Have a chance to move to LA. How's the climbing?

Diego Climberwrote:

Meanwhile average traffic speed in LA county is 10 miles per hour. Higher midnight to 4 AM. That’s  street, highway or “freeway”. Slower in LA city. You’re not climbing real rock weeknights. 

Just stop already. 

Fat Dadwrote:

Just stop already. 

He's averaging in parked time...

Fat dad is semi retired, works nights and lives in the distant suburbs, not LA. Sigalert is all red all day long. 

2:41 PM Friday in LA. Red 

and getting redder. Rush hour starts at 1 pm Friday.

This dude really wants to show how bad traffic is in LA... 

It's not bad when you remember people are mostly touting how great a bunch of sub 5.12 choss is. I had to laugh when I got to Black Mountain and recalled how all the So Cal influencers heralded it as world class but then remember the furthest they've been to climb is Kraft.

Karl Walterswrote:

 I had to laugh when I got to Black Mountain and recalled how all the So Cal influencers heralded it as world class but then remember the furthest they've been to climb is Kraft.

Kinda curious since you seem familiar with both: Tahoe vs Black/Tram? Which is the king on the B-tier California bouldering areas? Relative merits?

Karl Walterswrote:

It's not bad when you remember people are mostly touting how great a bunch of sub 5.12 choss is. I had to laugh when I got to Black Mountain and recalled how all the So Cal influencers heralded it as world class but then remember the furthest they've been to climb is Kraft.

What’s the problem with Black Mt? It’s not the Buttermilks or the Valley, but holds it own when compared to most other West Coast spots.  

You gotta be kidding me. Black is like one of those memes where someone sees like a cake on tv and tried to make it and it's heinously bad, but edible. Alright for starters:

• Tahoe is not world class, but dispersed mountain granite. It has its fair share of choss and Black is primarily the same coarseness/quality as Tahoe's lower quality areas minus a handful of boulders. Of course Tahoe is far larger, but there aren't many zones there that I feel have as low of average rock quality.
• There's a few concentrated areas at Black, but other than highball mods and a few classics, Black doesn't have much for climbers across the grade range. If someone climbs v2, there aren't many that aren't absolute turds. Most of the popular classics have been downgraded or are only classic because the influx of climbing on social media has hyped them up. I'm looking at you, Captain America "V8".
• Zones tend to not have much of a concentration at a grade so you hike a lot for a single meh climb. Take the Groupsites- that's a concentrated area but there's 2 classic "V8's" and a rad V4. The rest is just filler and those climbs are mega soft.
• There isn't much diversity in rock angle or style. Lots of climbs are just single hard moves on shitty, sharp holds and lots of filler moves. I think of places up North that are smaller, such as Columbia College or Castle Rock and there is more style variety across grade ranges and they're smaller and more walkable than Black.
• It seems that So Cal climbers love to pad their egos so the grading is sorta laughable, but doesn't negatively impact me because I view things more of "have/haven't done". But when I hiked out to Lion's Mane expecting a classic V7 highball and I get a slippery patina V5 with a rock under the landing it's hard to imagine anyone would compare this to say, High Plains Drifter.
• I don't love Joshua Tree bouldering, but I appreciate its history and find it pretty unique and actually diverse. It's somewhere that doesn't exist anywhere else on Earth and while it's not my personal favorite, I can easily acknowledge that it's a classic area and it also has thousands of roped climbs. When I look at things like Planet X or Slashface those are classics at the grade. You could go with a group of friends that climbs V2-V10 and find things for everyone to do at almost every zone.

Actually let me be clear.  When I meant Black Mt., I included the Tram.  That was probably a pretty material omission.  Having said that, when you include all the areas at Black Mt., not just the campground, it’s still a strong area.  

Karl— funny. You haven’t been to the best boulders in California.

And to think they are only 3 hours from my Moorpark, fantasyland abode, driving on Friday starting at 6pm.

keep this going 11 pages already. Personally I think CA’s worst traffic is in SD. No

I just realized Moorpark isn't even in L.A.

For me minimal drive time (very minimal) is critical. If it's a grind l'm more apt to bail. This especially as I age. 

Redlands was nice for a climber. It's not LA.

Just got done doing eight weeks with the grandkids in the SD area. What a nightmare!!!! 

philip bonewrote:

For me minimal drive time (very minimal) is critical. If it's a grind l'm more apt to bail. This especially as I age. 

Redlands was nice for a climber. It's not LA.

For me, minimal peeps is MOST critical.  Preferably, zero others. So many options in the middle of 18.5 million peeps. 

Guy Keeseewrote:

Karl— funny. You haven’t been to the best boulders in California.

And to think they are only 3 hours from my Moorpark, fantasyland abode, driving on Friday starting at 6pm.

keep this going 11 pages already. Personally I think CA’s worst traffic is in SD. No

Quite an assumption. Let me guess- they're secret and you can't share anything about some magical V4s that make Bishop and the Valley look like utter turds.

I don't think anything Guy is talking about is "secret" Pert near anyone who spends time traveling on the eastside or in the middle of the Sierra Nevada range knows there are hundreds of great places to climb & boulder. 

JaredGwrote:

I just realized Moorpark isn't even in L.A.

11 miles from the county line/city limits, away from the crazy political beliefs of the LA commie “leaders” 

And Karl…. When your friends take you to a place and ask you to never post about it “on-line” do you go against their wishes? It’s Ok to take others to it but no posting.
Do you want to come to my 72 birthday party???
DM me I’ll meet ya- but you must swear a blood oath to follow the rules.
Some places don’t need to become trashed and over used.
good day 

Mark Frumkinwrote:

I don't think anything Guy is talking about is "secret" Pert near anyone who spends time traveling on the eastside or in the middle of the Sierra Nevada range knows there are hundreds of great places to climb & boulder. 

So true Mark. Most folks want a map given to them. The real joy of exploring long dirt roads, hiking over the hills, is finding “the goods”.
And now that we have Google Earth to use you can see what is out there even before you make the drive.
Im always amused at all these threads on MP complaining about the lack of places to climb at, do FA’s, and the crowds at JOSH.
Just get out and explore I say.