Day 2: Finding the Friction
A Beautiful Morning in Joshua Tree
At 7 AM, our group of six awoke to find an otherworldly landscape surrounding our campsite. Massive piles of rocks rose hundreds of feet into the air on either side of us. Our two cars resembled proud horse-drawn chariots in the morning sunlight. While we ate breakfast, several of us clambered around the rocks near our campsite, enjoying the views and the beautiful, chilly morning weather.
Promptly, we hopped in the cars and began our drive to Joshua Tree’s west entrance. There, we discovered our first reminder of the ensuing pandemic: the rangers at the entrance station waved us into the park without asking for payment or a pass. They kept themselves behind a closed window, reflecting the widespread fear of COVID-19. We refused to let the encounter deter us: the bright, sunny morning kept us optimistic and excited.
Once re-entering the park through the west entrance, we observed its bizarre scenery. The park’s namesake Joshua Tree surrounded enormous mountains of boulders. Giants appeared to have created these mountains by dropping thousands of granite rocks from the sky. Like Arches, the park felt like another planet: it was awesome.
Our plan for the day? Climbing. LOTS of climbing.
The six people in our group were all avid climbers. Shane, Aaron and I had all bouldered in Illinois the weekend before, where I had sent my first V5 and Shane another V6. Will was by-far the strongest in a climbing gym, and Aaron, Alex and Jack all had a solid history of sport climbing and bouldering in the past. We were all excited to discover what the park had to offer. Joshua Tree was famous for its boulders and trad climbs, and we were ready to conquer everything within our skill level.
Bouldering Explained
For those unfamiliar with climbing grades, allow me to explain. In the USA, bouldering follows the simple Hueco scale, which grades the difficulty of “problems” from V0 to V17. V0 is the easiest grade, and V17 is the hardest bouldering grade ever climbed as of 2022. Problems are sometimes further distinguished using “+” and “-“, e.g. a V4- is easier than a V4, which in turn is easier than a V4+. Often, the grade “VB” is used to denote the easiest, beginner-level problems. Intermediate climbers tend to climb V3-V5, advanced climbers up to V8, experts up to V12, and elite, world-class climbers V13 or higher. In early 2020, everyone in our group fell into the intermediate or advanced ranges. Hopefully, this gives you some context. Read more about climbing grades here.
Struggling on V0s
After 20 minutes of driving, we reached Hidden Valley Campground: a popular haven for climbers within Joshua Tree. We started by attempting some V0 boulder problems: theoretically the easiest thing we’d touch during our trip. As it turned out, “easy” was a relative term within Joshua Tree. Rather than finding defined, in-cut holds like routes in the Midwest, the routes we attempted in Joshua Tree relied primarily on friction from slope-y, nonexistent holds. We found a lack of footholds, handholds, or anything useful for our Midwestern-accustomed climbing styles. So, we struggled profusely on the easiest problems in the park. Rough start.
We completed our warm-ups by 9:30 AM, then decided to move on to one of the park’s classic boulder problems: Stem Gem, a V4 in Hidden Valley. Like many of the problems in the park, it relied entirely on friction and featured no defined holds. Unsurprisingly, our group found little success on the problem. Shane completed Stem Gem after only a few attempts, but the rest of us failed marvelously. All of us realized that – in Joshua Tree – we were facing a different beast on the climbing front. This was not the Midwestern sandstone we were used to: this was California granite.
Struggling with Joshua Tree’s Style
We spent the rest of our morning testing other routes in the Hidden Valley area. Despite our group’s struggles, we enjoyed the fight against the granite. It helped that the park treated us to bomber scenery while we fell off the rocks. Among other problems, our group worked on JBMFP (V5), False Up 20 (V0-), Lapse of Logic (V1), and the Hensel Area (V0+). We only found success in the beginner range.
Moderate Success in the Barker Dam Area
When the afternoon arrived, we made our way to the Barker Dam area. There, we spent time attempting a long-winded 80-foot V3 named Gunsmoke, which Will successfully completed. After this, a few of us made our way to The Chube, a nearby V2. Shane sent the problem easily and moved on, but I was determined to work on it for longer. Aaron and Jack stayed behind to support me, spot me, and take photos of me as I struggled to gain traction on the boulder. Meanwhile, some of our group enjoyed scrambling up the nearby rock piles.
The Chube ended up being my greatest accomplishment of the day. I attempted the problem many times, constantly falling when trying to mantle over the lip of the boulder. On a particularly efficient attempt, I finally beach-whaled my way onto the top of the boulder, screaming in triumph once I cleared the lip. Though it was technically three grades lower than the V5 I’d done in Illinois a week earlier, it felt like the same level of accomplishment. The moment of success gave me hope for the remainder of the trip.
Before returning to Indian Cove Campground, we supported Shane as he attempted Streetcar Named Desire (V6-7). To his chagrin, he was not able to finish the problem. But, all of us – Shane included – were satisfied with the day. We returned to our campsite, ate dinner, and played board games. Once again, the night sky satisfied Joshua Tree’s status as a Dark Sky Park, so we observed its entrancing composition. After this, we turned in, ready for another day of bouldering.