Gorillaz Cometh Part 2

The California Dirtblog is proud to present the second instalment of The Gorillaz Cometh, a musical rendering of video footage collected by myself or my son Carlo. All the production is done by me on my computer at home. The climbers featured in the video are Mitchell Boreing, Max Chandler, Cody Henderson, Carlo Rivas, Jay Rogers, Dave Stillman and of course myself.

The music for this climbing cinimagraphic explosion is a self titled anthem by the Oxnard punk band Clinched Fists. The song was recorded in 1996 at the Living Room in Santa Barbara by John Lyons and Joe Rivas(my brother). Pre and post-production by Joe and Clinched Fists.

The boys and I had a very busy year filled with fun, adventure and fellowship. We visited the Eastern Sierra, the California High Desert, Kings Canyon National Park and of course we romped all over the Los Padres National Forest(our backyard). I spent around 50 nights this year sleeping on the ground, put a few thousand miles on The Endurance and and climbed more than I've ever climbed and I did all of it with either my son Carlo and his Gorillaz, or my number one dirtdog Dave Stillman(aka Crash Fistfight).

Ok so here is video number two. Enjoy!

Backcountry Boulder Hunting - Derrydell Creek Canyon

Boulder Hunting - The Sespe Way

So, I've been working on a topo for a little climbing area we frequent just downstream of the Sespe/Potrero John confluence and I've been making use of Google Earth for the task. Using the satellite image as a guide, I can accurately freehand the shape of the river and where the boulders are situated in the creekbeed. As Im zooming in and out on this particular area of the Sespe, I'm checking the orientation and aspect of the satellite image against my hand drawn topo, and I notice what looks like a small cluster of boulders across the highway from the parking area for The Fortress. I break out my USGS topo of the area and see that this particular spot is called Derrydell Creek, and notice that the boulders I'm interested in are up a small gully just off the main creek, about a mile and a half back from the 33.

Truth be told, there are many such spots I've pondered over in the Sespe back country, places I've seen from other formations, from top of Pine Mtn or Reyes Peak or on Google Earth. As circumstance would have it, Diesel Boy and I had an opportunity to run this one down.


It was a nice a sunny Sunday afternoon, perfect for a little hike and climb. On our way up the highway we noticed a crew working Ending Crack and another down on Chip's Block at The Blackwall and still another party on Permanent Income Hypothesis at The Fortress. Busy day on the Sespe, nice.

We pulled into the Fortress parking area and had a look at the map one more time. Our route seemed simple enough; cross the highway, follow the creek east/northeast to a dry branch/gully, follow this gully east a little ways to the boulders. We grabbed a little gear from the ship and and got to it.

At first, we followed the creek itself because there was less bushwhacking and we could move faster. However, many times we come across a small section of trail and it occurred to me that there might be an unmaintained or hunters trail running up this canyon. We'd have to keep our eyes peeled. Carlo and I hopped and jogged and climbed out way through the creek bed and soon arrived at the junction, and not a moment to soon. The brush and trees in the creekbed were starting to thicken up and we've had our share of poison oak this year. Fortunately turning east into the gully kept us in the open and in the sun and soon we found and faint trail and the first boulder. It looked to be 8-10feet high, heavily featured, reddish brown hunk of sandstone.....surrounded by a ton of brush. We kept walking.

After a couple of turns up this gully we found Boulder #2, a laid back, SDS mini-roof over sand. We kept walking. Soon, we came into a widening of the gully and found three more; two sitting in the gully and big round red one up on the hill to the north. We picked out an nice spot to plop down and had a look around.

I do not entertain the delusion that rock climbing, and more to the point, rock CLIMBERS, are some how tip-toeing through the wilderness without any adverse effect on the environment. All one need do is look at places like Josh or the Buttermilks to see our impact. Don't get me wrong, Josh and Bishop are not "trashy", far form it. They do however show the effects of decades of crash pads, gear bags, short-cut/use trails, fire pits and the like. Now, I'm not slamming those areas or condemning the climbers who go there (I'm one of them), but here are lessons to be learned here, things for us to keep in mind as we develop new areas.

Since the developing of new boulders often involves considerable landscaping, poison oak abatement, lichen brushing, loose rock removal and other hellish tasks, we have to look at the practical as well as the ethical considerations. Its kind of where "could I" meets "should I", a topic for another day.

