Continue with onX Maps
Sign in with Facebook
Mount Woodson Mega Thread
|
Today's bushwhacking find...A beauty finger crack reminiscent of a tighter version of Baby Robbins on the main hill. Probably only 5.7 or so but super fun. So much rock so little time!! Now time for a tecnu bath.  |
|
creative use of our chalk bags on the hill  |
Ron Amick wrote: Those are some healthy looking chalk bags!! I was able to get out today for a bit and finally checked out "phantom crack" such a good route.  Took a few mandatory laps on Big Grunt and Elsa'a to polish off the this wonderful San Diego day. Even the monks were out today. Happy thanksgiving!!   |
Russell Houghten wrote: Yeah me and Rick did checkered demon after removing a bunch of poison oak from the line. Its overhanging jugs, something you dont find a lot of on woodson |
|
Hi everyone! -Philipp  Also, there's an easy (5.6-7 ish) but clean corner crack very close to it.  |
|
Same goes for these cracks just north of the summit. Although I haven't actually tried climbing them, let a lone cut a trail...    |
|
Philipp - the learning cave looks so cool, I need to go try it soon. You just go downhill from undertow? Russell climbed this new squeeze slot today - Woodson’s Harding slot? The north side never fails to deliver  |
Philipp Arndt wrote: I think those top cracks are called Ben and Bill and have been aided before by a guy named British John. Does anyone know anything about this mysterious British John aid lord? He did some really cool and obscure stuff in the 90s. Is the finger crack the one right by undertow? That thing looks awesome. We need to cut a proper trail to Ben and Bill soon. Want to check out the Learning Cave soon too. That thing looks super fun. Full body stem chimney.  Pugnacious Slab wrote: Mo unlocked the crucial beta on this one. A perplexing Bombay offwidth slot after a nice handcrack down low. 30 or so feet of awesome climbing. Let's go back soon and get on the other stuff. |
Pugnacious Slab wrote: Oh wow that one looks ... interesting? By which I of course mean I'd love to try it. And yeah, the cave is just beneath undertow. Take a left at the PhD boulder coming from out of sight and the trail will take you there! |
Russell Houghten wrote: Could these guys below possibly be Ben and Bill? The other cracks I saw seemed less aid-y at least, but those two look like proper hard aid seams (by my standards of not knowing much about aid climbing at least...) These two are on the same boulder a short way down from the summit, whereas the ones I posted earlier are on separate ones a bit further down the hill. Where did you find that information about Ben & Bill? I don't think I had ever seen those mentioned anywhere that I looked. I also started cutting a trail down towards that area already. I'll record a gps track and share when I get back there!  The finger crack is actually along the way towards those climbs that are probably Ben & Bill! It's about 15 degrees overhung but looks like it has good fingerlocks and some decent feet. Haven't tried that one yet. Probably need to lead it and put some anchor bolts and rap rings on top (unless anyone wants to do some serious tree climbing to set up a toprope I suppose...) |
|
By god, this thread is amazing. Keep whacking, fellas! |
|
There used to be a one page sheet with some of British Johns aid routes at Woodson. Art had it on his SDCC page 20 years ago. |
|
Russel posted: "That route is so good!! I've seen it named various different things "cobra crack" Hilary step". Anyone know what the story is? I got so lost trying to get there on my first visit." Hey Russell, planning on heading out there again after Christmas, I can DM you in case you are interested in heading out to the Everest Boulder. Hike is short but there can be some bushwhacking and crawling involved. |
|
AJ found this finger crack just one day after I put it up!  |
Philipp Arndt wrote: You might be right about those seams being the 2 aid lines. Here is the old Brittish John Topo I was referencing (he mentions beaks and Kb's so it is definitely more in line with those two seams) tom donnelly wrote:  I know Erik Roed had done some exploring in that area and referenced those 2 flared routes(which look amazing, let me know once you cut the trail as I would love to try them) They're on my list of lines to visit. It might be worth connecting them to this trail Mo and I already cut where I ran into you that one day. There is another cool 5.9 OW and compression boulder problem that would be good additions on the trail to those other routes.   Mo in the knee locking crux of this one. Fun lead with a single 4 and 5 that you can bump up.    I wonder what the geological reason for all of the right leaning cracks on this side of the hill is? claudio ricardez wrote: Hit me up when you come down, I would love to get out if I can. I want to replace the bolts on Soylent green as well as the bolts are in pretty bad shape. Philipp Arndt wrote: Amazing find!! That thing looks so good, can't wait to try it. Funny how AJ stumbled upon it the day after you cut the trail. |
