UKC

I'm Planning a road trip around USA...whats the climbing like in Joshua tree and Bishop.

Don't want to take any trad gear with me...may do some sport climbing but will mostly be doing bouldering.

Whats these places like to climb (considering I'm a class A wimp on anything remotely highball)

Cheers guys

In reply to phja:

Just back from a few weeks in Joshua Tree. I didn't boulder but I did see plenty of boulders - kinda unavoidable - seems like there's a good selection of problems but some might be a bit highball. There are routes with bolts but not really much you'd call sports climbing. It is trad climbing heaven mind!

Might be worth checking out Mountain Project or: http://www.joshuatreeclimb.com/members/memhome.html

Also posting on SuperTopo might be worthwhile (or you might get a diatribe about how much bolder climbers were back in the 70s, you never know).

In reply to phja:

So the ethic at J-Tree is prominently trad. There are many bolted lines but you should be aware that the bolt ethic there is to place bolts on lead - not rappel. Therefore the lines can tend to be very run out and exciting. That said all the bolts and lower offs are of top quality. You should also be aware that they have routes that are a mixture of trad and bolts - the bolts protected blank sections. As J-Tree has historic significance in SoCal climbing there has been been a conscious decision not to up rate grades in the park - therefore many 5.7 are in fact 5.9's and so on.

Bishop bouldering tends to be high ball - you will see many of the pad people operating in packs so that they can stack their pads to protect the problems. Have no doubt both venues are world class but would def suggest you take a trad rack to get the best out of J-Tree as most of the super classic lines are cracks and protect great without a bolt in sight.

In reply to phja:

I've been on a short bouldering trip to J-Tree. Really good, but some of the best problems are very highball. The rock is mostly good, but a bit "scrittly" in places. The setting is awesome though.

The problems that really stood out for me on our short trip were:

White Rastafarian http://pullharder.org/2007/12/11/white-rastafarian/
Slashface vimeo.com/37157225
Stem-gem

The setting is awesome and it's a great experience camping in the Joshua Tree park. It's also possible to have some good fun on dirt tracks in a shit hire car finding some of the boulders (eg the slashface bouder).

In reply to phja:

Great sport climbing around Bishop: 1,000 sport routes at the Owens River Gorge and many smaller crags.

Bouldering is a good mix of smaller problems and highballs, on both volcanic tuff and granite (quartz-monzonite).

In reply to phja: There is probably more bouldering at JT than you could do in a lifetime, mostly unlisted of course but there are good guidebooks for the listed stuff just buy one when you get there.

In reply to 1234None:

They are, but there's always Gunsmoke:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaNTtC7S_Ok&feature=related

In reply to phja: at bishop the buttermilks can get very highball but the happys/sads tend.to be fine