Mount Woodson Mega Thread

I wanted to start a thread for all things Woodson. I have been obsessed over this boulder covered hill since moving to San Diego 6 years ago. After climbing many of the classics I started wandering off the trails and cutting new ones. I have uncovered many new gems, obscure old routes and accumulated quite the collection of poison oak rashes. I was hoping that people could share stories of FA's, new finds, share anchors that need bolt replacement, etc here and hopefully see some of you out on the hill. 

I'll start the thread by sharing this perfect finger crack my friend Mo and I cut a trail to the other day thinking we were the first to be there but found a single rusty bolt on top, the bolt appears to date back 30 years. Anyone recognize this summit beauty?(The crack not Mo)

I got a copy of Keith Brueckner’s Woodson guide from someone on the FS forum - super cool! Brueckner was the founding chair of the UCSD physics department and studied condensed matter and plasma physics. I’m a PhD student in the physics department there so very cool to see the connection. Actually I heard that Bill Ramsey was also a PhD student (philosophy?) at UCSD when he did the FA of Uncertainty Principle. 

Hey Mo, Woodson physics PhD gang absolutely sending it :) I gotta introduce you to Davide, he's been tradding it up between months of injury and his candidacy exam...

Been really cool to see the development out here -- I'm still pretty new to the SD scene but it's been awesome! For a picnic spot with a bit of easy climbing, the learning cave chimney is great (someone probably climbed it forever ago but it was new to us :)). I wonder what other longer routes are hidden on this hill

TeeTee M wrote:

That crack is beautiful! Thanks for sharing.

No interesting stories or FAs here… just a sorta climber with a deep appreciation for Woodson who’s coming out of hiatus. Not sure when this happened, maybe after the “hurricane”, but this poor tree is now blocking the trail to Jaws Boulder area. Haven’t seen any mention of it anywhere?  I don’t have any experience with trail maintenance/upkeep…maybe someone with a chainsaw can help

We actually cut the majority of it out yesterday haha. A sharp handsaw did the job. A pair of sharp loppers and a folding handsaw go a long way with this SD brush. 

Started projecting Big Grunt yesterday. Lives up to the name.

There’s a bolt on top of the Crucible that could use some maintenance 

Andrew Mcnettwrote:

Started projecting Big Grunt yesterday. Lives up to the name.

There’s a bolt on top of the Crucible that could use some maintenance 

Welcome to the thread Andrew. That's an awesome photo of Big Grunt, you got it!!! Post more photos if you have any.

I replaced one of the bolts last year, are you referring to the upper bolt? 

Great thread. Makes me miss SoCal. There is something undeniably special about woodson. Cool to think that there is still some adventure and exploration to be done on our little hill.

Thanks again for all of the work you’ve put into the trails in new and old/forgotten areas, bolt replacement etc.

Pugnacious Slabwrote:

I got a copy of Keith Brueckner’s Woodson guide from someone on the FS forum - super cool! Brueckner was the founding chair of the UCSD physics department and studied condensed matter and plasma physics. I’m a PhD student in the physics department there so very cool to see the connection. Actually I heard that Bill Ramsey was also a PhD student (philosophy?) at UCSD when he did the FA of Uncertainty Principle. 

Bill Ramseywas one of the most prolific hard route developers on Woodson bitd, surpassed only by Rick Piggot. In addition to Uncertainty, he put up Starving in stereo (12c), grainstorm (12a) and a bunch of other quality high grade routes and boulder problems. Bill is such a humble and unassuming guy that you would never think that he was such a badass climber. You could talk Woodson  with him all day and he would never bring up his FAs, so it's up to others such as myself to sing his praises. Another overlooked Woodson pioneer is the late Dan Leichtfuss, author of the impossible Top Secret File, tentatively rated V7 but which has yet to be seconded to my knowledge, Dan also put up Stealth Bomber (12b) and Plain Nooky, a word play on "playing hooky" (12b). I had been on plain nookey a dozen times and couldn't put the last moves together, showed it to Dan and he did the FA on his first try.

