Waterfall Cliff and Indian Rock

MVP:

Venkatesh Srinivasan—He planned out this excursion, and setup/cleaned up the anchor at Indian Rock. He’s the MVP. No doubt about it.

Climb Review:

The bolts at Waterfall Cliff were easy to access, but hard to figure out which route was what without having to hike down to the bottom.
Charlie Solo (5.6) was the first route that we climbed. To climb it, required layback moves, which I hadn’t ever done before, but did learn about in Youtube videos. The first time I climbed this route, I did okay, but it was the second time up (where I also practiced placing cams) where I really felt more comfortable with how to move my hands. The route was really nice, with great resting points.
Lieback Corner (5.7) was the second route and it was more of the same as Charlie Solo, just a little bit harder. Maybe it was because I was tired, but the first time up, I got tired in the middle portion that seemed to run for 20 ft or so. I slipped, and made it up. The second time I went up, I took a little break before this part, and I was able to make it up without any drama.
At Indian Rock, we initially thought that it was too busy, but we got lucky and South Face was open for us to climb. The anchors were really sketchy to get to and work on, but Venkatesh somehow did it safely and without losing his shit. I have so much respect for that guy.
South Face (5.8+) was the most difficult climb for the day, especially because I incorrectly climbed between Shag Rug and South Face L. I saw some chalk, so I thought I was climbing South Face L—I was wrong. The holds were tiny and frankly, I have no idea how I made it up, but I did make it up, so I think that’s all that matters.

What I Learned:

I believe I am ready to lead climb a route that is either 5.6 or lower. I practiced placing protection on “Charlie Solo” and I felt great.
Approach shoes were so comfy and much more stable than trail runners while hiking and setting up. I am really glad I got these.
I used GoPro’s non-wide view, and it didn’t do a great job of capturing the climb. I think for cycling, it worked well, but for climbing, I need to shoot wide.
Jasmine Rice soaks up soup in such a way where soup turns into not-soup. I think next time, I’ll use pasta or ramen noodles.
It was so, so cold the whole day. I wore my long underlayer, but because we were shaded almost the whole day, I felt colder than I did when I went ice climbing. I was glad that I packed warm food and drinks, and kind of wished that I brought my fur cap.

Friends Made:

Just about everyone was really friendly, especially the fellow climbers at Waterfall Cliff who were a bit older. The people at Indian Rock were fine too, but were not as friendly.

What Happened?

Venkatesh and I met up at Castle Rock State Park to climb some routes! Since last time I planned out our outing to Diablo State Park, Venkatesh handled the planning, as well as bringing the ropes that we climbed on.

We first headed over to Waterfall Cliff, where we found the anchors without issue, but we had trouble figuring out which anchors were for what route. I should have headed down immediately, but we futzed around for longer than we should have. Once I made it down to the bottom of the cliffs, it was easy to figure out which route/anchors were what. Since Degeneration Left was already taken by trad climbers, we setup on Charlie Solo. Once we climbed that, we moseyed on over to Lieback Corner and climbed that route. I got hungry, so we headed back to our cars to regroup, eat lunch, and use the bathrooms.

After lunch, we walked over to Indian Rock, where we climbed South Face. It was so busy, but we somehow got there a few minutes before another group, and was able to grab South Face. Although I took forever with the climb, it actually built a lot of confidence in my feet, as some of the foot holds were less than a centimeter thick. I also felt pretty good about the finger tip holds I had. It was a type 2 type climb for sure. Not fun to do, but fun to talk and reminisce about. Venkatesh then climbed up and cleaned the anchor for us, as my arms were very tired after my climb.

We then headed back to our cars and headed home with our heaters turned way up.