This blog post is about climbing around South Horror Rocks in Hall of Horrors at Joshua Tree National Park, CA.
A snowflake icon flashed in the dash of my VW Rabbit, next to it reading 30°. Thank you, Jessica Rabbit (that’s what I call my Volkswagen), I’m WELL aware that it’s COLD! The drive up to Joshua Tree was traffic packed, gloomy, windy, and rainy. Still, the weather report showed Joshua Tree as cold but sunny all weekend. My evening destination was the campground at Sheep Pass in Joshua Tree. I didn’t feel like pitching a tent for one night in freezing, windy weather. Jessica Rabbit was my tent for the evening, and she did good. Note to self: Joshua Tree in February is freakin’ cold. Other note to self: Well done, Alexis. you brought just the right amount of layers to stay warm.
The Saturday morning air was crisp, but not that windy. I was happy that the weather report didn’t let me down, although I was muttering in my head all day “no wind no wind no wind”. As a sissy-in-cold-weather San Diegan, I feel that I can manage the cold better when the wind isn’t blowing.
The crew for the day included my long time “partner in climb” (get it?) Shaggy, and coworkers/other climbers that I had the pleasure of spending the day with and climbing with for the first time: Melissa and her two boys Nick and Sage, Alex and her boyfriend Adam, and Brian.
The mission: STAY IN THE SUN…. Oh, and head for South Horror Rocks at Hall of Horrors.
The gear: 3 ropes, 2 racks (1 really), huevos, jackets, positive self-talk, zebra thermals
We started the day off with Lazy Days (5.7), and set up a top rope anchor from there so everyone could jump on that plus Perhaps (5.9 crack-ish) just to the right. Though we set up a top rope for a 5.11 to the right of “Perhaps”, the shade and cold scarred off any takers. Instead we chose to play in the sun some more on Garden Angel (5.10a), which was to the left of Lazy Days.
My cruxes for the day:
• Down climbing after getting to the top of Lazy Days, which required (for me) less than ideal steep down stemming. I always get a little sketched out when I can’t feel my fingers and how hard I’m clinging to the rock, especially when not on a rope.
• We had a directional piece set up for Perhaps because the crack part was a bit of a traverse to the anchor. Meaning, if the rope was not clipped into the directional on the way up and if you fell, you would take quite a swing. The person before the next climber was supposed to clip the rope back into the directional when being lowered. Well, not everything always goes as planned. When it was my turn to head up, the rope did not get clipped into the directional, so I had to risk a swinging fall or climb up a different way, which was potentially harder sans a falling swing. This part of the climb was not necessarily the crux, though in the context of being ass-cold and not really being able to feel my fingers, this traverse maneuver felt quite unstable.
Breathing + adrenaline + encouragement + self-trust + positive self-talk = Get it, girl. And…I did.
It was cold, but everyone had a successful feat that day. Fist bumps for Shaggy for setting steadfast anchors for the day, Nick, who made Garden Angel (5.10a) look graceful, Adam and his first official successful rappels, Alex for taking the reigns from Shaggy and belaying from the top like a champ, Melissa for cleaning, and Sage and Brian for for pushing through the cruxes.
-Alexis Tia Diller • Marketing Manager at Mesa Rim, Grad Student at SDSU
Mesa Rim Indoor Rock Climbing San Diego ^^ A Community Blog 