Russell Houghtenwrote:

I wanted to start a thread for all things Woodson. I have been obsessed over this boulder covered hill since moving to San Diego 6 years ago. After climbing many of the classics I started wandering off the trails and cutting new ones. I have uncovered many new gems, obscure old routes and accumulated quite the collection of poison oak rashes. I was hoping that people could share stories of FA's, new finds, share anchors that need bolt replacement, etc here and hopefully see some of you out on the hill. 

I'll start the thread by sharing this perfect finger crack my friend Mo and I cut a trail to the other day thinking we were the first to be there but found a single rusty bolt on top, the bolt appears to date back 30 years. Anyone recognize this summit beauty?(The crack not Mo)

Hey Russel, thanks for the email alerting me to this thread. I was fortunate to start climbing at Woodson in 1980, right as what I call the first wave of development was ending. Spearheaded by the Poway Mountain Boys. The mountain boys were a strong group of climbers, including Greg Cameron and Rick Piggot, who were climbing at world class level at that time, and both of whom made their mark on the big stage of Yonemite and elsewhere. The mountain boys were looking for cracks, and they put up most of the classic longer crack routes on the hill. But they werent really interested in the bouldering potential, so hunders of classic and easily accessible problems were waiting to be plucked. The second wave, which I was a part of along with probably two dozen others, applied a santee mentality to woodson, looking at every side of every boulder, and top roping shorter lines. Between 1980 and 1992 me and different partners, but usually Rick Allenby, accounted for 65 FAs on the hill. Michael Paul, a good friend and world class crack climbe,r was also a regular on the hill then, and he produced the first real guide for Mt Woodson. Dr Brueckners guide served a purpose, but was woefully inadequate, especially given the activity that commenced after it was published. Over the course of a year, Michael produced drawings that were so accurate that one could find the routes based on the drawings, and his accurate placement on a map. Unfortunately, Michaels masterpiece was only published in Craig Fry's "Bouldering in Southern California" guide, so it didn't get the circulation it deserved. Michael moved on after making his guide, and I used it to document all the new routes being done. Soon routes were going up outside the range of Michaels drawings, so I reproduced his topos much less artfully, basically drawing blobs that approximated the shape of the boulders. I photocopied those topos and handed them out at the base of the hill as everyone came down at the end of the day. I had to continually update my topos to include the latest routes, and soon people were seeking me out to have their FAs included in the next edition. It was a way to have your find documented and well as publicized for free. I kept making topos until around 1993, when my son was old enough to play organized sports. I became a hockey dad and coach after that. Guides that were subsequently published were based on my info, but unfortunately authors took liberties and renamed routes or gave names to riutes that had existed for years. After seeing this one too many times, I updated my last topos with new route that I knew of and have been offering the for free, both to set the record straight, and because there is a need. Modern guides to Woodson have mostly been a section in a general guide to San Diego. Making a guide to Woodson is a monumental task that few would even attempt. Its vastness, difficult terrain and lack of historical documentation make it a daunting undertaking. I know of two attempts at producing a woodson guide in he recent past. One was done by a guy who advertised on line, "best woodson guide ever" That got my attention, but all he did was digitize my topos and rename some stuff. I disparaged him online and he had the decency to request a face to face meeting, which i gladly obliged. We had a beer and quickly found common ground, reconciling our differences with a light admonition from me. He was a good guy. The other was by Greg Horvath, a very strong climber who was committed to making a complete and accurate guide. As such he had me accompany him on many outings, where I basically pointed at things and he fired all the rads in sight. Sadly Greg moved away before completing his project. I dusted off my old topos as a stopgap and a way for people to find some routes. I hope they get good usage. The past ten years has found me clearing trails on the south slope, cutting trails to climbs that I can't do, but I have shared them with those who can. Back when we were young and strong, we used to joke that one day our new routes would be routes to routes, and so it has become. Happy climbing

Russell Houghtenwrote:

Welcome to the thread Andrew. That's an awesome photo of Big Grunt, you got it!!! Post more photos if you have any.

