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more pics at: Vivian's ophoto album Casey's ophoto album Amy's Matt's ophoto album Saturday Nov 20 - Driving 513 miles. 6.5 hrs of driving, not including a lunch break. Not bad. Much of the gang was already at Ryan #21 (and 19, 20, 22 - the girls had scored big time), so I set the tent and hung out by the campfire for a while. I retreated to my tent at a reasonable hour, and as soon as I lay down, I realized that I had pitched the tent on a slope. While this is traditional, especially if the tent is pitched in the dark, it is not particularly comfortable. But it was late, and I was tired, so I decided to take care of it next morning. This turned out to be an unfortunate decision. Sunday Nov 21 - Snow I awoke to the sound of Vivian shaking my tent. It was still rather dark, so my first reaction was WTF? Why is Viv waking me up so early? Something about the shake sounded a bit strange, so I stuck my head out of the tent, and was confronted by snow. Lots of it. Way more than one should encounter in J-Tree. There were already 6 inches on the ground when I emerged, and no signs of a letup. Luckily, Scott had a big camper shell on his pickup, so twelve of us piled in there and had breakfast and played silly games to pass the time. Eventually we decided to head into town, on snowy roads, and spent the rest of the day at a cafe.

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Snow, snow, snow

Monday Nov 22 - More Snow It continued to snow throughout most of the day. We passed the time with some hiking, and I attempted to solo the Headstone in my hiking boots, but gave up at the first bolt. Total snow accumulation was up to 14 inches in places, though it really varried througout the park.

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J-trees at night, with snow

Tuesday Nov 23 - Zebra Cliffs The day dawned bright and sunny. The snow on the ground and the rocks was a bit of a problem though. Ed, Viv, Aaron, Steph, Casey and I piled into cars, and checked out Echo, but the rock was too wet to climb there. We drove off to Jumbo, where we found much less snow, and hiked out to the Zebra cliffs, where we found a bunch of nice stuff that was dry. Most of it was in the shade though, but it wasn't that cold, so was perfectly climbable. Casey and I warmed up on Cut Thin to Win (5.10c), a short but fun finger crack that only required a few jams. A bit of a spicy warm up, as was evidenced by my numerous gear placements. Aaron led Such a Line (5.10d), which we all proceeded to TR. Very fun - I can't figure out why it doesn't have any stars! Maybe because of the crumbly rock in a couple of places, but you can avoid that. Hands, off-width, face, a great line in general! It was so much fun that I did a couple of laps on it. We then did some silly slab route in the sun, where the rock crumbled off every time you touched it. The first move was ugly, so instead of loosing skin, we avoided it. The rest was easy to trivial. Not worthwhile. We finished off on Around the World (5.10b), a really fun traverse. Starts off as an overhanging face with a horizontal hand crack that slopes down. I tried to style it with a drop knee in the crack, but it didn't work too well. So I just powered through it until the climb turns the corner, and becomes very reminiscent of On The Lamb. It's only 10b for a couple of moves, then eases up. Ed cleaned, then we hiked down and checked out some climbs on the north face which looked really stellar. But it was getting late, so we decided to save them for another time.

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Echo cliffs in the snow, and near the Zebra cliffs

Erin, Jack and Susan caught a flight in to Ontario that evening, and Matt went and picked them up. Wed Nov 24 - Live Oak Erin, Jack, Ed, Viv, Casey, Steph and I drove back to Jumbo as we figured that the rock there was drier than in the western parts of the park. This time though we vowed to pick south facing routes, so Erin and I ended up at the Wispering Wall as a result. The best way to approach this area is to follow the wash south on the west side of Pope's Hat, then curve around the formations from the south, head east on another wash until you can see the wall. A bit of scrambling over a short wall due north gets you there. After all that though, we were disappointed by the quality of the rock. We warmed up on My 3 Friends (5.7), which had some awkward wide sections and was rather unaesthetic. While we were doing that a large crowd/family showed up, and much unpleasant noise ensued. So much for the "whispering." I then tried Mother Board Breakdown (5.10c), which was rather frightening. A face climb, with hold comprised of the top edges of loose patina that sometimes ripped off. I gave Erin conniptions with the number of times I said "whoa!" and quickly backed off a very questionable hold. We rejoined the rest of the gang, who were at the Pope's Cape, and I TRed a horrible crack/face/slab that Jack had put up. Not in the guidebook and it felt somewhere in the hard 5.12s or 5.13s. Needless to say, I flailed a lot. Ick. Jack and I finished off the evening on The Popemobile (5.10c), after I backed off leading it and he took over, doing a stellar job. By then it was dark, and the rest of the gang had left, so we returned to the car by the light of the moon, where we found Erin sketching the skyline.

