I make a beer run during the heat of the day, then find Ann and Ted in Echo Cove. Ted has a toprope up on Big Moe (11b?) and is ecstatic about making it up. It has this hole with a slopey hold at the bottom and a rounded lip at the top, then maybe four feet of blankness to a chinup bar-type hold. I take a whack at it and nearly pull my shoulder out of the socket trying to get a foot on the bottom of the hole, not even coming close to doing the move. Ted goes again – he can sort of fit into the hole and lieback up. The are lots more strenuous-looking moves that follow. Ann has a go also and gets not quite as far as I did. The spot is shady and perfect, but eventually we head back to camp. My shoulder feels a little painful.
2 responses to “Echo Cove, Joshua Tree”
dylan forgot to mention that anne wanted a kiss after i did Big Moe my first time. I gave her a kiss after the second ascent.
The crux of Big Moe is DEFINITELY “tall man’s” crux.
once yer hand gets on the chin up bar… nothing else matters. best hold ever. then you get to traverse for a ways on it.
yum.
noteworthy was Anne’s belay on the first (as well as the 2nd) ascent of Big Moe.
see, the route is very very very overhanging. so if it’s too tight, the belay will pull you off the route. she kept it perfect.
also, i had the rope under my arm several times. she never pulled the rope, thus pulling my hand off the holds.
GREAT BELAY ANNE.