Joshua Tree

No wonder I couldn't find a camping spot in Joshua Tree National Park – the landscape in gorgeous. As it turns out, the climbing is pretty awesome too.

Always on the radar – never on the way. Jtree has been a place I wanted to visit for many years, but never got round to it. This spring, however, I had a few days to spare before a conference in LA. Needless to say, I finally made it.

Mellow morning

I’ve spent the first day bouldering and soloing easy routes. I quickly realized the grading was quite tough and had to back down on quite a few routes I tried. Nevertheless, I still got a good workout and was nursing my sore fingertips at the end of the day with a beer.

I got to witness a beautiful effort on So High. The guidebook description goes along the lines of "there are two options to finish the climb - both have sent people down with broken legs."

#novan-nolife

Fanny joined me for the second day and we pulled the ropes out of the bag for that. We did a number of moderate routes on the Tumbling Rainbow wall, the Sentinel and the Brown wall.

As a bonus, we also visited the Echo cliffs in Santa Monica mountains – a pretty decent local crag. Upon recommendation of Florian, I had a go at State of Grace – a phenomenal route – but had to leave with a one-hang only. Another excuse to visit California again.

Meanwhile in LA