This is a guest post by regular DCT reader Alexandre Buisse of Alexandre Buisse Photography. He also runs Aperture First. He’s in the process of writing a book about climbing and hiking photography.

Rune Bennike belaying on Millstone quarry, in front of the Hope valley

As you may know, I recently returned from a 6 months stay abroad in London. I moved there in February, just in time to participate in what many have described as the best Scottish Winter in years. As spring rolled and the weather warmed, I kept exploring the trad climbing crags of the country with multiple trips to North Wales, the Peak District, Dorset and other less famous places. According to my logbook, I climbed 68 British routes in those 6 months (though I suspect the actual figure is a bit higher than that).

Some of these routes were mind blowing. Some were amazing, many were good and surprisingly few sucked. Here is, then, my totally subjective list of the 10 best routes in the country. The only rule is that I must have attempted the climb (though not necessarily completed or got a clean ascent).

10. Comes the Dervish (E3 5c), LLanberis

Gareth Leah on the upper section of "Comes the Dervish"

Though I didn’t get to climb it as much as I would want to, my predilection for thin technical climbing made me fall in love with slate right away. Pull my Daisy, on Rainbow Slab, almost made this list but I backed off after a mere 6m (but the onsight is still valid!) so here comes this ultra-classic E3 instead. Unfortunately, Gareth, Adam and I arrived very late in the quarry, and by the time Gareth had grabbed the lead, night was falling, so Adam and I had to settle for (clean) seconding.

The route is long (35-40m), beautifully elegant, pretty sustained and well protected after the initial run-out. IMP/RPs are useful for the start, and afterward it’s only small cams and bomber nuts.

9. Flying Buttress Direct (E1 5b), Stanage

Myself on the crux of "Flying Buttress Direct", about to panic when I realize just how bad the gear is (photo by John Hopkins)

The main reason this route made the list is because the first time I saw it, I thought there had been a mistake in the guidebook. “There’s no way I can get up that!”.

It is a huge classic, and a crazy overhang/roof overcome by shrewd heel hooks instead of brute force. My first ascent was a true onsight: I evaluated from below the key gear to be a gold camalot. As I came to the crux section and tried to place the cam, I realized it was too big but didn’t have enough stamina to select a smaller piece, so just kept going. A fall would have been 3 to 5m on a big slab, and was a definite possibility, which perhaps explains why I managed to pull through I have climbed it a couple more times since and with the proper beta, it is a breeze. I would be happy soloing it.

8. Great Slab (E3 5b), Froggatt

Jon Fullwood bouldering in Curbar, a few yards away from "Great Slab"

My first (and to date only) hard solo. This is a classic Joe Brown route, and it doesn’t have a single piece of gear. The climbing is never desperate, but it has a few tricky moves and finesse is definitely required. I practiced it on top rope a couple of times and the decision of whether to try the solo was in the balance until the last second. I wanted to be sure I was doing it for the right reasons, and not just to impress others or out of a desire to prove something. When I finally went, it was one of my most amazing climbing experiences, a mixture of exhilaration and perfect focus. My movements were smooth and fluid, and there was no hesitation. I am no Alex Honnold, but I am starting to understand why he does what he does.

7. North East Buttress (IV,4), Ben Nevis

Keith Alexander below the CMD arete, en route toward North East Butrress

I went there at the beginning of April, and the route was in perfect condition, with good ice on the 40ft corner and a dry mantrap. We used the approach through Glen Nevis and the CMD arete, which in retrospect was a mistake as approaching the Buttress from another angle made route finding on the bottom half fairly tricky. It was otherwise quite a straightforward climb, we simulclimbed all the way to the mantrap, which, much to my own surprise, I led easily, and Keith had no trouble either in the following corner. Both of these difficulties had been hyped to me as death traps and incredibly difficult obstacles, so I was almost disappointed that they didn’t give more of a fight. Still, NEB is a long, interesting and committing way to the summit of the Ben.

