Death Valley 3/28-4/1

Just got back from a great weekend in DV. The plan was:

-- Thursday: Mountain View -> Bishop

-- Friday: Bishop->Panamint Springs

-- Saturday: PSR->Furnace Creek

-- Sunday: local to FC

-- Monday: return home

I'd hoped to enter via Steel Pass, and do Goler/Mengel on Saturday, but my wife talked me out of it (i.e. "if you do that I'm not coming"). It was a prudent decision considering it was my first time trying to do any rock climbing in the FJ. At least, that's what I tell myself. So what we ended up doing was:

Friday: Saline Valley with a detour to the Springs

Saturday: Ballarat, Mahogany Flats, Aguereberry Point, Skidoo

Sunday: Echo Canyon as far as the steps, Hole in the Wall

Mahogany Flats and A. Point reconciled me to missing Goler/Mengel - the views are just breathtaking. And we (me and FJ) got to do some fairly serious offroad on the mine trails at Skidoo.

Doing the Echo Canyon steps on our own as a first rock-climbing exercise really didn't seem a good idea, though I'm itching to get back and try it now! And anyway Echo Canyon is a wonderful place to visit. Though I came close to an unfortunate encounter with a rattlesnake. First one I've ever seen unsquashed and could have been the last one.

A question: where can I get some rock-climbing experience relatively local and where a mistake won't involve being helicoptered out? (As I recall Hollister is mud rather than rocks).

John