Indian Joe Caves
Climb Review
I climbed here last year with a bunch of friends. I felt like there was more poison oak than last year, but I’ve been keeping an eye out for them more this year, so it just might be the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon.
Bat Crack (5.8; Central Area)—My first trad climb ever! I wasn’t too nervous, and felt great about my first gear placement. I did run into trouble with the second cam, as I couldn’t see the placement. So I had to place the it blind. I hit beginner’s luck as the second piece was good enough for me to rest my arms after I placed my cam and tried to find footing. When I topped out, I just had this great feeling of accomplishment, and had this high while I set the anchor.
Squeeze (5.8; Central Area)—I climbed this one solo to set the anchor for the Slab. It was a bit heady, but I got through it and felt good. I can’t believe how much easier this seems compared to last year.
Slab (5.10d; Central Area)—I didn’t climb this clean, but ended up finding tiny foot and finger holds until I got up to the top. I then went up this route a second time to clean the anchor to climb it clean, but alas, I didn’t manage to. Still, I’m counting it and feel great that I can climb such a high grade outdoors (I was the king of slabs at Indian Joe Caves for the day)! 5.11s here I come!
What I Learned
I found it comforting that I have conquered my fear of heights as much as I wanted to last year, when I wrote the following:
“It was really nice climbing with Morgan; he was super sweet setting up an anchor (then cleaning it) for Demir on Cleavage; and doing for the same for all of us on On the Edge rock. He was a really strong climber and I hope one day to not be as afraid of heights as him.”
Doing my first trad route on a 5.8 was a bit scary, especially when I couldn’t lean over (due to bad footing) to see the second cam placement, but it ended up working out and am very happy that I got to try a trad route. I was so nervous though that I forgot to place a quickdraw on that second cam. It was a super short route, so it was fine, but I gotta get it exactly right in the future!
Before we climbed, we actually practiced belaying from top off of a three cam anchor on flat land. We practiced placing cams, creating a RENE anchor, tying in, communicating w/the belayer, coiling rope, and setting up a Gri-Gri (and later a reverso) to belay from top, and then lowering from top. I had practiced this earlier in the week, so I walked Marina and Jerry through the steps. I felt pretty comfortable with it, and Jerry/Marina picked it up fast and I think they’ll practice more until they get really comfortable.
In more firsts, I learn to rappel off the anchor using a Gri-Gri. I found it really solid and had a great time lowering. I kinda prefer how smooth the action is compared to an ATC. Still, I’ll probably stick to the ATC, as it is marginally safer since it’s harder to mess up.
I also got to try out my ascenders. I forgot a big step in connecting my PAS to the ascender, so I must remember that in the future. I went half way up the route without an etrier (the slab was grippy enough where I really didn’t need additional feet), then came down. Jerry then tried it too. I’m pretty psyched as I think this will help me up my photography for climbing.
I brought some slices of sourdough bread and deli style tuna pouches, and it turned out to be pretty yummy. I am definitely packing more of these in the future.
Fears Faced
I had to face a lot of fears in trying new things, such as trad climbing, rappelling with a Gri-Gri, and free soloing a 5.8, which is the highest grade free solo to date. I did triple make sure everything before committing to each of those, so I felt low-risk, and I feel good about myself for pushing my boundaries.
Friends
I had a blast climbing with Jerry and Marina. They’re just so wonderful in different ways and I love how chill and friendly our day was. I love this climbing group I have and even though I climbed with them today, I can’t wait to go climbing with them again.
What Happened?
Marina and I are planning on climbing a multi-pitch route in the future, so we wanted a practice day to dial-in climbing skills. We were initially planning to do this at Castle Rock, but we had some unusual June rain earlier this week, so we headed off to Indian Joe Caves instead, with its awesome volcanic rock.
I picked Marina up and we carpooled to Indian Joe Caves, where we met up with Jerry and hiked in to the caves. Because of the overcast weather, it wasn’t too hot at all and I had a good time hiking in. The weight of the pack I was carrying (~40 lbs) didn’t bother me much and the conversations were pretty fun.
When we got to the caves, we practiced the anchor building and belaying from top stuff for a couple of hours until lunch time. After lunch, we then moved to the Central Area, where we knocked off Bat Crack, Squeeze, and Slab. During this climb, we met up with these two brothers, who were super chill and fun to converse with. We had initially helped them find the Central Area when they first arrived, and further helped them by locating routes and discussing beta. They had a dog that was very friendly and Marina was so nice in giving it drinking water.
After practicing jugging with our ascenders, we called it a day and realized that it was already 4pm when I thought it was around 2pm! We hiked back to our cars, gave each other hugs, and headed home to get some rest.
Thanks to Jerry for these four pictures. (from left) Rappelling with a Gri-Gri, celebrating my first trad climb, my free-solo face, and setting a blocking rope to get ready to rappel and practice using ascenders.