The Black Rocks have a half dozen routes that would be considered trad climbing. The rock varies from fair to very good as the black and gray rock at Josh is usually XL. The cliff gets afternoon sun and is a good cold day destination. The main black cliff has 3 established routes the best of which is Freriks is a Daddy 5.10 b/c. It climbs a steep thin seam on the buttress to left of center just right of a clean dihedral. It is similar to "Wired", i.e. technical with thin pro. Tie off a rare Josh "thread" in rotten rock and lieback up and away!
Getting There
The Vogel guide states: "These very dark-colored cliffs lie on the west side of a small hillside .5 mile E-SE of the Wonderland Ranch (Uncle Willie's) parking area. They lie to the north of the Bighorn Pass Rd., about .6 miles after you pass the turnoff for the Wonderland Ranch parking area. The 3 separate "black" cliffs are fairly obvious". These directions lead to the section of cliff with "Freriks is a Daddy" 5.10 b/c and "Ranking Carl" 5.8. The cliff with the 4 routes listed in the book is actually about 50 meters to the north and is a smaller gray cliff.
Although the rock at the bottom is not very good it gets better and better. Tie off the thread and start liebacking and side-pulling on up. This route is a lot like "Wired", technical with thin pro, but longer....[more]Browse More Classics in CA
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