Joshua Tree climbing testpiece repeated by Chris Lindner

Art imitates nature. Or put the other way, it would be hard to imagine anyone ever inventing a sequence quite as bizarre as the one on the route called The Dunce Cap at Joshua Tree.

First climbed in 1988 by prime USA mover Kurt Smith, this technical masterpiece lay unrepreated for almost 22 years until Chris Lindner paid a visit at the end of 2009 with the man himself to grab the second ascent. After the repeat Lindner stated: "that "rose" move in the photo is a completely different sequence than the way Kurt did it, he went up and right of the first bolt, whereas I went left of the bolt to that mantle, then the thumb catch, then the rose move....That move took me several hours over two days to figure out, I was pretty stoked when I finally figured it out. I didn't see any feasible holds in the direction Kurt said he went up... perhaps the micro crimps he did use have since broken off?"

All of this is documented in this nice short video which has recently been released on the internet and is well worth watching. Despite being "only" 5.13a (circa F8a), it's clear why the route lay dormant for so long!

Origins - Joshua Tree by SenderFilms