6. Vector (E2 5c), Tremadog

Myself at the start of the crux pitch of "Vector", which goes to the left of the fin on the upper part of the image (photo by Gareth Leah)

My first E2 onsight, and certainly a big adventure. It has three pitches, and I got the crux middle one. Gear was good, climbing thin but doable and I soon found myself above the fin, at the top of the pitch, which is where trouble began: the previous party still wasn’t finished on the last pitch, and the belayer refused to let me come to the belay cave, even though, as we found out later, there was more than enough space for two climbers. He also refused to let me know how long he thought they would be. After a while, I decided to build a hanging belay from where I was, brought Gareth up and then belayed him on the last 2 meters (by then, the A-hole climber had gone). He then built another anchor, belayed me to the cave, then belayed Adam up the middle pitch. By the time Adam had arrived, gear had been exchanged and Gareth had led the remaining pitch, I had been sitting in the cramped cave for more than 2 hours, without warm clothes or shoes which didn’t cut circulation in the toes…

Still, it was good fun, and the route is amazing. Without traffic jams and climbing with only two persons on the rope, it would be much more straightforward!

5. Cuillin Traverse, Isle of Skye

Ominous view of the Cuillin Ridge shortly before Sgurr Alasdair

This is a legend. 4000m of ascent and descent, an estimated 16 hours required, very exposed for most of the way, and the infamous Scottish weather, all in one package. I went for it in good style: solo, one day, ultra-light (no climbing gear, only 40 meters of 6mm cord, one sling and two carabiners for abseils). I had been monitoring the weather for a while, saw a decent window and hopped on an overnight train from London. I was up on the ridge after the gruesome approach up Ghars Bheinn (the worst scree slope I have ever seen) by first light and made very good time. Weather was good, except for a shower which made the decision to bypass the TD Gap easy. As expected, the real challenge was route finding, but I was having a great time. I soloed the Kings Chimney (easy, but bloody exposed!) and started to relax, thinking I had a third of the route and some of the hardest bits behind me, when disaster struck: I badly rolled my ankle and got myself a sprain. It is actually a recurring injury, and the third time in 18 months I got the same problem. I also knew I soon wouldn’t be able to walk at all, so left the ridge as fast as I could and headed straight down scree slopes back to the campsite, which I reached a couple of hours later. Back in London, I reflected that I had spent more than 45 hours in transit for less than 15 hours on Skye proper… Still, it was worth it and I would do it again (minus the ankle sprain) in a heartbeat!

The Cuillin ridge is in a class of its own and should really be classified as an alpine route. Technical proficiency is less useful than serious mountain skills, including route finding, hydration and most of all, keeping your head together for a long, nerve-wrecking day.

4. Astrid (HVS 5a), Swanage

An unlikely adventure in the Black Zawn, near the lighthouse, and a more serious route than the grade suggests. It is long (30+ meters) and severely overhanging, so much so that one needs to place gear on the abseil in to have a chance to reach the rock. It is then a hanging belay a few meters above the water, with only one way out: up! Since we only had one set of double ropes, we pulled in the abseil lines and were then truly committed! The crux comes early with some awkward moves on greasy rock, but gear is always good. After that, it’s big moves on big jugs with crazy exposure. I kept switching back and forth between terror and exhilaration during the lead.

3. Regent Street (E2 5c), Millstone

Rune Bennike below the crux of "Great North Road", a few routes further than "Regent Street"

There is no doubt in my mind that this is the finest rock route I have climbed in the country. Though I sadly didn’t get it clean first go (and had no time to try it again), I still feel privileged to have been able to give it a go. It is a long pitch with good protection (the DMM offsets work wonders in the many peg scars), following two finger cracks to the top of the quarry. An initial crux section overcomes a jammed boulder via a hidden jug on the left side, then it’s delicate climbing to a rest ledge, halfway up. The real crux comes higher, with a splitter finger crack which wouldn’t be out of place in Indian Creek. As I can attest after trying everything I could think of, there is no other way than desperate jamming both hands and feet for 5 or 6 very blank meters.

An elegant line on a long pitch of beautiful rock, and a gorgeous view of the Hope valley from the top to boot, this is hard to beat.

