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Largo
Sport climber
Venice, Ca
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Topic Author's Original Post - May 8, 2007 - 05:37pm PT
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I only went there a few times, once with Paul Glason and was amazed at that time by the possibilities. Action was stiff in this area in the last 60s and up to about 1972. Nothing since then that I know of and the many routes that were establishd are virtually lost in time.
Anyone have photos or old guidebooks or descriptions or stories about this place, a mystery crag if ever there was one, asleep for going on 35 years.
JL
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Mick K
climber
Northern Sierra
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sssshhhhhh.......
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L
climber
NoName City and It Don't Look Pretty
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I don't understand it, John--Amboy is such a mecca for adventurists of every sort and any sport, and with all the modern amenities of any desert city: Roy's for dinette eating at its finest; Roy's for gasoline at its cheapest; Roy's for the ultimate in chic-minimalist lodging. And awesome climbing right down the road!
Why the climbing community isn't all over this hot spot is beyond me...
...what do you mean "Roy's is closed"?
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Brutus of Wyde
climber
Old Climbers' Home, Oakland CA
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I spent a summer as a seasonal park employee at Mitchell Caverns in the late 70s. Even then, the area (Granite Moumntain) was closed and occasionally heavily patrolled as a UCR environmental/ecological study area.
Saw some wild looking bolted routes there, including a line near the roof visible from Highway 40, but a lot of the activity seemed to have concentrated on the backside of the formations (more shady.)
Spent some time at the Bunny Club, but never established any routes of my own, tried to limit my impact to the few visits I made.
With so much unclimbed rock in the world, I never saw the reason to intrude on this pristine area just to establish routes that we shouldn't be climbing anyways.
edited to add: I wonder if access can still be had through UCR geology classes?
Brutus
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Didn't realize the university could impose a closure?
Or do you mean just felt awkward climbing there with the enviros watching youz?
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cragnshag
Social climber
san joser
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The signs that are posted all around the perimeter of the area are pretty strongly worded. I thought about dressing in all black and sneaking in under the cover of darkness....But I chickened out. If they started to chase you, it would be easy to esacape deeper into the mountain- except for the fact that your car is the only one in the entire area- all they would need to do is take down your plate #.
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Peanut
Big Wall climber
Fresno
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There are several routes outside the closed area, tall boulder stuff with bolts. Great camping area also. For the bolder people out there, the potential for "full moon clinbing" is huge!
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5150
Trad climber
JOSHUA TREE
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A large portion of "the Granites" definitely off limits to the public. Owned by U C Santa Barbara. The largest piece off rock is The White Fang. There's a ton of routes in that area. I saw a hand written guide to the area about ten years ago. It consisted of several pages of route desriptions and topos, covering the Granites and Mid-Hills. I'm pretty sure I know someone with a copy of that "guide". I'll check.
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Largo
Sport climber
Venice, Ca
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Topic Author's Reply - May 8, 2007 - 06:45pm PT
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I'd really like to hear from anyone who knows the early history of the place, like Phil Gleason. These were the guys just before my generation and I suspect that miost of their hardest routes were done here. It's amazing how quickly the activity died off at this place. It's far more impressive than New Jack or Echo or the little nickle and dime joints we settle for now. The White Fang really has some size to it.
JL
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Klimmer
Mountain climber
San Diego
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I went by the posted signs many years ago perhaps in the early '90s when I went out there to explore with my wife. Very neat area. I love the Kelso Dunes area also. We were in the back of our Toyota pick-up sleeping at the Kelso Dunes early in the morning when the Landers or Baker Earthquake came rolling through. Thought some grazing cows bumped up against our truck. Woke us up all startled. Then more after shocks came through. Nope not cows! Hey, they were startled to. You could hear the cows mooing in the distance, and getting all upset at the moving Earth in the quiet early morning.
The crags look awesome from a distance, however, when I got right up to the base and put my hands on the rock it felt very decomposed --- decomposed granite. The crystals were just rubbing off as I dragged my hand across the face. Maybe it was just it the area I was at, I don't know. It sure does look really good from a distance. It's good to know there are some routes out there.