We checked out the boulders that were out in the open, and tried to work out the best way up the hill to the big red one. Prolly gonna have to come at that one from behind. All of these boulders will require some landscaping, and I'll have to meditate on their viability and whether its gonna be worth it to put in the work.

After a little snack, we left the gear and walked up the gully a little ways further. After about five minutes we ran into the best boulder of the day; a 15 footer, tan sandstone with cool features on all sides, the harder routes being over the sand of the gully. Sweet.

I knew from my memory of the satellite picture that there were other boulders further up the gully, but this would be our turn-around point for the day.

On our way down, right as we re-joined the main fork of Derrydell Creek, we found our hunters trail. It was faint and narrow but it zipped us back down to the 33 and the ship in about 10 minutes. All told, we could prolly get the approach up to the new boulders down to about 15-20 minutes.

With couple of hours of sunlight left, we decided to run up to The PJ's for a quick pump. It didn't look like anyone had been there since our last visit a couple of weeks ago. We went right to the traverse boulder.

I worked on some eliminates to my problem Hello Nasty while Carlo spent time sorting out the top-out, which he hadn't done yet. Not to let it get away from him this time, Carlo was determined to get the send, and after a dozen tries, he did. Nice job Diesel Boy!

Now he needs to go back and work out the whole thing...the new challenge.

We jammed at The PJ's until we lost all remnants of the sun and the temperature dropped. Carlo dusted chalk while I rolled up the gear and after a quick look around we were out. another fine day on the Sespe.

The DamDamBoom

Those not familiar with the controversy surrounding the Matilija Dam, the Ventura River and the beaches around the Ventura rivemouth can check out this link for a primer,

http://matilijadam.org/

Over the last month or so, I've been helping my son Carlo work on a school project about the Matilija Dam. We had done lots of research and book work, learning about the Matilija/Ventura River ecosystem, coastal erosion, dam building and dam busting. Last Sunday he and I broke out of the house and drove up to Matilija Canyon for a little investigating/exploring in the field and to collect some images and video for a presentation at his school. Of course we squeezed in a little climbing too (Duh).

We started the day by hiking up the North Fork of Matilija Creek which is several miles above the dam. We thought it would be neat to get some footage of the creek where presumably the steel head trout would come to spawn if the dam ever comes down. This is a really easy hike up the creek and we made quick time to the North Fork camp passing many parties on the way up. We walked straight through the camp and down to the creek to shoot some video of the the running water and pools. After we got our pictures and video, Carlo helped me scrub down an 8 foot boulder near the creek. Ive had a look at this bad-boy before but never touched as it was filthy and covered in cobwebs, nothing a little TLC couldn't fix. The problem is a little overhung with a blank lower face and some pockets up high topping out with heel hook and a half mantle. I ended up breaking a hold on the top of the boulder, which sat my ass down for a minute, but I sent the problem after a couple more tries. After scouting some other boulders just downstream of the North Fork camp, we rolled it up and chugged back down to the trail head and The Endurance.

Our next stop was at the dam itself. This would prove to be a bit of a challenge as the dam is technically "off-limits" and trespassing is forbidden. Of course, Ive never let that sort of thing hold me up before but with Carlo present I would have to play this one just right. I anchored the ship in a not so obvious place down on the 33 so as not to attract the unwanted attention of the authorities and we approached the dam from an old service road on the reservoir side. I didn't have to explain much to the boy, he seemed to be hip to what was happening and was an board for the misdemeanor. I don't know what I was worried about, hes the son of a Sespe hardman, we move fast, we move light, we move silent....like ghosts in the landscape, now you see us...now you don't. We worked our way down to the waters edge and found the remains of the upper 30ft of the dam that already been removed and discarded on the reservoirs eastern shore. After collecting a couple of small pieces for show-n-tell we climbed the southeastern side of the dam to the old control station. From that vantage point we could see the base of the dam and the very enticing swimming holes that have flooded the now useless spillway. We took our pictures, shot some video and shook the spot. I think Carlo reveled in his juvenile lawlessness, cause he seemed pretty stoked that we achieved our objective with out any trouble. Uh-huh!

