Bear Valley crag (across from ski area)?

My daughter sent me some pics of her climbing from a camp she's attending at the Bear Valley ski resort. Apparently there is a crag right across HW 4. About here: 

38°27'37.4"N 120°01'54.5"W

38.460389, -120.031806 

https://goo.gl/maps/QeF5uryXeGXZ6uAd7

Does anyone know the deal with this spot? I don't see it on MP or in the books I have for the area. Looks to be forest service land according to onXmaps. 

ryan climbs sometimes wrote:

 there is a ton of climbing that’s undocumented all up and down highway 4. This crag might be called box canyon? It’s been years since anyone sprayed me down with the crag names in the area.
spicer reservoir has some scattered crags too.

What book do you have for the area? When I lived there someone was working on a book but iv never seen it in print.

Boom - judging from the pics she sent that's it. Looks like a fun slabby spot for kids. 

https://www.summitpost.org/box-canyon/229947

Box canyon is worth a day trip if you're in the area but it really isn't much to write home about. Most of the really good climbing up 4 is someone's secret crag or is unrealized potential. 

If you're interested in highway 4 climbing I can send you some topos, and there's also more info in my highway 4 climbing FB group. IMO the best climbing on the 4 is in Arnold and not near Bear Valley where most of the older established routes are, but most of that Arnold climbing is on the down low. 

I might be able to get you some info if you're interested though. =) 

That was indeed Box Canyon. I went climbing there a couple weeks ago on a Sunday. No one else was there all day. The climbs are fun. Slabs with tiny crimps.

Spicer Terraces is still inaccessible due to high flow at a river crossing.

Driving to Spicer, I saw a big north-facing crag on the south side of the first river crossing. I’m not aware of any of it being developed but it sure looks promising from the road.  There were no trails and it would take a lot of bush whacking followed by tons of boulder hopping to get there.

Ricky, do you know about that crag?

Charlie Kissick wrote:

That was indeed Box Canyon. I went climbing there a couple weeks ago on a Sunday. No one else was there all day. The climbs are fun. Slabs with tiny crimps.

Spicer Terraces is still inaccessible due to high flow at a river crossing.

Driving to Spicer, I saw a big north-facing crag on the south side of the first river crossing. I’m not aware of any of it being developed but it sure looks promising from the road.  There were no trails and it would take a lot of bush whacking followed by tons of boulder hopping to get there.

Ricky, do you know about that crag?

I don't know about that crag but I can ask Jeff Stroh who is a bear valley local and has put up much of the sport routes up there. I haven't climbed up there too much, just a few days with Jeff. Driving down to Spicer Terraces Jeff was telling me about all the walls and boulders but I don't remember much of what he said. I do remember him telling me about some little overhanging aid problems that sounded super fun, though. 

There’s an overhanging aid problem at the left end of Box Canyon. Probably a 5.11. 

ryan climbs sometimes wrote:

Wasn’t jeff working on a guide book? 

Doesn't sound like he's too serious about finishing it. I've been encouraging him to do something with all his topos. We'll see. 

If I'm still around Angels in a decade maybe I'd try to write one. I like to think I'd have put up a few hundred pitches in Arnold by then, but who knows. 

I’m building a cabin in Bear Valley so a guide book would be nice.