The Acid Crack

Not so much a comment as some historical musings...

I remember when Bachar did this thing and then we all saw it in all the mags and whatnot. At the time it was just another horrendous Bachar toprope done on some random weekend. A while later it started to get a pretty good rep as being really hard. Skip Guerin rolled in from Colorado, supposedly not really climbing for a while, but decided to give it a go, on top rope. Flashed the thing. Seemed really impressive at the time, and as time went forward, seemed even more impressive for the time and the era, and the condition he was in. A few years later Doug McDonald and myself decided it was time to tick this thing off. We set up the TR. I got virtually nowhere and Doug ended up getting one of the biggest gobies I had ever seen. The kind you can pour blood out of like a flesh lined shot glass. That was it for us. I don't think either of us have ever gone back and there is certainly no reason for me to visit that thing these days. The last guy I saw on the thing was Hidetaka Suzuki eons ago, and if I recall he finally led it into submission. Oct 7, 2012

This is one of the best routes at Joshua Tree. It has always been one of my favorites. On the coldest day of the year, you can still go here in the afternoon and be relatively warm. Nov 2, 2012

This is such a spectacular line. The movement is not at all obvious and I had such a great time figuring out the beta with my climbing partner, Mike Zitt. There is hardly any information online about this climb which made it even more appealing. Once the movement was figured out it was not at all bad. Figuring it out was the tough part. I made a video below in case anyone does want to see it but if you are the type that wants the fun in figuring out the movements themselves then DON'T watch it. Otherwise, give it a go. It is truly amazing. :)

youtube.com/watch?v=de2g_lf… Mar 8, 2014

This rig is really, really hard (at least for me). Way harder than Equinox. Went for the onsight today, which was a bit of a joke; but I always make a solid effort for the onsight before working a route on lead or dropping a TR. First go on lead I got maybe 1/4 of the way up. I wish I could say it all went better once I set up the TR, but while I worked my way to the top, in terms of making anything like a meaningful link, this thing shut me down. Hard. Couldn't even eat dinner in town because I was so full of humble pie. Nevertheless, this is a compelling (if short) route. Gotta go back an put in the time to figure out what the heck to do! Bachar TR'ed this the year I started climbing, and led it soon after. Respect to folks who have done this rather easily--Franklin's onsight, Guerrin's flash, and any other off-the-radar crushers. Oct 26, 2015