I replaced one of the bolts last year, are you referring to the upper bolt? 

Appreciate the replacement of any old anchor bolts on Woodson, but I don't think the linking hardware is necessary.  The two bolts and a sling or slings is plenty good. The link only adds a potential failure point. Mission Gorge is an example of linking hardware gone berzerk, Every added link is a potential failure point, Excessive hardware also limits the range of an anchor, directing it to a specific route when there may be adjacent variations that the anchor could serve. I encountered the worst hardware link ever on top of Boot Flake on The Nose. Four good bolts had been tied together with steel cable, the ends of which were clamped together by a pair of two bolt clamps. Steel cable run over the thin edge of a bolt hanger focuses stress where the cable bends over that hangar. The lack of flexibility of the steel cable ensures that this point of contact will remain constant. While wear in those places is a concern, my biggest concern was with the strength of the bolted clamps. These clamps are not designed to resist high pull-out loads. In short, the cable was put there by a well meaning idiot. Worst of all, the cable filled the hangers, and there wasn't enough room to even thread a sling into the hanger along with the cable, so we were obliged to do the King Swing off of that mess. K I S S (keep it simple)

Ron Amickwrote:

Appreciate the replacement of any old anchor bolts on Woodson, but I don't think the linking hardware is necessary.  The two bolts and a sling or slings is plenty good. The link only adds a potential failure point. Mission Gorge is an example of linking hardware gone berzerk, Every added link is a potential failure point, Excessive hardware also limits the range of an anchor, directing it to a specific route when there may be adjacent variations that the anchor could serve. I encountered the worst hardware link ever on top of Boot Flake on The Nose. Four good bolts had been tied together with steel cable, the ends of which were clamped together by a pair of two bolt clamps. Steel cable run over the thin edge of a bolt hanger focuses stress where the cable bends over that hangar. The lack of flexibility of the steel cable ensures that this point of contact will remain constant. While wear in those places is a concern, my biggest concern was with the strength of the bolted clamps. These clamps are not designed to resist high pull-out loads. In short, the cable was put there by a well meaning idiot. Worst of all, the cable filled the hangers, and there wasn't enough room to even thread a sling into the hanger along with the cable, so we were obliged to do the King Swing off of that mess. K I S S (keep it simple)

Heck yeah!! Welcome Ron. Happy to have you in the thread and already dropping tons of great info and history. I love hearing about you creating those topos and handing them out at the bottom of the hill, would be so stoked to see someone do that today. 

Do you have any old photos you could share here? Also have you had any communication with Rick Piggot?

Regarding the anchor photo, there is no linking hardware, those are my personal slings I was using so I didn't fall off of the crucible on top of hikers walking to the potato chip. I came across an anchor like you're describing at Deerhorn not too long ago, a cluster of 1/4" bolts linked together with steel cable...not a pretty site. Thankfully the anchor on top of the boot flake is modernized now and doesn't have that junk show you're describing haha. That sounds terrifying to lower off of that and do the king swing.

Some other recent anchor replacement

Spring Break 

PHD

I was born and raised in San Diego, near the Poway area. Mt. Woodson definitely had a presence in my neighborhood as it was easily identifiable by the satellites on top, although not to be mixed up with the neighboring Black Mountain! I always referred to Woodson as “the mountain sprinkled with sesame seeds.”

I moved to Massachusetts for grad school (hilariously enough also for a PhD), and there in the wet granite of the Northeast, I learned to climb and subsequently learned of the Mountain Project database. I can’t put into words the immense amount of joy I felt when I saw nearly 350+ routes at a crag right in my hometown’s backyard! “When I go back to visit my parents, I’m for sure going to check out the crag,” I told myself.

But wait, the crag is on… Mt. Woodson?

