Joshua Tree: Top 15 Tick List

 I have been wasting disastrous amounts of time pouring over routes on mountain project.  My hands are sweating.  So, I've decided to put together a Top 15 Tick List for this 2011-12 Joshua Tree season.

Here she be:

Fen traversing the dike on Pope's Crack (Original Route)

1)   Damn Jam tick! (5.6) Hidden Valley Campground 

2)   Bird of Fire -- (5.10a) Split Rocks
3)   Solid Gold -- (5.10a) Wonderland of Rocks

4)   Popes Crack Direct -- (5.10b) Echo Rock

5)   Chemical Warfare -- (5.10b) Barker Dam Area

6)   Caught Inside on a Big Set -- (5.10b) Wonderland of Rocks

7)   Figures on a Landscape -- (5.10b R) Wonderland of Rocks

8)   Clean and Jerk -- (5.10c) Real Hidden Valley

9)   O'Kelly's Crack -- (5.10c) Echo Rock

10)   Piggle Pug -- (5.10c) Wonderland of Rocks

11)   EBGB's -- (5.10d) Echo Rock

12)   Imaginary Voyage -- (5.10d) Lost Horse

13)   Swept Away -- (5.11a) Echo Rock

14)   Coarse and Buggy -- (5.11a/b) Roadside Rocks

15)   Hot Rocks -- (5.11b) The Outback

I will update this with the dates as these routes go down... so psyched!

2011-12 Joshua Tree Season Begins!

Going for it on Bearded Cabbage

Flailing on Bearded Cabbage

Great season opener weekend at Joshua Tree!  Good people and good times.  I ticked a few new ones: Ball Bearing (5.10a, linked both pitches), Pope's Crack (5.9) and the iconic Bearded Cabbage (5.10c).  I had been hesitant to get on Bearded Cabbage in the past, but Ben and I laid siege to it on Sunday.  I thought I might send.  Nope!  On the first go I swung my hand over into the crack and thought "Oh, that wasn't so hard." A few seconds later I was dangling on the end of the rope.  It's the transition of getting the second (right) hand in.  On the second go I managed an insecure jam that got me in, but I pitched off again before I could get established. Finally, I fully committed to the jam and made a couple of semi-desperate jams to a great stance in the crack.  Hard (burly) move, but I think I could figure out some alternative beta.  After that the business is over, but don't forget to enjoy the moves because this hand crack alone would make for something of a classic...

Sending Bearded Cabbage (kind of)!

I also repeated ascents of: Stichter Quits (5.7, Nathan lead), Touch and Go (5.9), Fote Hog (5.6, Nathan lead), Hobbit Roof (5.10d, Ben lead), and Toe Jam (5.6, Ben in approach shoes lead).  Great weekend out!

Nathan firing Stichter Quits (5.7). 120', 4 bolts.