froodish

The "book" that forms the sides of that crack narrows as it nears the top and you can step over the blunt aréte to the right to a bolted anchor - two beefy bolts looking to be in pretty good shape. That's the anchor that we found the gear on. From there it's an easy few feet to the rim. You could also just top out and belay from a good sit stance. Not sure what pitch the R rating is attached to, but the gear on the second pitch is fine. If you took a fall going around the aréte from the Gandalf's belay ledge (leading or following) you might take a funny swing, but other than that, there's plenty of gear. The "hidden jug" mentioned in the guide is an honest to goodness jug and once you get it you'd have to work to fall. Didn't see any poison oak in the area but I'll reserve judgment for a week or so ;-)

Did Gandalf's Grip yesterday and finished via Risky Business. There was an odd assortment of gear on the anchor to the right of the Risky Business crack. I'd think someone left it because they were working something, but it didn't look like anyone had been up there in ages. If it's yours, drop me a line and describe the tat and I'll get it back to you. Side note, we gardened the last pitch of Risky Business so it's relatively clean now and I think a much better finish to Gandalf's than the OW crack finish. The move around the arête is really fun and exposed and now that the moss carpet has been removed and the dirt cleaned out of the crack, it's quite enjoyable.

At the edge of the range, but how about Autobahn? Just had its bolts replaced: http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=1265655&msg=1265655#msg1265655

Depending upon what the weather is like when you get to SoCal, you might consider a stop at Suicide/Tahquitz in addition to JT (or instead of if it's too hot in JT).

Like this? http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/for/1941437471.html

Good to see you too Kenny - we would have made room for you at the belays :-) Kendall led all the bizness - having gotten blown off it on Thursday he was eager, and me, not so much after pedalling from Sellwood to his crib in NE before heading out to Bacon. I led just the 5th. Cheers, -S

Ahh, right - I sorta figure you're on the Corner for the 5th pitch. Depending upon how you go, p5 is 5.6/5.7 I'd say.

Did YW for the first time on Friday. Really fun outing. I particularly liked the 2nd pitch. I'd agree with the consensus (p1: 5.8, p2: 5.8/5.9, p3: 5.9, p4: 5.10a [one move].) Got a good look at the block by the temp anchors above the rockfall scar - scary that. Either head straight up from the 4p belay to the notch, or head left out the ramp, then up past the pin and bolt and then straight up the fin. Thanks to all who helped with the rockfall cleanup!

$100? Sounds fishy: http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/spo/1930281318.html "rock climbing set. all inclusive, not selling parts. unbelievable deal. most gear never been used. contact jon; 503-724-2815"

Portland resident here... I grew up in and started climbing in SoCal (> 2 hours to JT and Idyllwild), been in PDX for 16 years now. PDX actually has good climbing closer (although much smaller crags) than where I lived in SoCal, but weather is most definitely a factor. Winter in PDX often means driving to the East side for rock climbing (~3 hours to Smith.) That limits it mostly to weekends for me. Mountaineering is a different story that I know little about - not into the cold. All in all, I'm very happy with the climbing ops in stumptown. I can be to Broughton's in 40 min, Carver in 25 min, Beacon in less than an hour. Throw in Smith and you have a pretty good variety of climbing throughout the year. I still have a hankering for granite and slabs, so I usually make a JT trip in the Spring and one to the Sierra (Yos, Tuolumne, the Portal) or Idyllwild in the Summer.

Nice vid. Keyhole hangers and sandstone - had to be OZ. Grampians maybe? Didn't look like the blueys.

Went out yesterday for some climbing & got to meet Kenny and Ivan in the parking lot (hi guys!). The pictures of the rock fall don't do it justice. Truly amazing amount of crap rained down. Big thanks to everyone who helped with the cleanup!

It's a bit immature, but depending upon what you want to do, Betaflash might be useful: http://sites.google.com/site/betaflashsite/home

Pretty much every day ;-) (I do front-end web programming) Yep, it can be challenging (although these days I'm rarely stumped by a rendering issue). I don't think it's fair to hang that hat on HTML though - that fault lies with bugs in the browsers' parsing and rendering code (esp. IE).

I'd agree with you about Flash and Silverlight, but I'm not sure why you say HTML sucks. In terms of adoption it's certainly the most successful language in the history of computing. I think HTML and HTTP have done wonders for communication. What's the alternative? Gopher?

Another vote for the V-Miles. I love mine. Really comfy, breathe well and climb better than I thought they would. Mine are holding up well too - just had them re-soled.

Nice report and photos! We were there a couple of weeks before you (snow, twice!). A couple of pics... My partner Kendall leading Double Cross: 2nd pitch of Dappled Mare: One of the snow mornings:

This is kinda turning into a rc.com thread, but... I did! and even took pictures, which you presumably saw when you included them in your post.

If by "flip 180 degrees" you mean to rotate around the axis parallel to the long sides of the 'biners, assuming that a rope/sling/etc. goes through both 'biners, there's no way that's gonna happen. And if by "rotate 180 degrees" you mean rotating around an axis that is perpendicular to the plane of the carabiner, then if that happens, properly reversed and opposed 'biners would still be reversed. Reversed: Reversed and Opposed:

Perhaps of interest to the OP: http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/1019467/Joshua_Tree_Climbers_Carnival_Dec_31-Jan_3

I think one of the things that throws most people on their first trip or two to JT is how grippy the rock is. You'll often look at something and think it's much harder than it really is. It's amazing what you can stand on there. Cracks at JT are often flaring and take a bit of getting used to gear-wise. I haven't climbed a 11worth, but be aware that the bolts can be spaced generously on moderates at JT. +1 for the (SE Corner) on Headstone Rock. Fun moves and brilliant exposure for a short route. Cryptic (5.8), just to the right is fun too.

It's almost always sunny, the big factor that'll change the day from nice to frigid is the wind. I used to call the Circle-K in JT for a wind report, but these days there's great info at the NOAA website: http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=34.01282694464166&lon=-116.16531372070312&site=psr&smap=1&marine=0&unit=0&lg=en

More stoke pics...

Sheesh Bill, at least you could have waited until a few more people posted. I mean who's gonna follow that showing? ;-)

Yeah, that's a tough week to land a campsite. As Goatboy notes, when things are full, walking/biking the campgrounds and talking to folks is the key to squeezing in somewhere. One tip if you're pulling in late and need a place to throw down: Blackrock campground is outside the main park and not ideal for climbing, but it will usually have open spots when everything else is packed. Save you from doing the midnight campground cruise. You talking about the "pit"? http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/986560/Camping_in-near_JT