All Locations > California > San Francisco B… > Mount Tamalpais

The Southern Formation Rock Climbing

Routes in The Southern Formation

L › R R › L A › Z

	East Face T,TR 5.7 5a 15 V+ 13 MVS 4b
	South Face T,TR 5.6 4c 14 V 12 S 4b R

Elevation:	2,471 ft
GPS:	37.928, -122.577 Google Map · Climbing Area Map
Page Views:	1,977 total · 33/month
Shared By:	Riley McDonald on May 13, 2013
Admins:	Aron Quiter, M. Morley, Adam Stackhouse, Salamanizer suchoski, Justin Johnsen, Vicki Schwantes

Access Issue: Park closed nightly from sunset to 7:00 am Details

The park is closed from sunset to 7:00 am, so be sure to leave before dark.

Always check the Mount Tamalpais State Park website parks.ca.gov/?page_id=471 for current information.

Description

The next rock to the south of the Leaning Tower, with climbs in the 5.6-5.8 range.

Faces southeast and gets sun in the morning, but can get cold later in the day. Bring bug spray in the summer months as mosquitos can eat a belayer alive at the base.

Mostly top-roped, but fairly well protected as a lead climb as well. Bring slings for threads in addition to a light trad rack. There is a large boulder/horn on top that can be slung with ~10ft of webbing for a bomber anchor.

Getting There

Walk south from the lookout tower and follow the trail that breaks left along the top of the ridge toward the large rock formations. You will come to an intersection with a large (10ft high) boulder. Turn left at the boulder to follow the trail downhill toward Oberman's Rock. Continue past Oberman's Rock and the Leaning Tower, then follow the trail slightly back uphill to the base of the Southern Formation. You will run directly into the overhung east face (~5.7).

You can also access the top of the formation by continuing on the same trail or by going straight along the ridge at the initial intersection with the boulder.