Black - Rock climbing the San Francisco Bay area

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Copyright 2014 by Rowman & Littlefield

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

Photo bases for photo topos are by the author.
Interior photos are by the author unless otherwise noted.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Information available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Black, Tresa.
Rock climbing the San Francisco Bay area / Tresa Black. Second edition.
pages cm
Summary: Offers options for multiple ascents in more than 20 areas around the San Francisco Bay. Information on coffee shops, and brewpubs, and other amenities in each area is included,Provided by publisher.
ISBN 978-0-7627-8667-1 (paperback)
1. Rock climbingCaliforniaSan FranciscoGuidebooks. 2. San Francisco (Calif Guidebooks. I. Title.

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

WARNING:

Climbing is a sport where you may be seriously injured or die. Read this before you use this book.

This guidebook is a compilation of unverified information gathered from many different sources. The author cannot assure the accuracy of any of the information in this book, including the topos and route descriptions, the difficulty ratings, and the protection ratings. These may be incorrect or misleading, and it is impossible for any one author to climb all the routes to confirm the information about each route. Also, ratings of climbing difficulty and danger are always subjective and depend on the physical characteristics (for example, height), experience, technical ability, confidence, and physical fitness of the climber who supplied the rating. Additionally, climbers who achieve first ascents sometimes underrate the difficulty or danger of the climbing route out of fear of being ridiculed if a climb is later downrated by subsequent ascents.

Therefore, be warned that you must exercise your own judgment on where a climbing route goes, its difficulty, and your ability to safely protect yourself from the risks of rock climbing. Examples of some of these risks are: falling due to technical difficulty or due to natural hazards such as holds breaking, falling rock, climbing equipment dropped by other climbers, hazards of weather and lightning, your own equipment failure, and failure or absence of fixed protection.

You should not depend on any information gleaned from this book for your personal safety; your safety depends on your own good judgment, based on experience and a realistic assessment of your climbing ability. If you have any doubt as to your ability to safely climb a route described in this book, do not attempt it.

The following are some ways to make your use of this book safer:

1. Consultation: You should consult with other climbers about the difficulty and danger of a particular climb prior to attempting it. Most local climbers are glad to give advice on routes in their area and we suggest that you contact locals to confirm ratings and safety of particular routes and to obtain firsthand information about a route chosen from this book.

2. Instruction: Most climbing areas have local climbing instructors and guides available. We recommend that you engage an instructor or guide to learn safety techniques and to become familiar with the routes and hazards of the areas described in this book. Even after you are proficient in climbing safely, occasional use of a guide is a safe way to raise your climbing standard and learn advanced techniques.

3. Fixed Protection: Because of variances in the manner of placement and weathering of fixed protection, all fixed protection should be considered suspect and should always be backed up by equipment that you place yourself. Never depend for your safety on a single piece of fixed protection because you never can tell whether it will hold weight, and in some cases fixed protection may have been removed or is now absent.

Be aware of the following specific potential hazards that could arise in using this book:

1. Misdescriptions of routes: If you climb a route and you have a doubt as to where the route may go, you should not go on unless you are sure that you can go that way safely. Route descriptions and topos in this book may be inaccurate or misleading.

2. Incorrect difficulty rating: A route may, in fact, be more difficult than the rating indicates. Do not be lulled into a false sense of security by the difficulty rating.

3. Incorrect protection rating: If you climb a route and you are unable to arrange adequate protection from the risk of falling through the use of fixed pitons or bolts and by placing your own protection devices, do not assume that there is adequate protection available higher just because the route protection rating indicates the route is not an X or an R rating. Every route is potentially an X (a fall may be deadly), due to the inherent hazards of climbingincluding, for example, failure or absence of fixed protection, your own equipments failure, or improper use of climbing equipment.

There are no warranties, whether express or implied, that this guidebook is accurate or that the information contained in it is reliable. There are no warranties of fitness for a particular purpose or that this guide is merchantable. Your use of this book indicates your assumption of the risk that it may contain errors and is an acknowledgment of your own sole responsibility for your climbing safety.

This is the second edition of Rock Climbing the San Francisco Bay Area , and with it comes color as well as new routes and new crags. The climbing community has grown exponentially in the past decade, and with it comes a whole new breed of young, strong, and psyched climbers. Development of climbing gyms in and around the Bay Area has fueled the flames and the sport has exploded. This population increase definitely shows at certain crags on weekends when the sun is out, but surprisingly, most of the Bay Area climbing spots are sparsely occupied most weekdays, and certain crags rarely see traffic, even on weekends.

Although France, Spain, Switzerland, Colorado, Utah, and multiple other states and countries claim to have the best climbing in the world, the fact is that California still has the number-one climbing destination on the planet, Yosemite. Part of the reason for the popularity of YNP is due to Californias temperate climate. Compared to other corners of the world, California has fairly mild winters and summers. Earthquakes rarely get in the way of climbing, and hurricanes and tornadoes are extremely rare. Although Bay Area climbing is on quite a different wavelength than Yosemite, the Bay Area has an amazing variety of rock and types of climbing with difficulty ratings all over the board. From the slopey sandstone of Castle Rock to the countless pockets in the volcanic tuff of St. Helena, the variance is amazing and challenging to say the least. Climbers of all abilities can sharpen their skills and excel as climbers if visiting the crags in the Bay Area. Dont get discouraged if some of the areas have the majority of the ratings in the 5.125.13 range. There are either toproping possibilities or easier routes nearby.