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3917 Hits
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83.1% Score
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16 Votes
Page Type:
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Route |
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Lat/Lon:
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34.02360°N / 116.1784°W |
Route Type:
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Trad Climbing |
Season:
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Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter |
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Time Required:
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Less than two hours |
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Rock Difficulty:
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5.9 (YDS) |
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Difficulty:
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5.9-10a var |
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Number of Pitches:
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1 |
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Grade:
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I |
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Overview
Standard route in solid line, and the direct start, 10a, in dotted line.Overseer is one of the best 5.9s on the Hemingway Buttress, and in fact, in all of Joshua Tree National Park. Overseer offers mostly face climbing to start and a sustained 5.9 crack near the end.
Start on the face directly below the most prominent overhang on the whole formation. Climb this face directly up toward the right side of the overhang, bypassing it via a series of small cracks. You will have to climb around the corner on the left to gain the crux 5.9 crack.
This crack consists of finger locks and hand jams on a dihedral corner with a smooth face. You won’t have any footholds while doing this sustained crack. So make sure to put in good protection before starting up this section. At the end of this crux you will have a great foothold to rest and place more protection. The rest of the climb is significantly easier and will take you to the top.
To descend you can walk down around the back through a tunnel/gully on the south side.
There is a direct start - a few feet to the right of the standard start- rated at 10a. It’s mostly climbing on a face with some creative protection. This variation is shown in blue dotted line.
How to get there:
From the west enterance to Joshua Tree National Park, drive about eight miles on Park Boulevard to a large paved parking area with a bathroom. This parking is about two miles past Quail Springs parking, and it has its own sign, “Hemimngway” indicating that you have arrived. Looking toward the west you will see the elongated Hemingway Buttress at a few minutes walking distance.
There are at least two trails heading out toward different nearby formations and an Access Fund trail leading toward the main Hemingway Buttress. Please follow the marked trail. Scramble on and around a few large boulders to the base of Hemingway Buttress. Overseer is one of the extreme left routes on the formation.
Overseer
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Essential Gear
One 60 meter rope, Standard Rack, a good and watchful belayerCamping, Environmental concerns, noise considerations, Fees, Food
Typical Joshua Tree landscape
Desert FlowersPlease tread lightly. The Access Fund has gone to great lengths posting trail marker for approaches to many of the more popular crags. Do your best to stay on these trails, and where you are forced to use a different path, choose the ones that rain can mend in time. Drainages make for good trails where there are no established trails.
Avoid stepping on native and fragile plants, and do not feed the coyotes. Coyotes are very much used to people and often hang around picnic areas and camp grounds in hopes of getting a hand out. It’s better to let them live their natural life.
Camping
Joshua Tree Camping
Noise considerations
When you are camping with friends and sitting around the fire, it is easy to forget that there are other people trying to sleep in the nearby campsites. It is important to put yourself in their shoes. Keep the noise and music to a minimum and certainly not too much past 10 p.m. Your neighbors will smile at you in the morning instead of giving you dirty looks.
Fees and Food