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Thursday Nov 25 - Indian Cove In an effort to find a warm place to climb, we headed to Indian Cove on Thursday. It was indeed hot there! Erin led off on Double Crack (5.3), which was her first trad lead when she was here last year. No trouble of course. We then did Right V Crack (5.10a), which was slightly trickier. Fingers, delicate smearing, and some lieback moves. Good fun! Despite Erin's claims that she was about to fall off, she made it to the top without problems. I then tried Belay Girl (5.10c), which was a technical slab problem. Interesting start - first you scramble up some 20 ft to the top of a boulder, then you have to make some serious moves (especially if you're short) to get to the first bolt. Then it just gets worse. I got spanked, and bailed just short of the last bolt, did an alternate climb to the top, and rigged a TR to try the last sequence. Just a matter of high stepping off miniscule bulges, and standing up on one leg with no hands. What fun! Especially in the mid day heat.... We paused for lunch, and watched another party struggle on the Right V Crack. Why is it so much fun to watch others fail where you succeeded? Erin wanted to get another lead in, so we had a look at Duchess (5.6), but there was another party just starting up it, so instead we did The Castrum (5.10a), which I found awfully reminiscent of pitch 1 of Ciebolla in Tuolumne. Thin and delicate. When we rapped down from that, Duchess was free, so Erin led that (after scaring away another party that wanted to get on it just as we were about to). We finished in the dark (always the sign of a good day), and drove back to the campsite where we had a lovely thanksgiving dinner of tasty bites, tofu, stir fry, and a few bites of turkey and stuffing from Dan and Lynsey. There was even a pretty decent pumpkin pie for desert. Friday Nov 26 - Coarse and Buggy and Freeway Wall Coarse and Buggy - what a great warm up! I was pushing for More Monkey than Funky, but was outvoted so Jack and I went to warm up on Coarse and Buggy (5.11b). In the shade. It pained me much, but I gave up the lead to Jack. After a tricky start, wearing just a T-shirt to save weight, he used too much pro and had nothing left for his fingers in the really thin section of the corner, and took a small fall. He screamed and swore (which roused Erin from the warmth of the car), then figured out the beta and sent it from there to the top. I followed, and had the advantage of being able to remove the gear before using the holds, and so was able to send it. Way fun, though pretty tricky!

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Jack on Coarse and Buggy

After much discussion, we moved on to Freeway wall where Jack led Anacram (5.10c), doing the direct start to make it harder. The real crux is near the top, where you have to do a hard move off a single finger jam with less than perfect feet. After several tentative tries, going up and down, he finally sent it. We set up a TR, then Erin followed and I cleaned. A bunch of people from "Rock Rendevouz," a bay area climbing club, showed up, among whom was one incredibly annoying guy who kept on making comments about "top roping," and how he was afraid that the wall was going to be taken up by huge groups of people TRing the routes. He went on and on, with "TR" being every other word or so. Of course he was too scared to lead Anacram.

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Jack on Anacron, and Charles on Nobody Walks in LA

I then went up Nobody Walks in LA (5.9), which got my heart rate up when a knob broke off under my foot just as I was making a big move. Otherwise, fairly benign - the overhanging dihedral at the top is much easier than it looks. Erin followed, and Jack cleaned, doing a tricky downclimb to some rap anchors to avoid the walk off.

