Joshua Tree Climbing: Skin Care for Monzogranite
Joshua Tree · Skin is gear

Monzogranite gives you more grip than you need, and charges for it.

Joshua Tree rock is coarse, crystalline and rough enough to hold a smear at a low angle. It's also rough enough to sand your tips to nothing by day three. Here is how to show up with skin for a desert trip, keep it through the week, and climb the last day as hard as the first.

Pack for Josh Find your way in
Alex JohnsonMichaela KierschKatie McKinstry StylosFanny GibertEthan Salvo
6 on the crew · see who
Skin is gear
The place

The winter crag of the West.

Joshua Tree National Park sits where the Mojave and Colorado deserts meet, and the rock is monzogranite: coarse crystals, rounded domes, flaring cracks and friction slabs. Yosemite climbers started wintering here decades ago, and a lot of American crack and slab technique was worked out on these domes. The season runs from fall through spring, when the desert is cool enough to climb all day.

The rock is the trip and the problem. Its texture works like sandpaper on tips and the backs of hands, and the air is dry enough to turn skin glassy by lunch. The routine is the one desert climbers already know: toughen before you go, keep water in the skin while you're there, and close what opens every night at camp. The kit below is built for a week on the domes.

A Joshua Tree trip, day by day

From two weeks out to the drive home.

Where skin goes wrong on a desert trip, and what goes on at each stop.

Two weeks out · PrepToughen for the grit.

Tip Juice every other night. Coarse rock takes the top layer fast, and thicker tips buy you days.

Tip Juice80/100 Skin File
Day one · The domesWater in the skin.

Dry desert air turns tips glassy by noon. Hydrate between routes, less chalk, brush the holds.

HydrateImpact Chalk
Cracks · AfternoonTape the jams.

Flaring cracks grind the backs of the hands. Tape gloves on, Split stick on anything that opens.

Rhinos' Own Adhesive tapeSplit
Camp · Hidden ValleyClose what the rock opened.

Clean the grit out, Repair on the pads, Split+ whipped balm on anything raw.

RepairSplit+Cleanse
Rest day · The parkSun and recovery.

Sun hoodie on the hike, zinc on the lips, Massage Cream on the forearms and calves.

Sun Hoodie - Bamboo - SPF 50Reef Safe SPF 15 Zinc Lip Balm – Gentle Vanilla ScentMassage Cream
Find your way in

Tell us what happens. We'll point.

No score and no wrong answers. Pick what sounds like you, and every answer opens another door: a fix, a page, a longer read.

The pack

What we take to Josh.

Travel sizes in the chalk bag. Full sizes in the car at camp. Bring water for the skin and for you.

Pro Pack
All of it, one boxPro Pack

The full system in full sizes. Enough for a week on the domes.

The whole routinePro Pack$125.99$99.95
12 items · pick a size, hit Add
Two weeks outTip Juice$12.95
Every morning80/100 Skin File$2.00
Between routesHydrate$8.95
Thin and evenImpact Chalk$19.95
Tape glovesRhinos' Own Adhesive tape$3.95
Cracks and gobiesSplit$4.95
Whipped balm, raw skinSplit+$8.95
Every night at campRepair$8.95
Grit out of the cutsCleanse$9.00
Desert sunSun Hoodie - Bamboo - SPF 50$19.95
LipsReef Safe SPF 15 Zinc Lip Balm – Gentle Vanilla Scent$4.95
Chest pocket on the approachPocket Water$12.95
The crew

The people who climb here every winter.

Rhino athletes and desert regulars. They tell us what the monzogranite did to their hands.

Alex Johnson
Alex JohnsonBouldering, Rhino athlete
Michaela Kiersch
Michaela KierschSport, Rhino athlete
Katie McKinstry Stylos
Katie McKinstry StylosIce and mixed, Rhino athlete
Fanny Gibert
Fanny GibertCompetition, Rhino athlete
Ethan Salvo
Ethan SalvoRhino athlete
Anak Verhoeven
Anak VerhoevenSport, Rhino athlete
Seen at Josh

Show us the domes.

Sunset on the boulders, the taped hands, the campfire. This wall is yours.

Bouldering@rhinoskinsolutionsSkin abuse@rhinoskinsolutionsSkin after a hard day@rhinoskinsolutionsChalked climber's hands — skin care tips from the Rhino Skin Solutions blog.@rhinoskinsolutionsClimber Anak pulling through a roof section — Rhino Skin Solutions athlete.@rhinoskinsolutionsClimber Selena bouldering in Hueco Tanks — Rhino Skin Solutions athlete community.@rhinoskinsolutionsClimber on Chacal — sport climbing action photo from the Rhino blog.@rhinoskinsolutionsClimber caring for worn skin at the crag — Rhino blog skin tips.@rhinoskinsolutionsClimbing in the Lofoten Islands, Norway — granite walls above the sea.@rhinoskinsolutionsBouldering in Hueco Tanks — Rhino Skin Solutions blog photo.@rhinoskinsolutionsClimber on Kachoong, the classic roof route at Mount Arapiles, Australia.@rhinoskinsolutionsTag us
#SkinIsGear

Post it, tag @rhinoskinsolutions and #SkinIsGear. We pull the best ones onto this wall every week.

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Made in
Redmond
Oregon

We make everything in our own facility in Redmond, Oregon, on 100% on-site solar. When Smith is under snow, the crew heads south.

Made in Redmond

Where it comes from.

How Rhino started
Made in Redmond
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