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guyman
Social climber
Moorpark, CA.
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Jul 31, 2012 - 11:58am PT
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The best thing about Valhalla is this....
The waterfall makes so much noise you can't hear your leader yelling "TAKE".......
So CaliGirl... are you making a GB?
Your list has some different names. When you say Eagle Mt. Do you mean "Bald Eagle Pk"?
And What/where is the Mouth?
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ec
climber
ca
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Jul 31, 2012 - 02:52pm PT
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The Mouth of the Canyon.
'Dish Pan Hands'
 ec
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guyman
Social climber
Moorpark, CA.
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Jul 31, 2012 - 03:05pm PT
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ec....
Vahalla AKA Mouth????
Dish pan Hands = 10a?
gime a clue
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ec
climber
ca
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Jul 31, 2012 - 04:01pm PT
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Valhalla is below/near Salmon Creek Falls.
Dish Pan is .10- @ the actual western mouth of the Kern Canyon.
As a jam, layback jam is easier than merely jamming the distance.
Inside the crack is ROUGH and will make you an advocate of tape.
About a .25 mile upstream on the roadside, there's a good short OW.
3 miles in, accessible when the water's low down, facing the road is the 10 foot hand crack (.10+); short & steep. High on the hill facing the road (across the river) is a huge blockish formation with an overhanging OW, The Block (.10-).
ec
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guyman
Social climber
Moorpark, CA.
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Jul 31, 2012 - 04:58pm PT
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Cool, Thanks for the info.
Have bouldered/climbed at a spot down in the river. I think it was named "The Gym" ....
Tons of great and unknown climbing in "The Kern River Dranage".
I go to the Rincon in the winter. I like to compair notes with my friends who went to Josh. Its warmer and less stormy than Josh about 90% of the time.
ec.... do you know that "The Fortress" is becoming quite popular now and all the boulders over by "Burnt Granola" are a new hot spot.
Amazing
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ec
climber
ca
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Jul 31, 2012 - 06:08pm PT
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Yeah, Levy told me a while back. Tons of good stone up there! BITD, I suppose I spread myself thin with so much unclimbed stuff. Lamont has some good stuff too. They are steeper & more difficult than they look. Real steep in the corridors. The approach is steep. The Fortress can be traversed to.
LOL! Burnt Granola...that second pitch scared the sh*t outta me on the FA. I got past the crux, but was run out on the granular slab above the steep headwall. I decided that I HAD to drill...no stance; I literally laid on the rock like a snake to keep from 'crumbling' off. On subsequent ascents, (sh*t! I actually went back) I caught a couple of partners who didn't keep it together, fell before the last bolt and whipped over the headwall.
EDIT:
'climbed many of those boulders out there too.
ec
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CaliGirlClimber
Trad climber
bakersfield, ca
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Thanks guys, really helpful. I'm not doing a GB, just need new places to climb.I found a recreation map that has most of all the climbs I'm looking for plus some.
I am totally going to Vallhalla, climbing in the summer limits us to early mornings and evenings only unless there is shade. I am sooo excited.
Let me know if we can ever meet up, I'd love to be around experienced climbers that are local.
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CaliGirlClimber
Trad climber
bakersfield, ca
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E.C.
...as in EC Joe? You wrote the Stonemashers Guide?
So cool.
Bald Eagle Peak, do you access it from the back dirt road or HW178. I tried to find it the other day and couldn't before it got dark. I went about 3.5 miles down the dirt trail. Any better directions?
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ec
climber
ca
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That's me...
From HWY 178 exti at Bodfish and go south on County Road 483/Caliente-Bodfish Road.
Near the 'summit' there is a secondary road that veers off to the southeast; Piute Mountain Road-Saddle Springs Road-FS Road #27S02.
You'll eventually see the peak at the end of a switchback where you park and traverse over to it. Caution: ticks are prolific on the approach.
EDIT: Sky Blue is a 4 pitch route on this formation, face & crack and a short aid bolt ladder...
ec
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CaliGirlClimber
Trad climber
bakersfield, ca
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Cool, I needed those directions and I love your pics but I meant to say Owl Rock though and not Bald Eagle Peak. Guess I was star struck, lol.
