Boy Scout Rocks
MVP:
Venkatesh Srinivasan—My first outdoor climb and anchoring class was with him. And with this trip, our first non-instructor led outdoor climb too! I love how positive he is, and I think we compliment each other (in terms of climbing knowledge) very well.
Climb Review:
Boy Scout Rocks is super popular as it’s right off the road, and has some fun climbs.
Venkatesh and I climbed start of the Upper Tier, Chouinard’s Crack (rated 5.8 in the bay area climbing book, 5.9 on Mountain Project).
We found the route to be much more difficult than the 5.10 climbs we’ve completed at the gym.
Still, both of us made it up, though neither of us did it gracefully.
There were some broken bottle remnants here and there on the trail, but for the most part, it was clean.
What I Learned:
We set up our anchor on the one for Pebbly Face as we didn’t see other anchors, but after we finished our climb, we spotted the actual anchor for Chouinard’s Crack right on the route. Though there was only one anchor, so we’d had to back that up using the tree above.
The crux of Chouinard’s Crack was really difficult for us. we just couldn’t get a good hold with our feet. We both took a while to get over the crux.
We were extremely careful setting up the anchor and at certain points, had three points of protection (climbing rope, static rope, and PAS). I think once we get comfortable, we can stick to two.
I prepped for 4 hours the day before this climb by reviewing materials from the anchoring class and watching climbing videos from legit sources. It paid off, as I was confident and remembered all the procedures/knots for a safe climb.
Friends Made:
There were lots of friendly people who gave us encouragements and beta.
Fears Overcome:
Safely setting up my own anchor—I was nervous about this before I did my materials review the day before the climb. Once there, I felt confident and everything went smoothly.
What Happened?
I met Venkatesh at Boy Scout Rocks right after Diablo State Park opened and we were able to setup the anchor and climb without interruptions. Because it was our first time, we reviewed every step of setting up and cleaning the anchor before we actually did it, and it led to both of us feeling very safe the whole time.
For the actual climb itself, we found the route to be much more difficult than we had imagined, but with perseverance, we both made it up the route.
After the first route, we searched for an easier or equal route, but these three routes were all taken (or too similar to Chouinard’s Crack), so we contented ourselves with our one route and went home.
Even if we climbed only one route, the day was a total win for us, as we safely rock climbed by ourselves.