Castle Boulder, Tahoe, CA

WOW, let me start by saying, this boulder could quite possibly be the coolest boulder I have seen to date, this boulder has everything, from jug-hauls to projects :

Castle Boulder

I headed up late fri with taz, maybe 11pm and arrived at rainbow at maybe 2am. I passed out early.

I woke up maybe at like 9am, warmed up on the 1070 boulder. I got on the dihedral, got some good progress on it, considered it my warmup and headed on over to Ishmael. I got down the first few moves, and realized that it is quite a strong problem so I decided to head on and find the Castle Boulder.

When I arrived at the Castle Boulder, after a decent drive through about 4 miles of dirt road (you want some clearance, but my little 2wd pickup made it with minimal scrapage), I saw a truck already parked there. I headed up to find Lyn, Paul, Tim and Patti already there!

Tim gave me the roundup of all the problems on the boulder. Let me say, this boulder is as big as a two-story house and has every thing from a perfect verticle patina face, to steep stuff.

(WARNING BETA ON PROBLEMS)

I got on Spicy and got it after a few tries, its a cool problem that goes up some somewhat strong moves to a shelf, then a big move up to a mini-apron. You then use some garbage on the apron to gain a decent hold in the back of the seam and then highstep up to the apron and go up the jugs. Awesome problem, definatley a classic on the boulder.

Then got on Trojan Horse, a sweet problem that goes up and over to the right on some decent holds, then there is a lot of beta through many various holds to gain a decent sloper, then up to some pockets. Didn't get the problem, but it is a cool one.

Then got on Come on Tex, a cool problem that goes up some opposing facing jug sidepulls with good feet that uses a lot of body tension, up to a good edge and a triangle hold. you can get a really good knee bar in there and reach right up to the lip. I got up and over the lip on sunday night, but was soo tired I couldn't pull the mantle, o' well :) next time

(OK BETA OVER)

So all the problems were really cool. I headed out, got some awesome all you can eat mongolian bbq/chinese, just outside 89 before you get into truckee. after eating, I was soo tired, so I decided to drive up to the top of snowshed parking lot. I was able to back in with the truck and face out with an awesome view, it was soo cool. I passed out real quick like ;)

The next morning I grabbed some food and gas and headed back to the boulder.

This time a few more people were there, a few locals and then some REAL locals.

I got back onto Trojan Horse, but I straight popped off this big slope while I had a heelhook and it looked like a really bad fall, and could quite have been, but I had my right hand on a straight jug and was able to control the fall somewhat. thanks for the great spotting guys.

I got on another problem, Pit and the Pendulum, and was able to work out all the moves on it, but not able to link it up. I can see why its named that because you almost have to cut your feet and swing over this pit, witch is not a bad landing when padded.

I was pretty beat, so I messed around on some other things. I got back on Come on Tex, and got up to the lip and over it, but I was soo tired.. After that I decided I was done and just helped out and watched. Tim got on the project, I really don't know what to say about it.. it is sickness. We climbed as much as we could, then decided it was a day.

Hetch Hechey

Well, I headed to Hetch Hechey to locate some bouldering around there.

We rode bikes in from Camp Mather, so I was pretty tired and didn't get to do a whole huge amount of exploring, but I did find a few sweet projects along the road down there.

But I did find a decent moderate rock witch I aptly named after my friend who invited me to the Strawberry music festival, 'buck rock'.

Put up a few lines on it, Buck's Way (vb/v0), a slabby/edge route that went at like v2, another decent slab route at like v3(slobadon), and then two steeper problems probably at like v3(bluegrass country) as well.. a decent rock worth visiting and warming up on if your in the area.

To get there, take the trail out (maybe 1.5-2mi) till it starts to go up a hill then hits a little plateau, keep walking and you will pass this obvious boulder.


GPS : W119 47'4.15" N37 57'28.15"