Wednesday Evenings on the Rocks with Los Alpinistas

by John Lohr

For years now, Los Alpinistas have been getting together on Wednesday evenings to climb rocks and BS each other half to death over cool frosties. The number of people has remained fairly constant at 15-20 each evening as long as the temperature has hovered around 20 C. It's California, you know. As circumstances have changed, people have married and dropped out of life, new climbers have rushed to take their place, with a few crusty hard core individuals providing continuity. Constraints imposed by the clock being what they are, these outings have occured during the most wonderful invention of the modern age, daylight savings time, at the local San Diego climbing areas. This whole activity is so sublime, so newsworthy and so underpublicized, that it begs for internet coverage. If you are interested in participating, here's the scoop.

Presented here first is information on how to find the local San Diego climbing areas most convenient for the Wednesday evening climbing and, perhaps more importantly, the bars. The out of towners may be interested in the links to photographs of the areas and Los Alpinistas themselves may enjoy seeing their mugs and sinewy bodies displayed so that anyone in the world with internet access can admire them. There is also a Los Alpinistas video, which is sure to be a popular big seller if Mike will ever actually produce any copies. MTV is slightly better, though not much different, and we are trying to avoid having a lot of bandwidth used up by my mother looking at the video. So, for moment the video is not available on line.

This group is an ecclectic aglomeration of characters representing a variety of skill levels and experiences and nearly all ages. We have among us some El Cap and Denali climbers all the way down to beginners. Some even have jobs. It is not a club or an organization, really, and there are no dues, bylaws, meetings or insurance policies to worry about. All life should be so simple.

There are, however, a few rules about being an Alpinista. The fundamental rule is that there are no rules. There are no qualifications for people setting anchors, providing belays or giving advice. You should assume that nobody knows anything about anything. You should take the responsibility to look out for yourself. You should assume that the nice lady in the tiger striped leotards you just asked to belay you will need to pick her nose just as you peel on the lunge move out of the cave. You should check the ropes for cuts, abrasions, splices, rigid sections and solvent damage. You should not expect that you will be taken care of. If you whine, you will be tied off and left there swinging gently in the wind. If you wet your leotards, you will be ridiculed.

Los Alpinistas, despite our successful track record at getting members pregnant, married and taken out to dinner, IS NOT THE SIERRA CLUB. Many of our members have been kicked out of the Sierra Club, in fact, and nearly everyone is in favor of nuclear power, as you should be too. Mostly, we suggest Access Fund membership , if you must join something, unless you absolutely cannot find someone to put up with you, in which case we will ignore your Sierra Club membership as long as you do not attempt to organize us in any way and continue to use chalk at Joshua Tree.

The San Diego area is blessed by having several excellent climbing and/or bouldering areas nearby and some primo areas within a few hours drive. Here are brief descriptions of the ones we hit on Wednesday evenings, with directions. There are several good guide books available, although none currently in print which could be regarded as the definitive one for all of the areas. The local climbing shops, A-16, The Sport Chalet, REI , and Nomad Ventures can all provide guides and information. Of these shops, The A-16 shop in Solana Beach is the one to check first due to its being next door to the Belly Up Tavern. There are two climbing gyms in town, Solid Rock and Vertical Hold. At Solid Rock you can buy a climbing wall from Solid Rock Wall Systems so you never have to go outside again. At Vertical Hold you can get hassled about your belay technique so you can immaturely storm off, never to return, much like resolving never to fly TWA or Aeroflot because of something they did to you 20 years ago. Take your pick...they're both good places.

MISSION GORGE

A granite cliff line characterizes the Mission Gorge area, which is further distinguished by its being close to town. To get to this very nice area figure out how to get on Mission Gorge Road, which you can do where it intersects I-8 between downtown SD and El Cajon, and head northeast for a few miles to Fr. Junipero Serra Tr. You can also take I-15 to Friars Rd east or 52 to Mast, taking the first right and then the first right again to get on MGR. Serra Tr. is the entrance to the Mission Trails Regional Park and the Nature Center is the nice building on the left. Inside the Nature Center they think climbing is more dangerous than being rescued by a helicopter, nevertheless, it is a nice place. The Mission Gorge climbs average a short single pitch with something for everyone.

Park in the small lot outside the gate, which looks open, but which will look, and be, closed by the time you try to leave. As you walk down the road from the Nature Center, the closest obvious climbing area up high on the right is Middle Earth. The trail to this area is about 200 m from the gate and goes past a large boulder about 100 m off the road. You can bushwack it, but the trail is worth finding. Or you can walk down the road about 10 minutes until you get to the porta potties on the right. At this point, if you go down toward the river on the left, you will come to the Pink Boulder, with its numerous mantle moves and pleasantly water worn rock. If you go up the trail to the right toward a prominent thumb, you will be heading toward the main climbing cliffs. Go up the trail. When you get to the base of the cliffs, go to the right to get to Lunch Rock, The Stairs and Skyline Arete, or go to the left to get to Knob Job, Crack of Dust and Rock, Rock On. Keep your eyes and ears peeled for rattlesnakes, particularly in spring, and particularly on the road just after it gets dark.

