Chasing the rays in California.
Happy New Year!!
In mid December Jessa and I shoveled about a foot of snow off the Previa aka “June Bug”, loaded her up with a fat kit of desert climbing paraphernalia and drove to Joshua Tree National Park. We met up with my good friends Kurt and Elaina Smith, who through their ever so encouraging delightfulness and rock solid assurance convinced us the sun would be blazing in the southwest!
It is hard to justify leaving the desert to post videos and new blogs, plus my computer died completely so the blog content has suffered a bit - but here is a quick photo essay from the last month here in California.
Yeah right Kurt, sunny...sure... warm... sure. We rolled in just in time to see Josh get flooded. I thought it was pretty cool though to see the desert full of water!
The clouds finally parted about 3 days after we got there and then it got cold...
Full moon and a big campfire at Sheep Pass group campground.
So, one boulder problem in particular Big Bob's Big Wedge was on my hit list. I wanted to do this thing for a long time...done! And yeah, we got UNCUT video proof of it.
Since the weather was colder than we wanted Jessa the Verm and me left and drove the 2 or so hours to check out the crack bouldering at the famous Mt Woodson and the classic granite face features of Rainbow Mountain. I was not unimpressed! Woodson has THE best crack bouldering I have ever seen, no doubt! And never before have I seen soooooooo many beautiful granite blocs, miles and miles of piles stand proud on almost every hill top.
The Verm and Jessa climbing on one of the areas classic 5.10's.
One of my major goals for my first Jtree visit was to climb Equinox (12+), I sent it on my first try. This pic is of Jessa giving it a solid effort!
The 5.6 route on Joshua Tree's more popular feature called The Headstone had a solid flow of traffic on it most days and a few nights. Jessa and I managed to squeeze in an ascent of this classic a few days before we left. The photo to the right was shot at sunset from our second campsite in Ryan Campground.
Perfect way to end a wonderful trip of climbing in southern Cali!
Now off to Vegas and then the trade show in SLC.
Sun comes out and the group site Evolv reserved got full. Super great place to spend the New Year holiday.
So, one boulder problem in particular Big Bob's Big Wedge was on my hit list. I wanted to do this thing for a long time...done! And yeah, we got UNCUT video proof of it.
Yeah, sun and some warm weather got us all stoked to get out and send!
Verm sending...
Since the weather was colder than we wanted Jessa the Verm and me left and drove the 2 or so hours to check out the crack bouldering at the famous Mt Woodson and the classic granite face features of Rainbow Mountain. I was not unimpressed! Woodson has THE best crack bouldering I have ever seen, no doubt! And never before have I seen soooooooo many beautiful granite blocs, miles and miles of piles stand proud on almost every hill top.
After chillin at Verm's families avocado ranch/golf course we rambled back to Jtree to meet up with Kurt and Elaina for another week of craggin.
Umm yeah... Josh is actually not on this planet. I shot this pic at around 9:00 pm with a 60 sec exposure.
The Verm and Jessa climbing on one of the areas classic 5.10's.
One of my major goals for my first Jtree visit was to climb Equinox (12+), I sent it on my first try. This pic is of Jessa giving it a solid effort!
The 5.6 route on Joshua Tree's more popular feature called The Headstone had a solid flow of traffic on it most days and a few nights. Jessa and I managed to squeeze in an ascent of this classic a few days before we left. The photo to the right was shot at sunset from our second campsite in Ryan Campground.
Perfect way to end a wonderful trip of climbing in southern Cali!
Now off to Vegas and then the trade show in SLC.