Finally we had a look at the creek below the dam. Actually, we started at the Ojai Quary which is technically on the Ventura River, above its confluence with the Matilija but who cares, the fish cant swim up that creek either beacause of all the rubble trundled down from the Quary (Ah...sorry bout that fishes). Carlo and I got got busy on a little wall across from the Retrofit Boulder that I've been developing, focusing on the left hand side near the bridge. Even though it still needs quite a bit of work, I managed to get a nice pump after 45 minutes of pulling. Its gonna clean up real nice.

Afterwards, we walked up to the Cable Cars fish ladder for some pics and we also checked out another boulder sitting in the creek just down stream form there. Cable Cars is full of trash(as it always is) and graffiti and is currently fenced off, which doesn't appear to be much of a deterrent for the "foos" that keep going there. The CC boulder has one highball route I call The DamDamBoom, which goes at V2 but has a very nasty landing over some shallow water and pillow sized boulders. Yeah, climbing IS dangerous.

We started to lose the sun after a while and the temperature dropped so we rolled it up and headed for home. After a couple of stops on the river in Ojai and Foster Park we were gifted with an awesome sunset near Ventura. Not to miss an opportunity to shoot a beautiful central coast sunset, we diverted to the north on PCH and pulled up to Emma Wood to watch the sun drop. Absolutely spectacular.

Games Climbers Play by Lito Tejada-Flores

I have recently returned to a climbing essay writen over 40 years ago called "Games Climbers Play" by alpinist Lito Tejada-Flores. In this essay, LTF attempts to re-direct the conversation within the climbing community about what climbing is and why we climb. The piece originally appeared in Ascent magazine in 1967 and was one of several essays writen for that now defunct publication by LTF.

A few words about Lito Tejada-Flores; Chillian born climber/skier, was a part of the Valley climbing scene in the 1960's. He directed a movie called "Fitzroy" which depicts the first ascent of Mt Fitzroy(11,073ft)in Argentine Patagonia via the southwest ridge in 1968. The film featured Yvon Chouinard, Dick Dorworth, Chris Jones, Doug Tompkins and LTF and includes footage of the road trip from Ventura to Patagonia as well as the climb. LTF appears in another movie called "El Capitan" by Fred Padula which is about a 1978 ascent of The Nose on El Cap in Yosemite Valley with Gary Collirer, Richard McCracken, LTF and Glen Denny(who did the filming).

LTF is also the author of several ski instruction books and has released many instructional videos as well. Hes got nice little website, http://www.breakthroughonskis.com/ that sports his writing on skiing, ski instruction and travel. LTF played a big part in the creation of the Telluride Mountain Film Festival and is still active in mountain film making.

The essay "Games Climbers Play" has become as iconic as its author. I am reprinting it, without permission, because it is rather difficult to find these days and the message is timeless. "Games" should be required reading for any new climber and should be reviewed every few years by all. Its that good. Enjoy.




Games Climbers Play
Lito Tejada-Flores


Reality is the apparent absence of contradiction
Louis Arragon, Le Paysan de Paris

I

What I should like to propose in this article is not a new answer to the basically
unanswerable question, 'what is climbing?', but rather a new way of talking and
thinking about it. Climbing is not a homogeneous sport but rather a collection of
differing (though) related activities, each with its own adepts, distinctive
terrain, problems and satisfactions, and perhaps most important, its own rules.
Therefore, I propose to consider climbing in general as a hierarchy of climbing-
games, each defined by a set of rules and an appropriate field of play.

The word game seems to imply a sort of artificiality which is foreign to what we
actually feel on a climb. The attraction of the great walls, above all, is surely
that when one is climbing them he is playing 'for keeps'. Unlike the player in a
bridge game, the climber cannot simply lay down his cards and go home. But this
does not mean that climbing is any less a game. Although the player's actions have
real and lasting consequences, the decision to start playing is just as gratuitous
and unnecessary as the decision to start a game of chess. In fact, it is precisely
because there is no necessity to climb that we can describe climbing as a game
activity.

The obstacles one must surmount to gain the summit of Indian Rock in Berkeley or
the Hand at Pinnacles National Monument are scarcely of the same oder as those
defending the West Face of Sentinel Rock in Yosemite or the North Face of the
Eiger. And the personal satisfaction of the climber upon having solved each of
these problems could hardly be the same. As a result, a handicap system has
evolved to equalize the inherent challenge and maintain the climber's feeling of
achievement at a high level in each of these different situations. This handicap
system is expressed through the rules of the various climbing-games.

