Ocean Beach
Climb Review:
The parking spots at the north end of Ocean Beach were pretty empty when we arrived at 8am.
The boulders were easy to find, just a bit of a walk from the parking lot. Still, a whole lot closer than lots of other boulder spots we’ve been to.
There were lots of glass bottles, broken and unbroken around the rocks. Lots of trash too.
We ended up climbing boulders a bit south of the location specified on mountainproject.com, so there are no official routes.
I had feared that the rocks would be wet, but they were dry and they were sharp. There wasn’t an issue getting a positive feel, but an issue of getting small cuts on my hands. My hands felt like they were tenderized at the end of the day.
I would estimate we climbed routes ranging from V-easy to V1.
What I Learned:
I was glad that the kids and I dressed warmly, as the beach was cold. However, once we got close to the rocks, the winds died down and I even took off my down jacket after the first climb.
Someone with a green hat (they were very far away, so it was hard to see) yelled at us at the end of the day that unless we were fire fighters, we needed “authorizations” to climb there. I was incensed that the guy threatened to call the cops given that there were no signs stating this fact, but we were close to finishing, so we just left. I called the SF Police Department and the U.S. Park Police to see if the green hat guy was right, but both the dispatchers I spoke to weren’t sure if it was legal or not. They both guessed that climbing wasn’t allowed.
I am not very good with traverses, so I practiced that and it was lots of fun. Unlike rock climbing, I had to think differently about foot and hand placement, and I think I learned a lot.
Friends Made:
Gene, Jo, and Jenny made it. Jenny is Jo’s good friend, and both Jo and Jenny were pretty new to climbing. They impressed both Gene and I as they both climbed to the top on a route that I would rate V0 PG13. There’s no way I would have done a route like that in my first few climbing experiences without a rope!
What Happened?
Gene and I met up at 8:15am at Ocean Beach and we headed off to the boulders. It was high tide, and the girls weren’t interested in climbing, so we decided to climb the boulders/wall that was a bit south of the actual boulders. We warmed up on the easy stuff, but as we got to the PG13 zone (where a fall will probably result in a trip to the hospital for one reason or another), we found lots of loose rocks that made the topping out experience a bit daunting.
As we were warming up, we were joined by Jo, Jenny, Scarlett, and Anthony. The kid ended up all playing together decently well, while Jo immediately scaled the wall to prove that she could do it. Jenny watched for a while, then went up too! For first timers to do these highball climbs were very impressive to Gene and I.
For myself, I think I topped out about 7 or 8 times before I kind of lost my nerve and didn’t want to go all the way up anymore. So, I invented a traverse just a few feet off the ground that was challenging and fun.
After four or five attempts, however, my hands were pretty much done for the day. So while looking around, I scoped out the retaining wall, as it looked like it had super positive holds. I climbed half way up to see how good it was, and found it to be a V-easy type climb, just a Rated R one near the top. Just as Gene got maybe 10 feet off the ground, the green hat dude started yelling at us, and we bailed. Gene down climbed, we packed up, and walked back to the car. The kids were a bit worried about the guy’s threat to call the police, but I told the girls that they shouldn’t worry as there were no signs stating the climbing rules, and that my research had not found any official rules prohibiting climbing. We all calmed down a bit and headed off to our favorite Japanese restaurant, Kaiju Eats!