2. Raeburn’s Route (IV,4), Stob Coire nan Lochan

Keith Alexander and Karin Helwig below the central buttress of Stob Coire nan Lochan. Raeburn's route takes a direct line on the center-right of the buttress, then follows a broad ridge to the top.

This started pretty badly. I had had a bad night after an exhausting day up and down the Ben’s North East Buttress, it was pouring down and I wanted nothing more than coffee and dry clothes. Keith and Karin, however, were keen on doing a route, and I begrudgingly followed them to Stob Coire nan Lochan, in Glencoe. Within minutes, of course, the clouds opened and my bad mood subsided. Raeburn’s route has 4 pitches and I somehow ended up with the first one. It wasn’t supposed to be the hardest, but I somehow missed the exit in the initial chimney and kept going into harder and harder ground. The grass was not as frozen as it should have been and there was no ice, so it ended up being very delicate and very runout drytooling for 40 meters. At some point, the rope jammed in a crack and I had to downclimb a tricky section to free it. At another, I banged a piton upside down while hanging from a microscopic hook. It was the hardest, most terrifying and best pitch I have ever climbed.

The rest of the route felt ridiculously easy in comparison, though it was still very good fun. The top section in particular was a succession of exposed but easy boulder problems, with bomber gear just below each difficulty. It would be a perfect introductory pitch to what Scottish climbing is all about.

1. Tower Ridge (IV,3), Ben Nevis

Dave Brown above the Douglas Boulder, on the lower part of Tower Ridge

In retrospect, it was perhaps a mistake for this to be the very first route I ever climbed in the country (and by extension, my first Scottish winter climb), as I knew right away I wouldn’t be able to top that out. It is everything a climb should be: long, committing, elegant, varied and finishing on a significant summit. I also climbed it with a good friend, which was perhaps the most important factor in it being such an amazing experience. I felt everything on this climb: terror, pain (hot aches, ewwww), tiredness, relief but most of all, joy.

So this is it, that’s my list. If you have climbed any of these routes, do you agree with my assessment? Or do you have any other to add to my already incredibly long wishlist?

This was a guest post by regular DCT reader Alexandre Buisse of Alexandre Buisse Photography. He also runs Aperture First. He’s in the process of writing a book about climbing and hiking photography.

That's a lot of ground to cover!

Obviously, I’m a big fan of rock climbing and technical ascents in the mountains. But there’s just something that really appeals to me about peakbagging. Peakbagging is pretty much just climbing significant mountains, usually by the easiest route possible. I like it because I like to see how fast I can get to the top of a mountain. It’s pretty amazing what you can do in just a few hours.

It’s also amazing what you can do in 50 days! A father-son team (man… what’s the deal with all of these young kids climbing mountains?)  is climbing the tallest mountain in each of the 50 states in the USA in 50 days. Sounds like a fun goal, one that I’d love to do if I had sponsors

Click here to check out their blog. As of my writing this, they’ve done 48 of the 50. They’ve done everything from a trailer park on a hill to the tallest peak on the continent. Fun!

What do you say? Does this kind of thing appeal to you? What would you rather do?

A couple days ago at Maple Canyon, Utah. Ahhh... So nice...

I just ran across a great article by climbing training guru Eric Horst over at the Nicros website. In the article, Eric gives the challenge to climb at three new areas this season. Here’s a quote from the article:

Climbing at many different areas is the very best investment in your future climbing ability.

Interesting… I’d never thought of that before, but it makes sense. There are a number of reasons why climbing at multiple areas is good for you.

First, as Eric mentions, “Consider that every climbing area requires unique techniques and tactics, so with every send (or even failure) you will develop the skills needed to elevate your performance.” Different rock types require different techniques. Climbing pocketed limestone is very different from climbing smooth granite, and both require separate techniques.

Not only will you be a better climber physically, you’ll gain confidence in your climbing ability. Once you climb at a lot of different areas, you’ll think, “Well, I can climb here and here, so climbing there shouldn’t be a problem.” Either that or you’ll get humbled by that old school trad 5.7+ and you’ll stop acting like such a hotshot Either way, it’s good to have other standards at which to compare your abilities. Your strengths and weaknesses are made more apparent and you can work on those areas accordingly.

