Feb 18-20th 2006 - Joshua Tree with Alex

The annual President's Day trip down to Joshua Tree is usually a ribald affair where friends make plans ahead of time, drive down together, have fun times in the car, do some climbing, and drive back. Eric was once such a friend, but after last week I just don't know anymore. Apparently last week Eric came down with a severe case of imasackfaceitis, and was unable to make the drive down to Jtree, leaving me to make it on my own.

As I was leaving the Bay and entering the central valley, Jesus rewarded me with a beautiful rainbow.

After 3 Rockstars and a couple bags of Chitos, I pulled in to Jtree and was predictably relegated to Jumbo Rocks for sleeping. Upon waking up in the morning, I cruised through Hidden Valley and was shocked (shocked!) to find a spot open. Life was suddenly a lot better. The Petzl sticker on my back window immediately felt more genuine, and the bros over in site 39 gave me the head nod (yes!) as I settled in to brew up some java and study my well-worn copy of "Dharma Bums".

Unlike Eric, Alex showed up precisely at 10am, and proceeded to introduce me to Karl and his five ladies (Kirsten, Leslie, Sarah, Amy, Sandra), whom we would climb with on-and-off over the weekend. We spend Saturday in HVCG area, and the only pictures I managed to get (over the whole weekend) were of Alex leading Dandelion on the Old Woman.

Kirsten following Alex on Dandelion:

Sunday we woke up to some snow (bros are bummed), and so made our way down to Indian Cove, where it was remarkably warm. Climbed some stuff...

Monday we climbed in Real Hidden Valley for a little while. Best route: Alex's lead of Clean and Jerk. We also bouldered a bit, and then I drove back alone.