It is important to realize at the outset that these rules are negatively expressed
although their aim is positive,. They are nothing more than a series of "don'ts':
don't use fixed ropes, belays, pitons, a series of camps, etc. The purpose of
these negative rules is essentially protective or conservative. That is, they are
designed to conserve the climber's feeling of personal (moral) accomplishment
against the meaninglessness of a success which represents merely technological
victory.

Let us take as a concrete example the most complex game in the climbing hierarchy
- bouldering. It is complex by definition since it has more rules than any other
climbing game, rules which prohibit nearly everything - ropes, pitons and
belayers. All that is left is the individual standing in front of a rock problem.
(It should be noted that the upper belay belongs to practice climbing, that is,
training for any of the climbing-games). But why so many restrictions? Only
because boulders are too accessible; they don't defend themselves well enough. For
example, it would be an absurdity to use a ladder to reach the top of a boulder in
Fontainbleau, but to use the same ladder to bridge a crevasse in the Khumbu
Icefall would be reasonable since Everest defends itself so well that one ladder
no longer tips the scales toward certain success. Thus the basic principle of a
handicap is applied to maintain a degree of uncertainty as to the eventual
outcome, and from this very uncertainty stems the adventure and personal
satisfaction of climbing.

More generally, I discern a complete spectrum of climbing-games, ranked according
to the complexity (or number) of their rules. The higher one goes on the scale,
the more inaccessible and formidable become the climber's goals, and, in
consequence, he need apply fewer restrictions to conserve the full measure of
challenge and satisfaction inherent in the climbing-game he is playing. At the top
of the hierarchy we find the expedition-game, which, although complicated to
organize and play, is formalistically speaking, the simplest game of all, since
virtually nothing is forbidden to the climber. The recent use of airplanes and
helicopters exemplifies the total lack of rules in the pure expedition-game.

While variant games have arisen in isolated and special circumstances in different
countries, one can distinguish the following seven basic climbing games.

1. The Bouldering Game

We have already discussed bouldering, but one should note that the basic
bouldering rules eliminate not only protection but also companions. The boulderer
is essentially a solo climber. In fact, when we see solo climbing at any level of
difficulty it represents the application of bouldering rules to some other
climbing-game. Aside from that, this game is found in every country where climbing
exists, although the number of climbers who specialize in it is relatively small.

2. The Crag Climbing Game

Crag climbing as a pure game form has doubtless reached its highest form of
expression in the British Isles. It is practiced on cliffs of limited size -
routes averaging one to three pitches in length. Because of their limited size and
the large amount of time at the climber's disposal, such routes are not imposing
enough to be approached with the full arsenal of the climber's tools (though they
may contain moves as hard as those of any climb). FUndamentally the game consists
in climbing them free with the use of extremely well-defined and limited
protection. The use of pitons is avoided or, in special cases, standardized at an
absolute minimum. Pure crag climbing is scarcely practiced as a game in this
country except in areas such as Pinnacles National Monument, where the rock is
virtually unpitonable. There are, however, a number of areas in the States, such
as the Shawangunks, where the crag climbing game could be played with more rigor.

3. The Continuous Rock-Climbing Game

This is the game that most California climbers know best. It differs from the crag
game in allowing the full range of rock climbing equipment to be used at the
discretion of the climber as well as allowing the use of direct aid. Fundamentally
this game should be played on longer, multi-pitch climbs whose length puts a kind
of time limit to the mechanical means that a climber can employ and still reach
the top. Shorter climbs should still be approached as more complex games with
stricter rules.

4. The Big Wall Game

This game is practiced not only on the bigger Yosemite walls but in the Dolomites
and elsewhere. It is characterized by the prolonged periods of time spent on the
walls and by the fact that each member of the party does not have to climb every
lead (e.g., different climbers may prusik with loads on different days but are
still considered to have done the entire climb). The full technical and logistic
equipment range is allowed. In the modern big wall game fixed ropes to the ground
and multiple attempts to prepare the route are non longer allowed (see par II),
and a rigorous distinction is still made between free and artificial moves and
pitches.

5. The Alpine Climbing Game

In alpine climbing the player encounters for the first time the full range of
hostile forces present in the mountain environment. In addition to problems of
length and logistics he meets increased objective dangers in the form of falling
rock, bad weather and extreme cold, and bad conditions such as verglas. All this
leads to a further realization of formal rules since success in the game may often
include merely surviving. In alpine climbing the use of pitons is avoided wherever
possible because of time loss in situations where speed means safety, but where
pitons are used there is a tendency to use them as holds also. Thus the rules of
this game do not require one to push all leads free. The restrictions upon the
player are more determined by the nature of the mountain and the route than by a
set of rules which he accepts in advance.

