drying natural holds.... Pirates Cove Orange county

Hey guys!

A couple buddies of mine and I are heading down to pirates cove tomorrow, I was just curious if there is any safe way to dry the wet slimy holds...

for those not familiar with pirates cove, its right near the water and during high tide some of the holds in the bottom part of the cave get wet.

I really want to try some of the routes but I have never felt them dry. I know blow torching is out of the question, I was thinking maybe the cans of compressed are for cleaning keyboards lol... any suggestions would be awesome! the sooner the better... thanks guys!

Don't mess with the holds. Just go on a day when it's been sunny. If it's been breezy as well, like a Santa Ana condition, even better. Check the tide table before you even bother and don't go until the late afernon when most of the people have cleared off the beach and the lifeguards are off duty.

The Beach is great. I practically grew up there. But bottom line, if you can't deal with sometimes slimy conditions, sweeping sand off of holds as you climb, then just boulder someplace else.

Cool cool, yea I was just wondering the veterans had any tips or secrets. I check tides and weather there's just some spots that never get sun. Thanks for the response :)

I've seen videos of Brit climbers who will loosely secure a towel on a seeping hold, and remove it on the ascent. Even better, Dave MacLeod recommended putting alum foil on the holds and compressing it to take the shape of the hold. If the rock isn't too sharp, you can climb on the foil while retaining the shape of the hold. Of course, pack it out when you're done.

This is only used for very few holds, though. I don't know pirates cove, but if every hold is slimy, then either suck it up (time to work on technique) or go somewhere else. Hope that helped.

BTW, I meant to write that you would probably get a better response if you put this in the So Cal forum. I think you've probably get your answer, but in case you wanted other beta...

Wait for days with strong Santa Ana's.

- bring a terrycloth towel to soak up the real seepage
- and a chalk sock to blot/dry out any remaining moisture

this is what brits do since it rains everyday there..and it has worked for me

I climb there quite often. Just go late in the afternoon, and all of the holds are dried out by then. Just bring a good brush to get all the sand off the holds. The cave is usually the last part to dry. If it's not dry yet, wait it out as climb some stuff on the face of the walls (like Italian falls, etc)

Also plan on going after the lifeguards leave. Because I think in the summer your technically not supposed to climb there during the day. The croud is pretty bad anyways.

Hope this helps! Happy climbing.