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mrtropy
Trad climber
Nor Cal
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Hey Aron, Thanks for all the hard work, just like at Auburn. I will email you. Did you leave any of the old bolts in for "historical" viewing?
Jeff
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Roughster
Sport climber
Vacaville, CA
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Jeff,
Yeah we left the older stuff if it was solid, and some of it is. Aloha Patrol has a sequence on the 3rd pitch where every other bolt is the old 1/4"s, but hey are bomber. We left quite a few pins in the cracks, hopefully people wont go gaga and start pulling all of them out.
Once you get the guide, check out the following routes for some historical gear:
Aloha Patrol
Drive By
Spy Versus Spy
If you wander the base of the cliff and keep a sharp eye out, you'll see several older anchors/odd bolt here and there.
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LuckyPink
climber
the last bivy
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New routes on the north side of the road, routes on the south side... how about one guide book for the area? publish it summitstyle but with photos..dodrill photos...it's got history too. hmm ( get the local climbing club to pay for it)
inanycase, nice work out there Aaron, I agree with you about letting it get fully established
M
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squishy
Mountain climber
sacramento
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 5, 2008 - 01:25pm PT
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I would buy a book for the area if it was available...
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KP Ariza
climber
SCC
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Hmm.....sometimes even a NA beer can hit the spot, not bad Aaron-
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Roughster
Sport climber
Vacaville, CA
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Wow email explosion. I'm getting them sent out guys :)
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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I'll ping you later Rough, but would love to go out there and check out any moderates that i could scratch my way up.
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Roughster
Sport climber
Vacaville, CA
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Munge:
There are currently 15 route 5.10 or under. One of them is a multipitch (Captain Choss 5.10d)
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Eric Beck
Sport climber
Bishop, California
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Roper sent me the following:
Like many old folk, I don't do threads and blogs. But,
yes, I did some paltry routes in the SH Palisades with my dad in 1955 and 56.
Then, around 1961, Sacherer and I did a horrendous aid route on Table Rock,
far left side of the north face. It zigged and zagged a bit, so we called it
"Z." Had we been smarter we would have called it "ZZZZZ." I believe I have a
30-second VHS of this, given by the third man, our "cameraman" Howard Bradley.
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Jerry Dodrill
climber
Sebastopol, CA
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Wow. Now THAT is crazy! I'd love to see that footage. There was a guy named George who apparently climbed a bunch of lines on the cliff. Not sure what, or when. He lived on the property just below the crag for a number of years.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Roughster, is there a route on the arete in the lower left corner of the first pic you posted? Very striking arete.
edit... to include referenced pic...
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Roughster
Sport climber
Vacaville, CA
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Yes there are two routes that revolve around that arete both are 12as. One is standard arete fair, the other goes up the shared overhang below then traverses left onto a steep face on the inside of the face that you can't see from the pic.
One way to immediately identify where the routes are out there are look for the ever present "whitish" scars. The rock often has a very light patina surface that is paper thin and breaks off with any weight/force.
Both routes share a steeper juggy start:
Grape Vine goes left to the steep face around the corner:
Grave Juice goes straight up there arete to the apex:
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Dec 20, 2008 - 02:39am PT
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I remember doing some routes in the Palisades with Roper in the early 60's. We made up these crazy bolt hangers out of old license plates!
A short lived adventure into making hardware. We borrowed some ginormnous Eucalyptus stumps from the golf range in Tilden Park for our "anvil", and set up shop in Ropers backyard.
Not one of the most intelligent things we ever did. Then again not one of the dumbest.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Dec 20, 2008 - 02:44pm PT
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^^ Nice! ^^
I was at Sterling Vineyards this fall. Impressive cable car, tour and winetasting setup - completely unimpressive wines. Really not up to snuff with the rest of the valley.
I pointed up to the Palisades and asked buddy if he knew anything about the crag, and did people climb on it. He told me the rock was loose and crappy - so even the local non-climbers know!
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KP Ariza
climber
SCC
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Dec 20, 2008 - 03:56pm PT
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The more I see the less I psyche. Like Sterling wines, just not up to snuff. I suspect there is a reason that this place never became popular even after decades of activity....mediocrity
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Jerry Dodrill
climber
Sebastopol, CA
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Dec 21, 2008 - 01:58am PT
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License Plate bolt hangers?! Yikes!!!111 The cliff sure wasn't over-looked by locals. Its just that after a fifty minute hike we'd see Roper's old bolts hanging half way out of the dirt and have to wonder, wtf?
From Marc Jensen's Climbing in the S.F. Bay Region, 1988:
"The rock (Bubble Rock, Mt. St. Helena) is a volcanic conglomerate with a hard surface layer that allows climbing. If this outer layer is missing, the rock is as strong as cottage cheese...
On the ridges running North and South of Mt. St. Helena are cliffs up to 300 feet high. The rock quality is rumored to be extremely poor. A few routes have been done and there is the possibility of free climbing. There are stories though of entire sections of a route disintegrating under body weight. Some of the cliffs appear to be on private land."
Pretty enticing, eh? Bubble Rock is bit better than what Marc described. Perhaps the new routes at Table Rock will see enough traffic to get worn in too.
On a side note, does anyone have the October 1985 Climbing Magazine? Basecamp apparently had an article about Goat Rock I'd like to see.
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Roughster
Sport climber
Vacaville, CA
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Dec 21, 2008 - 02:52am PT
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Climbing history is full of examples where locals/others have scoffed at new areas proclaiming them to be choss and never would amount to anything.
The cool thing about this scenario is the rock IS choss, haha, no one is denying that, but whether or not this place will turn into something special remains to be seen IMO. Multi-pitch sport climbing within 100 miles of the city is bound to draw a few curious look-i-lous. As Jerry mentions above, I don't think it is beyond reason to think that eventually the routes won't work themselves into shape.
If not? Eh, that wouldn't be the end of the world either, as CI mentioned in a previous post, there has been a small group of people who have known about it for quite awhile now and they have somehow managed to overcome their initial Choss-Shock and now enjoy the area just fine.
Let me save anyone reading this some time: If you truly don't like choss, don't bother with the hike out. No, seriously. You will be wigged out by the 3rd bolt of your 1st climb. Expect to wipe significant amount of dirt off of your shoes at the belays/after lower offs. Expect to have holds crumble on you (that's just an indication that your not using the right ones anyways :P ). Expect to have to grovel and you just may be pleasantly surprised.
If you go out here thinking this is anything other than a long term work in progress, the joke is on you.
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Salamanizer
Trad climber
Vacaville Ca,
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Dec 21, 2008 - 03:13am PT
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^^^^^^^^^
Ha Ha!!!... Really though, it's no worse than Pinnacles, and people love that crap.
Anyway, I have several of those "Roper" bolt hangers. I'd post a pic but don't have one anymore. Aaron posted a pic a while back on this thread "I think" though. I pulled some of those by hand, scary little things. Those hangers belong in a museium. Amazing ya'll lived to tell the story.
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