In the Providence Mtns there are caves and caverns. Caverns mean limestone. I'm sure there are some really good limestone crags up there just waiting to be discovered. I have yet to go in the developed caverns yet. Need to do that with my family sometime. Lots to do out there, including really good rock, mineral, and fossil sites!
I would hate to be out there today. Damn, even coastal San Diego is burning hot today!!
Ok, that's it. It's after work. I need to crack open a cold one right now . . .
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jstan
climber
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A neighbor in JT took us on a tour of the East Mojave. I liked it because it was not crowded like big cities such as JT. Really nice not running into people everywhere.
Mitchell Caverns was actually a little dusty. Unusual for a cave. Not huge, but pretty nice.
A story everyone knows already. A couple of railroaders were conversing in East Mojave. One said, "It is hot here." The other replied, "Sure Am Boy." And that is how Amboy got it's name. When we were out there the town was for sale for a million. The whole thing.
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Brutus of Wyde
climber
Old Climbers' Home, Oakland CA
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"The crags look awesome from a distance, however, when I got right up to the base and put my hands on the rock it felt very decomposed --- decomposed granite. The crystals were just rubbing off as I dragged my hand across the face. Maybe it was just it the area I was at, I don't know. It sure does look really good from a distance. It's good to know there are some routes out there."
Lots of the rock in Josh used to be of similar character. most of the popular routes cleaned up quickly. And it used to be that climbs like Damper felt like they were lined with broken glass. Now that climb is almost smooth inside from cams being pushed along.
"In the Providence Mtns there are caves and caverns. Caverns mean limestone. I'm sure there are some really good limestone crags up there just waiting to be discovered."
East Ridge of Fountain Peak is as wild a third class climb as I've ever seen... Hand traversing a knife-edge ridge that would be serious 5th class except that the friction of the limestone makes it incredibly sticky. Pat Brennan put up a few awesome 5th class routes in the Providence Range. But I'm no longer sure of the locations.
"I have yet to go in the developed caverns yet. Need to do that with my family sometime. Lots to do out there, including really good rock, mineral, and fossil sites!"
Cave of the Winding Stair is worth a look too. Wild cave, gated entrance, 4x4 approach. Vertical drops up to 150 feet to get to the Register Room.
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Rick A
climber
Boulder, Colorado
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Johnny,
Until you mentioned it here, I had not thought about our early adventure on the Amboy "Lighting Crack" with Richard, you and I for an age.That was a pretty unique route. We must have been climbing for all of about year and a half and we had our hands full.
Rick
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PhilG
Trad climber
The Circuit, Tonasket WA
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Largo:
I'd be more than happy to share what I know of the early climbing history of The Granite Mountains. That was such a wild and wonderful place. Lee Harrell was the one who told us about the place. He was turned on to it by a dentist he used to see out in one of the desert towns (Amboy?). Together they climbed the largest formation after some dental procedure which Lee then named The White Fang Revenge Tower (commonly called The White Fang Tower).
Paul, Keith and I started going out there on a regular bases because the The White Fang seemed to offer good training for wall routes, which was what we aspired to climb. Because of bolting, aid climbing, and because we didn't know what we were doing, a couple of the routes took two days. I remember Keith getting way wigged out on some thin, rotten face climing, unable to down climb, climbing on to finally fall, the tip of a lost arrow preventing his fifty+ foot fall from decking.
Later when I was a "full time" climbing bum I would go out to GM for weeks at a time, basicly because I had no where else to go.
I went out there with a variety of partners. Jim Donini, Al Givler, and Barry Bates were a few of the Yosemite climbers I was able to talk into leaving the Valley for some first ascents.
I remember Barry did some cracks out there that were very hard.
But you know, your right, most of the climbs are lost and forgotten.
Phil
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Todd Gordon
Trad climber
Joshua Tree, Cal
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I've climbed out there a few times myself;...with D. Evans, Angione, etc... we did some cool routes;...but last time we went there ( YEARS ago..) we got pooted out by U. C. Researchers....so haven't been back.....beautiful place.......