There are more benefits to climbing at multiple areas: You stay psyched! I live literally 4 or 5 minutes from a canyon with about 400 or 500 routes (I used to walk there when I didn’t have a car!), and this is where I do a lot of my climbing. And even though this one canyon has both limestone and quartzite and everything from single pitch sport lines to multi pitch trad lines, sometimes I just need a change of scenery. It’s nice to just get away! Going to a new area can get you excited about climbing again if you’re enthusiasm is waning.

Climbing at other areas also gets you more familiar with your gear and its placement. Placing cams in a splitter sandstone crack is very different from placing them in jagged quartzite gashes. Some rock types take nuts more readily than others. Some areas have a lot of horizontal cracks, while others have only hairline cracks. You get the idea.

And finally, climbing at other areas gives you a greater appreciation for climbing culture. What I mean by this is that you get to see how it all works at other areas: the types of bolts and anchors, the trails, the access issues, etc. You’ll also meet a wider variety of people that can help you broaden your climbing horizons.

Whenever you’re going climbing or hiking somewhere off the beaten path, it’s not a bad idea to leave a note or tell someone where you are. That way, if something goes wrong and you’re not back by a certain time, people will know where to come looking for you. This is especially important if you’re going out alone.

If you have no family and no friends (oh, so THAT’S why you’re going out alone…), you could just leave the note in your car window.

Remember Aaron Ralston, the guy who had to cut off his own arm because it was crushed under a boulder? Think how different that story would be if he had just left a note with someone! My roommates laugh because I regularly leave notes on my door that say something like, “Gone climbing in ____. Should be back Sunday night. If not back by Monday, call ____, because I’m probably dead or in trouble. I’m serious.”

I found a cool site recently: ClimbingWeather.com.

This is a great site because it saves you from having to figure out what towns are closest to the climbing areas and then trying to look up the weather for those towns. Sweet. That means more time for climbing, or at least looking at climbing sites online…

The United States has a TON of rock. California, Colorado, and Utah are the big winners, but most states have at least something. From miles and miles of boulderfields to towering big walls, we’ve got it all. I started this list primarily for myself but it grew into something that I think others would enjoy. This list is organized by state.

Click here for a printable (PDF) version. Cross out the places you’ve been to!

DISCLAIMER: I have not climbed in most of these areas. I took only the lower 48 into consideration. We’re talking only about rock climbing. There are lots of places that I just don’t know enough about. Like Montana. Surely there are lifetimes of rock there, but I’ve never been there and info online is scarce. My definition of a “climbing area” is broad. Sometimes it’s a crag, a canyon, or all of the areas surrounding a town. Did I leave out your favorite area? Are there areas here that are just crap? Did I get something wrong? How many of these areas have you climbed it? Want to help me write better descriptions of the areas? Leave a comment and let me know!

ALABAMA
Horse Pens 40 – This cold-weather bouldering area is one of the best in the south.

ARKANSAS
Horseshoe Canyon Ranch – Arkansas’ premier climbing area. Sport, trad, bouldering.

ARIZONA
Cochise Stronghold — Sweet multi pitch trad climbing on granite.
Mt. Lemmon — TONS of all types of climbing.
Sedona area — Spires, splitters, and more on beautiful sandstone.
Virgin River Gorge – Lots of limestone sport routes in the tiny strip of Arizona between St. George, Utah and Vegas. The traffic from I-15 is right there and loud.
Baboquivari Peak — The biggest routes in the state.
Isolaton Canyon – Sport and trad quartzite radness.
Grand Canyon — I put this in here more for the experience than anything else. I mean come on, climbing in the Grand Canyon? That’s just cool! There are lots of spires and temples that await the adventurous climber.

