San Diego Triple Crown!! (Anyone know any info)?

Hey All - my climbing partner Collin and I were finally able to do a challenge (dubbed the "San Diego Triple Crown" between us) yesterday.  It was awesome (body is feeling it today).

Here is the page (just made it): https://www.mountainproject.com/route/126227195/san-diego-triple-crown

We've been curious...does anyone know if this has been done in San Diego (all three peaks, etc) in a timed manner? Collin and I have heard that it's a popular hiking challenge in the SD area (Corte, Eagle, and Cajon all in 24 hours) but we've never heard of it via the climbing side of things.

Would love to know any history or past climbing stories of who did an FA (or if we are the first to do it in this fashion).

-Buzz

Updated page here:

https://www.mountainproject.com/route/126230162/san-diego-triple-crown

Good work. Lots of driving and hiking. Nobody has done it you are the first!

chris hubbard wrote:

Good work. Lots of driving and hiking. Nobody has done it you are the first!

Thanks for the insight, Chris!

And sweet!! I can’t wait to see other parties go out there and crush the time.

It was an awesome adventure. 

The other triple that has been done by Spiewak and I was Mountaineer's at ECM then hike over to the Bluffs from above and do South Dome, then hike across the top and climb the Wedge. Less driving. We did this free soloing so we didn't follow particular routes. We climbed where we felt solid. He took more exposed lines than I did. But it was all fifth class rock and plenty of exposure. Fast and light. For Mountaineers we started at the Toe and soloed that and then through West Tier at Gem Stone and up left of Kerfuffle and finished on the big rib at the top of the South Ridge to the summit. On South Dome I climbed in the area of Rabbit Tracks 300' 5.7. He traversed more left and wandered up the dome where Wolf Moon is now. On the Wedge I climbed Bright eyes by coming in from the left to avoid the slot section. He climbed Buffalo Brothers zone. Perfect granite all day. One liter of water. I was pretty thirsty. Climbed in approach shoes. We didn't time anything. Lots of fun.

Amazing!! Love hearing that and thanks for sharing. It’s funny, I was just talking to drew who literally just mentioned that three peak challenge at cajon (he also just showed me wolf moon beta too).

Cool synchronicity there…

And I blown away by the (lack of) water amount haha. The triple challenge Collin and I just did, we both drank around 2 gallons of water (and I drained  my 1.5L  camel just on the hike up to wedge this go around).

couldn’t imagine the quench for water you had haha.

John Salathe trained on one pint a day for his ground breaking ascent of Lost Arrow Chimney. I drank about half a gallon before walking away from the car in the morning. Brian, Drew and I did another cool link up a couple seasons ago: At the Bluffs, 420 Tower to Mini Spire to Central Spire. About 1,200' with 5.10 crux's. We used ropes so more water was carried. We had a late start and climbed Central Spire in the dark with headlamps. We summited at about 10PM. Got home around 1AM. 

are there three dedicated routes already? Those links don’t seem to work.

I was thinking of trying this in the upcoming weeks via Leonids, Cruise Line, and Sunset Streaks 

Cesar Cardenas wrote:

are there three dedicated routes already? Those links don’t seem to work.

I was thinking of trying this in the upcoming weeks via Leonids, Cruise Line, and Sunset Streaks 

Hey man!! Super stoked to hear that you’re thinking about it.  Full description is below:



 Craving a challenge all while enjoying some of the best peaks in San Diego county?
Check out the San Diego Triple Crown.



 

Description:

 Corte Madera, Eagle Peak, and El Cajon mountain all within 24 hours. Time starts when you begin the 1st trailhead and the time does not stop until you end the last trailhead/reach your vehicle. No stopping of the time until you are done!!



 

What we climbed (all 5 pitch routes):

 

- Sunset Streaks (Corte Madera)

 -

 Supply Line - Supply Line (P1 & P2) and then did 

Thunder (P3), Commander (P4), and Black Castle (P5) (El Cajon)

 -

 Cruise Line (Eagle Peak)



 

Style:

 - We free climbed everything and did not use any type of aid/french freeing. 



 - We did not stash any gear (hiked everything in/out)



 - All three of the peaks were 5 pitch climbs.



 

Our Time: 20 Hours & 12 minutes (20:12)

Sweet thanks for sharing! I think we’ll probably do Leónids to top out the formation for the sake of the style I want to go for. Unless there’s a top out to black castle I don’t remember? Full commander is tempting but I’d rather the day be cruiser lol. Can’t wait to see how we fair :) 

Amazing man. And yea, sounds rad to do Leonids. Excited to hear how it all goes…we had such a blast doing it.

