Well the name says it all really. As far as canyons go, they really don’t get much grander than this one! We drove up to the south rim first thing this morning and (unknowingly) parked the van about fifty meters away from the edge of the canyon. From the parking lot, you can’t see the… Read more

Having spent a bit of time yesterday consulting our maps and guidebooks, we’ve decided to sneak out of California for a few days and go and check out the Grand Canyon. After all, it is one of the natural wonders of the world, (and having been cited so much during geological and environmental landforms during… Read more

Had an enforced rest day in the town of 29 Palms today. As you can see from the photo of the Main Street, it’s hardly a bustling hive of activity, and not the obvious choice of venue for a couple of travelling climbers, but sometimes on trips such as this, you’ve just got to roll… Read more

There is so much space around here! Everywhere you look there is desert; rocks and Joshua Trees stretching out far into the distance. We climbed a route described as ‘classic’ yesterday. It seems that the term ‘classic’ loosely translates around here as ‘flared off-width cracks that are hard to protect and desperate to climb’. I… Read more

Welcome to life in the desert and the climbers playground of Joshua Tree National Park – This is the view from our tent: The jet lag / acclimatisation still has us held in a kind of lethargic state of shock. Basic human functioning still requires conscious effort, so the initial idea of climbing every rock… Read more

America! What a shock! There have been some major re-adjustments for our bodies and brains to contend with over the past few days! A new continent, a new time zone (with 20 hours difference), a new hemisphere, a new latitude, a new season of the year and a drastic shift in temperature and humidity! All… Read more