Ring Mountain Preserve
Thanks to Gene for this awesome picture!
Climb Review:
Ring Mountain Preserve has two main rocks for climbing.
Turtle Rock has amazing views of San Francisco and Sausalito and has all the bouldering routes. We were the only ones climbing for the first hour or so, then another really friendly group of people showed up.
Split Rock contains all the rock climbing routes in Ring Mountain.
After lunch, we went to climb at Split Rock, and there was one group already climbing. Still, far less people were climbing than I thought there would be.
The preserve was very clean and I had Verizon 5G connection the whole time.
Mini Flake (V0; Turtle Rock)—I think I had to give this like 5 tries before I was able to top out. I wasn’t sure where to put my hands, but once I figured out the sequence, it was easy to replicate. Rock climbing is so funny. Problems feel impossible until you do it, then it’s really hard to imagine why it was so hard to do it.
Turtle Crack (V0; Turtle Rock)—I climbed this multiple ways. I climbed this by going up halfway between this and the Mini Flake, then traversing over, then just going up two different ways for fun. Maybe it’s because I had warmed up on Mini Flake, but I found this one to be pretty easy.
Center Route (V1; Turtle Rock)—So I didn’t do the sit start as specified on Mountain Project, but it was definitely fun to climb. The crimp hold isn’t great, but once you get your hands on the jug, life just makes sense.
The Undercling (V1; Turtle Rock)—I really liked this route because the main undercling hold is just so bomber. I did get nervous once I got above the undercling as it’s a bit high up, but I focused on the problem and was able to top out.
Bunny Slope (5.1; Split Rock)—I’m not even sure if it’s is a 5.1. Kinda felt like a class 3. Because it’s so short and easy, I “free solo-ed” this route. A little more interesting is that we did setup an anchor for everyone else and Vivian was able to experience her first rappel. It was so short, so when she just got the hang of it, she was done rapping.
Right Arete (5.10a; Split Rock)—For the last route of the day, we upped the challenge by trying for a 5.10a route. And everyone in our party (including my 10 year old) was able to flash it. We did top rope this and for that, I setup an anchor by wrapping my accessory cord around some rocks at the top. This was my favorite route of the day.
What I Learned:
I was feeling so confident by the time we got to Split Rock that I climbed Right Arete with just my approach shoes.
It was really fun setting up the anchor at Split Rock and helping both Vivian and Angie setup for rappels. A few months ago, I was so new and anxious about all this, but now I feel experienced. All the various steps just make sense to me now.
I feel that I’m still very much being held back by my fear of heights. My climb on The Undercling (for instance) was so much better at the beginning when I’m closer to the ground. I kind of remember how I topped out, and it was all fear in my brains.
What Happened?
Vivian, Angie, Gene, my girls, and I met up at the Ring Mountain Preserve Parking lot to climb both Turtle Rock and Split Rock. We first headed to Turtle Rock and found the place deserted.
As we explored the rock, we could not believe how picturesque the place was, and how fun the rock was to climb. We all climbed to our best abilities and by lunch time had tenderized hands to show for it. My two girls didn’t climb much at Turtle Rock, but rather setup a rock/cafe shop at the top of the rock and had a great time encouraging us to do our best. I really loved how everyone interacted with my girls by bringing them rocks or speaking in dog-language and getting treats in return.
For lunch, we carpooled out to Amy’s Drive Thru (my favorite vegan burger shop), and had a great meal and restroom break. Gene had to go to a dental appointment, but the rest of us headed back to Ring Mountain.
We then headed to Split Rock, where we climbed Bunny Slope, set up an anchor so that I could top rope my daughters, then once they were done climbing, we setup an anchor at Right Arete, then climbed that. My eldest then said that she wanted to try climbing the route too, and she ended up climbing it without much trouble. She had a great time climbing it and was very gracious at the end when the small crowd that had formed clapped for her. I really enjoy seeing her climb as she and I both are afraid of heights, and it feels like we’re conquering our fears together. My youngest soloed an even easier variation of Bunny Slope with me standing behind her, ready for a catch. That was fun too.
By this time, we all had to go, so we packed up all our gear, made sure we weren’t leaving anything, and headed home.
Thanks to Gene and Angie for their photos. In the below gallery, the first row is from Gene and the second from Angie.
