From the Gym, to the Crag, to the Ground

It might have taken slightly longer than a week, but I am here to officially kick off this blogging adventure. After my bold proclamation in last weeks welcoming post to try and write these once a week, I have to admit that I went into a slight panic. Immediately I regretted having uttered this statement, let alone placing it online where the evidence is eternal. I thought about removing it and scrapping this whole idea. What sort of topics would I feel passionate about enough to warrant long form discussion? How would I be able to present things in a compelling manner?

But despite this self-doubt I decided to stick to my gut, and hoped that magically an idea would fall into my lap. As chance would have it, such an idea did indeed fall into my lap, or more accurately I found the idea while lying on the ground staring up at rocks.

Looking up at Pixie Boulder in Joshua Tree National Park (JTNP).

One of my hobbies is rock climbing, specifically bouldering. My passion for climbing has waxed and waned depending on my time availability, climbing partners, and general motivation. Recently, I have become reinvigorated to spend more time practicing climbing.

I have only ever climbed in indoor gyms, and had always been curious to try and take these skills outdoors. However, whenever I thought about this idea I became anxious that I would make a fool of myself in front of other more experienced climbers. I have never been a particularly strong climber, maxing out at V3¹ boulders indoors at Hollywood Boulders, so I knew that I would have limited options in terms of boulders within my abilities outdoors. Luckily though, living in Los Angeles we have easy access to a mecca for rock climbing, Joshua Tree National Park. So this last week we packed up the car with climbing shoes, crash pad, and an optimistic outlook to try and tackle my first outdoor bouldering session.

Joshua Tree: Day 1

When we arrived in Joshua Tree we had to stop by Nomad Adventures to pick up some last minute necessities for climbing and camping. They were super friendly and helpful as we were shopping around, even providing a list of their recommended boulders to check out while we were in the park. In particular they mentioned an area of the park called Barker Dam, which had some of the most classic boulders including Gunsmoke. This area is also usually less crowded then some of the other nearby climbing locations such as Hidden Valley.

Barker Dam

With this suggestion we made it over to Barker Dam, and after a short approach hike I was able to officially try my first outdoor boulder, Gunsmoke. This is a V3 boulder, which is the level I am used to climbing indoors at the gym, and the employee at Nomad Adventures also mentioned that it was an easier V3 with most of the difficulty coming from the length of the boulder. There were a few other climbers working the Gunsmoke boulder when we arrived bringing out all of my original anxieties about failing in front of these strangers. I eventually hopped on the boulder and immediately found out that outdoor bouldering really was harder than the gym. Connecting even two moves felt like a Herculean effort, and this problem spanned over 100 feet!

After falling a couple of times I began to strike up a conversation with the other climber working the problem. We began to exchange beta², which was extremely helpful for me to gain someone else’s perspective on how to tackle this problem. It also assuaged some of my biggest concerns about bouldering outdoors with other climbers. I felt so much more comfortable failing without worrying about being judged.

I continued to work on Gunsmoke for a little while longer making incremental improvements with each attempt. We then moved over to another boulder in the Barker Dam area called The Chube, which was graded as a V2. Again, all of the moves on this problem felt incredibly hard but it was exciting nonetheless to work on it. After several unsuccessful attempts with many quizzical looks at the rock trying to find any semblance of a foothold, we eventually decided to call it a day and explore the rest of the park.

Although the first day of climbing did not result in any successful attempts, I left feeling proud that I was able to conquer the fear of failure. I also realized that the next day I would need to lower my sights and try working on problems that were much easier.

Snapshot of the 1st day of bouldering in Barker Dam at JTNP.

Joshua Tree: Day 2

We spent the night under the stars at the Indian Cove Campground which was truly an amazing experience, despite the chilly nighttime temperatures. After deciding to grab breakfast in town rather than making a sketchy Huevos Rancheros backpacking meal, we were once again back in the park looking to find a problem that I could finish. Browsing through a climbing app on my phone during breakfast I found an interesting problem that was one of the easiest grades and seemed like the best option for success. So we headed into the park to the Planet X area which had the problem that had caught my eye, Dragon Skin.

Planet X

Finding the Planet X boulders was slightly more challenging as there was no dedicated parking lot, but rather a paved pullout with room for about 3 cars. Since we had arrived directly after breakfast there was still parking available, and only one other group that was just unpacking there gear as we arrived. There are many boulders in this area and as we walked down the trail I assumed that we would end up at a different boulder than the other group, but to my surprise we both ended up starting on the exact same problem.

I could clearly tell that this group was more experienced as they made easy work of the Dragon Skin problem. Their warm-up problem would be my main problem, but I was happy to watch them complete it and know where each of the moves were supposed to be. After they had all dismounted, which ended up being a harder process with this boulder as the back side was difficult to descend, I walked up to the start holds and began to make my way up.

Climbing Dragon Skin at Planet X in JTNP.

I made it! Standing at the top of the boulder I was so happy! I had finally done my first outdoor boulder! It was an amazing feeling and one that I would not soon forget.

I tried another problem to the side of the Dragon Skin problem, only to be shut down immediately in a repeat of the experience at Barker Dam the previous day. But this failure rolled off my back and I basked in my earlier success.

We spent the rest of the day enjoying some of the other hikes and sights around Joshua Tree before heading back to LA.

Final Thoughts

Although my first time climbing outdoors was a humbling experience, it gave me motivation to continue to work hard and come back to top out these boulders. I am excited to improve and return to finish some of these boulders that felt impossible during this first session.

The Chube, V2, Barker Dam, JTNP.

1. Boulders are rated on the V-scale in the United States which generally ranges from VB to V15 with higher values corresponding to more difficult problems. For a full description of the grading system see the following page from 99Boulders: https://www.99boulders.com/bouldering-grades. ↩

2. Beta is a term used by climbers to describe the moves/steps needed to complete the boulder problem. ↩