CALIFORNIA
Yosemite Valley — The single best climbing area in the country. Period.
Tuolomne Meadows — Beautiful granite domes.
Joshua Tree — Sport and trad climbing on granite domes in southern California.
The Needles — Trad climbing on perfect granite spires.
High Sierra — Many, many lifetimes of granite await here. A very, very large area.
Lover’s Leap — Granite trad climbing.
Owen’s River Gorge – World class sport climbing near Bishop.
Tahquitz and Suicide — Tahquitz has huge trad lines, Suicide has a lot of longer sport routes.
Bishop area – Possibly the greatest bouldering in the country?  Debatable, but there’s no denying that the thousands of boulders in the Bishop area (including the Happy and Sad Boulders and Buttermilk Country) offer freaking rad climbing.
New Jack City — High desert sport climbing.
Castle Rock State Park — Nearish to San Fran. Sport, trad, bouldering.

COLORADO
Rifle — Sport climbing on limestone.
Rocky Mountain National Park — Multi pitch alpine rock and bouldering.
Eldorado Canyon — Uber classic climbing area on superb, bullet hard sandstone.
Colorado National Monument — Sandstone spires a-plenty.
Boulder Canyon — TONS of sport and trad routes on granite.
Flatirons — Super classic trad climbing. Lots of long, easy stuff.
Black Canyon — Scary big wall and trad  climbing.
Lumpy Ridge — Long, beautiful trad.
Shelf Road – Sport climbing on limestone.
South Platte – Lots and lots of granite.
Garden of the Gods – Sandstone trad climbing on awesome spires, pinnacles, and fins.
Horsetooth Reservoir – Sweet bouldering above a beautiful lake.
Clear Creek Canyon – CCC has a bunch of accessible sport climbs on various types of rock.
Unaweep Canyon — Trad and bouldering on various rock types near Grand Junction.
Big Thompson Canyon — Lots of variety here, apparently.

GEORGIA
Tallulah Gorge — Multi pitch trad quartzite climbing.
Rocktown — More awesome southern bouldering. Slopers, slopers, slopers!

IDAHO
City of Rocks — One of America’s great climbing areas. Superb trad and sport climbing.
Sawtooth Mountains — Long trad on granite.

ILLINOIS
Southern Illinois bouldering – I don’t know a whole lot about the climbing here, but apparently there are several areas with great bouldering?

KENTUCKY
Red River Gorge — Huge area with tons of sport and trad routes. Super classic.

MAINE
Acadia National Park — Climbing by the ocean. Sweet!

NEW HAMPSHIRE
Cannon Cliff – Tallest cliff in the NE.
Rumney — Sport climbing Mecca.
Cathedral Ledge/Whitehorse Ledge — Trad bastions.
Pawtuckaway — Great bouldering.

NEW MEXICO
Sandia Mountains — Vast and remote area. Very long trad lines.
Enchanted Tower — Great sport climbing.
Jemez Valley area — A little bit of everything.

MONTANTA
Gallatin Canyon — Sweet trad and sport.

NEVADA
Mt. Charleston — Hard limestone sport.
Red Rocks — Awesome, long trad and great and short sport, with everything in between. Near  Las Vegas.

NEW YORK
The Gunks — The trad hotspot of the east. Bouldering, too.
The Adirondacks — Adventure trad climbing.

NORTH CAROLINA
Linville Gorge — Trad awesomeness. Some long stuff.
Looking Glass Rock — Big wall lines!
Rumbling Bald — Short sport and trad.
Stone Mountain — A big dome with multi pitch trad routes.
Whiteside Mountain — Big and scary and trad.

OKLAHOMA
Wichita Wildlife Refuge — Beautiful granite trad and sport.
Quartz Mountain — A big ol’ granite dome.

OREGON
Smith Rock — Another of America’s great climbing destinations. Sport and trad routes abound, though it’s primarily known for its sport climbing.

SOUTH DAKOTA
Custer State Park – The Needles! Trad climbing on crazy cool formations.
Mt. Rushmore Area — From small to big and everything in between.
Spearfish Canyon — Limestone sport climbing.

TENNESSEE
Tennessee Wall — Super classic area! Sport and trad on sandstone.
Obed — Great sport climbing.
Sunset Park — Single pitch trad.
Foster Falls — Lovely southern sport climbing.

