[Hide Comment] The business on this is really short, the first 15' right off the ground, where it's just shy of vertical, then the angles kicks way back. Too short to recommend, even though the climbing and rock are good. Aug 24, 2009

[Hide Comment] Frank Hoover was a very active member of the So. Cal chapter of the Rock Climbing Section (RCS) of the Sierra Club, and he was a dear friend of my family. He was also one of the funniest people ever to wear human skin. Always totting a camera, he took early pictures of many of the legendary climbers, like Royal Robbins & Bob Kamps.

That they left an empty bottle of wine on top and christened the pinnacle with its name is of no surprise...Frank did pranks like that all the time. When he was a student at UCLA he climbed to the tip of one of the spires on top of the old Ackerman Student Union Building and tied a hub cap there. It hung in that proud place for a few weeks until the buildings & grounds people finally knocked it off from a ladder...but...that rope remained draped to the spire for decades...it may very well still be there now...I saw it in '83, so who knows?

Frank lives in the high desert north of LA, and he is 90, and has long since retired from his post as a research biochemist at UCLA. Twice he lost his home and all he owned...including countless priceless photographs... to fire, but he always kept his spirits up....and he is still the funniest human who ever lived.

So, when you climb this route and sit atop Paisano Pinnacle, give a little nod to good old Frank Hoover...one of the original Prankster Climbers... and try to think of where they left that darn wine bottle! Apr 10, 2015