On Saturday afternoon, I met up with Rachel and then Paul (from Las Vegas) at the Yucca Inn in Yucca Valley. We had reservations there for the weekend, and were bummed when we found out their hot tub was not working. Oh well!
Sunday morning, we rolled out of bed at the crack of 7am. With the time change, that felt earlier than it really was! By 8:15 we hit the road for J-Tree. Rachel used her park pass and before I knew it, we were at the parking lot for the Lost Horse area. Of course, somebody was already plastered to the crux of White Lightning, so we walked around a little bit until we bumped into the Playground Wall.
A really nice couple from Syracuse were climbing Beck’s Bear, and invited us to try one of the 5.7s to the right of them. There was also guide at the wall, setting up a TR on a bolted 5.9 climb-but we didn’t spot him-we just saw his two clients sitting there twiddling their thumbs.
Rachel & I discussed the MO with Paul-he was to be in the middle and so it was his job to unclip and reclip ropes. Rachel was the designated cleaner, and I was on the sharp end.
So, once we discussed safety and the MO, I fired up the route, Stucca By A Yucca (5.7). It involved pretty sustained climbing, with several handy rest spots. The start was slabby, and unprotectable until I was about 10 feet off the ground-Exciting! Overall a fun climb, for sure.
After an exciting 4th class downclimb, we jumped on Beck’s Bear since Team Syracuse was finished with it. At that point, the Guide was belaying client #2 on the 5.9-and they looked like they were having fun. The guide was saturating their brains with climbing factoids, and we wondered how much of it they really cared about-or would even remember.
Beck’s Bear (5.6) was fun. The crux is low to the ground, but protectable. It is a neat lieback, but after it’s over the climb backs off, and turns into maybe a 5.5/5.6 level. We all thought it was worth doing, for the memorable move at the bottom, but not as challenging overall as SBAY.
On our 2nd trip down the walk-off, I thought I saw the top of the guide’s helmet as he whizzed by us (going UP behind a boulder). I wondered why he was BOOKING it to the top of the formation-and soon I got the answer. We went over to the next climb down the wall, and I roped up. A microsecond after I said On Belay?, a large rope lands on the ground just inches from where I’m standing. We look up in disbelief. It’s the same Guide! He *knew* we were heading for that climb next, so he beat us to it! Notorious alfalfa sprout sandwich eating beta spewing monster!
It was everything I could do to remain friendly. I told him it was a horrible miscommunication. After vascillating for a few minutes, he offered us to TR the route-but after his clients climbed the two routes the TR was set for. Not wanting to wait for another 2 hours, I declined his “kind” offer. We packed up to seek a non crowded climb. One away from the hoards (which had gathered there).
As we were flinging our laden packs on our backs, the guide slithered over to where we were and halfway redeemed himself. He recommended a route for us to try-one that he claimed to be 3 stars-but seldom gets crowded.
It turns out the climb is called Leap Year Flake (5.7). He told us where the route was, how to get down, and started to give me beta until I politely declined any further information. I wonder if he did his dissertation on J-Tree climbs, because he is intimately acquainted with an amalgam of facts and trivia and I didn’t want to be inundated like his clients. Heck, I just wanted to CLIMB.
We walked over to the climb (way left of the Dairy Queen Wall). Paul spotted the climb first, he’s very adept at reading maps & features. We made our way up a boulder heap to the wall. Looking up at the climb, I was initially intimidated. The severly left slanting crack was bleak looking. The rock looked polished, and it reminded me of the climb Northwest Books in that aspect. The guide had told me it was “Thin” in spots, but it was protectable.
With a supportive word from my sponsors (Rachel & Paul), I fired up the thing. It turns out his advice was perfect. Just about the time ya start thinking, “Jeez, I need to put a piece in”, a little flare opened up in the finger slot. I placed a couple nuts, but mostly cams because the crack was so rounded out on the inside. One nut placement was especially satisfying because I put it in sideways, then twisted it 90 degrees and then pulled it down. Creative thinking!
When I got to where the vertical crack ran out, I was a little nervous. I had put my 2nd smallest BD cam in a crack (and it wasn’t seated all that well!), then I had to climb up about 12 feet to my next gear placement. It was quite tricky. But, once I got to the horizontal crack, I put in a piece and felt a huge wave of relief!
Halfway out on the traverse, a cam decided to walk up into the crack-and I saw it move. Darn, I thought, “There’s no way Rachel’s getting that one out!”. It was my 0.75 BD Cam, and it would have been such a shame to have to part with it! An epic removal process ensued, but after poking at it for about 10 minutes, she rescued the piece. My Hero!!!
The end of the flake is sure fun, and it turns out it’s not as polished as it looks from below. There are plenty of feet, so it’s reassuring and the gear placement stances are all solid. The route tops out at around 100 feet, so it’s a nice long climb. Getting to the chains was no problem-just walk 50 feet to the right of the climb, going past a tree on the adjacent ledge. The rap was no biggy, and both ends hit the ground with about 8 feet of rope left.
After that climb, it was about 4:30pm. We decided it was time to call it quits. It had been a long day, and we were starting to think about dinner. Also, we wanted to drive through the park so Paul could check it out since it was his first trip there. We then went on a quick detour through Barker Dam area-going for a little hike as the sun went down. Hiking around J-Tree at this time of the day was magical, and we were all just awestruck at the rock formations in the soft orange glow.
That night, we were up late-talking about climbing, art, & sculpture. The next morning, Rachel booked it back to Vegas. I was sad to see her go so early, but she had stuff to take care of back at home.
Paul & I ventured over do the Swift. It was hot hot hot. I had to run the last half of the pitch out because I didn’t wisely use my slings-so that was exciting. And, the second pitch was different because we had Paul’s 70 meter rope, so we topped out in 2 pitches instead of 3. There was inordinate amounts of rope drage though, so I had to yank on the rope a lot in order to make upward progress. I was psyched when Paul got to the top because it was hot, and I wanted to make it back down and sit in some shade. We were both warn out from being up late the previous night.
We hiked up to the Rock Garden Valley area, and scoped out the Double Dogleg and Smithereen climbs. Looks like fun. Some other day though! Some folks were climbing various routes on that nicely north facing wall, and it was neat to sit in the shade and just gawk. Actually one of the dudes was on Smithereen-putting in gear on TR, and said, “When you’re as much as a whimp as I am, this is the way to go!”. Still, I admired him for making an effort to try and get better. Seems like a neat idea!
After the hike, and cooling down in the shade, we headed back to the vehicle. Then we went to Quizzno’s for sandwhiches before our drive home. Overall, a fun weekend at J-Tree. Great weather, and company!