You’d be the first repeat that we know of- couple groups are chatting about doing it but you’d be the first to repeat,

Among the routes in discussion, which would you recommend for a visiting climber with a day to spare? Sunset Streaks and Leonids seem like the two with the best reputations. Happy on anything below 5.11 (hoping to keep it casual).

MattH wrote:

Among the routes in discussion, which would you recommend for a visiting climber with a day to spare? Sunset Streaks and Leonids seem like the two with the best reputations. Happy on anything below 5.11 (hoping to keep it casual).

Hmmm great question! They are all unique in their own ways...

My biased opinion would be to go to Cruise Line at Eagle Peak. It's a walk off as well and you'll most likely have the crag to yourself. Climbing is no harder than 10c/d (p4 crux). 

Sunset Streaks is a very chill climb and Corte Madera is extremely beautiful. Be prepared for a longer hike out to this one though...the hike is beautiful (so not the worst case scenario).

Leonids is great too...everything is casual about that except for the hike up. It's strenuous but Cajon mountain is probably your most convenient (proximity to the city).

So anyway...I'm rambling a bunch but just figured to spray you with my own thoughts.  

Thanks for the suggestions and comparisons Buzz! We wound up doing Sunset Streaks as I'd already rented a pickup and the views looked hard to beat. The climbing was super fun and the setting was beautiful as you suggested. Pretty cool to be able to do a climb+hike with zero people or views of civilization only an hour from town. 

Doing just that one route had me super impressed contemplating the triple crown! I'm not surprised the field of capable suitors is small - that's got to be ~15 miles and 4-5k vert of hiking alone, right? Cool stuff.

Amazing man!! Love hearing how it was enjoyable...it's so pretty out near Corte. The granite cliff is spectacular looking when you see it on the road section. Having the place to yourself is quite nice too...

And you'd crush the Triple Crown man!  It's more of a logistic challenge if anything....and I think Collin clocked in our distance. Something around 13 miles if I remember correctly.  The vert gain seem's right...I just remember doing Cajon hike (our 2nd climb) during the day and I went a bit loopy on that approach. Haha.

Looked back at the watch data - 11.1 miles and 3700 feet vert (over half of which you can blame on the infamous Cajon approach). Nothing unheard of for a day of hiking but you’ll probably be feeling it on that last climb! 

Looked back at the watch data - 11.1 miles and 3700 feet vert (over half of which you can blame on the infamous Cajon approach). Nothing unheard of for a day of hiking but you’ll probably be feeling it on that last climb! 

Ok we went and tried it today! What a fun day! Like seriously, so much fun, really reminds you how special San Diego county is! The views all day were spectacular, tons of lovely birds singing, solid climbing. Im already trying to plan the next attempt.

We started around 0510am, finished around 6:37pm with a time of 13:27. Did leonids at ECM using the extension pitches to get to the top of that formation, sunset streaks at CM, and cruise line at Eagle Peak. 

Pretty stoked! Not sure why the page you guys made was taken down, I think its a fun/unique add. Cant wait to try for sub 12hr next month for a PB!

Oh and my phone recorded ~15 miles and ~5k+ vert including the climbing, but I don't have anything too fancy too track it

Dude, fucking epic man!! You crushed it haha...

You've set the bar super high (there is one party/friend that I know of who is already determined to do it faster haha).

Thanks for sharing an update too...has been on my mind since you brought it up again.

And let me tell ya...I maybe had the route/area removed at least 4 times by MP admins. Would love to have it up and running without the moderators taking it down. Would be a fun tick to highlight and just a dedicated page for people to share, comment, etc.

Buzz Letzter wrote:

Dude, fucking epic man!! You crushed it haha...

You've set the bar super high (there is one party/friend that I know of who is already determined to do it faster haha).

Thanks for sharing an update too...has been on my mind since you brought it up again.

And let me tell ya...I maybe had the route/area removed at least 4 times by MP admins. Would love to have it up and running without the moderators taking it down. Would be a fun tick to highlight and just a dedicated page for people to share, comment, etc.

All you need for comments on a particular linkup is this thread.  I don't think Combinations of existing routes are something to list at a crag.
Otherwise the number of possible combinations goes up with the factorial of the number of individual routes.

Personally I like combinations that don't add additional driving.
For example in Idyllwild some good climbers (not me) would do multiple classic multipitch 5.11 routes in a day, at least one at Tahquitz and one at Suicide.
such as Vampire + Green Arch + Valhalla