The Magoos and Parking Lot Rock

MVP:

Rock Climbing Guide to the Castle Rock Area—This book was instrumental in helping us find the right routes to try out. It’s hands-down the best guidebooks for Castle Rock.

Climb Review:

Same as my previous review.
Sea Of Anarchy (V1; Mr Magoo Boulder)—I don’t remember much of the first part, but I do remember this being not super difficult. Once I got up the first portion, I was a bit afraid of the exposure, but I topped out just by manteling in the bulge instead of going around the bulge. I avoided the stagnant pool of water that awaited me.
Mini Ridge (V0; Mr Magoo Boulder)—This was more fun than Sea Of Anarchy, IMHO, and just as straight forward. After I got on the ridge, I went all the way up, and this time, I did go around the bulge. I also avoided the water again.
Mantle (V1; Mr Magoo Boulder)—I thought this was easy. Just mantled up and trusted the slopers to hold me.
Warm Up (V0; Mr Magoo Boulder)—I thought this was more like a V1 and I had a fun/tough time traversing inside the roof, popping my head out, then climbing up. I did this in two parts because I kept slipping after popping my head out.
The Nose (V1; Mrs Magoo Boulder)—It’s a slightly higher mantle compared to “Mantle” above, but it’s a one move route. Not too bad at all.
The Groove (V1; Mrs Magoo Boulder)—So, this one was a little tricky. I had to use a leg and arm bar to securely climb this. I probably took half a dozen tries figuring it out, but when I did, I felt so good… So good, in fact, I think I climbed this twice!
We then climbed this route that’s not listed on Mountain Project (but is in Rock Climbing Guide to the Castle Rock Area). It was listed as a V2, and I almost topped it, but I stopped trying once I figured out that there was no secure way down due to the V0 being covered with moss.
We then climbed on the backside of Parking Lot Rock, and all three of us got stuck at the same spot, where the move was just too exposed for our comfort.

What I Learned:

I did my first outdoor V1 route (and almost did a V2 route that I abandoned once we figured out there was no good way down from the top of the rock). I also completed a few V0 routes!
Climbing beta is so different for people of different heights! I was able to give consistently good beta to Gene, but Vivian could not use the beta due to the height difference.

Friends Made:

I wouldn’t say I made any new friends, but definitely deepened friendships with Gene and Vivian.

What Happened?

I wanted to go bouldering with Gene, and we invited three others to join us, and Vivian—a friend I had made at my climbing gym—was the only person who actually met up with us. We hiked to The Magoos, and climbed a few V0 and V1 routes, and generally had lots of fun.

We then headed over to this smaller rock (still a part of The Magoos), and found the single V0 route to be too mossy. So we tried our hand at this V2 that didn’t look too difficult. I almost topped out, but then realized that there was no easy way to come down from the route. I would have to climb down the V2, and well, I didn’t feel great about that, so I aborted my attempt.

We lastly scouted and attempted to climb the unnamed highball V0 route on the backside of Parking Lot Rock, but we all got stuck at this one point that required an exposed move that was just too scary for all of us. We tried a separate route but found an important hand hold which was surrounded by dried poop from some sort of rodent. So we gave up on that one too.

We called it a day after five or so hours of bouldering, and headed down the hill for a well deserved lunch.