6. The Super-Alpine Game

This is the newest climbing-game to appear and is not yet completely understood.
It rejects expedition techniques on terrain which would traditionally have been
suitable for it. Its only restrictive rule is that the party must be self-
contained. Any umbilical-like connection in the form of a series of camps, fixed
ropes, etc., to a secure base is no longer permitted. This rule provides a measure
of commitment that automatically increases the uncertainty of success, making
victory that much more meaningful. Often the major alpine routes under extreme
winter conditions provide suitable terrain for super-alpine climbs. Some of the
early, classic super-alpine routes were the South Face of Aconcagua, the ascent of
Cerro Torre by Egger and Maestri, and the first winter ascent of the Eiger North
Wall.

7. The Expedition Game

I have already mentioned the lack of rules in this game, but I wish to point out
that there are still differences of personal involvement on the part of the
players from expedition to expedition. For example, members of the German Broad
Peak expedition who packed all their own loads up the mountain were, in a sense,
playing a more difficult game than the usual Himalayan expedition that moves up
the mountain on the backs of its Sherpas.

It should be noted that the above ordering of climbing-games is not an attempt to
say that some games are better, harder, or more worthwhile in themselves than
others. One remembers that the very purpose of the game structure is to equalize
such value connotations from game to game so that the climber who plays any of
these games by its proper set of rules should have a least a similar feeling of
personal accomplishment. Of course, each type of game will still have its own
proponents, its own classics, heroes, and myths.

The real purpose of ranking climbing games into such a hierarchy, however, it not
to make judgments about a game or its players, but rather to have a useful scale
against which to discuss climbing ethics, since unethical behavior involves a
disregard of certain rules.

II

Within our new framework we can now clear up certain misconceptions about climbing
ethics. Ethical climbing merely means respecting the set of rules of the climbing-
game that one is playing. Conversely, unethical climbing occurs when a climber
attempts to use a set of rules appropriate to a game higher up on the scale than
the one he is actually playing (i.e. a less restrictive set of rules). Applying
this idea to the bolt controversy that has animated ethical discussions among
climbers for the last several years, we can see that there is nothing unethical
about bolts per se; it is merely that their use is prohibited by the rules of
certain climbing-games and not by others. In certain games the question becomes
meaningless for, as Bonatti points out, on a major mixed face no amount of bolts
can guarantee success, whereas an excessive number will insure defeat through lack
of time.

I have assumed so far that the rules for various climbing-games were fixed. Of
course, this is not the case, as both the games and their rules are undergoing a
constant, if slow, evolution. The central problem of climbing ethics is really the
question: who makes the rules for these games? and secondarily: how do they change
with time?

On reflection, it seems to me that the rules of various climbing-games are
determined by the climbing community at large, but less so by climbers approaching
the two extremes of ability. One of these elements is composed of those
fainthearted types who desire to overcome every new difficulty with some kind of
technological means rather than at the expense of personal effort under pressure.
The other group is the small nucleus of elite climbers whose basic concern is not
with merely ethical climbing but with minimizing the role of technology and
increasing that of individual effort in order to do climbs with better style. But
before talking about style and the role of the elite climber in climbing
evolution, I want to expand my idea that the majority of climbers are responsible
for deciding the rules of a given climbing-game.

No matter what their origin a set of rules must be consecrated by usage and
general acceptance. Thus, the way good climbers have always done a climb becomes
the traditional way of doing it; the rules become classic and constitute an
ethical minimum for the climb, defining at the same time the climbing-game to
which it belongs. But what of new climbs? At any moment there are relatively few
members of the climbing community capable of doing significant first ascents;
these will be members of the creative elite we have already mentioned. The
question arises: should the style they use on a first ascent determine the rules
for succeeding ascents? I think not (although their approaches and attitudes will
of course serve as guidelines for following parties). Examples of cases where the
first ascent has not set the pattern for succeeding ascents are almost too
numerous to list. Just because Jeff Foott made the first ascent of Patio Pinnacle
solo or because Bonatti soloed the South-West Pillar of the Drus, following
climbers have felt under no obligation to stick to the difficult rules of the
first ascent; or just because the first ascent of the Eiger North Wall was made in
a storm, no one has seriously suggested that later parties wait for bad weather to
go up the face. A kind of group prudence is at work here, rejecting individual
solutions whose extremism puts them beyond the reach of the majority of competent
climbers climbing at any given period.

