Chappies

Black Mountain Wednesday was spent at the Chappies yesterday, and what a nice little bunch of boulders! The Chappies aren't a new area, but they are rarely climbed on because info is rather scarce. The rock is a little different than Boulder Basin, and feels more like the Tram, or even at times, like the Buttermilks.

Directions (stolen from the SoCalPD): Drive past Boulder Basin until you get to the Fuller ridge road split. Go down hill, or left if you're looking at it like a fork, and continue from this point for up to a 1/2 mile. There will be a very obvious sandy pullout on your left, really the only left you can make after the split. Park here and continue on foot down the road/trail found in the back left of the "parking lot" area.

Continue down hill on trail through "campsite" (do NOT camp here) and cross the small stream up hill to left into the obvious pile of rocks. The Chappies spread up hill from here, to the road, and down hill from here, to the road again.

Fun rocks abound, like the v3 above (anyone know the name?). A complete classic! But it isn't all easy, and once this area is fully developed, it could have the largest concentration of hard climbs on the mountain. In one day we spotted at least five lines with the potential to be double digits.


Here we have Ian on (what we think is) a new problem, Moss Apocalypse (v7). A cool heel hooking lip leads to a scary topout, but luckily the climbing gets easier as the climber gets higher.

I leave you with this: Joe trying trying trying...falling.

Meeting with Forest Service

The meeting went amazingly well. We met with John Ladley, Recreation Office, and Andy Smith, Assistant Recreation Office (check outAndy's work at Taquitz). Both were not only friendly, and seemed to truly care about the mountains, but were also open to reasonable suggestions for change. Here's the cliff notes version of the meeting, in ascending order of importance:

1. John and Andy didn't know about the dirt road to the Republic, so there is little chance of it being cleaned up any time soon. Ah well, real men have trucks anyway.

2. Of course you need an adventure pass to park on the road, but the Golden Eagle Pass - or what do they call it now, the "America the Beautiful Interagency Access Pass" (how lovingly bureaucratic) - also works. Just put it on the windshield.

3. Parking in the campground with an adventure pass is allowed (although I've heard reports to the contrary in the past), just don't do it on a busy weekend when you may be taking sites away from campers. Use common sense.

4. There are some pictographs around OK Corral. We've all seen them, but I just assumed it was paint from the 70s or something. We were first told to enjoy them and then to respect them. Remember Hueco, and be kind to the writing on the rocks.

5. The lower gate is closed to prevent people from trashing the road and getting stuck when there is mud and snow. But as we pointed out, the road below the Corral - and to a large extent the campground as well - dries out early in the season. We suggested that another gate be added directly above the Corral or the campground, and John and Andy were both open to it. HEAR THAT! WE COULD HAVE NEARLY YEAR ROUND BLACK MOUNTAIN ACCESS!

A second gate isn't a done deal by any means, but the possibility is a live one. It needs to get cleared by the fire people, and someone has to pay for it (perhaps $3,000), but there may soon come a day when the summer is Black Mountain's off season.

Overall the meeting went as well as could be imagined. Any thoughts on all this?

Meeting with Forest Service

Alan and Ian are meeting with a rep for the Forest Service Wednesday morning. We see it as a way to open up a dialogue with the Forest Service so that we can sort through issues before they become blown up with the publishing of the new guide. So far, we are planning on discussing.

1. Access: Is there any way to get those gates open earlier.

2. Trail Building: Is this a problem?

3. Parking in the Campground: What exactly are the rules?

4. What concerns does the Forest Service have?

What else? What questions do you all have? How should we approach these issues? Comment here and we'll post answers later this week.

Walking to the Corral

As we saw in an earlier post, the walk from the second gate up to the OK Corral really isn't too far. Given that the gate won't be open until May 15, we just couldn't wait. It only takes 30 minutes to make the trek, following the road the whole way up. You can get down in half the time by cutting through the switchbacks, but it isn't recommended on the way up.

Black Mountain Map

Since the gate second gate appears to be closed for the time being, here's a map of the road from the second gate (A) to the OK Corral (B) and Boulder Basin (C). Walking doesn't look like it would be too bad - 2.3 miles from the gate to the corral if you follow the road the whole way. But since the road takes all those curves, a crafty boulderer could probably cut this in half by cutting straight through.

What do you all think? How long is the treck? What are the best switchbacks to leave off? Is there a trail? We've been too lazy at the BMB, but this is going to change soon.

Gate Open! Sort of.

It appears the early gate unlocking was merely to let some loggers in, since the people who destroy our nation's forests should clearly get priority access to them. There is now a sign on the gate saying it will not be unlocked until May 15. Bah!

Gate Open! Sort of.

BMB stud Dom has this to say about the gate:

Confirmation: the gate IS unlocked at the moment. we were able to park and climb at OK Corrall.. and drive to the gate near boulder basin (casual ten minute walk in).. temps were very good.. very syked!! always.. with that being said: i called the ranger station yesterday and the lady told me the gate was not open.. maybe she was just misinformed. also, there was a back hoe and some bobcat machinery doing some work half way up the road. MAYBE the gate is only open right now, to allow for these workers to do their job for the next week or so and then it will close again until mid-may? probably not, but a possibility. regardless, definitely open today, the word is out, several cars drove up, although we were the only climbers..

We'll let you know when our spies figure this whole thing out.

[UPDATE]: Via comments, handsome BMBer Aaron has the following to add:

I rolled up, checked out the republic (sweet freakin boulders and was able to drive all the way to the top parking area in my 2wd tacoma! - not recommended for those with a light gas foot-) Then drove up black mt road and followed the first break in the road (the first hairpin turn - which is where they are doing a ton of wood cutting with helicopter and all). Turned around and went up to the campground, passed it and got stuck in the snow (and became one of those stupid tourons they keep the gate closed for) and got pulled out by some dude out with his fam for the day. It seems like the temps are pretty sweet for sending right now. I wouldn't recommend going past the campground tho till the snow melts a little more.