Marble Mountain Rock Climbing

This is perhaps the most neglected alpine climbing location in California. After asking about this place for 10 years, I hadn't run into anyone who had any experience out here. We finally went out there to explore and found some wild climbing! Definitely not your average alpine experience. The views along the Marble Rim are incomparable to anything I've seen in California, you just have to see it.

The rock is true marble, meaning metamorphosed limestone. 90% of the stone falls into one of these two categories; solid crackless faces or super cracked chossy faces you wouldn't dare touch. Luckily about 10% of the place is the perfect balance of great rock, with sufficient cracks for protection. Wander around and look carefully and you can find extremely unique climbs hidden between unclimbable walls.

The rock tends to be quite grippy. I mean, really grippy. The majority of holds are either large slopers with some sort of magical friction or incut edges. It takes a little bit to get used to the uniqueness of the rock, and those with a vast trad climbing experience will enjoy the place. New trad climbers should stay far away, or at least follow an experience alpine climber.