Joshua Tree Journal, March 21 – 23, 2023

Tuesday it rained on and off all day. I did laundry and Dan worked. We planned to climb the next day. I spent the day contemplating the lead climbing. Would I be able to overcome my fear and lead before we left?

I wished we could stay another month. It was cold at home and there was nothing I wanted to do there. I wanted to continue exploring the rock in Joshua Tree.

Wednesday we woke to rain and high winds. After a couple hours, the rain cleared up but the winds were strong and cold. There was fresh snow in the hills. We decided not to climb. We were still tired and used the day to rest.  

I thought back to my climbs and experiences in Joshua Tree on this trip. It was hard not to feel disappointed with myself. I really thought I would be able to lead some climbs and I just couldn’t. I recalled a quote from Hazel Findlay, a professional climber I really admire. She said: 

“Expectations are the thief of flow for me. As soon as I expect to climb something a certain way or with a certain ease I find it harder to be in flow. I prefer to start climbing with an open curious mind. Trust the body and let it move upwards.”

I expected to lead. I expected it to be easy. I set myself up for disappointment.

Last Day Recon

Our last day was great. Instead of climbing, we decided to just hike. It was cold and we were tired of shivering at the rock, shivering building anchors, shivering while belaying.

We hiked out along the Boy Scout Trail, heading to West Siberia, East Siberia and Outer Mongolia. We wanted to find the Asian Fever Buttress.

After a good walk, we branched off the Boy Scout Trail. We could see the crags in the distance and pick out the various climbing areas, including Asian Fever Buttress. We followed trails as best we could to the crag.  

The climbs looked really good with lots of fun holds on all of them and good gear placement on the trad lines. Definitely a place to go back to on a future trip. The only problem was the belay stance which was in a boulder field and seemed awkward. Dan felt he could onsight lead the easier lines so no need to look for a walk-up.

Learnings and Takeaways

Overall, a great trip. I learned so much about trad climbing and got some great practice. Our anchor building skills were formed and developed using both gear and natural features and learning how to extend the anchor to the edge of the cliff when the anchor had to be built far back.

I did more gear placement on this trip than I’ve done in all my life before this trip.  And although I didn’t end up leading, I had some great experiences. 

I am a person who likes to set goals and have a plan and then I push myself hard to carry out the plan. When I fail, I feel like a failure. Of course, this really takes away from the whole climbing experience and makes it a lot less fun.

I came to realize that climbing should be fun first, above all else.