What then, is the role of the small minority of extremist climbers in the
evolution of climbing-games? To understand it we must first develop the idea of
climbing style. Style may be defined as the conscious choice of a set of rules for
a given climbing-game. Thus, if a climber follows the accepted rules for a given
game he is climbing both in classical style and ethically. Bad style and unethical
climbing are synonymous and represent the choice of rules from a simpler (higher)
game, such as alpine climbing with expedition style. On the other hand, a climber
can choose to climb with better style lower down in the hierarchy than that which
he is playing. A fitting example would be the way John Gill has applied
bouldering rules to certain crag climbing problems, doing extremely hard,
unprotected moves high off the ground.

In this way the creative nucleus of elite climbers can express itself by climbing
with better style than the average climber (like aristocrats playing a more
demanding game than the democratic majority), which certainly provides enough room
for personal expression, yet seems to avoid the traditional aristocratic role of
leadership and direction. In fact, these climbers lead the majority only
indirectly - their responsibility is not to determine and set ethical standards
(rules) for the majority but rather to demonstrate the superior style. Thus, they
stake out the possible directions for the evolution of climbing-games. And this,
aside from suffering the wiles of equipment-mongers, is the only way that such
changes can come about.

Let me give a concrete example. The most evident is the way in which the rules of
the big-wall game have evolved in Yosemite Valley under the influence of the best
climbers of the day whose primary concern was to do their own climbs in the best
style possible rather than to impose an arbitrary set of rules on all climbers.
After the feasibility of doing the bigger Grade VI walls without siege tactics had
been consistently demonstrated, climbers were impressed enough to accept this
approach as a basic rule to such an extent that today even strangers to the
Yosemite climbing community (such as the two Frenchmen who did the Nose of El
Capitan in the spring of 1966) follow it as a matter of course.

In a less dramatic way the rules of all climbing-games are changing constantly,
becoming ever more restrictive in order to preserve the fundamental challenge that
the climber is seeking from the inroads of a fast changing technology. The present
laissez-faire of the uppermost games is disappearing slowly as the complexity of
rules shifts up the spectrum. The eventual victim, of course, will be the
expedition game which will disappear completely as super-alpine climbing takes its
place. This is not only the newest but, in a sense, the most creative climbing-
game, since here the nature of the obstacles encountered is so severe that it will
be a long, long time before technological advances even begin to encroach upon the
climber's personal satisfaction. The possibilities, on the other hand, are
immense. One can even visualize the day when, with ultra-modern bivouac gear, a
climbing party of two sets off to do an 8000m peak just as today one sets off to
do a hard route on the Grand Teton or on Mont Blanc.

Here, I think, this article should end. Not because speculations about the future
of climbing are either futile or uninteresting, but because we have already
wandered far enough from our original subject. That climbing will continue to
evolve is a certainty, although it is far less certain that the idea of climbing-
games is the best basis for looking at this evolution. But surely this, or any,
new framework for thinking and talking about what we are actually doing when we
climb is at least a valid step toward the future.

Ascent 1967

Stormy Day on the Sespe

Couped up in the house for two weeks, Carlo and I broke out for a drive up the 33 this last Sunday. The other Gorillaz were off with their families for Fall break, so this was to be a true blue Rivas Boys adventure. I say "adventure", which weakly describes what it is we do up on the Sespe, but really, were just looking for trouble in the form of boulders and swimming holes.
Our primary objective on this day was to check conditions up on Pine Mountain, the Sespegorilla home ground. I have a sense that the Forest Service are gonna throw the gate on Pine Mtn. Rd and time now, certainly by the next big storm. The Forest Service office in Ojai usually has information regarding road closures in the LP, but their automated hot line wasn't working this weekend. We were just gonna have to drive up there and find out for ourselves.
The drive up to PM takes about an hour from Ventura. Everything looked pretty dry an we pulled out of The Cloud just past Wheelers. We stopped for some pictures of Haddock, Reyes and the Pine Mtn ridge on the highway just above Piedra Blanca. We could see clouds clinging to the tops of the mountains, obscuring their summits from view. Considering that we've done nothing but sit on our asses the past 2 weeks, the prospect of being socked in some clouds for a while was an exciting one and I thought it would be cool for Carlo to experience some "white out" conditions up on a mountain top. Off we go.

