Climbing partners in Oct
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Messages 1 - 7 of total 7 in this topic
laan

Sport climber
Canberra, Australia
Topic Author's Original Post - Sep 25, 2009 - 09:58pm PT
Hi,

I'm an Australian Swede coming to the bay area (San Jose) for a conference during the beginning of October. I will have a bit of time for private traveling (Oct 3-4, Oct 6-14) and would love to try out some Californian climbing. I'm happy to jump on sport climbs up to about 5.12a, trad climbs below 5.10, or any kind of bouldering.

If you have any tips on where to go, or even have a spare seat going to some nice climbing area and don't mind me coming along, I'd be very happy to hear from you!

In particular, what's the best way of getting to Castle Rock State park from Central San Jose?

My email is larsand@gmail.com

Cheers,

Lars Andersson
http://users.rsise.anu.edu.au/~laan/
nutjob

climber
Berkeley, CA
Sep 25, 2009 - 10:17pm PT
Castle Rock directions from San Jose:

From 880:
 880 South (turns into Highway 17)
 85 North
 Saratoga Exit, left at the bottom (under the freeway)
 straight into town, veer left when it is unclear how to go straight (near a gas station)
 up the hill (Highway 9) to the stop sign
 left at Highway 35, go for a few miles
 look for a bunch of cars parked off the road on the right, then more on the left. The entrance to the park is on the right. You'll need a guidebook to make the most out of the visit. Look for Goat Rock, Waterfall, the main Castle Rock, and the parking lot boulder.

From 280:
 280 North
 880 South(changes names to Highway 17)
 85 North
 etc.

From 680:
 680 South turns into 280 North
 880 South (changes names to Highway 17)
 85 North
 etc.

From 101:
 go north or south as needed to reach 880
 880 South
 85 North
 etc.
nutjob

climber
Berkeley, CA
Sep 25, 2009 - 10:22pm PT
If you have 24 hours in a row, you can have a very good adventure in Yosemite. Plan 4 hours drive there, 4 hours drive back. Stop at Taqueria Agave next to the supermarket at the last stoplight on the way out of Oakdale (across the street from Denny's), halfway to Yosemite.
Captain...or Skully

Social climber
Idaho, also. Sorta, kinda mostly, Yeah.
Sep 25, 2009 - 11:04pm PT
Or you could go sportclimbing.
No contest, dude.
laan

Sport climber
Canberra, Australia
Topic Author's Reply - Sep 26, 2009 - 02:05am PT

Hi guys, thanks for the replies... Problem is, I forgot to tell you, I wont have a car. I'll probably try to take a bus/train to Yosemite on Oct 6. Any chance to get to a nice crag near San Jose by public transport on the Oct 3-4 weekend?

/Lars
Karl Baba

Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
Sep 26, 2009 - 03:19am PT
They rent cars to foreign devils in this country. Splurge a bit (try to get a cheap priceline quote) since you are so close to great climbing (and somebody else is footing the conference bill eh?)

Peace

Karl
klk

Trad climber
cali
Sep 26, 2009 - 11:40am PT
Karl's advice is sound. The distances here are greater than you might think, and the public transport considerably worse. Especially in and around San Jose.

Just rent a car for that first weekend. They're all automatics here, so you won't have to worry about shifting on the weird side. Then you could see San Francisco, drive over the Golden Gate, boulder in Tiburon (just north of SF-- fun boulders, great views), eat dinner in Sausalito, and have a classic tourist-climber experience for a couple of days.

Yosemite will be much easier without a car. If you can't find anyone to share a ride, you can take a bus. Yosemite itself is pedestrian friendly.
Messages 1 - 7 of total 7 in this topic
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