Saturday night I had the pleasure of attending a slideshow and talk given by Peter Croft for the annual Ventura County Search and Rescue All-Team Training Event. (Kelly and I were guests, Kelly is a former SAR member). The presentation was powerful, with amazing photos of the High Sierra adventures Croft has focused much of…
Continue ReadingMulti-Pitch Trad in Joshua Tree – April 4th, 2011 “I can do this,” I said out loud. There was no one who could hear me. Perhaps the two flies buzzing around me heard, but if they did, their only reaction was to buzz me again. I idly swatted at them, while simultaneously thinking that I…
Continue ReadingOakley Anderson-Moore As a rock climber, adventure seeker, and/or a general outdoors person you’ve probably seen your share of adventure films. Sometimes they are adrenaline laden shorts or music video visual montages. Oakley Anderson-Moore set out to make a film that’s also a cultural history project about the roots of climbing in the US, interviewing…
Continue ReadingLast year I helped organize something I optimistically called the 1st Annual Jtree Tweetup. Climbers from all over the US and Canada came, we had a great time and I’d call it a success. But to really make it earn its name we had to have a 2nd Annual Jtree Tweetup right? Right. The plan…
Continue ReadingThis spring I’ve been heading out to Joshua Tree for more weekend only trips than ever before. So far it’s turned out great and we’ve been able to climb with different groups of friends (and crash their campsites). I’m not caught up in terms of posting pics but here’s a video I made of the…
Continue ReadingIn Part 1 of my Climber’s Guide to Joshua Tree Camping I shared a map I created, I’ve since updated it with a free wifi access coffee shop, a convenient gas station and a place to rent camping equipment so be sure to check it out again. Now I’ll get to the Packing Question. What…
Continue ReadingNow that the JTreeTweetup is just around the corner I’ve been getting a few questions about Joshua Tree and what camping there will be like. I thought I’d do a series of posts on this. While you can find a lot of information online about Joshua Tree National Park, my posts will highlight a few…
Continue ReadingDay 6 – 7/15 The Parade of climbers continued on Wednesday. Peter, Jamie and I started off by getting a Wilderness permit and going to Ellery Lake to do a 5.9 there but had to leave early to meet up again with the rest of the gang and new arrivals. We rendezvoused with Cliff and…
Continue ReadingWhat’s the foremost question on a climber’s brain? Right, “How do I land one of these hunks/babes?” I thought I’d write a guide to answer that question. Step 1. Become a climber on your own Step 2. Get a boyfriend/girlfriend. If they are already a climber skip to Step 4. If not proceed to Step…
Continue Reading“You’ll have too much drag!” Dave shouted up to Luis, who was scouting around a round cap formation near the top of a trad climb on Chimney Rock. As his belayer, I was standing in a position about 50 feet below and to the left of Luis, unable to see what was going on. I…
Continue Reading