Someone recently told me the DNB (direct north buttress) route on middle cathedral rock is now impassable due to broken holds and/or rockfall. Is this true? I heard this while at Joshua Tree over thanksgiving weekend '99. Any information on this would be greatly appreciated as it is a climb I had planned on doing very soon.

-- wayne (waynejwb@earthlink.net), December 02, 1999

Answers

I also heard that rumor this summer. I am not sure as I only did the first 6 pitches, but you could try the ASCA web page- www.safeclimbing.org

because they added some bolts at anchors, so they m ight know.

-- Matt Bunz (hothotbunz@yahoo.com), December 04, 1999.

me again-- thanks matt, i tried ASCA but couldn't get an answer. anyone else have beta on this subject, much appreciated...

-- wayne (waynejwb@earthlink.net), December 21, 1999.

I'm not sure if holds have broken because its been 10 years since I climbed the route. But, it wouldn't surprise me since it seemed that the rock quality was not nearly as nice as many routes in the valley. Actually, I didn't care for the route much at all. I remember a bunch of dirty chimneys and some mediocre face climbing that didn't always have the best pro.

-- Glenn (mtwflip@aol.com), May 10, 2002.