Trip Report
A weekend at Tollhouse Rock

by rhyang
Monday April 19, 2010 11:48am
My friend Mike Z. was up for another session at Tollhouse Rock. The weather looked great so we headed down from the south bay.

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Credit: rhyang
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Saturday morning dawned clear and we decided to visit the Sunday Slab. Mike challenged me to lead Center Crack (5.6 - 5.7) with only nuts.


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It was an enjoyable warmup. There was also a short 5.7 bolted route on the left side that was a fun morning lead (Directissima ?)

We then headed over to the left practice slabs .. I guess it's called the Saturday Slab or the Hippo Wall, depending on who you ask. Mike leading a 5.8 -


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I decided to "lead" the leftmost line after preclipping the first bolt :) I believe the route is called Taking A Bath With Strangers (5.8+) A couple of young dudes from the USMC were climbing a line up the black streak to the same anchor and we rapped off using both our ropes. We saw a couple of other parties that day too. Wow, usually we see almost nobody around.

It was getting warm. We headed down to Wandering Taoist (5.9) and Mike led the first pitch.


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Pretty sustained .. we traversed over to the anchors for Elephant Walk and rapped off. Mike then led Beginner's Delight, the right-side 5.8 finger crack variation.


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To finish out the day and climb out we decided to do Free And Easy (5.7) -


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Good times .. we got back to the Hang Glider Slab as the sun was low in the sky.


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The next morning we headed down to the Saturday Slab aka Hippo Wall and took turns leading on the bolted lines again. Then we headed over to Elephant Walk and I got my chance to lead Beginner's Delight -


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I'd toproped this thing a couple of times over the years and had always wanted to lead it.

We said hello to some guys from the area that morning who were doing 38th Parallel.

We took a look at Balls (5.9), and decided not today :) Then looked around for an obscure-looking line from the Seki guidebook called Rabbit (5.8) .. kind of brushy in the area. Has anyone done it recently ?

Finally we did Free And Easy again, which was a blast. We both got to lead each pitch this way.


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Good times and fun climbing ! Stopped off at the Taqueria Maranatha in Madera on the way home.

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rhyang 		About the Author

Comments
seth kovar

climber
Reno, NV
  Apr 19, 2010 - 12:47pm PT
Awesome!!!!

Looks like you two had a blast...

Thanks for the TR

    Seth
Mike Bolte

Trad climber
Planet Earth
  Apr 19, 2010 - 12:55pm PT
Great TR! nice to see all these photos. Looks like a lot of fun. Thanks.
Mungeclimber

Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
  Apr 19, 2010 - 06:15pm PT
dang, so close to heading down there this last weekend. sounds like it's warming up now.
rhyang

climber
SJC
Author's Reply  Apr 19, 2010 - 06:42pm PT
Thanks guys. Ya, it was a bit warm in the afternoon, but not so bad yet. It was hotter in early May in the Valley last spring.

Funny thing, last year I climbed there in June and August on abnormally cool days. Love the TollCasa !
Dirka

Trad climber
Hustle City
  Apr 19, 2010 - 10:52pm PT
Sweet pics! Thanks.
eagle

Trad climber
new paltz, ny
  May 2, 2010 - 08:09pm PT
awesome photos. the five eight finger crack looks fantastic
Fletcher

Boulder climber
Institute of Better Bouldering-DirtbagDad Division
  May 3, 2010 - 01:35pm PT
Thanks for the inspiring report.... One of these days I'm gonna get over there. My brother-in-law lives in Fresno, so eventually I have no excuse not to go. Nice showcase of some fun looking routes!

Eric
JEleazarian

Trad climber
Fresno CA
  May 4, 2010 - 02:32am PT
Thanks for the TR. You certainly showed more energy than I would have -- but then, again, I don't have so far to drive. I particularly enjoyed the pictures of Beginner's Delight. I made the second ascent in February of 1970, while it was still an aid climb (hence the name). It was my first aid lead, and took me several hours to get up. How times have changed!

It does my heart good to know you're willing to drive from the South Bay to our little crag.

Thanks again.

John
rhyang

climber
SJC
Author's Reply  May 4, 2010 - 10:33am PT
Thanks all. Wow, great history John. Tollhouse is a special place for me, and I've been going there regularly for five years now. For me it isn't any further than Yosemite Valley really.
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