Saturday, December 29, 2012

Ice Climbing at Lee Vining

Following some great rock climbing in Joshua Tree, Jay and I made the trip back to Los Angeles to pick up our dear friend Mark for some random adventure, yet to be determined...


Pictures for now. I'll update later...
The north side of Lee Vining Canyon

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Climbing at Joshua Tree


I met my friend Jay in Joshua Tree national park over the Christmas break for some climbing.

Climbs:
  • Jumbo Rocks, Conan's Corridor - Fool's Gold (5.8R, TR)
  • Intersection Rock of Hidden Valley - Some easy handcracks and chimney's
  • Indian Cove - Feudal Wall

Jay midway up the elusive off-width.
Jay and I met up at the north entrance to the park. We set off just after sunset to look for camping -- all full until we rolled up into Jumbo Rocks, pretty deep into the park. We found a spot, dropped off my car and then drove back into the town for some Crossroads! I threw down a giant, dripping cheeseburger and some iced tea, assuming it would be my last decent meal of the trip. We drove back to the campsite, forgetting firewood. We weren't worried, since, but found a more important task -- scoping routes.

We wandered across the street from the campground to look for routes in the Jumbo rocks area. Our route of interest is located in a narrow slot canyon. We wandered up and over every possible pile of rocks searching for this thing in the dark. After about an hour and a half of re-reading the approach beta and mistaking shadows for features of interest, we finally spotted the narrow slot canyon from afar. Another 20 minutes of bushwacking and we finally squeezed into the narrows that led to the climbing routes, known as Conan's Corridor. We retreated back to the campsite, had a beer and retired for the night.

Keep reading!...

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Climbing at Mount Lemmon, AZ


I made the drive out to Mt. Lemmon to meet my dear friend Ace and his lady Vernadette -- proprieters of Vernace' Wines ;-). Enjoyed a weekend of great climbing, great friends, and even some fun solo alpine activities too!

Climbs:
Hitchcock Pinnacle

Ice in southern Arizona?! It does exist!
Keep reading for more!...