The sun was shining on us as we pulled off the 33 and started chugging up Pine Mtn Rd passed the unlocked gate. Hooray! The road itself didn't seem effected by the recent rain, still bumpy and steep but still sunny and dry. As we climbed higher up the ridge however, we started to notice quite a bit of run-off on the road. Just before The Picnic Area we pulled in to the clouds we saw from below. By the time we reached the Reyes Peak campsites the visibility was down to about 100ft. Cautiously, we continued up the road to Enlightenment Ridge where the road starts to hug the south face of the mountain and we briefly emerged from the edge of the cloud. Aside from the Upper Sespe, we couldn't see much down below us. The whole Santa Clara flood plain was under cloud.

Just past Condor Cracks we were engulfed in cloud once again and this time we started to have some precip. Not a steady rain, just a heavy mist to accompany thick cloud. We saw considerable run-off as we rolled down to the empty Reyes Peak Trailhead. The misty forest was kind of spooky and cool and reminded me of something out of Sleepy Hallow. We turned around at the trailhead and drove through the clouds back up to Picnic.




The Picnic Area was abandoned, save for a large party of hunters in the last campsite. We pulled into our usual spot and walked up the hill to the main area clearing sans the crash-pad, it was obviously much too wet to climb.

We walked around the mountain top like ghosts in the mist, haunting the quite boulders we climbed all summer. We walked down the south side a ways to the edge of the climbing area to take in the view. We could see the tops of Dry Lake Ridge, Nordoff Ridge and the back side of Topa Topa. The islands and the Santa Monicas were under cloud, just like Ventura. Carlo and I took a few more pictures and then hopped in the truck and headed down the hill back to the 33 and Potrero John Boulders.



PJ Boulders is our new winter climbing area, located just down stream from the confluence of Potrero John Creek and The Sespe. Carlo, Max and I stumbled upon this cluster of boulders in the riverbed last fall after a day hike up to PJ Falls. We've done some landscaping and poison oak abatement but the place still needs alot of work.



Currently, there are five climbable boulders in this area featuring maybe half a dozen or so established routes. The boulders are made of river-polished sandstone, and the quality is quite good.


More problems will eventually go up as these boulders get cleaned up. The weather was warm and sunny with just a little breeze, perfect for bouldering.





After a few hours of climbing, we were feeling pumped so we ate and drank a little and then climbed a little more. At 1630 we shook the spot, loaded the Endurance and headed for home. We had to drive the through The Cloud again, and again it got pretty thick. The worst parts were just before the Rose Valley turn-off through to where you descend Dry Lakes Ridge down to Wheelers Gorge. One we came through the bottom of the cloud, visibility improved and we made it down the rest of the highway without a hitch. Home safe and sound.



So, for current conditions onthe Sespe; The gate to Pine Mtn is still open, but still too wet to climb. Maybe in another week. The 33 has been repaved by Cal Trans from the Ortega Trailhead all the way to the Tule Creek Sespe confluence. The Sespe itself is still kind of low, dispite the recent rains. Climb safe and pull hard.

I hav'nt posted to the Dirtblog on several months(we've been climbing alot). In fact, we've accumulated hours of footage over the spring and summer. The video displayed below is my first effort at video making, threre will be more to come.
Music: "Pigfoot" by Sullen
Climbers: Max Chandler, Mitchell Boreing, Jay Rogers, Carlo Rivas, David Stillman and myself.

Enjoy.

Its a cold, cold world.

January was a pretty cold and stormy month for me and the Gorillaz. We started out the new year with a morning session at the PJ Slab. Carlo, Max and I hit the crag early, but waited for the sun to hit us before we started climbing

It was very cold and we were slow to get started but once we got going and warmed up a little, the climbing was great. I put together two toprope setups this time; one over Beginnings and the other over the right hand face of the slab.

The boys ran a few laps on Beginnings and were climbing well. After a short break, they began working the opening moves on the second route.

As it turns out the crux moves are at the start and the boys fought with it for about 40 minutes before backing off. Maybe next time. After another quick break, I took down the anchors packed away the gear while the boys did some bouldering near-by. At noon we rolled everything up and headed home.