…The mountain with the POTATO CHIP? But it’s just boulders, there are no cliffs? How is there rock climbing? 

The first route I did on Woodson was Sickle Crack.

Terrible choice for a new climber.

New England does have cracks, but very very VERY few of them are as clean and demanding as Woodson’s and for the first time, I was forced to learn how to properly climb a crack, cracks of all sizes. I often thank Woodson for teaching me how to hand-jam and therefore catapulting me into my blinding obsession for pure crack climbing. I always try to pay my respects with a blood sacrifice on an offwidth or fingercrack when I return to San Diego.

Who knew a little sesame seed sprinkled hill would cast such light on my life. 

"The Flames" campfire tales for Mount Woodson thread. This should be pretty good!

Russell and Mo have put in a LOT of work reaching some very jungley boulders on north hill, some climbed, some maybe not, hard to say. The air is thick here, the forest very old, and holding its secrets close. It has been my honor to serve as unwitting squire on few of these rambunctious missions, wondering how deep the poison oak vines run, and whether there are holds underneath the rich carpet of moss.

Required reading for all San Diego rock climbers:

http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/1010167/notes-on-San-Diego-rock-climbing

I always thought of Woodson Mountain as kung fu sensei to all would-be granite aficionados. How many problems have we thrown ourselves at over and over again, mastering a singular technique to cross 10 feet of rock? In the same way we recognize great works of art by their "essence" , say , Ms. Mona Lisa's smile, or the St Crispin's Day speech in Henry V, so too is the climbing here distilled down to a most singular pure form: only the moves! So ditch the gear, pull hard, and know that you follow in the foot steps of giants.

jt newgardwrote:

"The Flames" campfire tales for Mount Woodson thread. This should be pretty good!

Russell and Mo have put in a LOT of work reaching some very jungley boulders on north hill, some climbed, some maybe not, hard to say. The air is thick here, the forest very old, and holding its secrets close. It has been my honor to serve as unwitting squire on few of these rambunctious missions, wondering how deep the poison oak vines run, and whether there are holds underneath the rich carpet of moss.

Required reading for all San Diego rock climbers:

http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/1010167/notes-on-San-Diego-rock-climbing

I always thought of Woodson Mountain as kung fu sensei to all would-be granite aficionados. How many problems have we thrown ourselves at over and over again, mastering a singular technique to cross 10 feet of rock? In the same way we recognize great works of art by their "essence" , say , Ms. Mona Lisa's smile, or the St Crispin's Day speech in Henry V, so too is the climbing here distilled down to a most singular pure form: only the moves! So ditch the gear, pull hard, and know that you follow in the foot steps of giants.

I think it's fair to call almost anything you find on the north side a first ascent, Even where brush has grown back there is usually some sign of previous visitation, a cleared base, a sawed limb etc. Traffic on that side has been sparse for good reason, the scale is huge, route finding is difficult and the terrain treacherous. Poison oak is rife on the north side as well. Hats off to the brave souls who are exploring Woodson's final frontier. 

Russell Houghtenwrote:

Heck yeah!! Welcome Ron. Happy to have you in the thread and already dropping tons of great info and history. I love hearing about you creating those topos and handing them out at the bottom of the hill, would be so stoked to see someone do that today. 

Do you have any old photos you could share here? Also have you had any communication with Rick Piggot?

Regarding the anchor photo, there is no linking hardware, those are my personal slings I was using so I didn't fall off of the crucible on top of hikers walking to the potato chip. I came across an anchor like you're describing at Deerhorn not too long ago, a cluster of 1/4" bolts linked together with steel cable...not a pretty site. Thankfully the anchor on top of the boot flake is modernized now and doesn't have that junk show you're describing haha. That sounds terrifying to lower off of that and do the king swing.

Some other recent anchor replacement

Spring Break 

PHD

my bad, the crabs looked like a cold shut or something. I am in the process of going through hundreds of slides to scan, so I will have more pics, but  it will take awhile

Ry’s comment about sesame seeds reminds me that the Kumeyaay have a very cool name for Woodson - Mountain of the Moonlit Rocks. 