SANTEE BOULDERS

This dusty area is great for a couple of reasons. It is easy and quick to get to, so is particularly good early and late in the season when it gets dark early, and it has some excellent boulder problems. Several interesting climbs make use of the bullet holes, which over the years have resulted from pot shots taken by the cowboys who used to roam these parts and the high school students, who still do. Take 52 east to Mast Blvd. Take the Mast exit and head north about 0.5 km to the parking lot for the baseball fields. If you get to the high school, you have gone too far. Like, really. Park in the ball field lot and cross the road to get to the boulders. Even though you may see the Border Patrol driving in to practice easy climbs in combat boots, the property owners have asked that climbers not drive in, and everyone else respects this request.

There are some good problems on the closest boulders, or walk past these to their left and look for the large vertical-ish boulder, which is Moby Dick. The Bullet Hole Wall is a central point in this area. Across the dip from the Bullet Hole is another large group of boulders, the Dog Pile, which has a particularly nice face for beginner top rope practice.

SAN DIEGO BREWING COMPANY

This brewpub is the usual spot for apres climbing action if the climbing was at The Gorge or Santee. It's at the corner of Friars Rd. and Mission Gorge Rd, in a shopping center northwest of the intersection. In addition to Los Alpinistas, you may see the Society for Creative Anachronism, a group about as far removed from the Alpinistas and reality itself as you can imagine, holding forth here. The bar also was featured in the recently released story of an undercover drug agent, who met his handler here. If you can identify the undercover guy, they will give you a free beer, but don't guess wrong. Good amber.

MT. WOODSON

As the summer rolls in, with its pleasant warmth and longer evenings, Mt. Woodson becomes the venue of choice for savvy Alpinistas. To get there, get on I-15 and arrange to get through the town of Poway eastbound either on the main drag, Poway Road, or on the much faster Scripps Poway Parkway, the next exit south of Poway Road off I-15. On either road, drive several km to Highway 67, where you turn left, toward Ramona. Drive about 8 km over a hill. The rocky thing ahead of you with the antennas on top is Mt. Woodson. Shortly after cresting the hill and swinging to the left, you will see a stretch of road which invariably has some cars parked along it. You should also see a sign for the CDF Fire Station and an intersection. Park somewhere and try to cross the road to the west side, or hang a U-turn and park facing the way you came. If traffic is really awful and you have parked on the east side, there is a storm drain under the road that you can use to cross.

Once you are safely on the west side of 67, cross the ditch, find a place where the fence is down and get on the trail that parallels the highway. Take this to the left until you get to the paved road, after about 100 m, and walk up the road. There will be a house on the left and an open gate after that. The whole way up to the top is a fairyland of boulder problems, including some 10 m or so in length. Most everything at Woodson is top roped, although a couple of jewels like Robbins' Crack have to be led to get to the bolts. The rock is pink granite for the most part. On Woodson there do not seem to be many rattlers, although they do exist, but there is poison oak, so look out for that.

One of the highlights of the San Diego social scene is the annual Alpinistas party at Woodson, which is timed to coincide with the full moon in August. There are a of of funny stories about this event, which will not be related here, or maybe ever again. By the way, in case you were wondering about the arcane access arrangement for this piece of public land, it is a very funny story about how incompetent local government can sometimes be, when faced with actually having to decide something for the public good. If you think it's strange now, you should have been going to Woodson when doing so involved a real commando mission to get past the firepersons and the localresidentpersons, who were playing well the role of pawns in a fiasco orchestrated by the county government. But, as usual, we digress.

DAD'S CAFÉ

The bar for Mt. Woodson evenings is Dad's Café in downtown Poway across from the Ford dealership on the main street. This place is next to Dominic's, where we used to go until they got snooty. We don't think the snootiness had to do with Jessica's putting up a new route in the rafters to get a raw pizza dough that had been thrown up there by the chef in the middle of an aria by the owner, but one never knows what is behind a change in ownership or attitude.