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Just as it was getting dark, Jack and I both led Cast Up a Highway (5.11a), an easy face route with lots of good crimps. For the life of me I couldn't identify any 5.11 moves, and would rate it as 5.10b/c. Looking at the guidebook though, the route goes all the way to the top, whereas we only did it to the rap rings, which are about 15 ft. short. Perhaps the 11 bit is on the final headwall? Saturday Nov 27 - Rock Hudson and Gunsmoke Dan and Lynsey had give rave reviews of some of the routes at Rock Hudson, so we decided to check them out. Despite being the last ones out of our tent, and parking at Intersection Rock instead of Echo, we were the first ones there. Erin and I warmed up on Looney Tunes (5.9) which was fun despite the o/w. Or maybe because of it. The last 20 ft are o/w going to chimney size. While we were climbing it, the rest of the gang showed up, and started up various other routes. Aaron warmed up on Hot Rocks (5.11c) and sent it clean. Puts Jack's warmup on Coarse and Buggy to shame.... Casey led off on the 5.7 to the left, and declared it not worth the trouble. I then led Absolute Zero (5.10c) which was fun face/slab. Luckily the 10c bit wasn't slab. You can add a red alien above the 2nd bolt, but it really isn't worth it. The wind really picked up while I was belaying Erin - it was so strong that I couldn't stand up straight, but had to lean into it at a 75 degree angle. Luckily it was pushing away from the edge.... We then gave Hot Rocks a go on TR. I managed to remove the skin from my knuckles when I got distracted by a question as I was one foot off the ground while attempting the direct start. I tried again doing the normal start (a little to the right), which was much easier. The crux is rather tricky though - thin, tenuous fingers. I definitely want to try to lead it next time, though I'm pretty sure it won't go clean.

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Playing in caves

Most of the gang took off to check out Rollerball, but I still needed to get my More Monkey than Funky fix in, so Erin and I headed to Barker Dam. When we got there, we encountered Kelley in the Westfalia, and had a late lunch with her. Right about then we were joined by Brian, Jack, Matt and Susan who were returning from MMTF. Jack had cruised it, but we were disappointed to hear that a party of 4 had replaced them. We could see a TR on the climb, and people taking big pendulum whippers on it. We hung out in the car, and gave them a couple of hours to finish, then as it was getting on, geared up and went over to check it out. They were STILL on it, with one person in the cave with a huge camera taking pictures of their TR attempts. When we enquired as to how many people were left to go, they said that after the current climber (who was still under the roof), there were still 2 more to go, and that they would be on it "until the sun went down." I pointed out that they had already been on it for a couple of hours, but they said "oh no, that wasn't us." Riiiigghht. It's amazing how the TR mentality sometimes rules, and some jerks believe that if you have a TR up, you can own the climb for as long as you like. It was futile to continue arguing with such morons, so we dropped off the gear at the car, and did some laps on Gunsmoke instead. Most folks left that night, but Erin and I had a really nice dinner with Brian and Kelley in the Westfalia - that vehicle was awsome!

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Sun Nov 28 - Hidden Valley The campsite was a sad sight the next morning, with most of the gang gone, and the remainder packing up. We struck the tent, collected the gear, and packed the car. Ed was staying around for another week, and Brian wanted to get a bit more climbing in, so we headed to Hidden Valley to see what we could climb. Unfortunately, despite the brillian sunshine, it was cold and rather windy. Erin and I sucked it up for one more climb Toe Jam (5.7), but gave up after that and went for a walk in the Real Hidden Valley. The last we saw of Ed and Brian, they were heading up Orphan, with Brian in the lead. After the hike, we braved the traffic and drove to LA to meet up with some family for dinner. It only took about twice as long as usual, which put us there in time for a much needed shower before dinner. After a relaxing morning, we returned to Berkeley on Monday afternoon. A low mileage trip, what with the snow, cold and wind, but worthwhile none the less. How can any trip to j-tree be anything less than wonderful?

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