Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
| Messages 1 - 24 of total 24 in this topic |
Jacemullen
Trad climber
Oceanside
|
|
|
Topic Author's Original Post - Mar 3, 2013 - 10:10pm PT
|
Looking to find an are, preferably in North San Diego where I can practice my copperheading and pin-pounding skills. Also, it seems that most of the San Diego routes are all clean but does anyone know of any solid A2-3 routes that I could get some practice on?
Thanks!
|
|
Mark K
Social climber
San Marcos, California
|
|
I know there is some obscure stuff at Woodson. The first thing that comes to mind is the seam just left of Rockwork Orange. It's A3 according to mountainproject. There's another very thin, overhanging seam up near the cave, I think it's also ~A3.
|
|
bvb
Social climber
flagstaff arizona
|
|
Scarring up obscure seams right next to well-established Woodson classics is a profoundly bad idea. Find something way, way off the beaten path. Like the Main Cliff at Mission Gorge -- go repeat Misbegotten or The Hooker.
|
|
GDavis
Social climber
SOL CAL
|
|
Go to the Melrose Boulders with a crash pad and protective eyewear and boots. pound pins/beat heads/hook edges all day long, that area is completely trashed and the few established problems are easy to avoid (just look for spraypaint).
Here's the kicker with aid 'practice' - it doesn't have to be on a rope. Test as many horrible placements right off the ground and let yourself see what fails and what doesn't. After an afternoon there I don't think I'll ever need to 'practice' aid again, on most popular trade routes you aren't doing rad heading and hooking but using established old sh#t people have been doing for 25 years, so its all fairly straight-forward... HARD aid, well then you'll have to ask someone else.
|
|
drljefe
climber
El Presidio San Augustin del Tucson
|
|
where the debris meets the sea.
Go out to the middle of BFE to pound pins. There's plenty of rock way out east.
|
|
brawa
climber
SAN
|
|
Tricks of the Trade, Main Wall, Mission Gorge? A3+. Only know this from seeing it in the guide, never seen it done.
|
|
dirt claud
Social climber
san diego,ca
|
|
There is a couple good lines at Lake Dixon to practice on as well.
I used to practice on the thin seam of Synchronicity boulder. Great for nailing and copperheads and hooking practice.
Edit:
OOps, I digress, this is not a good boulder to do nailing aid practice on. didn't know it was free climbed.
|
|
Doug Tomczik
climber
Bishop
|
|
I don't know about anything at Mission Gorge or about much of the stuff at Santee (other than that Synchronicity is free climbed at 5.12). In my eyes, some great contenders for thin aid at woodson are the seam by Rockwork Orange, the overhanging laser splitter (uber thin) that Mark mentioned. If you are walking the road towards the summit, it is just past the switchback between Mother Superior and The Cave area. Another great one would be the overhanging thin crack just to the left of Widow Bereft. That is the longest one (~30ft). While there are a handful of seams at Woodson those come to mind because they aren't free climbs. There is also the Hollywood Shot (opposite Big Grunt) boulder with that hooking thing that goes up the face. All of the above would be easily toproped if you didn't want to lead them.
Also, Sin Eater (on the K2 boulder) goes free at 5.12.
|
|
AndyG
climber
San Diego, CA
|
|
That seam on the synchronicity boulder at Santee is an established free climb. Don't nail it. There are boulders busting out all over San Diego county. Why the f*** would you practice nailing on an established free climb?
|
|
Anxious Melancholy
Mountain climber
Between the Depths of Despair & Heights of Folly
|
|
I put up tricks of the trade at MG. when I did it I wasn't sure how long the upper blocks would be there. They flex a bit under pin pressure. When I was going thru that phase I also established a couple other routes. On the Descanso crag, and in the Kennedy guide, "Trail of Tears" overhangs a bit, needs stacked pins, copperheads, etc. and then there's my "all mixed up" on Corte, hardest aid isn't until the last pitch. And why haven't the good free climbers sent this route yet?
|
|
dirt claud
Social climber
san diego,ca
|
|
Never seen anybody free climb that thing, but I apparently am f*#king up this climb even though there is a RURP from who the hell knows how long ago in the seam about 15 feet up that thing, and it was already chipped from nailing when I looked at it. Maybe that is the reason it was even possible to free climb the thing in the 1st place, isn't this the case on some of the old aid lines that later got freed? This is what made me "f*#kin" feel like it was ok to practice aid on it. Do you know when this climb was first freed? Was it before RURPs went out of use? I assumed it had been used for aid originally and then possibly free climbed later. I have never seen anyone free climb this in the 5 years I've gone to Santee. If it is climbed, it is done very rarely. Never had anyone bitch to me about it, and I have been out there when there are plenty of people who could have said something, old skool guys too, who I'm sure would have given me sh#t. I mainly practiced clean aid with small nuts and copperheads that I did not pound. Tried nailing one piton to get an idea of what it was like, but mainly used it for hooking and clean aid practice.