Sometimes those things look like they’re glowing in the dark to me.

Ron Amickwrote:

christ on crutches V4

Thanks for posting up Ron, so funny to imagine you just sitting there handing out topos. I’ve run into plenty of Woodson first-timers who were in dire need of some Birds Eye view direction. I’m sure we all have fond memories of stumbling through the bush looking for Rockwork orange or Elsa’s on our first visits… good thing there’s not too much poison oak on that side of the hill haha

Christ on Crutches looks great, I see that one is just by American Gypsy. Added to the todo list along with syncopation! As a fragile millennial I need a pad(s) to boulder, which I usually am too lazy to drag up the hill. Think I’ll start trying those BPs this winter. The other one I really want to do is I Would Die for you, just because I’ve seen it so many times but never made an attempt. And the mantles! There are so many mantle problems

jt newgardwrote:

"The Flames" campfire tales for Mount Woodson thread. This should be pretty good!

Russell and Mo have put in a LOT of work reaching some very jungley boulders on north hill, some climbed, some maybe not, hard to say. The air is thick here, the forest very old, and holding its secrets close. It has been my honor to serve as unwitting squire on few of these rambunctious missions, wondering how deep the poison oak vines run, and whether there are holds underneath the rich carpet of moss.

Required reading for all San Diego rock climbers:

http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/1010167/notes-on-San-Diego-rock-climbing

I always thought of Woodson Mountain as kung fu sensei to all would-be granite aficionados. How many problems have we thrown ourselves at over and over again, mastering a singular technique to cross 10 feet of rock? In the same way we recognize great works of art by their "essence" , say , Ms. Mona Lisa's smile, or the St Crispin's Day speech in Henry V, so too is the climbing here distilled down to a most singular pure form: only the moves! So ditch the gear, pull hard, and know that you follow in the foot steps of giants.

Wow thanks for posting that taco thread JT. Too bad they don’t host pics anymore!

This Olson quote was too good. On climbing on SD:

And if you climb here, and if you get lost in or mauled by the landscape, you are far from alone.

Pugnacious Slabwrote:

Thanks for posting up Ron, so funny to imagine you just sitting there handing out topos. I’ve run into plenty of Woodson first-timers who were in dire need of some Birds Eye view direction. I’m sure we all have fond memories of stumbling through the bush looking for Rockwork orange or Elsa’s on our first visits… good thing there’s not too much poison oak on that side of the hill haha

Christ on Crutches looks great, I see that one is just by American Gypsy. Added to the todo list along with syncopation! As a fragile millennial I need a pad(s) to boulder, which I usually am too lazy to drag up the hill. Think I’ll start trying those BPs this winter. The other one I really want to do is I Would Die for you, just because I’ve seen it so many times but never made an attempt. And the mantles! There are so many mantle problems

well i would have a stack of topos in my car and just hang out as ppl came down, we all knew each other, and there weren't many out of town visitors back then, so really, we were drinking beer and ragging on each other. The entrance to the road up Woodson used to be through the gate that's now locked up tight. There was so much room on one side that you could drive around the gate in a regular car. One time I left my chalk bag at painted boulder, and we just drove up and got it. COC is a deceiving little shredder hand jam problem, syncopation is a mofo high step to a knob and mighty lieback pull to get onto that knob. It gets harder as the ground under it erodes. Check out Korean cowboy for a good BP. There's a ton of good problems in the playground area too and its roomy enough to drag a pad around. The control tower is really good, but might wanna tr it, it's a bit airy. Fragile millennial lol, sounds like you're pulling pretty hard.

unsuccessful attempt on The Vision 5.12a/b. I found and cleaned it, made a landing and placed a bolt on top, but it was too hard for me. I showed it to Jon Wienberg and he worked it out and got the FA. Its some bitch thin edging through the crux