Equinox

One of the most aesthetic cracks of the west. As with all things beautiful it comes with certain amount of pain. The kind of pain you remember. I can think of only one crack that was more painful, the aptly named Love Supreme in Yosemite.

But pain is only physical and fingers will heal. Equinox is a crack of very rare beauty, the best in Joshua Tree, and in the company of dozen or so in all of California.

More beta and pictures below.

Equinox is a stunning fissure at mostly fingersize that splits a large size monolith at remote pile in Joshua Tree. Originally rated 5.13 it is now considered a stiff 12c. But grades are only for a rough idea. Sure you have seen the picture of Tony Yaniro after the first ascent! 

Konstantin tipped me off on how great of a climb is Equinox. He said he needed an extra #2 (yellow) metolius but ultimately he was too pumped to stop and run it out to the top! Knowing K. I can imagine a horror episode of him running out half the route, climbing on his very limit of falling, too pumped to place a piece...

I do pretty well on finger cracks and so I went for the onsight attempt. It didn't last long...humbled I took the back side to set up a top rope.

On TR it felt ok, but I was humbled again on my next lead attempt. I did lead it eventually and I was very lucky Alexander Cooper was there to take awesome pictures as usual. 

Detailed Beta

Its about a 40 min hike from Geology Tour Road in Josh. The climbing is stiff right off the deck with good but sharp fingers. I use two blue TCUs at the start. The wall then bulges and the feet disappear. The crux consist of three hard moves to get over the steep and smooth section. Certain pain tolerance and skin toll are involved there. Protection is #2 TCUs. The climbing eases a bit but never gets easy! It is sustained to the end, with only one decent rest at the point where the crack makes a left turn. I think a green and purple camalots are useful for the last section. Did I mention it is the best crack in Joshua Tree!