Seeking J-tree Indian Cove Recommendations

Going to be camping at Indian Cove with friends and climbing kids. I've been there once and climbed a couple fun things but would love more advice on any particularly special climbs I should seek out. Curious what people think of the Moosedog Tower climbs and also the sport climbing near the Rattlesnake Cyn trailhead. Ideally I'd love to be able to set up a couple topropes for the kids to amuse themselves with while my climbing partner and I bust out a few good trad climbs. 

caughtinside wrote:

Been a while, but I remember Apparition being good. I haven't done Moosedog, but the thing to the left, Third Time's a Charm was fun. Palm Reader is fun. The face next to it is interesting too. 

Pet or Meat is cool. Monaco was a classic. Sweatband and Goodbye Mr. Bond, basically all the routes on King Ottos' castle.

I've done some of the routes on the Corral wall in Rattlesnake, it is sunny so good on a cold day.  If it's a hot day Campfire girl and a towrope on Presupposition are fun. 

Silent Scream and the thing up the center of Pixie rock (forget name) are cool. 

Thank you!

Seconding some of the recommendations above: Apparition is a long climb with perfect jamming the whole time.  Extend a lot or back clean the first meandery bit.  Pet or Meat is a great mix of crimpy and sloper action, very nicely bolted, hard to read, but very rewarding. 

Other than that, Party in the Desert is excellent and so are the wide cracks left of it.

Have fun!

Moose dog has an easy 5.6. But probably not for the kids unless they’re head strong. Some exposed parts. Spider wall just East has good stuff for the kids. The amphitheater is great for kids. Short wall has some best kid climbing there. Feudal wall has some good ones for you. The 5.4 on short wall, right side is pretty stiff for the grade. 

Thanks Joe and Yannick. We're camping near the Campfire circle so I'll be sure to hit up the Campfire wall. Think the partner and I will get up early and do the Moose Dog sans kids, even though they're stronger climbers than us...

there are  a couple mixed climbs you may like close to your campsite.

try:  I Love My Marine -- a good little climb near the ampitheater..  a todd gordon FA.

https://www.mountainproject.com/route/106627424/i-love-my-marine

never knew todd loved his marine..good for him.

also:

https://www.mountainproject.com/route/105721696/we-dive-at-dawn

then watch the movie.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Dive_at_Dawn

also...google the caves of indian cove, your kids will love them.

;

one more thing:

go tie the kids to a tr on morbid mound.  no crowds.

BTW, the kids, in this case are middle-school aged but really solid climbers. They gym lead 5.12s and boulder V5-V6. And can do really hard stuff outside on TR. Just don't have any trad leading experience or skills, yet. And I'm not quite ready to go down that road. 

The 5.9 2 pitch on moosedog is good. 

Put those gym rats on some cracks and see how they do!

simplyput . wrote:

The 5.9 2 pitch on moosedog is good. 

Put those gym rats on some cracks and see how they do!

You mean the Direct South Face? https://www.mountainproject.com/route/105721768/direct-south-face

I'm really interested in that one, too. Seems like it's 5.9 just because of that roof move, right? I'm a little intimidated by J-tree 5.9 but mostly the ones I've had a tough go on were face climbs. 

AndrewArroz wrote:

BTW, the kids, in this case are middle-school aged but really solid climbers. They gym lead 5.12s and boulder V5-V6. And can do really hard stuff outside on TR. Just don't have any trad leading experience or skills, yet. And I'm not quite ready to go down that road. 

YOU don’t have trad leading experience or the KIDS don’t? Are you looking for something that you can scramble up and build an anchor? Are you experienced well enough to build a bomber top rope anchor?

  I’m not trying to guess your experience, just want you to be aware that many climbs don’t have rap bolts or bolted anchors. The experience getting down can often be just as exciting as going up. Sometimes you have to search around for a way off. Bring lots of webbing. My last anchor I built there used up around 50 ft or so of my rope as I ran around a big boulder. 

AndrewArroz wrote:

You mean the Direct South Face? https://www.mountainproject.com/route/105721768/direct-south-face

I'm really interested in that one, too. Seems like it's 5.9 just because of that roof move, right? I'm a little intimidated by J-tree 5.9 but mostly the ones I've had a tough go on were face climbs. 

That's the one. I did it years ago as a new climber seconding, but I remember that being the definite technical crux. I seem to recall the rest being low angle and that we did it in 2 pitches.

Joe Garibay wrote:

YOU don’t have trad leading experience or the KIDS don’t? Are you looking for something that you can scramble up and build an anchor? Are you experienced well enough to build a bomber top rope anchor?

  I’m not trying to guess your experience, just want you to be aware that many climbs don’t have rap bolts or bolted anchors. The experience getting down can often be just as exciting as going up. Sometimes you have to search around for a way off. Bring lots of webbing. My last anchor I built there used up around 50 ft or so of my rope as I ran around a big boulder. 

Hah. Sorry for the confusion. I've got plenty of  trad experience. The kids don't.

I also have plenty of experience with creative J-tree toprope building. I travel with two 20-meter lengths of static rope for just that purpose. 

What does 410 meters of static weigh?! 

And when you say travel...?

simplyput . wrote:

What does 410 meters of static weigh?! 

And when you say travel...?

Weight is no issue when you need to toprope a 600 foot cliff...

Typo fixed. Thanks for pointing it out.

Polka Dot wall is a fun place where you can get away from the crowds with some views and lots of moderate pitches.

Based on your description of your kids, I think they could handle Moosedog Tower. Might be a fun adventure for them, especially if they haven’t done much multi-pitch. There’s also a fun, open air rappel off the back. It’s easy to build anchors from cams up there, no boulder slinging required.

I took the last pitch of moosedog to climbers left from the ledge and turned the arête. Think I slung a chicken head at the turn. Amazing exposure when you cross over to the west face. Airy and scary but all the holds are solid there. One of my favorite pitches out there. 

 Edit to add: Does anybody know what that pitch is called or what it goes at? It’s the west face almost directly up the arête on last pitch to the top. I could be wrong about it following the arête but pretty sure that’s how I did it. I think we saw it in a guide book but it doesn’t appear to be in any of the topos on the MP page. It felt like it was 5.8 or 5.9 which loosely translates to 5.6/5.7 JTree ratings.  Other than the last pitch we took tranquility to start. Next time I’d like to get up the direct south face. 

For kids 10 and under, check out the short wall, a couple of low 5th class cracks on the far right side.