|
Oh awesome! Do you have the actual paper copy of British John's guide? If so could you send a slightly better quality photo? The text is nearly impossible to read haha Also great drone shots. You actually inspired me to get myself a drone on Black Friday. Your first boulder photo is just down and east of 9th Circuit Court, right? I think I saw that boulder from further away. Looks pretty fun! Russell Houghten wrote: |
|
Nice to see some new blood with a healthy attitude leading the charge into the depths of the Woodson woods. I'll play along. My San Diego rock climbing started in 1978 at Mission Gorge with Jon Sundt. We outfitted ourselves at Sport Chalet and A-16 with shoes, chalk, a rope, some nuts, and crabs. Next, we went to Santee and from there found out about Woodson. We hacked around with Kieth Bruckner's guide and found most of the stuff and like most people got stuffed by the 11c's. It felt like everything was 5.9 or 5.11c. 5.10's were few and far between, but that is the grade I needed to improve. Joshua Tree and Tahquitz solved the problem, but required a lot of driving, but we did it, and we learned to lead and rappel. I moved to Telluride Colorado and lived there for a year and climbed what I could with no help or guidance, only Royal Robbin's Rockcraft books to keep me from dying young. I almost did a couple of times and learned my lesson. Back in San Diego I enrolled at SD City College and got back into the local hills when the surf was small. That was my jam; surf when it was good, climb the rest of the time. I also trained Tae Kwon-Do with a legitimate Master twice a week and practiced that every day; hyperactive spaz that I was, but that is a separate tale. Back on the hill of Woodson nothing had changed; it was still 5.9 or 11c. The few 5.10's like Airplane Crack I did too many times to remember. Eventually, I could do the Cave and Alcoa and Werner's Wish and Eric's Face and Hard As Nails and a few others. After endless efforts, I managed Uncertainty Principle. I felt pretty good about all this but would never call myself a 5.11 climber, as in my mind one had to flash any and all 5.11's to make such a claim. I noticed other people do one 5.11 and then announce that they were a 5.11 climber, but I knew better. I watched Mike Paul from a distance one day do Hear My Train in Addida's street shoes and it was obvious that I was not in that category. No matter. I knew I loved climbing and just did what I could. During this period of the early eighties, I started bushwacking and finding small boulders I could do that everyone else ignored as being too easy or not dangerous enough. These suited me well and I built up a pretty big circuit. I would hike to the summit by myself on the road and then boulder my way down staying off the road as much as possible. Since these obscure boulders were not listed anywhere and I knew how to draw, it was natural to start making rough maps of what I was doing. None of this could be called ambitious. It was all a hobby. The Poway Mountain Boys were pretty tough and brushed me off the few times I met them. No matter. As a surfer of the 1970's I understood. Those were the times. Everybody was pretty tough. If you wanted to do the cool stuff it was expected to face resistance. As a budding black belt, I did not wilt and just kept after my own game. I didn't care what others were doing. I just knew what I wanted to do. Enter Andy Sietz who I met after graduating from UCSB. I got a job at A-16 and he worked there too. We hit it off pretty quick and before long he said, "Let's do a wall!" So that is what we did. Off to the valley and the regular route on Half Dome NW face, in the Summer of 1986. We did it light and fast with no haul bag and one exposed bivi. This is when I felt that maybe I was an okay climber after all. Back at Woodson, I doubled down on my circuit of obscurities. This is when I first saw Mike Paul's topo which captured my imagination with the aerial angle. I redrew my rough map to be more like his and then concluded that I could improve on what he had done. He mapped all the main problems, but there were lots of rocks not included. I set out to include them. I walked that hill for several years with pencil and paper and started to work out my version. One day I ran into a couple of the "Boys," and showed them what I was working on. They thrashed me and said I was wasting my time and everyone already had maps like that. I flinched a little but