Kern slabs

How are the Kern slabs this time of year?  Do they have any snow?  I have driven by then many times on the way to the needles but have never climbed there.

Brad- The Kern River valley is a winter destination. All the spots work except for Valhalla. As long as it’s not snowing. The slabs are cold in the morning, after the sun it warms up. 

Kern Slabs at lower elev and warmer than The Needles. roadside approach steep but short. west facing with morning shade and afternoon sun. never thought enough there personally to justify the long drive just to hit that in its more ideal winter time. worked fine for us to tag it around summer along the way up to or back from The Needles (or Dome Rock).  time your drive up to have dinner at Kernville. spend the night in town, or continue the short bit up to Kern Slabs. there's free roadside camping just past that up the road. better fee ones with restrooms nearby as well. comes morning, climb in shade til mid day before continuing drive up. or on the return leg, stop to camp near Kern Slabs overnight, hit it for a quick morning half day, then resume rest of way home. some days can be too hot. but there have been times when this did work out

Sean- I think the Kern is one of the best winter  climbing spots in California. Better than Josh, better camping, better climbing. The drive- for me is about 3 hrs on a Friday evening coming from Moorpark. Besides Kern Slab you have New Directions, Book Rock and the LimeStone. Herb made a GB - really a foldout, much like a road map for Directions. You can pick them up at Sierra South. Book is in the Domelands by Sally Moser and crew. The best place is the Rincon 1,900 vertical from the road. I recommend you don’t camp down by the river- it’s very cold down there- follow the directions for Valhalla to get up from the river and lots of good camping is found.

Rincon photos, some of them here: 

https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/121831811/new-and-experienced-climbers-over-50-19?page=11#ForumMessage-121858353

About 30-40 climbs. Each and every one is a 4 star climb- no Lie.

If you search you can find the photos Kris posted that were taken from the air- he drew in the lines (most of them). I don’t think I can ever do that hike again but very fit young climbers can, takes about 1.5 hours. Bring two ropes, these are not sport climbs. 

sure, Guy, right on. just my take on the Kern Slabs itself, what happened to work for us. yup, have known the other areas for a long time, but like you said, more driving, and hiking that you yourself wouldn't do anymore. it's nice that good climbing is out that way, esp if want to get away from people. am fine too with being plenty busy with the already abundant great climbing in other parts. CA and entire Southwest has a lot to enjoy. and the Kern River itself is a great whitewater destination in the summer as well. was there in and near town equally often for that at the time

Sean wrote:

sure, Guy, right on. just my take on the Kern Slabs itself, what happened to work for us. yup, have known the other areas for a long time, but like you said, more driving, and hiking that you yourself wouldn't do anymore. it's nice that good climbing is out that way, esp if want to get away from people. am fine too with being plenty busy with the already abundant great climbing in other parts. CA and entire Southwest has a lot to enjoy. and the Kern River itself is a great whitewater destination in the summer as well. was there in and near town equally often for that at the time

Sean ….. I’m just a pimp for Kern river climbing.
Id hike up to the Rincon if my old ass back didn’t fail me. I like to tell folks “I climb all over the drainage of the Kern and So Fork of Kern” But I do get lonely because nobody else climbs there- bummer for me.
Good day LOL

i have heard about rincon a small amount, but don't know anything about it.  is it granite or limestone?  for some reason i had thought it was limestone in the high desert somewhere.

The kern one is granite. Though there might be a limestone one somewhere too. It Actually is a great crag with some exceptional routes. Crack and face. Someone really needs to document it.

Brian Prince wrote:

The kern one is granite. Though there might be a limestone one somewhere too. It Actually is a great crag with some exceptional routes. Crack and face. Someone really needs to document it.

Brian I agree. This is a repost of what I wrote way back…. I know some people do go there and get E-mails from time to time.
…..

From 2017

OK let me clarify.... "The Rincon" in the Kern River canyon is visible when you look up at "Salmon Creek Falls" a posted viewing spot approx 11.5 miles north of Kernville. There is some sort of Pipe you look through and this puts your eyes on the falls..."The Rincon" are the fine looking formations located a bit south of the falls...sort of to the right of a ridge that descends from the Salmon creek falls.  

These formations are 2,000 feet above the Kern River. The hike has been done in a little less than one hour, buy some super fit youngsters I took up there once... only problem-- there legs were mush after the hike and they couldn't climb ... I spend maybe 1.5 hours and up to 2 when lugging FA gear. The start of this hike begins at the Rincon Trail head, a off-road trail (motorbikes only) ... this trail follows the Kern from way down by Kernville. The best place to pick up the trail is to go up to the Valhalla Parking and poke around just a bit south... IIRC the dirt road you take is marked "Audit 9-12" These Audit roads are for the water company to access the water that flows in the pipe, cement culvert. (one can see the pipes hi above Kernville as they are directed down to the generating plant) The Audits are points where there is a tunnel or a open trough or a bridge going over the creeks. The correct dirt road starts just a bit south of the viewing pipe for Salmon creek falls. You know your on the right one when you hit a turn-around about 300 yards up from the pavement. (hint you need to make a hard up-hill left turn but you can't cause its to steep and sharp so they made a place where you do a 180 and back track.

