Today, NJC is a landscape transformed. Marshal has built access trails, put up fences to discourage off-roaders from encroaching on the crags, and installed plush belay benches. Over time an amazing thing happened: The desert responded to Marshall’s TLC and grew back. Wild flowers flourished in the spring, and birds chirped a melody at dawn and dusk. And people came from all over SoCal to catch a pump. Their mileage on the routes has cleaned off the loose debris, morphing the “too shattered” rock into a worthy destination.
At the core of the crag’s social scene are people like Tom and Elke Lindner, two 5.13 climbers in their fifties, and their son, Chris Lindner, who is one of America’s best sport climbers. Chris, now twenty, led his first 5.10 trad climb at the ripe old age of four. By the time he was nine he was climbing 5.13 sport, and broke the 5.14 barrier when he was, well, fourteen. Now, having graduated with a degree in computer science, and maintaining a relationship with his sweetheart (sorry, girls), Lindner recently quit his job at a software firm to pursue a fulltime climbing career. His first impression of the area, several years back, was relatively poor, but upon a recent return visit, Lindner was surprised both with how much the rock had improved, and with the technical nature of the moves. “NJC is a good pile of shit,” he says. Lindner also noticed there were at least twice as many women as men at NJC, improving the odds of buff and tan lads trying to meet ripped and fashionable climbing partners.
Also on the attendee list is Natasha Barnes, twenty-one, a top female climber who’s still relatively unknown. Barnes has rivaled Lisa Rands and Lauren Lee in national comps for the last couple years, and became one of a select group of women to tick V10 when she sent Low Rider at the Buttermilks. “Although the typical New Jack routes are a bit shorter than areas like Rifle, Charleston, and Owens, most of them are really good quality and a lot of fun,” says Barnes.