Touchstone Blog Archive
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Sandstone in the South East
Earlier this month, four intrepid bay area climbers took the journey to the deep south in search of some of the best sandstone boulders in the United States.
Al Liu, a 32 year old Mountain Hardwear employee from Oakland, and Abel Eisentraut, a 41 year old cabinet maker from Oakland, flew from the bay area to Denver, where they promptly missed their connecting flight.
Eventually the pair, made it to Atlanta Georgia, where they met Ryan “Skippy” Gaunt, a 31 year old wind turbine rigger, and his coworker Eric Ruderman, a 34 year old from Santa Cruz. Ruderman and Skippy had flown into Atlanta from a job in Iowa to meet Al and Abel for a two week trip through the south.
While Al had spent some time in the south, and Skippy was a North Carolina boy, the other two had never explored the dirty south.
“It was nice being back in the woods and leaves of the fall. People are real friendly and Chattanooga is a nice quiet town. There were churches everywhere.”
The crew got great weather and only had one day of rain, on a planned rest day. At every restaurant they went to, the waitresses loved the motley crew of climbers. The trip was ideal. “The sandstone. The slopers. Cooking over open fires in HP (didn't bring any gear). Had perfect weather,” said Al, who’s favorite part of the trip was cooking over an open fire in Horse Pens with his buddies. There was “Lots of bromance,” said Al.
Al took great pictures of the trip. More of his photos can be found on his blog, here
Al Liu, a 32 year old Mountain Hardwear employee from Oakland, and Abel Eisentraut, a 41 year old cabinet maker from Oakland, flew from the bay area to Denver, where they promptly missed their connecting flight.
Eventually the pair, made it to Atlanta Georgia, where they met Ryan “Skippy” Gaunt, a 31 year old wind turbine rigger, and his coworker Eric Ruderman, a 34 year old from Santa Cruz. Ruderman and Skippy had flown into Atlanta from a job in Iowa to meet Al and Abel for a two week trip through the south.
While Al had spent some time in the south, and Skippy was a North Carolina boy, the other two had never explored the dirty south.
“It was nice being back in the woods and leaves of the fall. People are real friendly and Chattanooga is a nice quiet town. There were churches everywhere.”
The crew got great weather and only had one day of rain, on a planned rest day. At every restaurant they went to, the waitresses loved the motley crew of climbers. The trip was ideal. “The sandstone. The slopers. Cooking over open fires in HP (didn't bring any gear). Had perfect weather,” said Al, who’s favorite part of the trip was cooking over an open fire in Horse Pens with his buddies. There was “Lots of bromance,” said Al.
Al took great pictures of the trip. More of his photos can be found on his blog, here
Labels: Al Liu, Horse Pens 40, Little Rock City
¶ Thursday, November 24, 2011 0 Comments
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Castle Rock State Park on Verge of Closure
Seventy state parks across California will close starting in September. Elizabeth Goldstein, executive director of the California State Parks Foundation, said, "It represents 25 percent of the park system and, for the Bay Area, it's a big hit." Most significant is the closure of Castle Rock State Park, located in the redwoods of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The park has been a long time local bay area bouldering area- California's Fontableau with it's sloping sandstone boulders.
The closures are necessary to cover the two-year, $22 million cut in the state parks budget the Legislature agreed to in March. Those cuts were made to help shrink the state's then-$26 billion deficit to its current $15.6 billion. The funding for the state parks was going to come from an $18 increase in automotive registration, a bill that voters vetoed.
Park officials said rangers and maintenance workers will periodically patrol the shuttered parks and they are hoping volunteers will also step up. Some parks could remain open if nonprofit groups or local governments step in and take over their operation and funding, or if additional concession operators can be recruited, officials said. The Access Fund is currently working to stop the closure with a solid petition and political campaigning.
The closures will begin in September, Coleman said, and be completed by July 2012. The parks will be open through this summer, but there will be significant service reduction through the summer.
