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Flight Path, Red Rocks
Some of the climbers in our party are up at 5 am to head for long multipitch climbs, but we sleep in til 7 and make breakfast. One pair, Ian and Ingrid, leave for an 11-pitch route around 8. We wish them luck. Those of us remaining head to the Flight Path wall in Pine…
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Red Rock Thanksgiving
We’ve been planning this Thanksgiving trip to Red Rock Canyon outside of Las Vegas for a long time, but it goes anything but smoothly. We thought Las Vegas wouldn’t be a big Thanksgiving Day destination, but I-15 is crammed with crazy traffic. I try to stop at the climbing store to pick up a guidebook,…
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Fossil Falls
What a good time of year it is to spend a day at Fossil Falls. I’m just recovering from a cold and relish the ability to be active outdoors again. There’s a chilly wind, but it feels perfect in a windbreaker. We TR some old favorites in the upper canyon, starting with the aptly named…
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Climbing Dictionary
A few non-climbers have, bravely or foolishly, attempted to read my climbing posts and soon asked me, “Is there a secret decoder ring somewhere?” Well, it may not look as cool as the one in the Ovaltine jar, but the folks at RockClimbing.com have put together a pretty good glossary of climbing terms. If it…
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Rattlesnake Canyon, Joshua Tree
Ann’s cold is worse today, so I head off for Rattlesnake Canyon with her dad Bob under grey skies. It had rained during the night, so the pools in the arroyo are all fresh, and soon we’re scrambling up the bed of a running creek. Many of the boulders are masses of golf ball-sized crystals…
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Indian Cove, Joshua Tree
We wake up slowly in our tent, groggy from the late night drive. It’s good to be back at Indian Cove, though, for the first time since our wedding. We are in campsite #7 with Ann’s parents, right below Dark Shadows Rock, so after breakfast I wander up and rig a toprope on it. We…
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Great Falls Basin
On our way home from Wildrose Canyon we stop at Great Falls Basin to get a couple of climbs in. The air there smells a bit like cat urine, an odor we have noted before in the desert after recent rain. This time we connect the odor to a particular plant that flourishes in the…
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Wildrose Peak
It is one of those mornings when Ann and I both want to do the same thing, then proceed to frustrate each other’s attempts to do it. The proposal is to drive to Wildrose Canyon and hike up Wildrose Peak. It’s Ann’s idea, but she doesn’t want to be pressured to do it. I like…
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Wagon Wheel
It’s the first daytime Wagonwheel session I’ve attended for a while. Curtis is the only one there at the proposed 11 am. I roll in at 11:30, then Ted, Randy, and Greg show up. I feel kind of unmotivated, but warm up anyway. Soon I’ve done a problem on the Big Loaf that I’ve only…
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Telescope Peak
When the alarm goes off at 4 am, I have no clue what we’re in for. We throw breakfast, lunch, and gear together in a blur and are in the car by 5 when we discover the car windows are iced and the defroster doesn’t work. Not the sort of thing we noticed while the…