In the middle of the month, Carlo and I made another run to Tar Creek. We went down only as far as the Swimming Hole proper this time. We planned on doing some bouldering but it seemed the weather had other ideas. Just before we reached the pools, it started to sprinkle on us a little. It never got to be more than that but we had to modify our plans a bit.

We did manage to do some climbing in between spurts of precip; Carlo put up some short, 3-4 move problems on the canyon wall just above the Swimming Hole and soloed one of the arêtes on the creek side of the now up-side down Wave boulder.

I’ve been feeling pretty good about Carlo’s spotting ability lately so I decided I have my way with Locals Only and Abra-Cadaver, two problems that had been giving me grief. We also spent some time working on a new line where Flashflood/Aquaman used to be, working out the beginning moves, figuring out the spot.

No send on this day but the line is gonna go this year, though it’s likely it already has. After a good three hours of climbing and hanging out, the light, intermittent sprinkling turned into a steady rain; time to go.

Tar Creek is the last place you want to be during a rain storm and it bombed on us all the way back to the trailhead. In fact, it didn’t stop raining in the 805 for four days, our first winter storm of the season, and you know what that means……..

After the storm system passed over So Cal, we gave our local sandstone the obligatory 4-5 days to dry out before we went back at it. Carlo and I went up to the Quarry for and afternoon session on some projects we’re working on there. Unfortunately, the water in the Matilija was still pretty high making the base of these boulders a sloppy mess. So we passed on the Quarry and continued up the 33 to Wheelers Gorge only to discover more of the same. Undeterred, we went for the higher ground of the Sespe but even our beloved SnapePits were still partially submerged. Sucks!

We could see that there seemed to be quite a bit of snow on Pine Mountain and Reyes Peak and we knew that the parkies had prolly already thrown the gate on the road leading up to PM, but we were curious just how low the snow actually was so we drove up to the pass (wrongly called “Pine Mountain Summit”). This is essentially the top of the 33, from this point the highway drops down into the Cuyama and Lockwood Valleys and one may continue on toward Santa Maria to the north, Taft to the northeast or Frasier Park and I5, due east. The pass itself sits at around 5100 ft and there was a ton of snow on the ground. After scouting the Forest Service roads the spur away from the 33 on both sides of the highway, we decided that we wound come back the next day for some snow play.

That night, we broke out our cold weather gear, which doesn’t get a whole lot of use here in So Cal, prepared and packed some food and water and gassed up the truck. I don’t think Carlo slept wink that night; while we were up there scouting things out, I could see him hungrily eyeballing the snow covered slopes around the pass, making plans, working out how much damage he could cause with his sled. I don’t blame him, snow is fun, it’s even funner when your 11 years old and pretty much fearless. Anyways, we drive up there in perfect weather and find several cars already parked.

No worries, there plenty of mountain for everyone. Carlo wasted no time and was soon zipping up and down the slopes, having a blast. On the north side of the 33 we could see evidence of a recent fire and could also see where the firefighters cut a fire break and made their stand against the flames. (For what its worth, wild land firefighting is one of the most dangerous and backbreaking jobs there is, whatever they are paying those guys, it aint enough. Had that fire jumped the break, we could have lost Pine Mountain and the Sespe Wilderness Area; thanks boys!) After a couple of hours taking turns on the sled or so we took a break for lunch. After lunch we moved to the other side of the highway for more exploring and sledding.

We noticed ski tracks heading up the road toward Pine Mountain and Reyes Peak and looks like who ever made them, came down another way, maybe Chorro Grande trail. Sounds fun! We also had great views of Lion Canyon and the backs of the Topa Topa Bluffs and Heinz Peak. Around three o’clock the sun started to drift in and out of the clouds which were moving in towards us from the northwest and the temperature started to drop. Time to go. We got out of our snow gear, packed the truck and shook the spot for lower elevations.
Just below what used to be called Wolfs Grill, now called Pine Mountain Inn (though I’ve never seen anyone there) just before the Chorro Grande trailhead is a little place just off the highway we call The Beastie Boulders.

They’re pretty much choss but we’ve go a couple of things working up there and who knows, might be nice if they clean up. Nice kick back spot though. Anyways, after a short session at the Beasties, we figured we’d had enough fun for the day so we rolled it up headed on down the road.

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