Two days bouldering Lake Tahoe. What guidebook?? Other summer bouldering near Sacramento?

Hoping to tack two days of bouldering onto a work trip to Sacramento. Lake Tahoe looks overwhelming. 4 guides?? Is there an area with a bunch of close together moderates(V3-6)? Any advice would be much appreciated. Is there a better summer area nearer to Sacramento?

Donner Summit, or DL Bliss State Park. Check those out.

Tony S wrote:

Hoping to tack two days of bouldering onto a work trip to Sacramento. Lake Tahoe looks overwhelming. 4 guides?? Is there an area with a bunch of close together moderates(V3-6)? Any advice would be much appreciated. Is there a better summer area nearer to Sacramento?

You are correct that Tahoe region has an overwhelming set of options. This is a good thing though; with literally 100s of bouldering spots to choose from you can usually find just the right area for the conditions, what you're looking for, etc.

So it depends somewhat on when you'll be here (i.e. what weather), what you want to climb, how long you have, are you camping, etc.

If I were to suggest one book, probably the South Tahoe book. Christmas Valley / the Beavers, PCT Boulders, and the Lovers Leap Campground boulders all have nice circuits in your target grade range. 

The PCT Boulders are my top suggestion if you just have one day and are driving from Sac. Not too bad a drive, zero approach, easy enough to navigate, nice scenery, good rock, good problems, not too highball, nice grade spread, higher elevation. Great Tahoe intro spot.

Another super easy access intro spot is Rainbow, on HWY 80. Nice boulders, quick access for Sac, though some highway noise.

Bliss is a longer drive from Sac and gets pretty hot this time of year. 

The HWY 88 corridor (Kirkwood area) is amazing, but a bit further and a bit more complex to navigate. Aliso annoyingly split between two of the books.

Some of the best HWY 80 climbing (Castle Peak, etc) is likely still snowy.

The other summer bouldering option is the Sonoma Coast. But that's farther from Sac (2-2.5 h). Tuolumne and Mammoth are good too, but further and still snowy currently.

Tahoe really is the main summer bouldering spot for Sac.

In any case, try to do evening and morning sessions to avoid roasting mid-day.

Thanks for the info!

The PCT boulders are not on Mountain Project, correct? They are in the South Tahoe guide it looks like. 

Also I'll be there in a couple weeks if that changes anything. 

Thanks again. Looking forward to it. 

Tony S wrote:

Thanks for the info!

The PCT boulders are not on Mountain Project, correct? They are in the South Tahoe guide it looks like. 

PCT boulders are here:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/38.808644,+-120.028151/@38.8085568,-120.0281481,18z/data=!4m4!3m3!8m2!3d38.8086435!4d-120.0281512

Park by the old water tower. Boulders are obvious. South Tahoe book has the full info.

---

MP covers only a tiny portion of the Tahoe bouldering, so no surprising they aren't on here.

Tony S wrote:

I'll be there in a couple weeks if that changes anything.  

Another awesome zone that's just opening up (melting out) now is the Kirkwood areas on HWY 88. Should be entirely good to go in a couple weeks. It's my favorite summer area for Tahoe region. High up, great climbing, great scenery, remote feel. It's got two issues though - it's a bit harder to navigate, and it's annoyingly split right down the middle between two of the guidebook volumes (East and Outlying).

That's the benefit of the South areas like PCT,  Christmas Valley, and the Lovers Leap Campground boulders. Not necessarily the absolute best bouldering that Tahoe has, but it's easily accessed from Sac, roadside approaches, easy to navigate, and all contained in one book volume. No GPS navigation, bushwhacking, or river crossings required (these are common parts of the Tahoe experience). And the climbing is still pretty good. Lots of modest height boulders with good landings also, which is nice if solo with limited pads.

Let me know if you need other info as your trip approaches. I live in Sac and boulder in Tahoe most weekends.

Incredibly helpful. Wow thank you. 

Tony, I see your from MN. Are you in the cities?Are you planning on buying or have you bought any of the guides? I have the South and East guidebooks you are welcome to look at/borrow for your trip if you are interested and you promise to take good care of them/get them back to me. There is tons of info in them not on MP and the maps are really helpful (especially for a short trip.) I went last summer for a few days. Super cool area, can’t wait to get back.