not much. I kept drawing and learning. Soon enough I started drawing other areas and developed a healthy habit; climbing stuff during the day and drawing it at night. Whatever I climbed I would draw. I built up quite a pile of drawings over several years and I can say that the desire to find new things to draw is what drove me to look for new things to climb. It became obvious to me that San Diego County was chocked full of rocks and the more I looked the more I saw. I shared my pile of topos with friends and one friend Clark Friedgen introduced me to Dave Kennedy who was interested in what I had to include in his San Diego guidebook project. I thought it was a good fit and we agreed to team up. The first edition came out really nice. Dave was good enough to put my painting of Uncertainty Principle on the cover. My Woodson maps were pretty good but of course, the old guard didn't think so. I understood. I shrugged my shoulders and continued on my path. I learned from the Hatchet brothers and Kevin Worrall a little more about cutting trails and developing boulders by seeing what they had done at an area up by Temecula. They really went to town and showed what was possible. I applied what I learned to all sorts of small crags and boulder fields that lurk in the backcountry. I would drive around and look for stuff and realized that Woodson was not the only game in town. Then El Cajon Mountain happened. Brian Spiewak cracked that nut and shared what he was doing with friends and rumors flew about a three-pitch bolted 5.9 he called Leonids after the meteor shower of the same name. With my lady Stacey, we figured out the hike to the wall and I could scarcely believe what I was seeing. I called my friend Randy Leavitt and said you have got to see this. Randy and I hiked up one rainy day and he saw it too. Within the week we were back with giant packs and rope and the whole kit. We arrived at the base and there was Brian bivied all alone. We said we were going to look at the headwall first thing which is Randy's MO; King lines first, then the other stuff. So started our friendship with Brian. I have to say Spiewak is a special case. Do you think you are tough? He is tougher. Over the years I saw just how deep of a well of power and endurance he possessed. Together we all hung it out from dawn to dusk as a regular program. Always a headlamp descent. Always giant loads. Always loads of laughs except for the times that were so hard that nobody laughed. Eventually we turned our attention back to Woodson. Now we had a real crew. We dug into the depths of the East Face in order to avoid the road altogether which was now crowded with tourists going to see Potato Chip Rock. We would put in our all-day efforts touching only dirt, plants, and granite. We went where the others had not gone. Deep into the thickest of thickets. The more inhospitable the better. That is the Spiewak MO. Without his drive, I would have never gone so deep into the true A-1 chaparral forests of the East and North faces of Woodson. Andrew Alldredge joined in and added a willing pair of hands to the true hard labor required. Most people fade after a couple of forrays. Drew held his own. Then one day we just decided on a whim that we had had enough of regular Woodson and we looked at the North Face of South Woodson and dove into it with all guns blazing. We spent years in there with no regrets. No effort was too great when you find a perfect splitter that is hidden and impossible to see until you are right under it. Google Earth doesn't show everything. To be honest, I have noticed that very few people are willing to do this work. I don't blame them. They don't understand us. It's all good. I am really stoked to see some new dudes digging deep and getting results. Russell and Mo have really started to crack open regular Woodson North face and I have had the pleasure to stroll somebody else's trail to an epic crack route without all the work. Total bliss. Thanks to you guys a new era has dawned. I'm in! |
|
Thanks, Chris, for the enjoyable read, for your hard work, and for showing me around the Mountaineers Walls (11-12 years ago)! |
|
Awesome history, thanks Chris for all your contributions to SD climbing. Hope to see you back in town this year George. |
|
Amazing history Chris and thanks for all that you have done for SD climbing. I have used many of your trails and climbed many of your routes and appreciate them immensely. I too had to deal with that same Woodson 5.10-5.11+ gap haha. I love that original painting of the Sd climbing guide, wish I had the skills to paint like that.  I've used both editions of the Sd guide a lot and thought they were great. Mapping Woodson seems like an extremely difficult task, Aden did a good job with lake Ramona too. |
