Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Destination Climbing

Last weekend, while on nursing duty, I realized I needed to get out of the house for a bit to unwind. Since Yosemite was out of the question, I went for the next best thing...not Castle Rock, not Mortar Rock, not even Mickey's Beach, no I headed to Vacaville!!

The rock there is actually really cool in my opinion, there's just not that much of it. It's a really slick blocky basalt that unfortunately gets heated up pretty quick, definitely not an ideal quality in the sunny central valley. There is a project there I've wanted to do for a long time, so I thought I'd go give it a try. Its a lower start to a problem I established in 2004 called "Blood Sport" (I split my forehead that day when I broke a hold on another problem). Somehow this problem has made it into the Supertopo guide, but the description is totally misleading. Anyhow, I tried and came close but to no avail. I think it would be nice if it were about 20 degrees cooler for this problem because the crux sloper was just too difficult to hold in the heat.

For climbers debating where to go on your next climbing trip don't even bother with Font, Hueco, or the Rocklands head to Vacaville instead. To help convince you of this infinite wisdom I made a radical video that will blow your minds.

Vacaville Boulders from Princess on Vimeo.

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