The best place to look at the Rincon is down by that lone motel, hotel deal they made... it keeps going in and out of bizz so the name changes.. there is a bit of really good bouldering right at this spot.. right there at your car, if you are familiar with the Kern you have seen the chalk before... good steep traverse problem. From this point you can look right up at the sunny ledge and big green, yellow headwall...thats the main Rincon. Tons of potential over to the right.

The approach is up the Rincon Trail... signed posted with the off road rules... you go up this for about a mile.... up hill all the way. Where it sort of tops out and turns left and gets level for 200 yards.... you are really close to the cut off spot. Keep walking for a few hundred yards more ... past a really deep grooved spot that is the crux if your on a dirt bike, but before you get to salmon creek.... you hang a right and plunge into the "COW BRUSH: as we call it... after a hundred yards you sort of break out from the thick brush and you will see a huge boulder that over hangs on 3 sides with one side vert with a thin crack going through it.... Kris and I did this as a climb ("A Couple of Nuts 5.10C) it has yet to be bouldered, and the way up is the way down.

You can pick up our climbers trail at this boulder and it has some carins ..... look for the faint signs of a trail...going uphill... I was there 6 years ago and we were able to still see traces of where we dug out spots ... there is some 4th class on this where you go up some steep chmineys.... when you get to the Rincon you will first see the "E" cracks.... two 5.12C crack climbs put up Eric Erickson, these have a big OAK tree shading the base... traverse a bit to the right and crawl through a tight spot that gets overgrown by oak trees and walk on out to the Sunny Ledge... you have arrived!! About 7 or 8 climbs start right here... some up cracks, flakes some face. "Snow Job" was the first root put up there-- its two long pitches... not sport climbs but real honest by god face climbs. Mike Flood, Rob Brown and Troy Bailey in 1994? its 5.10B PG.

Just a bit to the right of the ledge there is a wall with 4 one pitch climbs all 5.10 or harder... you can 3rd class the right side of this wall to get up to what we call the Pine Tree Ledge... another 8 or 9 climbs start here... The Best is "Mikes Flight 5.11A" it starts at the pine tree. The Best Climb in the place starts on the far left end of this and you climb up and out left over the big air on tasty looking flakes this is "Endless Summer"... Kris Solem, Mike Brown 1-6-98 and is 5.11D up at the lip of the slightly overhanging face.... its all bolts-- this can not be top roped due to the left leaning nature of the climb and must be followed.

A good rack for the place is "One of everything from a #3 down, with doubles on the finger size and some wired stoppers" ... and some webbing cause you will not find chains and the raps will need freshening up some... bring two ropes (we do have one stashed where you tunnel through the oaks, we use it to pull down the rap line...and to use for the huge TR's you can set up from the cluster of anchor bolts at the top of Snow Job.)

There are close to 40 climbs up there... the easyest is White line fever 5.8R ... this is found to the extreme right and around the corner from the Sunny Ledge... follows a white dike... the first bolt is about 40 feet up.

If you go do it when its cold, when the temps get over 65 or so it will be to hot on sunny days....

I have been injured the last few years with back problems that make walking up steep hills a problem for me... I am getting better and one of my goals for this season is to get back up there.... I will post up here and on ST if and when I think i can make it. Look for it.

Feel free to PM me for more beta if you wish... I have a deal with my friends that I will not make a MP guide. But you never know, some of those guys don't climb anymore and the statue of limitations is about up.

…. Go and have fun 

ahh, ok.  so it is kind of near / south of salmon creek wall? (i guess maybe as the crow flies, but not in bushwhacking terms). i remember looking at salmon creek wall and wondering if it would be easier to approach it from the horse meadow camground side. maybe a rap in jug out kind of thing.

have you (or others) ever scouted/climbed anything up around the cannell meadow ranger station?  it looks could maybe access some nice looking stuff to the northwest from the station.

slim wrote:

ahh, ok.  so it is kind of near / south of salmon creek wall? (i guess maybe as the crow flies, but not in bushwhacking terms). i remember looking at salmon creek wall and wondering if it would be easier to approach it from the horse meadow camground side. maybe a rap in jug out kind of thing.

have you (or others) ever scouted/climbed anything up around the cannell meadow ranger station?  it looks could maybe access some nice looking stuff to the northwest from the station.

Hi…. Slim. I hiked out one time from Cannell following old logging tracks, going north west. I found the drainage that becomes Coral Creek. I walked down about 1 mile and got a look at the crags. Yes they look really good. I asked Herb if he ever did anything on them- his answer-“ I went there but there is nothing really good….” Translation-  “the stuff looks fabulous” -good old Herb. 

If you hike down Salmon Creek from Horse Meadows CG/ end of the road -for maybe.5 miles you can hang a left turn, hike up hill and attain the ridge you find “the upper upper Rincon”.  Some really good 2-3 pitch crack climbs. I don’t know any names but the climbs are your standard 5.10 5.11’s Needles variety cracks. I’ve been there a few times it’s worth the 2 hour hike.

I think nobody is visiting Salmon Falls…. Scott Loomis’ A3 unfinished line still has some visible tat/fixed line hanging on it. I know people climb (ice) Salmon Falls when it’s IN (rare indeed).

The issue with all those crags you can see from the Kern River rd is heat. By the time the Cherry Hill road gets open it’s Memorial Day and you don’t want to be on all that south facing stuff.

I always just go to Church Domes in the summer  and enjoy the shady steep face climbing.

I figure their are a few lifetimes of FAing up in them their hills. The bouldering potential is just starting to be discovered.