This being a first for me and for you, the reader, it only seems appropriate to write about a first, and this being a climbing blog, naturally, it should be about climbing. So, I'll share with you my very first adventure on ropes outside.
A few things to have in mind before we get started.
a) This was by no means a climbing trip and we were by no means climbers.
b) I am not condoning my behavior. In this story, I'm the person I can't stand.
c) If it were a survival story, I would most certainly be the first to die.
My boyfriend and I were going to Coachella, a phenom music festival in Indio, California, that everyone should attend at least once in their lifetime. Having heard so much about climbing in Joshua Tree, and the fact that my boyfriend's name was Joshua, we decided to try our hands at climbing outside... you know, because it is so similar to the gym. So, we just show up, stroll into the visitor's center, take a quick peak at the climbing guide and figure we have it from there.
Now, if you've ever been to to J Tree, you know it is a barren, desert land with funny looking trees and peculiar, somehow spectacular angular rocks that seemingly fell from the sky... making it pretty blatant where the routes are.
So, with our memory serving as our only navigation, we find ourselves in a parking lot with a very large pile of rock droppings next to it. Our mindset getting out of the car was something along the lines of, "found a rock, it'll do." We start scrambling up these things like we're old pros, passing families left and right, confident we are way more fit and adventurous then they are. Not too much later, we near the top and start looking for bolts. After scoping out a few, we decide on one that looks doable and scramble up the rest of the way to set up a top rope.
We've never set up a top rope before... so we wing it. Forget equal distribution of weight, multiple points on, locking beaners, or opposite and opposing... none of it happened. We literally fed the rope through one bolt, fed it through to an estimated half way point and then chucked both ends off the top (Figure 1)... caution to the wind, right?
We tied in and had our way with the crack and some time later, we both had successfully finished our climbs (I didn't take once!). As naive and sloppy as it was of me, the feeling was unmistakable... ACHIEVEMENT, and it was exhilarating!
So, the big question... what did Josh and I actually get up? Well, it turned out to be Catch a Falling Star (http://bit.ly/hN4QC6) on Cap Rock, a popular 5.8 crack which we man-handled with little to no class or technique (I'm so glad there was no one else there to watch us do it). That was our only climb for the day... but, man did we bask in that glow for a while (Figure 2).
Figure 2.
Whenever I share this experience with others, I take pride in saying that my first outdoor climb was at J Tree... its almost prestigious in a way. I usually leave out the fact that any experienced climber would have ripped us a new one for our tomfoolery... but, I guess the cats out of the bag now.
I have yet to get back there and I am interested to see how it goes with some experience under my harness.... I'll let you know how it goes.
kt
whoops :)
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