Trad Climbs in Socal with high density of rap offs.

Hi all,

Sorry for clogging up this board with another question. Recently I injured my wrist, so I am not able to climb for a bit, meaning I am relegated to being a belay bitch. This means I cannot even follow to clean gear. I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for Trad areas with a high density of rap or lower offs.

Thanks for the help

Suicide rock, whitney portal and joshua tree all have plenty of amazing single pitch trad routes. I don't know if that's far enough South for you, but it's as far south as I climb, so that's all I got.

Too bad about your wrist. Those are all great hiking and camping areas as well, so there's that.

NJB.... heal up. I don't think that there is much of the type of climbing you are looking for at the places mentioned in Stephen D's post.

Just so I get this correct. You are looking for someplace where you can belay your leader, who wants to plug gear, and then lower em from fixed anchors and let them clean on the way down. You can only walk around and do the belay?

If I have that correct then here is what I recommend.

The Kern Canyon..... many of the climbs at Kern Slab, New Directions, Book Rock, The Rincon, Sunny Valhalla and Valhalla require you to plug gear and clip bolts and lower from fixed stuff.

The Fish Wall up by Kennedy Meadows also has about 10- 12 climbs that are one pitch, mixed climbs with fixed anchors.

mountainproject.com/v/fish-…

Its a little late in the year for fish creek and all of the other spots I know about are sport only or are secret places and I can not tell a soul or my friends will stop taking me to their new areas. But here is a hint..... the people who climb in the Southern Sierra do not slam bolts in next to good cracks.... but the practice of placing bolted anchors at the end of one pitch is becoming more and more standard ...... look around some and you will find em.

Thanks for the help guys. My wrist luckily is not too bad, still waiting to see a specialist. But it is just swollen and impinged/painful (have had on and off episodes of the pain after a MTB fall a few month back). Nothing I would want to climb on, but I can belay with a wrist brace.

And Guy, you are correct. I am looking for something where they can lower or rap off and clean some gear.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Perhaps too far out of your way, but a place with great weather all winter with well over 50 climbs just like you describe is at Panic Town in Santa Barbara. You'll usually never see another soul there either and you'll have the place to yourself.

mountainproject.com/v/panic…

Alternatively, Sespe Gorge (Black Wall) outside of Ojai is another great place. Although the pitches are long enough that you need two ropes to rap if you only have a 60m rope. If you have a 70, you may be able to make it to the ground depending on the route.

mountainproject.com/v/sespe…

Christopher..... Question for you.

What is the sun exposure on those crags?

All day sun? .... like the toxic shock wall.

Pm?

Am?

This time of year (December), Sespe Gorge (Black Wall) is only in the sun for about 2 hours from 9 am until 11 am. Although even in the shade, unless you're unlucky it will still be at least 60 degrees almost every day of the year so if you bring a beanie and a jacket, it is very climbable even in the dead of the winter in the shade. In summer months, it is in the sun most of the day until the middle of the afternoon.

The routes of Panic Town are southwest facing although the base of Panic Town is almost always in the shade. It is in a fairly narrow canyon and even if the sun is directly overhead, there is tree cover throughout much of the base area. On the wall itself, you will be in the sun throughout a good chunk of the morning and into the early afternoon this time of year.

""The routes of Panic Town are southwest facing although the base of Panic Town is almost always in the shade. It is in a fairly narrow canyon and even if the sun is directly overhead, there is tree cover throughout much of the base area. On the wall itself, you will be in the sun throughout a good chunk of the morning and into the early afternoon this time of year."

Thats the info I need, THX

always looking for new stuff to climb

"Thats the info I need, THX always looking for new stuff to climb"

Let me know if you need a partner. I'm always willing and it might be nice to have somebody that knows the way up there to guide you the first time. It can be a bit tricky.

You can always pick one of the walls in Joshua Tree (or anywhere else honestly) with high route density and just rap off a gear anchor to clean. Then pull the rope, lead the next route, collect the old anchor, build a new anchor, rap off that, etc.

You just need a little extra gear so that you can afford to leave a few pieces at the top while you lead the next route.

Thanks for the help everyone.

Ill have a look around at some climbs in Joshua Tree. Does anyone have an recommendations for areas to look for (looking for 5.8 trad or under or moderate 5.10 sport). Just want to avoid doing something like double cross an holding up parties while I rap down and clean.

Nathanael wrote:You can always pick one of the walls in Joshua Tree (or anywhere else honestly) with high route density and just rap off a gear anchor to clean. Then pull the rope, lead the next route, collect the old anchor, build a new anchor, rap off that, etc. You just need a little extra gear so that you can afford to leave a few pieces at the top while you lead the next route.

I think this is a good suggestion. Though they are sprouting up in more and more places, there aren't that many routes at Josh where there are fixed anchors up top. At the Hall of Horrors, if you lead Diamond Dogs you can TR Lickety Splits (5.7) and Zardoz (5.8) next door. There are chains at the top of White Lightening (5.7)/Poodles are People Too (.10b) which those folks who barely scratch their way up the 5.7 use to hand dog all over the .10b (can you tell that bothers me?). Rock Garden Valley has a good density of 5.7-5.9 routes in close proximity. Lots of fun stuff there. Also Tiny Tots Rock nearby is similar.

NJB wrote:Thanks for the help everyone. Ill have a look around at some climbs in Joshua Tree. Does anyone have an recommendations for areas to look for (looking for 5.8 trad or under or moderate 5.10 sport). Just want to avoid doing something like double cross an holding up parties while I rap down and clean.

NJB.... glad to hear the wrist is healing up.... climb on.

Corral Wall in Indian Cove. Actually quite a few have anchors so you can just rap directly.

Any of the top rope hotspots will also work well for you, provided you can deal with topropers (pick open routes or go on off times). For example, Thin Wall, Short Wall, Hemmingway Buttress, or even Trashcan Rock if you want easy.

Recently I injured my wrist, so I am not able to climb for a bit, meaning I am relegated to being a belay bitch.

Another alternative, especially appropriate for a geographically vast place like Joshua Tree, is that both you and your partner can use the opportunity to track down the location (approach, base of route) to check out climbs you might want to do together in the future. That way you both are moving, so you both get to stay warm in the cold weather, you save yourself a huge amount of time in the future from wandering around with the whole rack and rope, and you don't risk further aggravating your injury by belaying. And this is actually a really fun alternative.