Hey Andrew, bummer, I already got my copy of the south Guidebook. (Shoutout to K.Daniels Publishing for their incredible shipping speed.) Thanks for the offer!.

Currently thinking its between PCT and Christmas Boulders.

Todd that is so kind and would have loved to take you up on that. Unfortunately work keeps moving the trip back. It’s all up in the air right now, maybe early august. I’m getting excited- Tahoe looks amazing.

Hey everyone, thanks so much for the beta. Trip was awesome, recs were spot on. Thank you for helping me make my trip somewhat manageable. Really incredibly beautiful area. Tahoe is fucking huge!
And I sent my project! woo. Triple Crown. Great climb. Tall Boy too was a star. But there are so many good looking climbs its overwhelming.

Some background, In the time since I posted, I lost my job (I knew it was coming just wasn't sure when), got a new job that wasn't sending me anwyhere (lol), so planned my own trip (had gotten too psyched not to), got someone to come along, found out united's bag rules are draconian, did last minute change of plans to avoid presidential motorcades, hemmed over camping in bear country, and all around had a wild month leading up to trip. But trip was all the better for it!

For anyone in the future looking at this, some trip beta:
Pad Rental: Basecamp climbing gym will rent you crashpads in Reno. They are dirt cheap, 10$/day. They are also 3" thick and stiff as wood despite being ancient (if this sounds like impossible magic, know that they also look like they were hand sewn by a wizard) We made do with 3 and some sliders, but they did not inspire confidence. (We had intended to check pads... In hindsight I wish I had messaged Todd but we discovered this all too late and were in a rush that day to get to FCFS camping.) They would however make a great addition supplementing your own big nice comfy Organic pad though.

The Sun. The Sun is an all powerful and malevolent hammer. I was underprepared for this. Even on a 75 degree day, sitting in the sun is unbearable. (I am from MN, maybe I'm a baby.) The guidebook's AM/PM shade will rule your trip, you will live and die by it. Which leads me to:

The guidebook. The guidebook's AM/PM shade are occasionally not accurate lol. (Seasonal? Fires clearing shade tree?) Its best to just cross check what side of the boulder the climb is on, and decide where the sun will be at that time. Or just go look at it. Being the baby I am, I was not able to climb in the sun.
The guidebook's driving directions are fine, but the GPS coordinates are accurate, in the end we just started using those for driving directions. Also, In certain areas the maps are VERY not to scale while in other areas they are, so it can be misleading. Read the approach for each boulder - don't just assume its a walk just over there.
That said, the guidebook was supremely helpful. Also, I found the star system more accurate than most. Grades I also thought were more accurate than most.
The guidebooks are cheaper at Alpenglow sports in Tahoe City than they are online.

Grades: Fair. Nowhere near the sandbag of Jtree, not as soft as southern sandstone. (On par with newer areas of MN/WI.)

Everyone recos above for areas were good! And the classics are classics. Triple Crown, Tallboy, 4stars anywhere. Also 3star climbs are great! Only one 3* climb was a bomb I thought.

Thanks again everyone!

Glad you were able to make it happen despite some hiccups. Sounds like a great trip. I very much enjoy when people follow up afterwards so thanks for taking the time to do so.

Tony S wrote:

Hey everyone, thanks so much for the beta. Trip was awesome, recs were spot on. Thank you for helping me make my trip somewhat manageable. Really incredibly beautiful area. Tahoe is fucking huge!

It’s great that you actually returned to post about it  so many people ask for, and get, so much great info from other users, and then never let anyone know how it all worked out.

The Sun. The Sun is an all powerful and malevolent hammer. I was underprepared for this. Even on a 75 degree day, sitting in the sun is unbearable. (I am from MN, maybe I'm a baby.) The guidebook's AM/PM shade will rule your trip, you will live and die by it.

As you undoubtably know, In the height of summer in the Northern Hemisphere, the sun rises north of east and sets north of west. The guide books sun/shade advice is typically for the other months where the sun is rising/setting either due east/west, or southeast/ southwest. So in July/ August, even the true north faces have limited shade hours.  I don’t climb in the sun typically unless the air temp is around 60F. Even 65 can feel hot in the sun in the Sierra.