TEXAS
Enchanted Rock State Park — Granite domes and such.
Hueco Tanks — America’s (the world’s?) best bouldering, though it’s had some access issues.

UTAH
Big Cottonwood Canyon — Quartzite sport and trad close to Salt Lake.
Castle Valley — The home of Castleton Tower and other super classic trad climbs.
Fisher Towers — Vertical mud on gnarly-looking towers.
Little Cottonwood Canyon — Salt Lake’s fantastic trad area. Granite, baby!
American Fork — Salt Lake’s sport climbing area on limestone.
Mill Creek — Beautiful sandstone sport climbing near Moab.
Ibex — World class bouldering and trad/sport climbing on quartzite. In the middle of freaking nowhere in the West Desert.
The Uintas — Superb sport and trad climbing on beautiful rock in a beautiful alpine location.
Indian Creek — Splitter crack paradise. An uber destination.
Maple Canyon — Cobble sport climbing! Very cool and unique.
Zion National Park — A sandstone Yosemite.
San Rafael Swell – A vast sandstone area in the middle of Utah with everything from 1 pitch spires to 1600-foot slabby 5.8 trad routes.
Joe’s Valley — World class sandstone bouldering.
Triassic — More awesome sandstone bouldering.
St. George area — A great winter area. Lots of sport, trad, and bouldering of all lengths on all types of rock.

WASHINGTON
Vantage (Frenchman Coulee) — Basalt splitters.
Cascades rock — Tons and tons of long, amazing trad routes.
Index — Great granite trad and aid.
Leavenworth area — Tons of different types of stuff.

WEST VIRGINIA
Seneca Rocks — Multi pitch trad.
New River Gorge — One of the east’s great climbing areas.

WISCONSON
Devil’s Lake — Beautiful, historic trad area. Bouldering, too.

WYOMING
Sinks Canyon — Destination sport climbing.
Devil’s Tower — A huge, awesome volcanic plug with geometrically perfect trad lines.
Grand Teton National Park — Classic long alpine trad climbing.
Fremont Canyon — Trad (and some sport) climbing in a beautiful gorge.
Wild Iris Canyon — A beautiful sport climbing area.
Vedauwoo — Offwidth heaven. Or hell.
Wind Rivers — A granite mountain range with tons of rock. Includes the Cirque of the Towers.

Again, be sure to leave feedback! Got areas to add? Want to take some away? Where have you climbed?

The not-so-trusty Breeze near Moab.

For today’s tip I will refer you to this thread from the Mountain Project forums. The original poster is driving a couple thousand miles from Portland to Joshua Tree and back and wondered whether it’s better to drive his own car or to rent one in order to save wear and tear on his. Now, I can relate to this. I’ve got a 1996 Plymouth Breeze with low miles (bought from an old lady who never drove anywhere), but it has had a shocking number of mechanical problems. Serious problems. Like the wheels almost coming off because of some cracked ball joint or something (I’m not well-versed in car lingo) and the break lines cracking. So I do still road trip in it?

What most people say in response to the post on MP, and what I generally agree with, is that it’s best to drive your own car unless there’s a good chance that your car will mechanically not be up to the challenge. If you think your car won’t make it, make a friend drive Here and here are two more forum posts from road trip (not climbing) forums that discuss the subject in a bit more detail.

One thing to take into consideration is the type of mileage you’re covering. I”ve driven my not-so-mechanically-sound car up to about 400 miles in a day (to Moab and back) but I don’t know if I’d want to do much more than that, and I don’t feel super comfortable taking it out to the middle of nowhere on dirt roads where I’m screwed if it breaks down.

So there you have it. Lots of things to consider: the state of your car, the type of terrain you’ll be covering, the consequences of your car’s failure. What do you guys think? What have your experiences been? Anybody out there that knows more than me about cars and can lend some credence to this discussion?

Having some car trouble in the Fisher Towers parking lot. Luckily, we were prepared!

