mystery cliff off hwy 88?

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Messages 1 - 11 of total 11 in this topic
betacom

Sport climber
sacramento
Topic Author's Original Post - May 15, 2011 - 11:06pm PT
Today while driving to south lake tahoe from sacramento via hwy 88 for the first time, i spotted a huge cliff off the right side of the road about 10 miles? west of the kirkwood ski resort,similar in size and shape to lovers leap and apeared to be west facing. I cant seem to find anything online about this cliff, anybody know?
Doug Robinson

Trad climber
Santa Cruz
May 15, 2011 - 11:37pm PT
It's volcanic, so probably rotten like the Red Cliffs overlooking the Kirkwood Valley and others nearby.

But, I've been checking it out too since I drive by often. Of all the volcanic rock around there, that cliff just east of Silver Lake appears to be more solid. Never walked up to look, but if I were going to check out any of the local volcanic rock, that's the one.
damo62

Social climber
Brisbane
May 16, 2011 - 12:34am PT
b..ump
Stewart Johnson

climber
lake forest
May 16, 2011 - 11:09am PT
got three pitches up thunder mtn one year... not enough ice.
ive been climbing on the red cliffs in kirkwood valley for thirty years. there are aboot 50 mixed routes in the kirkwood zone. all on the volcanic brusha of the area.
bluering

Trad climber
Santa Clara, CA
May 16, 2011 - 11:14am PT
This is on the other side of the road...

Tim Camuti

Trad climber
CA
May 24, 2011 - 09:03pm PT
If you happen to find a copy, Jim Thornburg's old guide Quickdraw Guide to Sport Climbing Northern California included some routes on the Sentinel towers above the Kirkwood valley, if I recall correctly. Regardles, they are 5.12+ sport on volcanic that gets frozen and thawed hundreds of times a year, not many repeats based on the medium length approach. I've touched them but never climbed that hard.
tom woods

Gym climber
Bishop, CA
May 24, 2011 - 09:20pm PT
Cool that you tried to ice climb it. It sure looks like ice would be more solid than that rock.
tom woods

Gym climber
Bishop, CA
May 24, 2011 - 10:10pm PT
On the other hand, crappy rock can clean up to be a good sport climb as the other poster shows.

Get going, motivated people!

Tell us how it is.
karodrinker

Trad climber
San Jose, CA
Apr 2, 2012 - 01:28am PT

I saw this today and was also wondering what kind of climbing this thing has. It's big, but is it a rotten pile?
Tallskinny

Sport climber
Placerville, CA
Sep 28, 2016 - 05:08pm PT
The original post guy was driving eastbound, so Thunder Mtn would no doubt be what he was looking at. It would be nice if he could reference it to Silver Lake. There is a huge pile of debris at the base, but hardly any fresh rockfall. When you scramble up to the base, it's really huge. Mostly pocket climbing and not unlike Pinnacles (it's almost all welded tuff). Rare long cracks here and there.
chainsaw

Trad climber
CA
Sep 28, 2016 - 07:48pm PT
Hey DMT, this is Chainsaw. Only climbed in Bear River Gorge once. Put a bolt in on a mixed route that Chad put up. He got his Red Point on it that day while I took a couple falls figuring out the crux beta. 11B/C trad with a couple bolts. Did the big slab simul to get from river back to summit as darkness fell. Our climbs were all on the South side of the river. We looked at alot of possible routes on the North side of the river. Some of it looked good. Have routes been put up on that North side of the canyon? Almost a rappel to get down in there on the slick ass slab but the rock on the North side (South Face) looked good. Steep and lotsa pro. Any information?
Messages 1 - 11 of total 11 in this topic
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