DIXON LAKE

On the very longest days of the year, when the traffic is light and the moon is full, it's possible to climb at Dixon Lake after work. Go north on I-15 to the El Norte Parkway exit north of Escondido and head east. You should see signs for the Dixon Lake Park, but in any case, turn left on La Honda and you'll be at the park after a short climb. If you want to save the entrance fee, park outside the park and walk about 1 km, staying to the right downhill to a trailhead that has steps, no less, and gets you to the rock in a short hike. There are two groups of rocks with some nice problems on granite. This area used to be overgrown with poison oak, but it has been cleared by some nice itchy people. We don't have a bar picked out for Dixon Lake, but are always ready for suggestions.

OTHER SAN DIEGO CLIMBING AREAS

World famous Tahquitz Rock, where the decimal rating system was developed, is a two hour drive from San Diego and Joshua Tree National Park is three hours away. Both are magic in quite different ways and both are well worth a visit. Tahquitz has a variety pack of multi pitch climbs in an alpine setting and JT is in roadrunner country north of Palm Springs. The controlling authorities have evidently forgotten everything they learned growing up in the 60s and fascist elements have crept into the management of both these areas. This means that you may have to pay permit fees there unless you are 100 years old. Actually, we have a few Alpinistas who take advantage of the "Century Exemption" plan. If you are really into fun, try Canon Tajo, south of the U.S.-Mexico border, where you will find the same sort of granite as abounds in the San Diego area with a very enjoyable dirt road drive in and no permits so far. We don't have it yet, but there should be directions to Canon Tajo and some beta posted on this web site in the not too distant future. In the meantime, Rock and Ice has a description in the 1999 Road Trips issue. There are some other areas as well, but the best way to learn about these is to check the guide by the Atzets, SDroxs@aol.com, which has directions to both the popular and the obscure local areas.

We don't mind if you climb with us, particularly if you are in the market for Internet software. Rest assured that we will not let you hurt any of us, and may even be able to prevent you from hurting yourself, although you are on your own and there are no warranties expressed or implied. If you are a lawyer, you better not be a personal injury specialist or you will be chasing your own ambulance. Have fun, enjoy the photos. Climb. Drink. Eat. Use this exact order.

Comments?

Fri Aug 25 mission gorge jason serafin (408) {27}

Fri Aug 25 Re: mission gorge Richard J. Hughes (266)

Wed Aug 6 '03 Re^2: mission gorge Guest (65)

Tue Oct 3 This wknd(columbus day) Tom Keefer (155) {8}
Tue Oct 17 Visiting from Tx (Nov 1-7th) Danger (126) {5}
Tue Oct 17 joining rigo (159) {7}
Thu Oct 19 New In Town brenda hemsing (251) {31}

Fri Oct 20 Re: New In Town John Lohr (232)

Mon Oct 30 Re^2: New In Town Brenda Hemsing (199)

Mon Nov 6 I'm not alone? Charity (238) {15}

Mon Nov 6 Re: I'm not alone? John Lohr (219)

Mon Nov 19 Re^2: I'm not alone? Greg (97)

Tue Dec 5 timing justin kaput (137) {15}

Tue Dec 5 Re: timing John Lohr (145)

Sun Feb 4 Climbing Andrew (122) {4}
Mon May 7 New to the area, trying to catch the bug again! Gavin (104) {2}
Sat Jun 9 Will be in town soon Jason (72) {1}
Fri Jun 15 Moving Bernadette Gallagher (79) {1}
Sun Jul 1 next Wednesday meeting Jan (119) {15}

Mon Jul 2 Re: next Wednesday meeting Richard J. Hughes (100)

Mon Jul 2 Re^2: next Wednesday meeting Jan (87)

Mon Jul 2 Re^3: next Wednesday meeting Richard J. Hughes (88)

Mon Nov 12 coming home Brian Janes (73) {13}

Sat Nov 24 Re: coming home Richard J. Hughes (62)

Sat Nov 24 rockclimbing dorkaholic lisa ortega (121) {11}

Sat Nov 24 Re: rockclimbing dorkaholic Richard J. Hughes (114)

Mon Dec 17 Visiting from the east coast Dave R. (66) {1}
Tue Jan 22 Beginning @ Mission Gorge Kaniela (107)
Tue Mar 19 why do you guys like nuclear power? gabriel (108)
Mon Apr 22 wannabe Kristin (94)
Thu Apr 25 Here is a slideshow for Santee Boulders Stephen (161)
Thu Apr 25 Here is a slideshow for Santee Boulders, take two Stephen (114)
Thu Apr 25 OK. I give up! Stephen (139)
Mon Aug 5 '02 Ready to Climb! Monica Lucarelli (110)
Mon Aug 5 '02 Rock Climbing Monica Lucarelli (123)
Wed Oct 22 '03 Want to check you out Wilken Murdock (84)
Tue Dec 30 '03 Bouldering Chula Vista el oso fabuloso (64)

A Los Alpinistas story by John Lohr.