Where the Wild Things Are...

Bridget on Velvet Revolver

Check out this vid that Alex created from the weekend at http://www.savageclimbing.com/. We have been working on mapping out the south west side of the mountain accessed from the Corral. A lot of this climbing is typical Black Mtn with some out of the ordinary gems mixed in. At approximately the same elevation, the bouldering continues out of the Corral all the way around the mountain until you hit the Black Mountain Trail which would take you down to the 243 or up to Boulder Basin. This is a long 1.5 mile slog not necessarily worth doing in its entirety, however, along the way tons of rock has piled up hosting some amazing lines like Where the Wild Things Are featured in Alex's vid. The weather for the last several weeks has been pleasant, with the clouds resting right below the mountain creating the June gloom island effect. It does look like things are about to warm up. With Alan on guide book hiatus in South Africa and summer heat about to kick in I will be a little less ambitious through July and August. I will still try to make it up once a week if anyone wants to join as well as update this blog with guide book progress so that anyone interested in the our current focus, giving input, or meeting up can do so. Currently I am occupied collecting all the raw data necessary for finishing up topos to established and peripheral areas. Once the maps are in a near finished state it will be easier to then collect all the missing info like little known problem names and description details. Thus the goal by the end of summer is to have all topos for the Republic, Ok Corral, Boulder Basin, Summit/Lookout, Group sites, Chappies/YMCA and beyond near completion. So far the book will be structured into these 6 general regions loosely grouped based on access with a lot of smaller areas and satellite blocks included. Below is a rough draft an overview map showing this grouping. Let me know what you think?

!BMW!

Nuevo Negro!

With the spring semester/quarter coming to a close, most of you Wednesday climbers/adult learners seem to be preoccupied. For anyone able and interested, we are going to be leaving the OK Corral tomorrow morning around 9:30am to climb on some very large blocks that require about a 30 minute walk around the hill. It should be a good day venturing into the little known outer realms of the Black Mtn. bouldering. The guide book process so far has been focused largely on the main areas, however, time has come to venture out a bit more and decipher what is worthy of including in the outer lying vicinity. This process of recon, cleaning, and climbing is a lot of work but very rewarding, and everyone's participation is very much appreciated. Look for my little silver Tacoma at the Corral, and carpooling up the Mtn is an option too. If we all go into the woods and clean a problem then we each have one new line, if we share what we found than we all have many new lines!

Always Psyched...

Alex Savage making it look easy on a repeat session of Bang On.

Also, check out this cool Black Mtn vid from the last couple weeks at http://www.savageclimbing.com/

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.

December Boulders

Some images from the weekend...

Bridget sending Moondrops V7

Alex FA'ing the December Project (Name yet Alex?)

Joe on a little overhang right off the road on the way to Cracker Boy, dubbed Born Under Punches (V7ish) until determined otherwise.

Alex on the impeccable warm up face near the December boulders. We are referring to a little cluster of boulders between the Corral and Basin perched on the ridge below and north of Bang On as the December boulders. These blocks have most likely seen some action in years past, particularly the moderate faces, but the harder steep lines appeared untouched unfortunately, because it was a ton of work to clean them. Anyone curious about this little area of about 20 problems from V0-V10, with some classic midrange climbs, can access it via the left turn off of 4S01 (Black Mtn Truck Trail) onto the Boulder Basin Campground road. Park at the immediate turnout by the gate and walk up the road a few hundred yards until it curves right towards the campground. Here you cut left off the road as if you were going to walk cross country to the Corral through a wash and onto the ridge were the blocks sit at about the same elevation as the road. About a 10 minute approach. If anyone knows any history to this area please let us know so we can get accurate names and info. Thanks!

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?