If I got on something that was an "established" free climb, I apologize, was just trying to get some aid practice in a few years ago, but I should have realized I needed to check with the ethics police around SD before I climbed anything. I was just a fledgling climber trying out new stuff, sorry to piss you off Andy.
Edit:
Jace, disregard my advice about climbing aid at Dixon or Synchronicity Boulder, I'm not sure what was and was not originally a free climb, or if it is only allowed to be free climbed. If you are doing clean aid I assume that is fine, but if your going to nail I would check the route beta first. Don't want to piss people off like I did.
|
|
AndyG
climber
San Diego, CA
|
|
Dude, I'm just trying to educate you. Why does your ignorance makes me the ethics police?
Yes, there are many free climbs that were nailed 40 years ago. Including that seam at Santee, as evidenced by the ancient rurp. But in case you haven't noticed, things have changed. Most people climbing in the 21st century realize that past nailing does not make it OK to nail now. I'm pretty sure there are people on this forum that have hammered pitons into Serenity Crack but none of them would do that today.
Sure, nobody really gives a sh#t about Santee, but that doesn't make it OK.
|
|
Roots
Mountain climber
SoCal
|
|
There's a couple of routes at Rubidoux (not San Diego but..) that should work for you and nobody will mind.
|
|
apogee
climber
Technically expert, safe belayer, can lead if easy
|
|
I give a sh#t about Santee.
|
|
GDavis
Social climber
SOL CAL
|
|
I give a sh#t about Santee.
|
|
GDavis
Social climber
SOL CAL
|
|
Don't want to piss people off like I did.
The idea of aid climbs as separate routes for the sake of doing an aid climb kind of begs the question. Aid 'practice' isn't like free climbing 'practice,' or maybe it is in that you want to be objective about what you are trying to accomplish.
Do you want to learn how to more marginal peices, or are you hoping to top out ever increasingly difficult single pitch climbs to increase your experience? Because if you boulder just off the ground with pins and rurps and heads it is the same thing, you don't have to arbritrarily clip a rope into pro... not only that you can use a pad (or heavy boot) and risk the ever-present Ground Fall issue that can arise with those single pitch hook and head fests.
So yeah, you can aid any climb you want. But why? If it's just what you want to do, cool. But it ain't to be the best aid climber you can be, its to satisfy some vision that you see of aid climbing...
|
|
dirt claud
Social climber
san diego,ca
|
|
Really? Give me a break, don't act like this didn't piss you off, or you would not have asked me "what the f*#k" gave me the idea I could practice nailing on that route. Unless of course, that is just your normal way of asking people why they do things. Not saying it ruined your day, but you obviously weren't happy about it.
As I said, I had just started climbing and was looking for a place to practice aid, had never seen anyone on this crack, had dirt all in it from not being climbed and had all kinds of aid scars on it, plus a RURP. Your gonna tell me you have no idea why a beginning climber thought it would be ok to practice nailing on. Give a guy a break will you, It's not like I knew all these things back then and just decided "f*#k it, I'll nail it anyways"
From the way your educating me about this crack in Santee, it sounds like Serenity Crack "is" just as important. To me there is a big difference between coming up to a line you see no one on, ever, and is in some little crag barely anyone knows about, that is already scarred up. And nailing on a route like Serenity that has seen so many ascents and is very popular compared to Synchronicity boulder.
As I'm still ignorant to some things as far as climbing ethics, can you or anyone else on this thread please clarify some things.
If a climb has gone free after being a nailed route, but no one ever climbs it, does that mean no one can nail on it at all? Only those few who decide to free climb it every once in a great while get to use it?
Is it the person who freed the routes choice to decide how it will be climbed from then on, and what is allowed? I understand routes like Serenity Crack have a history and nailing is frowned upon because it already has been nailed too much and clean aid can be used, I understand that, but what about little crags like Santee on routes that are barely ever climbed like this one. If there were a bunch of people who wanted to practice nailing on it and only a few who wanted to free climb it, would that change things?
