Mount Woodson Mega Thread

Christina Moon wrote:

Russell,

I think JT has a bit of a Clark Kent thing going on here. I don’t recognize him in those pictures unless there’s a wad of climbing tape holding his glasses together. I think they make him climb harder.

JT on Bat Flake.

Haha definitely. He also had clothes on that  wasn't held together by a few threads. The many personalities of Jeffrey T. That picture is awesome, apparently JT only climbs fist cracks, what other fist cracks should we take JT to?

Oh man, Bat Flake another bruiser! I cry for mercy please, my hands can't take no more fisticuffs !!

lol, I'm flattered by the attention, however a legend I am not. More a simple farm lad who wandered into the mountains what seems like a long time ago. Like many of us Woodson keeps drawing me back for the endless challenges. Just trying hard and working through the grades. I remember when I'd walk up to Jaws and hang on the first fingerlocks unable to move, lacking the strength to lock off. Now I see how many TR laps I can make on it, and hang on the opening jams of Driving South!

Word came in that Russell and Philip got hit pretty hard by the oak last weekend. Send them your thoughts and prayers y'all. Opening up these beauties ain't easy!

...

P.S. Dig the Fight Club ref. however such unbridled angst was more the province of 18-year-old me, now I relate more to British ladies from the middle 19th century:

The North slope is big boy terrain. Bottomless caves, rounded drop offs and death chimneys, all covered by a jungle of poison oak.  Forging through that to find wide cracks is about as sick as it gets, and I say that with a ton of admiration. Woodson locals are the shit!

jt newgardwrote:

"The real world was the wide"

I didn't know Jane Eyre was an O-Dub aficionado 

Michael doing a lap on "Five-Nine Handcrack" (5.10c).

adam gongwrote:

"The real world was the wide"

I didn't know Jane Eyre was an O-Dub aficionado 

Was waiting for someone to pick up on the undertows. I MEAN, the underlines.

Jane Eyre sent the gnar back in the day, very brave lady.

Jane Eyre was cool, I'll take her storms and burned down houses over Jane Austen's noblemen any day

@Phillip Great picture. Does that mean you got the FA redpoint? 

Chase Morganwrote:

@Phillip Great picture. Does that mean you got the FA redpoint? 

For all we know it was a first ass-cent. 

Also finally cleaned out the loose flake on the inside of the crack... I'll put this up on MP when we've improved the trail a bit

Nice and the 10c grade certainly keeps with the Woodson ethic

For Russel and those interested in hearing about the Poway Mountain boys, Michael Paul is going to be visiting me soon and Ill get him in the thread so he can answer your questions. He knows a lot about the hill.

Ron Amickwrote:

For Russel and those interested in hearing about the Poway Mountain boys, Michael Paul is going to be visiting me soon and Ill get him in the thread so he can answer your questions. He knows a lot about the hill.

Please let US know when and where that old man is going to visit. Will make the drive south. 

Just throwing it out there. It would be rad to do a little meetup when everyone is in town. Hangout, Stories, climb, order some pizzas to Robbins Crack, anything goes. What Woodson/SD guides did he make and does he still have any copies? There are rumors of a South Woodson guide.

Nice work getting to those slant cracks Philipp, they look great.

We made some sad attempts on Vice Principals Office the other day, overhung floppy fists. Has anyone ever climbed this thing? Any photos or stories about this one would be awesome. A Piggot obscurity buried in the PO forests of the North. Here is Adam a few fist jams off the eagle turds.

Got an email from M Paul and he said he was gonna take a look at this thread, so if you have any questions for him just throw em out there

Russell Houghtenwrote:

Just throwing it out there. It would be rad to do a little meetup when everyone is in town. Hangout, Stories, climb, order some pizzas to Robbins Crack, anything goes. What Woodson/SD guides did he make and does he still have any copies? There are rumors of a South Woodson guide.

Nice work getting to those slant cracks Philipp, they look great.

We made some sad attempts on Vice Principals Office the other day, overhung floppy fists. Has anyone ever climbed this thing? Any photos or stories about this one would be awesome. A Piggot obscurity buried in the PO forests of the North. Here is Adam a few fist jams off the eagle turds.

Michael did the 1985 guide for Craig Fry's guide to bouldering in southern california. He was staying at my house while finishing it up and I helped him with some legwork. We were going up the hill almost every day at that time, to climb and so MP could get boulder locations and perspectives correct. He left town right after that and didnt make another guide. I used his guide to document all the development going on, but the scope of development wouldnt fit on his topos after awhile, so i made my topos from his guide. My topos are blobs on paper, but his guide was a work of art 

Russell Houghtenwrote:

Just throwing it out there. It would be rad to do a little meetup when everyone is in town. Hangout, Stories, climb, order some pizzas to Robbins Crack, anything goes. 

Down to come down for this if it happens! 

Ron Amickwrote:

Got an email from M Paul and he said he was gonna take a look at this thread, so if you have any questions for him just throw em out there

I can't really think of many specific questions for Michael but I would love to hear any interesting stories of FA's, history, encounters etc he might have and see any photos he has from back when he was climbing here a lot. What are some of his favorite routes he put up? Are any of his original guides available to see online? Did he ever do any climbing on the north slope of Woodson? Off the fry koegel trail. 

Mo,Michael and I met up for an early morning PO party the other day.  We suited up on the main trail with the latest and greatest poison oak protection suits and made our way into the unknown depths of the north side PO forests.

After a few hours of trail cutting and poison oak vine/root extraction we began to see our destination through the thick brush, a large boulder with what appeared to be several cracks on it.

Glory!! This is what you want to see after a few hours of bushwhacking. 

We went back to our packs and took off all our layers. We scrubbed our entire bodies with Tecnu, washed our tools with alcohol and bagged up all of our trail clothes. We hiked back up our lovely PO free(for now) trail to enjoy the fruits of our labor. We spun a carabiner between the three of us and whoever the narrow end ended up pointed at would get to go first. I spun it and I won, conspiracies were hatched. Mo and I both struggled at the top but Micheal made quick work of it. Reminiscent of an easier version of the Bat Flake on the main hill.

We named it "21st Century Schizoid Man" a nod to the King Crimson song and the Schizoid nature of climbers. Another crack to add to the Woodson database.

Russ and the boys do it again. Good work. Who should care about a little PO? The climb is worth way more and will be there for a long time. I was hoping to get out there with you guys this winter but have been distracted by some rocks in another part of the county. Look forward to finding a window and seeing your new finds!