New Climbs at Alabama Hills

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Russ Walling

Social climber
from Poofters Froth, Wyoming
Apr 24, 2018 - 09:55pm PT
Probably hippies.... yep... some of them there G'damn hippies...
DaveyTree

Trad climber
Fresno
Apr 25, 2018 - 09:19am PT
I have always enjoyed a spring trip to get the season started. This year we had quite a crew with a proper TR coming soon from Micronut. 5 of us were celebrating turning 45 this year so many of the names of the new routes are according.

I had been scouting around and found a cool hallway with potential. Head up a small narrow gully on the left side of Rama-Lama-Ding-Dong on Elephant Rock and enjoy a nice shaded hallway. It only gets about 45min of sun per day. We called it Birthday Wall. Macronut and Andrew got to another wall behind Birthday, 45 Wall and a couple cracks went on those. Fun all around.

The far left line on 45 Wall Adam called Auburn Line instead of Life Line.

The TR to the right of the bolted arete was first called Freddy Gone Wrong but Paul Amico changed the name to Pokin & Chokin(Aka: Freddy Gone Wrong). Funny if you know Freddy.



The hallway is about 15'-20' below what you can see in the picture. The is a hole squeeze on the one of the cracks Joe put up, some couldn't fit.....
Myles Moser

climber
Lone Pine, Ca
Apr 25, 2018 - 10:59am PT
The birthday wall is originally a R. Collins Solo for his birthday
Mungeclimber

Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
Apr 25, 2018 - 12:04pm PT
what's a shunt? Do you mean a 'cold shut'? or a version of a cold shut?
guyman

Social climber
Moorpark, CA.
Apr 25, 2018 - 01:02pm PT
I was there last weekend too... with Banny. We did a bunch of climbs- it was good fun.

I wish I had seen these recent updates.

I always run into older climbers- must be something about the place. We ran into Windy White...and Rob.. we started trying to figure out who we all were back in the day... when she said she dated Dick Silly it all came back to me.

Grannies and Grandpas on the rocks - who could have ever imagined this climbing thing producing a bunch of old active climbers.

mooch

Trad climber
Tribal Base Camp (Riverkern Annex)
Apr 25, 2018 - 01:04pm PT
The birthday wall is originally a R. Collins Solo for his birthday

Concur. Marty has the gouge and will be putting Raleigh's lines in the next guide. You'll have to work a wee-bit harder and head up higher to find the goods.
Bad Climber

Trad climber
The Lawless Border Regions
Apr 25, 2018 - 01:35pm PT
This was another new one we did recently--on Chocolate Turkey Tower. Fun and delicate. Very few positive edges and generally good rock.

https://www.mountainproject.com/route/114053672/dont-scrape-your-giblets

BAd
DaveyTree

Trad climber
Fresno
Apr 25, 2018 - 02:33pm PT
Either way they were good fun and it looks like the name was in the ball park, hahaha. Any idea which line/s he did, there were 6 on Birthday?

When is this guide book coming?

Munge, I call those clip into anchors shunts (for whatever reason).
mooch

Trad climber
Tribal Base Camp (Riverkern Annex)
Apr 26, 2018 - 07:50am PT
Glad you enjoyed that route on Chocolate Turkey Tower, BAd. Munge, Steve Gomez and myself put up a few others thereafter, including this one over by Arizona Tower ("Arizona Dome" in the old Stausmann guide).....

'Sh*t Howdy' (5.9), Horse Apple Tower

https://www.mountainproject.com/route/114056109/sh#t-howdy
dee ee

Mountain climber
Of THIS World (Planet Earth)
Apr 26, 2018 - 05:40pm PT
I'm glad to hear that some of you (ahem) won't be there!
Bad Climber

Trad climber
The Lawless Border Regions
Apr 26, 2018 - 08:22pm PT
Thanks, Mooch. I thought I espied some bolts over there last time I was at AZ Tower. I'll get on 'em. Short, but the rock looks really good.

BAd
Mungeclimber

Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
Apr 26, 2018 - 11:53pm PT
Thx for doing the updates Mooch.

Stoked someone got on the ChocoTurkeyTower!


Choss4lyfe!
mooch

Trad climber
Tribal Base Camp (Riverkern Annex)
Apr 27, 2018 - 10:06am PT
Yah Mungie, I finally got around to adding them a few months back.