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Russ Walling
Social climber
Out on the sand.... man.....
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Might go there tomorrow....
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paulj
climber
utah
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I climbed there in the early 80's, as Jeff Dean and I were returning to the Red rocks from JT. We climbed one of the slanting cracks on the RHS of the major buttress in the picture above. the next day was spent behind that buttress, wehere we did a three pitch climb, topping out with a view down the other side of the formations in the photo (the east side?). We saw a crack headed straight down, so we wandered over to the base and saw it come all the way to the ground. Our third day was spent on this 3-4 pitch climb, the bulk of which was spent following a gorgeous hand crack for a little over two pitches (think "The Line" at Lover's, only much better). Along the way we clipped a couple of old pins--and these were old back in 1981 or 1982!
Later than summer we ran into some of the Stonemasters (Mari and Mike), who denied any knowledge of the area!
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Moquah
Trad climber
Carson City Nevada
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I climbed there in the early 90's a time or two on my way to or from Red Rocks, but really couldn't see it as a destination unless you live in amboy. Heh! Then you have other problems. By the way I hope nobody takes seriously the story of how Amboy got it's name. It was the original terminus of the rail line and part of the effort to name the stops in alphabetical order. Amboy, Bagdad, Cima, Danby, Essex, Goffs.....I don't have a map in front of me, but you get the idea.
DJR
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Minerals
Social climber
The Deli
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Jan 21, 2008 - 01:15am PT
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This place is way cool. Cary Gaynor and I climbed there a bit in the early/mid 90s. I had seen the crags from I-40, on my way to and from Flagstaff. We drove for nine hours from the Bay Area, only to find signs that said NO TRESPASSING all along the fence. It appeared that there was no one around. So we went climbing. I started working on soloing a new aid line on a south-facing wall to the right of the tallest dome (White Fang Tower) in Russ’ picture while Cary worked on a free line on White Fang Tower, which we called “Big Fatty Dome.” There were a few existing routes that we saw in the area – the ones that I remember were some sick looking thin aid lines next to the line that I had started. Anyone know who might have put up these aid pitches – they looked pretty hard?
Anyways, a few days of great climbing went by and we were having some serious fun. We topped out on White Fang Tower, which has a big chimney running through it – pretty neat to check out! I remember seeing some OLD star-dryvns. While we were up there, we heard a voice yelling at us. The person didn’t sound too happy… Turns out it was one of the UC biologists and they had spotted us! He kept yelling for us to come down and that we were interfering with eagle nesting sites. He then yelled that he was calling the sheriff! Uh oh, we thought…
After several rappels and a scramble through the approach boulders, we met the person behind the voice… and the not-so-local sheriff who had to get up from watching the Super Bowl to drive an hour from Needles. Yup. Mr. Sheriff wrote us each a citation and was pretty cool, unlike Mr. foaming-at-the-mouth biologist… They told us that we could climb to the north, outside of their study area, and we did. But the climbing there was nothing like the big formations…
Months went by and Cary and I figured that they had dropped the charges. Then one day, nine months later, we got a letter in the mail… a letter to appear. So we drove back down to Needles to go to court, plead guilty (the judge was like.. “You were… rock climbing?” with a puzzled look on his face…), paid something like 200 bucks each, and then drove back to the Granites where we climbed some more in the “permitted” area. Great place, good solid rock, tons of new potential……… but it’s under LOCKDOWN!!!! Bitches…….
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PhilG
Trad climber
The Circuit, Tonasket WA
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Jan 21, 2008 - 02:00am PT
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Interesting story, Minerals. I think we put up three or four aid routes up the main south face of the White Fang, and quite a few climbs in the back canyons. Also one or two on the north face which, interestingly enough had a belay at a large eagle's nest.
I also remember great fun bouldering by Coleman lamp during the long winter's night after hours around the campfire.
Truly a wonderful place. Perhaps it will be an "unknown" place for some future generation of climbers.
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