[Hide Comment] Looked like a good line up the face of The Pagoda, but... The climbing totally sketched me out as I pulled holds off and the sandstone crumbled beneath my feet. Even being careful with loose holds it worried me...

It is a nice line up the face and was fun for my partner on top belay.

Watch out for poison oak at the start!

Don't throw your rope in the poison oak when rapping off the back! Mar 24, 2009

[Hide Comment] Such is the nature of Pine Canyon. You have to familiarize yourself with the nature of the rock before you feel solid on it. It's choss, but great climbing none the less. Not everything out there is that bad. Don't give up just yet, keep climbing out there and you'll get the hang of it soon enough.

Pine Canyon is an place to find adventure, not contrived safety and a day of mindless climbing. It's a great place to become strong in mind, as well as strong in body.

Think of the place as a "great gift" to the bay area. Apr 12, 2009

[Hide Comment] The trees have recently been hacked down on the back side of this climb - and having had quite a bit of traffic of late (even since the first time i climbed in a few years back) a lot of the choss has been cleaned up. Jan 25, 2015

[Hide Comment] That's unfortunate. The shade from those trees was the only thing keeping the poison oak at bay and keeping your ropes out of it when throwing them down. Feb 7, 2015

[Hide Comment] Love this climb! One of my favorites in Pine Canyon. Everything is as put in the description. Lots of feet, lots of hands. IF you're new to climbing or climbing on sandstone, please be gentle. Knock before pulling down or stepping on holds; if it sounds hollow don't use it. There are tons of other options to help avoid those on this route.

We did it in a single pitch with a 70m rope, & rapped off the chains on the back of the rock. Aug 8, 2016

[Hide Comment] Watch Out for Loose Rock!!

I was climbing this route on Sunday November 13th and a foot long long hold I was holding onto completely fell off. I whipped 20 feet and slammed into my left heel. Broke my heel in 4 places and am now out of commission for 3 months.

Never climbing sandstone again! Only Yosemite Granite for me:) Nov 15, 2016

[Hide Comment] Great climb, probably best to just do it in 1 pitch so that there is more rope in the system if you happen to fall! My partner had abut a 6" piece of sandstone come off in his hands that he had to chuck off to the side. I had a sharp foothold also flatten on me that woke me up.

With all that said.... it's a pretty great climb. You just have to climb it like a gecko: 4 on the floor in case any 1 hold should snap. Static and controlled!

Also ... be sure to bring stuff for a short rap off the top. Nov 11, 2019

[Hide Comment] I'm a newb, ended up getting too scared to make it to the first clip, it was pretty high up(maybe 15ft), with a not great landing area if you fell. Seemed like a pretty chill climb though with lots of juicy hand/foot holds. The fragile sandstone also freaked me out. A more confident climber would probably zoom through this :]

We ended up just scrambling around, which was a fun day. Sep 6, 2020

[Hide Comment] Just climbed the first 5 bolts of this climb. Saw what looked like the 6th bolt being a 20+ foot run out and didn’t feel confident enough to climb it (so yay to whoever climbs it next! You get a free BD quickdraw). Seemed a lot cleaner then what people talked about which means less big holds and lots of smaller and smooth stuff. Also not a bad idea to stick clip the first bolt (though it is a spinner!) Sep 20, 2020

[Hide Comment] A nice classic climb. New bolts last week (I saw folks rebolting the whole Pine Canyon area - thank you!!).
Belay / rappel station at pitch 1 - so you can lower from there if you like; but it is fun to go up all the way to the top and lower on the back side. We did this as a multi-pitch. Belaying from pitch 1 is awkward and wasn't too comfortable; next time I would just go all the way to the top and belay from the top. Nov 1, 2020

[Hide Comment] A fun climb! I did p1 on lead after my friend stick-clipped the first bolt. Was my tallest lead so far at about 100'. Good handholds all the way (jugs, crimps, pockets, a few sidepulls and pinches) but sometimes needed to hunt around to find them. Some footholds were thin with well-defined edges, and other footholds were sandy pockets with decent grip. Nothing broke off but I was climbing very slowly and and tapping on some holds to check if they sounded hollow. I'm sure I would have gone much faster on top rope. If you fall before clipping 1st bolt, the landing area is sloped and has tree roots so not a clean landing. P1 anchors were newer bolted hangers with double steel rap rings on each, not the rusty chains in the photo (unless those are the p2 anchors?) I don't remember any big runouts on p1 but yes around the 5th or 6th bolt the spacing was longer, about 15'. All other bolt spacing on p1 was comfortably close for me. I rate 5.7 for pitch 1 (didn't climb p2). Nov 2, 2020

[Hide Comment] If you have a 70mm rope it will reach the top. If you lead climb with two 70mm ropes you can belay two climbers up at the same time. There are enough holds to play with. Love taking first-time climbers here. Once you get to the top you get a great view, especially near sunset. Rappel off the backside. Nov 29, 2020

[Hide Comment] Why is this marked trad?
Agree with other comments that this is best done in one pitch and belaying from the top to clean. Feb 18, 2022

[Hide Comment] Because it was established ground up, hand drilling on lead. The “traditional” way. Jun 11, 2022

[Hide Comment] Fun climbing, felt a tad run-out but maybe I'm spoiled Oct 1, 2023