Ernest Sierras at sunset climbing in Joshua Tree National Park, California.
It was amazing watching Ernest work his way up an almost vertical wall with the help from just a tiny little crack in the rock. I had a great time working with Ernest and two other great climbers in Joshua Tree on Friday – more to come.
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey Ron,
Awesome. It’s not often we see climbing photos in this kind of light. I’m looking forward to seeing more.
Cheers
Carl
Nice. Were you hanging off the rocks yourself or just had a good solid vantage point to work from? Looks like an adventure either way.
Thanks Carl!
Thanks Dan. They were prepared to hang ropes and have me repel into position, but I was able to get into this spot, along with a few others without ropes, so I did that instead – have me more flexibility.
HDR I presume? If not then you did a great job of getting rid of the grad ND line.
Yep, this was a poor attempt at HDR – I don’t have Photomatrix with me on the road so I used CS4. I look forward to redoing it once I’m hom.
Great image, beautiful light and colors!
I would love to get down to JTree to climb someday… beautiful territory!
Cool image, Ron, but I’m having a hard time determining where this is! Lost Horse area? Freeway Wall?
Thanks!
MG. This was on the Hemmingway Buttress. It was a short walk off a dirt road just a bit West of Hidden Valley. It seemed like the name of this route had something to do with dead fish if I remember correctly.
Hmm… you sure about Hemingway Buttress, Ron? I looked at Ernest’s site, and with the road that close to the crag, it cannot be Hemingway. I’m thinking it’s one of the crags off of Lost Horse Road.
MG, you know your Joshua Tree rock! I’m not surprised.
I spent the last hour pouring over maps and searching the internet to figure it out. I needed to know for key-wording purposes, and you had me curious.
You were right. This is Upper Freeway Wall in the Lost Horse area off the Lost Horse Road. I believe the route Earnest is on is the Talking Fish, but I’m not a 100% on the route identification. He returns to Switzerland in a month, I’m sure he can tell me for sure, but I like to double check.
Thanks MG!
Checked my guides, Ron, and indeed, it is The Talking Fish (5.10d). Have not climbed it, but have done routes to either side of it.
Let me know if you need more formations clarified
Thanks Michael. Dang, you climbed some hard stuff! Great spot – nice views and afternoon sun.
I saw this mentioned on Twitter and kept it bookmarked to comment. Amazing scene. The vast landscape paints a stark contrast to the scale of the hiker with in it. Beautiful capture.
Thanks Jim, I appreciate it!