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ec
climber
ca
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Hwy 178, just west of the Borel Powerhouse. Turn-out just west of the bridge and walk towards the river east, southeast:
The Fortress, mentioned up-thread:
Now off limits, as it was on private property and the old guy's son freaked-out that his dad let us climb there. The place has big 75-foot boulder-cracks like this overhanging hand to finger to fist to chimney...the 'rainbow' in the name is for a petrograph on the formation of a medicine man under a rainbow...
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CaliGirlClimber
Trad climber
bakersfield, ca
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These pics are priceless. Thanks for sharing.
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ec
climber
ca
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Owl Rock is above the 2000ft elevation sign on Hwy 178. There's a turnout there on the westbound side.
ec
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ec
climber
ca
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Owl Rock
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guyman
Social climber
Moorpark, CA.
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I think the 2,000 foot sign is gone.
The OWL has the steepest dirt approch .....
IMHO... not the best place.
CALI.... Vahalla might be OK, you might get chased out by the sun in the late afternoon.
I recomend a cool little climb that to me is the essence of Kern river climbing. Im sorry I dont know the name of the root, may be EC will.
Go to "NEW DIRECTIONS" parking. You will see a large pine tree growing in-front of a rock just a short ways up. It dosent look like any sort of climb. Go up to tree and you will see that a crack goes out left....
some really cool underclinging - great pro- going left puts you on a stance on a face and your looking up a corner. A bolt protects a weird/hard move... now your going up the corner - some more good pro- to top. I think this is about 10a/b. This is in the shade till about 10-11 am.
let us know.
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CaliGirlClimber
Trad climber
Bakersfield,, CA
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Thanks guyman. Have you climbed owl rock? So you did access it from 178 climbing up? I just thought it might be easier to access from the dirt road in the back, I saw some of the rock from 178 and it looked good but when I tried to get to it from behind I couldn't see it anymore.
I'm definately going to Valhalla. I think I am going to backpack there next Friday evening and get up bright and early on Saturday. I am dying for the heat to go away so I can spend all day climbing.
Thanks for the pic, I love seeing people's pics of these climbs, it is really great.
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CaliGirlClimber
Trad climber
Bakersfield,, CA
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Guyman, what do you climb over in the LA area. I lived in Cerritos (Orange county/LA county border)but moved to Bakersfield last year. What brings you to this area?
I think I may have climbed that route you were describing, we camped across the street a couple months ago and wanted to climb new directions but it was too hot and sunny and we found a small crack climb that was shaded by a tree, off to the left in the parking area.
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guyman
Social climber
Moorpark, CA.
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You going to backpack from B-Field!!!
I like to drive.... :>)
We hiked up to OWL Rock. Pretty steep stuff, good training for CRS.
Good camping across the street from Kern Slab.
do a TR
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CaliGirlClimber
Trad climber
Bakersfield,, CA
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Yeah, I have camped at Thunderbird campground several times, I like it down by the water, lots of shade.
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rincon
Trad climber
SoCal
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Valhalla is at Lower Salmon Creek falls. Here's a good video I found on youtube...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjBOpObnn8M
Hey Guy! Check out this: "Less than a mile up the trail, a rough and bushy use-trail veers off to the right. This leads to the difficult scramble up to the south-facing granite walls towering above the trail, known to some rock climbers as "The Rincon." :)
http://kernriversierra.com/hike/rincon_trail.html
Also, this is kinda funny, the Kern River Collective in Bakersfield, has a strain called..."Salmon Creek Kush"!!!
http://budgenius.com/Salmon-Creek-Kush-Kern-River-Collective-BG0010001E314.html
I wonder if it's grown up there?
Caligirl, I'd have to say that climbing anywhere near Kernville in the summer is just too hot! The Needles, Church Dome, Quality Cliff, and others, are nice when it's too hot lower down.
BTW, take Harley Rock off your list, it's covered with lichen and nobody ever goes there, because there's better spots.
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