but sweet .9
Commiting start, with funny
pro, hard moves and bad fall potential. Backed off on a
recent attempt.
- yei-bei-chei crack .9
Not long, but with enough cool
crack moves to make it worthwhile.
- pope's crack .9
Awkward crack climbing down low
requiring a series of different techniques. Up higher a leftward
traverse with sparse pro will get your attention.
- overseer .9
Loose and unpleasant in the beginning
(see the direct start, dicey .10-) leading to a fine 2"
crack thru roof. Physical.
- spitwad .10-
Give away ten, but a very fine
climb like all the routes in that area. The final pull from
the disappearing crack to a bottoming, flared fist groove
is memorable.
- sugar daddy .9
Hard move at the roof. Spend a
long time wondering up there.
- invisibility lessons .9
A great 2" crack on smooth
beautiful rock. Small hands give an unfair advantage.
- prepackaged .9
Personal favorite. Just a really
incredible finger crack in a steep leaning corner in the first
50' or so until finally pulling that little roof via sketchy
handjams.
- super roof .9
Physical. Surprise.
- my laundry .9
Aggreable way to the top of South
Astro Dome. Not quite as crimp intense as Solid Gold, nor
as trouser filling.
- general hospital .9
Be the first to admit to bailing
at the top of the crack, looking up a blank unprotected face.
Crack was alright I think.
- split personality .9
High quality. Another personal
favorite. Not as scary as it looks, although a certain urgency
for pro after the traverse can tense things up a bit. There's
actually two Split Personalities in JT, as should be no surprise
with such a name. This is not the .11d one.
- dike, the .9
No memory.
- sphinchter quits .9
An early enigma of mine at JT.
After flashing Touch n'Go
on my second day here, I assumed I could do all the nines.
Not so.
- flawless fissure .9
Quite good, but one of the harder
nines I've done.
- moose dog tower, s face .9
Had to back off the crux and hand
the sharp end to my girlfriend Sally. Haven't been back since.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
