Intersection Rock

Intersection Rock is a large formation right on Park Boulevard, the main road through the park, at the turn-off to the Hidden Valley Campground.  This is an extremely popular climbing area.

We arrived bright and early around 8 am and found a spot in the parking lot.  Already climbers were sorting their gear and getting ready.  A guide with a family marched past us towards the 5.3.  

Another guide was sitting in the sun by his van, waiting for his clients.  We chatted with him a bit as we looked around and asked him about good beginner climbing areas. He suggested Turtle Rock across the road.

We decided to leave the crowds at Intersection Rock and check out Turtle Rock.  

Turtle Rock

We drove across Park Boulevard to the Real Hidden Valley area.  We found Turtle Rock and hiked around to the Northeast side where there were easier climbs.  Already a guide was setting up a top rope for a client there.  They were on one of the easy climbs.  

We spent some time with the binoculars looking at the routes.  Nothing looked tempting.  People were arriving and we decided we didn’t want to climb around people.  

Some folks like an audience.  I do not.  Especially when I’m learning and trying a climb outside of my comfort zone, I want to have some privacy.  People watching me feels like added pressure.

Towers Of Uncertainty

It was a blue sky day and already the sun was starting to feel hot.  We decided to return to the Towers of Uncertainty.  We knew we’d have a climbing area all to ourselves there.  

I decided immediately I wanted to go for Lava Lamp, the climb I had scouted out the day before. 

It’s a lovely 5.4 that starts up a deep crack with lots of features around it for good hand and footholds. 

Near the top, there is a large flake that sticks out from the cliff with the crack running behind it.  The flake has interesting holds on it.  I couldn’t wait to try it.

It felt very adventurous at that point in my trad climbing career, to hop on a climb that neither of us had tried before and just lead it.  I was feeling pretty bold.

We set up at the bottom of the climb.  Of course, we had the place to ourselves.  The air was warm and there was very little wind.  Good sending conditions.  

I was nervous.

Adding to my nerves was not knowing exactly how I would get down.  I was pretty sure there were no bolts up there to rappel down.  Dan walked back to where he could see the top of the formation and saw a boulder on the top that I could sling to build a natural feature anchor. 

I saw a chicken head (part of a rock face or cliff that sticks up like a knob but it has a skinny “neck” and a “beak”).  I thought maybe I could sling the chicken head and rappel from that.

Wanting to have lots of options up there, I clipped a lot of gear to my harness. 

Eventually, I will work on looking at a climb and determining which pieces of gear I need before I leave the ground.  Then my harness won’t be so heavy.  But today, I focused on looking for good resting places where I would be able to get quality placements.

I want to avoid trying to place gear from a position where I feel out of balance or it’s strenuous to hold myself on with one hand.  These positions are stressful and cause me to rush to place the gear.  

Then I don’t feel confident with the placement and wonder whether the gear would hold a fall.  Then I feel even more stressed and nervous.  It can turn into a downward spiral.

I was feeling more nervous and I decided I’d better just start or I might chicken out.

Climbing

I felt good starting up. There were lots of holds and the climbing was easy.  I stopped where I’d planned, placed a piece of gear where I’d planned and climbed up onto the ledge.

I rested for a few seconds, then reached up and placed a piece as high as I could into the crack that started at the ledge.

Then I had a good rest and checked over the next section.  Here it was a bit steeper and smoother.  I would follow the crack up and then there were good footholds where I’d be able to rest just before the giant flake.  

I was excited to climb the giant flake because I imagined getting my fingers behind it and leaning out as I placed my feet.  The weight of my body leaning out, away from the rock, would help my feet stay pasted to the wall.  I could walk up that way, moving my hands up the flake, bit by bit, and sliding my feet up.  So fun!

The next section made me pause and think.  I couldn’t see good footholds immediately above the ledge.  There seemed to be nothing until chest/shoulder height.  I looked around for good hand holds and finally found something good enough to hold onto while I smeared my feet up.

There was one good foothold to stand on to place the next piece of gear.  I was feeling nervous and a bit shaky.  I tried the green cam but it was too big.  Next, I tried the next size smaller, a purple cam, but it seemed too loose in the crack.  I went back to the red cam, still too big.  Then to the purple but I couldn’t make that one fit the way I wanted.  

I noticed as I pulled out the red cam that there was a smear of red on the rock near the crack.  For a second I thought maybe paint had chipped off the red cam and stuck to the rock. 

Then I realized it was blood.  My blood.  My knuckles were scraped open from sliding my hand in and out of the crack so many times.

I called down to Dan that I was feeling stuck.  He suggested placing the marginal piece, the purple one, and moving up to where I could comfortably place a good one.

That turned out to be exactly what I needed to move up.  I got a great piece in a bit higher up and reached down and removed the marginal purple.

The rest of the climb, up the flake, flowed smoothly.  I found good little ledges and knobs to put my feet on. My hands found solid edges to grab and pull. I felt strong and placed good gear.

I was surprised to find I was at the top so soon.  The climbing was over.  I felt a tremendous sense of satisfaction. But I didn’t want to celebrate until I was safely on the ground.

Natural Feature Anchor Building

I found the boulder that Dan had spotted from the ground.  It looked pretty good except that the back side of the boulder went straight down to the surface it was resting on.  I worried that the cordelette I wanted to wrap around it might pull up off the back.

I got the two strands of cordelette wrapped around behind the boulder and deep underneath the sides. Then I tied the ends to create secure loops and then knotted them together so that both strands were incorporated into my anchor point.

Then I tested it by pulling hard in the direction I wanted it to hold, as if I was lowering my body weight on it.  It seemed solid.  Still, I wanted to back it up. 

I thought I could sling the chicken head and attach that to the primary anchor for backup.  Before I trusted it, I thought I should test the chicken head to make sure it was solid.  When I tapped on it, it sounded hollow and brittle. 

I thumped it hard with the heel of my hand and to my horror, it broke off and tumbled over the edge. All the rock here has been so solid, I couldn’t quite believe it would break off like that. Then I pictured the baseball-sized chunk of rock dropping down on Dan.

I yelled “Rock” as loud as I could.  Thankfully, Dan avoided the falling projectile.

I was glad I had tested the chicken head before relying on it.

Instead, I built a second anchor with three cams.  I attached it to the cordelette anchor, equalizing, and clipped the rope through.  

I asked Dan to lower me and on the way down, I cleaned all the gear I had placed.  

Safe on the ground, I danced and yelled, hugged Dan, and danced some more. I had led the climb. There were a few nervous moments but I had held it together and climbed calmly.

After the Climb

Dan went up next and led the climb, clipping the anchor at the top.  I lowered him and he cleaned his gear.

He felt it was a challenging climb with a feeling of exposure at the flake. He congratulated me on leading it so calmly.

Then we hiked up to clean the anchor.  The “walk up” on the Lava Dome is actually a real scramble with some exposed climbing moves.  It makes me a bit nervous.

Having cleaned all our gear, we decided that we’d had enough climbing for the day and headed back to the house.  Dan was tired and I was ready to start celebrating.