Ascents in Joshua Tree National Park as trad by David Gibbs

One hang! My does that crack get thin and technical for a bit.

Followed pitch 1, lead 2 & 3. I actually was intending to link 2 & 3 -- but I never found the anchor and the end of pitch 2, and after the fourth bolt on pitch 2, ran it out to the anchors at the end of pitch 3. Probably more than 30m run-out by the time I, very carefully, finished the pitch. Talking with others who had climbed it the day before, they ended up doing the same thing.

Tricky moves above the bolt.

Lots of good, varied, climbing on this.

May have dodged upper crux with crack to right instead of direct, but still felt like I did some solid 5.7 climbing on this.

Partner failed to pull the early crux, so I had to follow my own route.

While a poor lead due to bad gear, this is an excellent and highly enjoyable top-rope, and an anchor at the end of White Lightning sets it up well.

An excellent lead, though tough for its grade.

Lead pitches 1 & 2 - linking them. Followed pitch 3.

Peeled off in the bulge when a foot slipped. Tired, I think, because I should have got this.

Where the crack gets wider to rattly-hands and kicks-back is where I took several rests to get it.

Wonderful climbing, with good gear and reasonable rests to place it. Classic!

I think we were doing a harder start, or maybe just J-Tree stuff, but way harder than 5.7 start. Took a few hangs, then got rest easily.

Surprisingly wide.

Of the easier climbs here, probably the one with a start most in-character with the rest of the route.

Lead on Carol's already-placed gear. So, guess that's a pink point.

I tried it. Tried about 3 different starts until I found one that worked -- actual described start was way too hard for a 5.5 (Miramontes rating). Found the gear not confidence inspiring, the rock crumbly with lots of gravel. I made it about 3/4 of the way, before finally bailing, hiking up, rapping in and recovering my gear.

Not recommended as a climb.

An absolute classic -- just fun climbing after fun climbing. And, generally (for a low-graded climb at J-Tree) very good gear. I never felt particularly worried about my gear placements, though it did take a bit more work than just plugging another cam in an obvious crack.

Top-roped after leading "Frosty Cone". This felt, even on TR, to be at least a + harder than the previous one. (e.g. 5.7+ to its 5.7.) The gear looked like it would be good, though, and the climbing was fun.

An awesome and fun climb. The gear goes well, and the climbing is never desperate on good holds.

I was going to lead one of the 5.6s, but looked at this one, and decided to go for it. It does seem a bit soft, though, for a J-Tree 5.7.

An easy and fun free solo.

(It might take gear, I didn't really look.)

Easy slab climbing, then a fun hand-crack. It would be better if there wasn't so much walking up slab to get to the meat of the climb.

Watch out, though, for the walk-off, come prepared to set up (and leave behind) a rap-station if you don't like very exposed hard 4th class to easy 5th class down-climbs.

Mostly not too difficult, though off-width grunty, but with a couple crux sections that played at a lot harder than 5.3.

Also, be prepared the "walk off" is scarier than leading this climb.

Direct start seemed really hard, so started from the left of the crack, then up the crack itself. Protects reasonably well, though a bit run-out at the top.

Got the starting moves, and one piece in -- but then couldn't figure out how to proceed. Cleared gear and down-climbed off.

Another not-too-hard JTree lead.

Went smoothly and quickly on TR -- a fun route with good moves.

Got to 2nd this one. Went smoothly and easily, because I was following rather than leading, though it was at the end of the day.

Latest guide rates this as 5.4.

Most recent guide lists this as 5.4, which feels far more reasonable than 5.1. A good climb with decent gear.

First ever climb at JTree, thought I was getting on a 5.4, found this to be a very stiff 5.4. Took one rest on gear, otherwise good.

Climb takes decent gear, though the boulder problem to the first ledge was a bit tricky with a rack on.