We climbers travel to some pretty funky places. If our cars crap out on us at inopportune times, we could be in real trouble. Here are some things that every climber should have in his car before heading out into the great unknown.

1. A full tank of gas
Famous last words: “Dude, relax. I just want to see what’s in that next canyon over there…”. Before you go on any trip, have a full tank of gas. There’s no reason not to. This way, you’ll find that hidden boulder field AND be able to make it back to tell the tale.

2. Paper towels
For cleaning stuff and for toilet paper. ‘Nuff said.

3. Water
Dying of thirst would be a pretty lousy way to go. Make sure it doesn’t happen to you by having AT LEAST a liter of water in your car per person at all times, in addition to whatever you need for climbing. In summer, take more. It can also be used for supplementing the coolant if the engine overheats. (I think. Is that right, car people?)

4. Warm clothing
You’re not alpine climbing here. You can afford the weight of an 8-ounce down jacket. Throw in a wool blanket, too, and you’re good to go.

5. Flashlight or headlamp
As a climber, you’ll probably already have a headlamp around, but it’s not a bad idea to have one (or a flashlight) in your glove compartment at all times. Spare batteries are a good idea, too.

6. Money
Hide a Grant or Benjamin under the floor mats in case you leave you lose your wallet somewhere and need food or gas.

7. Jumper cables (battery jumper pack?)
Jumper cables alone are OK if there will be other people where you’re climbing. But they won’t do you much good when your battery has died halfway between Moab and Hades, now will they? You can buy batter jumper packs that are essentially smaller batteries with jumper cables on them. If you do get one of these, make sure it’s charged!

8. Spare tire and jack
First, know how to change a tire. Second, have a spare tire. Third, make sure the spare tire has air in it. Maybe keep a pump or air compressor in the car just in case.

9. Maps
Get a good state atlas or print off good Google maps.

10. First aid kit
It doesn’t have to be super comprehensive; some band-aids, moist towelettes, Tylenol, tape, gauze, scissors, and Neosporin are good for a start.

11. Spare key
I was in Dinosaur National Monument checking out some rock and locked my keys in the car. I started looking around for a rock to break a window and then I realized that I had a spare key hidden on my car! Crisis averted!

Bonus:
What else… maybe a AAA membership card? Food? Matches? Music? Got any other ideas?

Let’s face it. Climbing in the desert southwest can be pretty freaking intimidating. There’s no life around (unless you’re at Indian Creek) and everything is stark and harsh. And sandstone by the very nature of its name doesn’t inspire confidence. “So like… Sandy rock? Is that stuff even safe to climb on?” Yeah. Exactly. Sandy, crumbly rock. But this enchanting land of towers, spires, splitters, and walls is one of the most beautiful and rewarding climbing destinations on the planet. Here are four tips for making the most out of your desert climbing experience.

1. Know what you’re doing
I think the number one key for enjoying a desert climbing experience is being confident in your abilities. Knowing that you’re capable of climbing this stuff and knowing what you and your gear can do is essential. This is not a place where you want to yell down to your belay, “So… how do I tell if I’ve placed this cam thing right?”

2. Have a good lead head
This usually comes with being experienced. If you’re scared leading granite cracks, then sandstone probably won’t be any better, now will it? I’m not saying you need to a hardcore headpointer who can lead a 120-foot pitch with only 2 copperheads for protection, but the more confident you are above your gear or above questionable gear, the more comfortable you’ll be in the desert.

3. Step by step
If you’re a beginning trad climber, don’t go jump on some horror show in the Fisher Towers. You’ll wet yourself and will swear off desert climbing forever. Find some nice bomber wingate sandstone cracks. Climb something well within your abilities. Then move on to softer sandstones and harder stuff if you’re a sick punk who actually enjoys this stuff. Sicko.

4. Enjoy the scenery
The desert is unlike any other place on earth. It’s stark, it’s beautiful, it’s harsh. The colors are vivid and bold. The features (towers and arches, for example) are unique and breathtaking.

And that’s it. Four really pretty simple things, but things every desert n00b needs to keep in mind. Play your cards right and you just might find yourself coming back again and again… and again.