SonoraPassClimbing.com

Rock Climbing on Hwy 108

Winter 2022

Sled season has arrived. Unfortunately summer snuck in for two months in the middle of winter so sledding has been limited. The good news is that means sessions in Columbia State Park and Table Mountain have a had a great winter season. I even managed to get down to Pinnacles with Factor4boy and climb the route Flying None. Its a newer line. Well protected by Pinnacles standards. Moderate with a great position.

Anyone been down at Boards Crossing? I saw some granite that might hold promise.

Best to you all, and let’s go climbing!

Munge

Approaching Winter 2021

Its December now. Snow may finally be arriving this week. The Pass closed again today, and likely for the season. That won’t stop climbing at Table Mtn, but as the upper 108 season mellows out to sport climpin and boulder squeezin down the hill I start to relect.

The SPH Climber Get Together seemed to be well received. We did a trash pick that netted several bags pulled out of the forest. And never have I ever seen that many cars deliberately smooshed into the Hummingbird parking lot. LOL! It was nice though, as we were all in one spot and met new folks and shared stories. I enjoyed putting together the Bad Topo Challenge – The worse the topo, the better the challenge! Top score was a 6, iirc, out of 13 or so? Really bad challenge! 🙂 Who wants to present next year?

I ended up climbing some fun things this year. Most recently getting on toprope to climb some ice a few days ago at the Pass was a blast! It’s such a rare treat to be able access the ice with the highway open and just walk over to a frozen waterfall in 4 minute or less. I also, recently went back to Pinnacles. I haven’t been seen there much lately since I ride sled in the winter. Winter is prime Pinns season. I am not my former climbing ability I find. Pandemic and work have made getting out for adventures a limited endeavor. We no longer go the climbing gym regularly. But I take heart in that I can always start from somewhere new with a fresh perspective on what progression means. Zen mind-beginner mind type of approach.

Found some new rock. Put in some new mellow routes. Refound pics of crags I meant to go back to. Took friends to new rocks. Pointed others to old rocks with newly refound topos. Hiked some peaks and visited the East Side a few times. Bouldered with the nephews and niece. Had the sled worked on. Started going out to dinner again this year (for the life of me though, I can’t figure out why we must wear masks to enter a restaurant but can take them off once inside).

I truly hope everyone that climbed on 108 this season enjoyed it! Take care of your forest and crags. Don’t invite asshats, ok? Oh and post up some stories in the forum! Don’t let Insta and Bookface be the only place we connect, if we can’t get to the crags. 🙂

SPH4lyfe!

Munge E. Climber

Summer to Autumn 2021

Like all good blogs, interest in posting wanes. The forum continues at a snail’s pace with post counts increasing in the late Spring, Summer and Autumn (climbers don’t have a fall season). What happened since the last post? Multiple seasons. New routes. New areas. Revisited old areas. More fires. The Dardanelle Resort came back though! Golden Chain climbing shop opened in Jamestown! All the while we had a pandemic.

The snowmobiling was incredible. Hopefully you got out on ski or sled to see some SPH backcountry covered in fresh pow! If not, get a sled! It will blow your mind!

This season seems slower to me, but unique in one way. For me it is slower with more family time, babysitting nephews and niece. So my time on rock seems way less than typical even though I live just down the hill. My trips to the SoYo completely stopped with the fire that closed Minarets rd. Yosemite went to a reservation system so getting into Tuolumne or Yosemite is a nighmare of planning time off mid week and trying to find a partner. But the one thing that is unique is more SPH seen on Insta. A younger crew of locals has taken a keen interest in visiting all the random crags peppered on the hill. Its a Yosemite training ground for some after work. For others its new terrain without the drama of Yos. For some its just their backyard.

For my part I’m stoked to see the new blood getting out, cranking and laughing and lovin the SPH! That’s what its about! So maybe we’ll see folks at the end August where we hope to do a Climber Get Together (outside without kissing and huggin each other during a pandemic). If we don’t see you there, hope to catch up in the parking lots of the crags after a good day!

Cheers,

Munge E. Climber

Spring 2018 – it is here!

Snow still covers some forest service roads, but the highway is open to Kennedy Meadows. Typically that means Chipmunk Flat and Burst Rock are definitely going to be a little ways off before being accessible. However, there is a ton of rock between Sonora and the gate closure that is accessible.

Typically Quickie Mart, Legoland, The Egg and Yolk, Mill Creek, Short Cracks, and The Vista are accessible.

I hear Kennedy has breakfast and lunch available on the weekends at this early time of the season. In May they’ll probably have longer hours.

Cal Trans says the Pass itself will be open by Memorial Weekend. I suspect they’ll be open before then, but who knows. There are a couple maintenance items that needed to be handled this year.

Folks have asked about access to Potters and PLSW and Weeping Wall. Check the forum for the latest updates.

Winter 2017 update

This has been one of the biggest snow years on record. A late Pass opening is expected this season. Dodge Ridge has tons of snow. Snow mobiling dealerships are practically sold out of inventory. And the Columbia Arboretum had five feet of water in it.  Waterfalls on Table Mtn were in full swing, so a flower display of huge proportions is probably on its way, after the rain stops.  BC skiing on the Pass will be the order of the day.

End of 2016

End of 2016 means cooler temps, but easy access to the Pass. Miwok was skiing yesterday. I drove to the top of Pinterest Peak. Some snow, but driveable. I would love to see more water, but as long as I’m climbing, I’ll take it.

Hope you’re getting out!

 

End of 2016 – Get on it!

End of 2016 climbing season seems to be approaching. Colors of Autumn are in full blaze at Chipmunk Flat and Golden Staircase areas. Temperatures dipped significantly on Sunday afternoon thru today with the Pass closing temporarily.  I managed to get out with Miwok and Vic to climb on some new high country granite. Hope to have directions and a topo forthcoming.  Otherwise, now is the time to climb at Weeping Wall, Short Cracks and other sunny locations in the 6k elevation range. So many spots, so little time. Get on it!  Columbia bouldering and Table Mtn season are just around the corner!

Two Months In

Well, two months in. Not many climbers at the crags, not many people posting. I have to remind myself that SPH will never be a Yosemite with a deep reservoir of climbers posting a lot. And yet, I’m surprised that there aren’t more climbers on SPH. The granite at a lot of the destinations is impeccable, and some granite is a little crusty, but overall there is so much I’m often shocked at the absence. If that wasn’t enough, both styles of ascent seem to find there respective places on SPH. And even true mud and Pinnacles climbers could find stashes of high quality volcanic material to climb on.

It is a good thing of course. And with the infrequency, that means usually you’ll run into friendly types who are just as surprised to run into another like-minded soul.

Hello world!

What to say in a first post of a Mungeblog?  Just transitioned from the old host to the new host. The Installatron version capability didn’t actually work. Fixing it will require editing the database possibly hundreds of times. Unfortunately, it is a more valuable use of my time to just create a new forum. I’ve still got the old one backed up, so if we need to we can extract from it. Maybe Holo will lend a hand. In the meantime, it’s kind of nice to have a clean slate. Especially reposting weekly favorite pics. So many good SPH memories.

ION, Chriz is going up on Zod. Stoke for him is high. Going to go to the Valley during high tourist season. wtf?  That’s why we go to SPH.