I was there last weekend too... with Banny.

Loomey said he and Elliot ran into you and Banny over at Cactus Flats. Heard bloody's were being served. Nice!
Guangzhou

Trad climber
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Apr 30, 2018 - 12:23pm PT
What's it like in June?

I have a young daughter, looking for child friendly crags for an extended summer road trip.
Manimal

climber
SLT, Ca
Apr 30, 2018 - 12:34pm PT
Unfortunately it has become as popular with the RV community as climbers. Was there for the first time in a decade a couple weeks ago and was blown away by the number of campers out there. Some RV's right at the base of climbs and the people were annoyed when climbers came into "their" camp to climb. I was of the mind that it was looked down upon to camp in the Hills. The BLM guy doing rounds out there was straight up depressed about the outlook for this place. All in all, it's still a beautiful hang and that's what you get in the front country these days. "only gonna get worse" - BLM guy
splitclimber

climber
Sonoma County
Apr 30, 2018 - 01:13pm PT
For June, you'll want to only climb in the morning and evening. But a great place for kids.

The camping/rv situation is getting sad. I used to always go to Tuttle Creek to camp to respect the no camping request. But got continually discouraged from seeing everyone else camp in the hills. It is really convenient with a popup camper to not have to collapse and drive to climb each day. ;)

So I starting finding out of the way/out of view sites, but now even those are usually taken. I guess I'm part of the problem now.

Will there be a ban in the future?
cavemonkey

Ice climber
ak
Apr 30, 2018 - 11:08pm PT
Our world will shrink
No surprise
Glad there is still another quiet place to go for our generation

Never been
But looks like a wonderland of dummy domes
RURP_Belay

Big Wall climber
Bitter end of a bad anchor
May 1, 2018 - 07:12am PT
My guess is a couple of years Alabama Hills will become the same kind of BLM sh1tshow that New Jack City was before the renovation and full-time host:

RVers making encampments everywhere

Off-roaders tearing up every available patch of sand

Transients setting up temporary housing

TP & trash everywhere, with that particular smell of partially buried human waste - due to lack of facilities.

The only hope I can see is that because it is so close to a town (unlike New Jack), the BLM may make steps towards correcting this earlier rather than later.
Bad Climber

Trad climber
The Lawless Border Regions
May 1, 2018 - 07:38am PT
Rurp et al. are correct. It's crazy now on weekends. We made the mistake of going there on a weekend recently. We got there early in the day on Friday, and we were damn lucky to find a camping spot. Virtually every spot we could think of or access with our trailer was taken, including way up at the Oz parking area, which was rarely occupied. But, to be fair, and this seems true of New Jack as well, this increased traffic has led to better stewardship and an overall improvement of conditions. Hard to believe, but true. I've been going to the Hills for well over a decade, and in the early days, the piles of broken glass, doodoo papers, etc. were pretty bad. I've always made a strong effort to clean up, including, yep, other people's used doodoo papers, broken glass, cans, bottles, and once, over at Whitney Cave, a phreakin' TV! Some jackass and dumped it. Gah.

The cause is pretty clear, I think: The Internet. With massive posting on social media and other websites, these once obscure areas get HAMMERED. Gotta get my Instagram hit, yo. Interestingly, we met a really nice young newbie couple from LA. The woman was especially stoked on how low key the weekend was! She and her man had gotten a spot at Tuttle Creek, which, unlike Josh, actually had camping spaces available. My wife and I were astonished and a bit bummed at the crowds, and, yep, we were part of them. On the other side, everyone was really nice, and the climbing is so spread out, we never had to deal with crowding at the actual crags. Of course, we stayed far away from Tall Wall and Hoogie Wall. Once you step into the 5.10 range, crowds thin out quite a bit, too. In the future, I'll be avoiding weekends. I think the nice spring weather definitely increases the issues, too.

BAd
Greg Barnes

climber
May 1, 2018 - 10:37am PT
Hopefully people are still picking up glass and the little dull grey "rocks" at the base of the walls (yep, lead bullets), it really does clean things up over time.

Still remember a rather large woman sitting next to the parking for Great Falls Basin, painstakingly sifting through the sand and pulling out shards of glass. She was a Trona local and said she felt responsible for all the glass bottles they had broken and shot up there when she was a teenager!
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