What happens when those aid routes that you guys have suggested for nailing on Woodson go free. Are they off limits after that? They were freed so no more nailing on those routes, How doe that work?
I have respect for the rock and routes, but this sh#t goes too far sometimes. I was just a lad trying to learn some new stuff about climbing and saw a line that was beat up from nailing, had old gear in it and looked like it hadn't been climbed in years. Guess I should have followed the example of Jace here and asked first.
Edit:
I care about Santee boulders too. I learned how to climb there. Not being snarcky with my questions above, just trying to educate myself on ethics. And I was trying to learn something new in climbing by practicing on that boulder, was not just climbing it aid style to climb it aid, thought it was a great seam to practice with small stuff, but guess I was wrong.
|
|
Jacemullen
Trad climber
Oceanside
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Mar 5, 2013 - 05:08pm PT
|
Do you want to learn how to more marginal peices, or are you hoping to top out ever increasingly difficult single pitch climbs to increase your experience? Because if you boulder just off the ground with pins and rurps and heads it is the same thing, you don't have to arbritrarily clip a rope into pro... not only that you can use a pad (or heavy boot) and risk the ever-present Ground Fall issue that can arise with those single pitch hook and head fests.
So yeah, you can aid any climb you want. But why? If it's just what you want to do, cool. But it ain't to be the best aid climber you can be, its to satisfy some vision that you see of aid climbing...
I don't know if this was directed toward me or the other guy but I'll answer: It is a given that there are routes (mostly in the valley) where nailing and copperheading are acceptable. Both nailing and copperheading can be much more destructive if done "wrong". I was just looking to find a chossy boulder field with some cracks where I can practice the more destructive techniques (at ground level or just above) so, when confronted with them on a classic climb (or otherwise) I can leave the smallest impact possible.
|
|
GDavis
Social climber
SOL CAL
|
|
I was just looking to find a chossy boulder field with some cracks where I can practice the more destructive techniques (at ground level or just above) so, when confronted with them on a classic climb (or otherwise) I can leave the smallest impact possible.
Awesome, that's what I thought. I would almost ignore any established "aid route" that's right off the ground, because ANY chance of groundfall for a training run is just silliness.
Sh#t boulders GALORE at Melrose boulders (off Melrose and Oceanside blvd). Fairly close to the 78 (a few miles north on Melrose), absolute sh#t area that is likely going to be developed in the next ~10 years.
Santee JUST had a hundred plus volunteers spend their entire day off power washing off spray paint and cleaning up trash. Likely, that will never happen at Melrose.
So.... if I was gonna hack somewhere, where would I go? Well, I went to Melrose. I would go again.
Greg
|
|
Off White
climber
Tenino, WA
|
|
Funny, that crack Mr Claud mentioned sprang to mind, though back in my time in San Diego that boulder was referred to as the Aid Boulder. Makes sense that its been freed though, and odds are it's top roped, so not surprising one would seldom see anyone on it. Who brings a rope to Santee?
Sounds like GDavis has your best location option. I'd second the notion someone else posted that you'd best be prepared to deck if you want to play at hardish aid on short routes. Aside from a pad, you could also just set a top rope, clip loops periodically to keep you off the ground. After all, this is about education, not achievement.
Oh, and a lot of people care about Santee. I do too, even if I only get there a couple times every few years.
|
|
AndyG
climber
San Diego, CA
|
|
Dirt, Sorry I said F***. It is a word I use a lot.
|
|
dirt claud
Social climber
san diego,ca
|
|
No worries Andy, I use it a lot too. Just kind of hard to tell how people mean things when they type things on forums.
For what it's worth, I do appreciate the info. I really had no idea at that time that this boulder problem had been freed. I just saw a good seam to practice stuff on that looked old and dirty so thought it would be cool.
Just don't want to be looked at, as this guy that doesn't give a crap and climbs whatever he wants, however he wants. I was ignorant to these type of things when I first started climbing. Just saw a place to learn new stuff.
|
|
Jacemullen
Trad climber
Oceanside
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Mar 6, 2013 - 08:27pm PT
|
Just toproped Misbegotten today at the gorge! Ton's of fun dialing in my hooking and hopefully I can get out to melrose boulders tomorrow and practice some copperheading shenanigans.
Thanks for the help guys, It's certainly appreciated.
|
|
| Messages 1 - 24 of total 24 in this topic |
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!