Off_White Posted May 4, 2007 Posted May 4, 2007 Trip: Mt. Woodson - Date: 4/28/2007 Trip Report: Last weekend I went to Mt Woodson in San Diego County as part of a climbers reunion that grew organically out of a thread on Supertopo. A great conglomeration of over sixty people showed up from as far as Colorado and (duh) Washington. With an array of friends, acquaintances, and lesser gods of my SoCal youth, this beat the pants off the one High School Reunion I've attended. Some of these people I hadn't seen in over 25 years. I got down there on Thursday, got picked up at the airport by my buddy Bob, did a little family visiting, and went out to Mission Gorge to poach a couple boulder problems in a closed area. Hey, it didn't use to be closed. The next day we got a tour of a hush hush private bouldering area, some of the finest stone I've ever climbed on in San Diego on a gorgeous high ridge with a decent breeze. Saturday was the big event at Woodson. Here's an assortment of shots; some are mine, some I shot with other's gear, some are shamelessly pilfered. Woodson is the furthest peak with the telecom junk on top. As you can see, there are a few boulders in the area. An adjacent hillside: new routes waiting to be plucked by those willing to bushwhack. Unlike many bouldering areas, Woodson features an amazing array of splitter cracks. Between bad landings and highball problems, top ropes are pretty common. This fine example is Robbins Crack. At 5.10a, it's a very accessible and usually climbed ropeless. Bear in mind that this is also the descent route. Anyway, on with the shindig. A large clot of us gathered at the bottom of the hill around 10am on Saturday. It was already getting warm, probably hit 85 this day. First route of the day was Razors Edge. At 5.10+ it's a little stiff and steep for a warm up, but hey, it's one of the first great things you come to. Bouldering is a social thing, and this crowd was into shutterbugging. The party moved on to the area around Jaws, a stellar crack that goes from tips to hand, with all the flavors in between. Here's part of the horde seeking shade: Jaws 5.10d Looking down Jaws TV Screen Crack 5.10a Baby Robbins 5.9 Horde at the base of Bat Flake Bat Flake 5.10d with wide fist crux at the top Spectating I see old people, with souvenir headbands Slogging up the hill A semaphore beta flagging discussion... pays off with success on California Night 5.11c Yeah, there's face climbing too And cracks so thin you might as well be face climbing. Oh, and wide goodness too Plenty of wide in fact It was a long splendid day, we stayed up there until the shadows got long. Followed up with some of the folks making it to a barbeque buried somewhere in suburban Escondido. As a cherry on top, the flight home went right over Tenino and I could peer out and look at my house and property. All in all, a damn fine four day weekend. Quote
TrogdortheBurninator Posted May 4, 2007 Posted May 4, 2007 THat looks like the most fun bouldering area i've ever seen!! Quote
CPOly Posted May 5, 2007 Posted May 5, 2007 Very nice Off!! Sounds like you had an excellent time. Great to see you crankin' like usual. Quote
EWolfe Posted May 5, 2007 Posted May 5, 2007 Great Tr and pics, Off! Wish I could've made that one... The one with Bob tippin' is classic. Quote
PBRstreetgang Posted May 20, 2007 Posted May 20, 2007 wow you were totally hangin out with my parents Quote
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