Recommended Bay Area lead climbs?

My girlfriend and I are taking a road trip to San Francisco this February. We have a day set aside to get in a bit of climbing and was wondering if anyone could recommend a particular area we should check out. We are looking for some easy (under 10b-c) sport or trad routes within an hour or two drive of the Point Reyes National Beach where we are camping. Any recommended guide books?

Dave,

Salt point is pretty close to where you will be with some good climbing. Mt. Diablo has a few fun routes. Castle Rock State Park has good routes and great bouldering.

The only issue you will have coming in Feb, is the rain. 90% of bay area rock is sandstone which you cannot climb on without at least three days of dry weather FYI.

wsperry wrote:Dave, Salt point is pretty close to where you will be with some good climbing. Mt. Diablo has a few fun routes. Castle Rock State Park has good routes and great bouldering. The only issue you will have coming in Feb, is the rain. 90% of bay area rock is sandstone which you cannot climb on without at least three days of dry weather FYI.

I was worried about the rain.. We may just head to a local gym if that becomes the case. Thanks for the help!

St. Helena and Table Rock, again if rain isnt an issue. great excuse to go drink wine afterword.

Thornburg's Bay Area Rock is the best guide for the area.
If you're willing to drive a bit, Mt. St. Helena has the best sport and trad climbing in the Bay area IMO. It is volcanic rock and dries out quick too.

The Mt. St. Helena section on MP has most all of the climbs listed.

Mickey's Beach is the closest to you but not much in the easy 10's and 9's there. The egg is a nice location to tick a few climbs though.

I would also highly recommend St. Helena. It would be an all day adventure but well worth your time. The drive and approach are very scenic, and the views from the routes are amazing.

The far side area has some great sport climbing in your desired range. The bear has some good sport and a few trad routes as well, but it's all stiff 5.9 or harder.

Helena is great and the rock is volcanic so it should dry quicker than the Sandstone at Salt Point (Salt point has a variety of rock...but very good chance all of it will be damp in Feb). But that's at least 1.5 hours from Point Reyes. Consider Micky's beach - but less options at the low 10s and below.

Thanks for the suggestions! I am definitely going to keep St Helena in mind. I was checking it out and that Tradfest linkup looks fun. Now I'm just hoping for dry weather.

Pinnacles is as close as st Helena and with have a larger selection of midrange sport climbs with a shorter approach

Pinnacles is way further from Point Reyes then Helena.

kevin deweese wrote:Pinnacles is as close as st Helena and with have a larger selection of midrange sport climbs with a shorter approach

Pinnacles is way farther than Helena. Its a 3 hour drive from the City in the opposite direction of Pt. Reyes and Helena and that choss is even more frightening after it rains.
Mission Cliffs used to be the funky climbers climbing gym, but with the influx of douche to SF, it too has become a cesspool of hipsters and plastic monkeys...
You're going to the wrong place for a climbing trip during the worst part of the year. Skip the rock, just eat oysters and drink wine.

mountainproject.com/v/table…

Right down your ally. Almost every route can be TR'd without leading. One of the shortest hikes on the mountain as well. You can also be back into the valley quickly for wine tasting / good food.

I wouldn't buy a guidebook for the Bay Area as a visiting climber. Or a non-visiting climber, really. It's mostly all posted up on mountain project.

The best lead climbing in the Bay Area isn't in the Bay Area.