Joshua Tree, TRSM

[dkemp]

Wow, well Joshua Tree just blew me away. I think that place is very beautiful. Those trees are trippy and the landscape surreal.

 

 

We left April 1 and returned last night, April 9. We flew into and out of Ontario - I think I would use Palm Springs next time to avoid LA traffic.

 

My buddy and I did a four day AMGA course called Top Rope Site Manager, put on by SMC . I know it seems odd to give top roping four days, but believe me, they filled it! Basically they taught us a bunch of guide tricks and dispelled some myths. Recommended!

 

We then pursued our chosen sport, all at 5.6 or .7 grades. Hemmingway Wall, Thin Wall, The Sentinal, Wonderland of Rocks... The rock is sharp, the grades are stout, and sometimes the pro kinda sketchy. Definitely some of the walkoffs were, er, uncomfortable. But we climbed all the routes we attempted and never bailed off anything.

 

The weather was really variable, and mostly featured wind. During the course we got snowed on! Well, flurries. We got hail and thunder, and that night a hard rain. But the last few days were bluebird, and not windy. Temps were very comfortable, esp in the shade.

 

After all that time in the desert, the Sizzler in Yucca Valley satisfies

 

Anyway, wow, Joshua Tree is fantastic and this is a fine time of the year to go.

[mattp]

Cool. Care to share a couple of these guiding tricks with us?

[dkemp]

Ya sure, you bet. Hmmm, I'm about to "clock out". Tomorrow, eh?

[thelawgoddess]

Wow, well Joshua Tree just blew me away. I think that place is very beautiful. Those trees are trippy and the landscape surreal.

 

the first time i went to j-tree, i was driving with a girl from the valley who had lived in j-tree for several years. when we neared, i asked her what those ugly trees were. i don't think she was very thrilled with my question, but hey - i didn't know, and where i come from trees don't look anything like that! the ones i asked her about didn't look like the one you have pictured here either - they must have been the babies. that one looks cool! i was in palm springs for work in january and the weather rocked a perfect 70 degrees. it must be prana-top tanning weather now!

 

post more pictures, will ya? need a little sun here in my office!

[G-spotter]

yeah, post more pictures, especially of prana-top tanning

[dkemp]

The woman at the car rental place said "oh, we upgraded you to a midsize, no extra charge." We said Great! So we get out there and and its this thing:

 

 

We kept it and did the pimp crawl around JT all week. But being "upgraded" is now a derogatory term. "Dude, you got upgraded" "I know man, it sucks..."

 

The TRSM instructors names were Todd and Alan. Alan's guide tricks site can be found here: Guide Tricks for Climbers His other site is here: ACI

 

So, re guide tricks he showed us, I'll give you a couple examples. I wont try to be a TRSM instructor though - I suggest the TRSM course if you have questions. And, in advance, yes - there are lots of ways to do these things.

 

Lets say you are running a top-based TR, like a seacliff or something. You want to lower your client to the base of the climb. You can rig your belay device on the anchor, then add another carabiner behind it. The rope goes through the belay device, around the other carabiner, then up to you. See photo here: ACI homepage (In photo, left hand strand goes to the guide, right hand strand is tied to the client.) Now the guide can stand (tethered) on the edge, watching the client, lowering them down to the base of the climb. This system gives a nice smooth lower and allows you to stand on the edge so you can see.

 

Here's another one. Lets say you're going to run a base-managed TR site. You walk around to the top of the crag, set up anchors, connect the climbing rope. Now, how do you get down? You could walk back down, but what if its a long way or something? You could rappel down, but your anchor master point is hanging over the edge requring sketchy batman manuever to get on rappel. Answer? Pull the climbing rope up away from the edge and set up your rappel. Use an autoblock backup. Now - here comes the tricky part - attach one end of a cord to the anchor line (friction hitch) and bring the other end to a carabiner on your belay loop. Now connect the cord to the carabiner with a munter. Now, using the munter, lower yourself down, over the edge, onto your ready-to-use rappel setup. The rappel will already be braked by the autoblock, so lower right down onto it. Once the rappel has your weight, you can undo the munter. Toss the end of the cord up onto the clifftop so the clients dont mess with it. Now rappel to the ground.

 

Whew! Hard to follow that? Take the course.

[thelawgoddess]

The woman at the car rental place said "oh, we upgraded you to a midsize, no extra charge." We said Great! So we get out there and and its this thing:

 

 

that sucks for you! in january i paid $5 extra and got a mustang convertible.

 

sounds like you learned a lot in the course. i think i've been fortunate in having been able to climb with some folks who really had their rope management skills and tricks down. definitely helps to have someone show you things the "right" way(s)!

[111]

heh, we totally tried to steal your AMGA instructor's campsite! it was the british guy I think. We showed up after dark and didnt see anything in their campsite so we started to move in and then they showed up. The brit was cool but the other instructor was a dick.

[111]

Thought: I wonder if the "other instructor" was Alan? And yea, I've seen the DVD they produced and it was rather helpful in teaching me the right stuff.

[dkemp]

I dunno, neither of our instructors were British nor did I perceive either to be a dick. But I imagine that since they had a reservation and were expecting eleven students that they would defend their little ground from poaching.

 

also, there were other groups at Sheep Pass. You might have moved in on some other group. Whatever, I hope you had a great trip to JT!