Climbing at Pinnacles National Monument, CA, 18-20 February 2006
Almost three hours driving out from Berkley to the south east we found the
Pinnacles. As the name suggests and the picture above shows, there are lots of
pinnacles in the park. Known for its loose rock and runout climbs it might not
be the choice for everyones outdoor premiere and trad refresher (I had lead
very little the last 6 months before going on this trip, even indoor sport
leading has been nonexisting). However, staying well be low difficulty levels
practiced in the gym made the trip most enjoyable.
I have not bothered to edit the images from this trip. They are all
1600x1200 so your load time might be a bit crappy. Sorry for me being
lazy.
More climbing links:
http://www.pinnacles.org
http://www.rockclimbing.com
(with more links)
Wee Little Thing 5.8. 3 bolts and anchor, perfect warmup. Annica
lead it as her first outdoor lead.
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Me hiding in the high grass.
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Rat Race with its 5.7 graded roof, which I bailed.
Annica following me on the world's shortest pitch.
Practicing multipitch is time-consuming but fun.
I wanted to try a 6 pitch route on Machete ridge the second
day. That meant hiking 5 km each direction, the hike was
great fun and included crawling through a cave. But I was
rather optimistic and after the lunch break I called the
climb off. We walked up the back side, almost all the way
to the top of the ridge, but we skipped the 5.3 ending.
As usually I failed to find the route, we walked past some
bolts but it was really hard to find the routes and see what
was what without a proper guide book.
The Balconies formation. Lots of birds here, and bird
watchers. Several climbing areas were closed due to
bird activity.
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More Balconies. Here it shows how it got its name.
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Dark clouds splitting Machete ridge on the right and
the Balconies on the left.
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Cute flowers that lived in improbable places.
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I wanted to get up on this ridge, but not on this face.
Final day we went to the easy to reach Tourist Trap area
and then to Discovery wall befor rushing back to return
the rented car.
Thrill Hammer from the top.
Thrill Hammer while absailing. Excitement started
when I pulled down the ropes and the knot got stuck...
Crappy picture, but my only evidence of climbing Portent 5.6.
It was a nice, but run out, climb. Nice exposure on the second
half. Nice locals giving me beta when I got lost halfway up :).