I visited Castle Rock over the weekend. Tons of climbers, and hikers littered the park. The very full parking lot was being manned by three rangers, one of whom took the time to speak with me about the changes. The ranger was unsure of the status of Castle Rock- if they'd be patrolling the area and ticketing people once it closed or what exactly the outcome of Castle Rock would be. The ranger informed me that things would remain the same through the summer but the fall would see changes.
Take a moment to write to your local politician about the closure using the easy to use letter writing tool at the AccessFund.
A frequent member of the Berkeley Ironworks crew, Michele Lombardo Goodhew climbs at Castle Rock State Park. Here's a video of her crushing The Lost Keys Traverse(V6), a neo-classic discovered by Chris Bloch a few years ago when he lost his keys. Check out the smooth moves she executes through the crux and into the hard mantle finish.
With competing beta, here's local hardman and Johnny Utah look-a-like Al Liu sending the Lost Keys Traverse as well.
Just below Castle Rock, a single hueco guards a series of bad slopers. The aesthetic problem was a long term John "Yabo" Yabolonski project until a few years ago when Santa Cruz local, Chris Sharma dispatched the first ascent of "Ecoterrorist" (V10/11). Here's some footage of Scott Chandler hiking the classic Castle Rock problem.
Below Indian Rock are a number of less developed and very good boulders. There's good information about them on a Supertopo Thread. There's some awesome new mantle problems down the hill. Get out there and check them out.
Make sure to voice your opinion about the state park closures- help keep Castle Rock open!
The closures are necessary to cover the two-year, $22 million cut in the state parks budget the Legislature agreed to in March. Those cuts were made to help shrink the state's then-$26 billion deficit to its current $15.6 billion. The funding for the state parks was going to come from an $18 increase in automotive registration, a bill that voters vetoed.
Park officials said rangers and maintenance workers will periodically patrol the shuttered parks and they are hoping volunteers will also step up. Some parks could remain open if nonprofit groups or local governments step in and take over their operation and funding, or if additional concession operators can be recruited, officials said. The Access Fund is currently working to stop the closure with a solid petition and political campaigning.
The closures will begin in September, Coleman said, and be completed by July 2012. The parks will be open through this summer, but there will be significant service reduction through the summer.
I visited Castle Rock over the weekend. Tons of climbers, and hikers littered the park. The very full parking lot was being manned by three rangers, one of whom took the time to speak with me about the changes. The ranger was unsure of the status of Castle Rock- if they'd be patrolling the area and ticketing people once it closed or what exactly the outcome of Castle Rock would be. The ranger informed me that things would remain the same through the summer but the fall would see changes.
Take a moment to write to your local politician about the closure using the easy to use letter writing tool at the AccessFund.
A frequent member of the Berkeley Ironworks crew, Michele Lombardo Goodhew climbs at Castle Rock State Park. Here's a video of her crushing The Lost Keys Traverse(V6), a neo-classic discovered by Chris Bloch a few years ago when he lost his keys. Check out the smooth moves she executes through the crux and into the hard mantle finish.
With competing beta, here's local hardman and Johnny Utah look-a-like Al Liu sending the Lost Keys Traverse as well.
Lost Keys from Al Liu on Vimeo.
Just below Castle Rock, a single hueco guards a series of bad slopers. The aesthetic problem was a long term John "Yabo" Yabolonski project until a few years ago when Santa Cruz local, Chris Sharma dispatched the first ascent of "Ecoterrorist" (V10/11). Here's some footage of Scott Chandler hiking the classic Castle Rock problem.
Ecoterrorist [v10] from scott chandler on Vimeo.
Below Indian Rock are a number of less developed and very good boulders. There's good information about them on a Supertopo Thread. There's some awesome new mantle problems down the hill. Get out there and check them out.
Make sure to voice your opinion about the state park closures- help keep Castle Rock open!
Labels: Access Fund, Al Liu, Castle Rock State Park
¶ Sunday, May 22, 2011 2 Comments
