Holcomb Valley Pinnacles

We went camping at Holcomb Pinnacles!
Well, really we camped at Hanna Flat campground, then drove to Holcomb. But it was still awesome! Our group arrived on Friday afternoon/evening and set up our camp, and had a nice night before starting our actual climbing trip on Saturday.

Saturday morning (-ish, we slept in for a while and had a nice breakfast) we drove six adults in a small SUV up the Van Dusen approach. It was quite an adventure for a bunch of Angelinos! That road is intense for a normal sedan, but with the SUV we were A-OK. Normally I drive a Prius, and there were two parts that I seriously doubt my car could get over- a medium size hump that would bottom out a low car, and two BIG puddles. I have seen it done by a fairly low car, but it felt a lot more badass to cruise over it in a bigger vehicle.

So we got to the northern parking area at the end of the road, and saw that there were already a ton of people there! Maybe twenty parked cars and several groups of people camping there. If we were more serious about climbing than camping I think it would be worth it to stay there, but they couldn’t make campfires. And we wanted campfires.

This was the second time we had gone to Holcomb Valley Pinnacles, but the first time we were meeting up with another group, and we had to pass up some climbs that looked fun to be with them. This time we could go wherever we wanted! So naturally we stopped at the first available climb, the Lost Orbit Wall East. (We didn’t know this at the time, we had to ask other climbers. A bunch of them didn’t know either, but finally someone did. Climbers are generally very nice people)

On the Lost Orbit Wall, we did Lunar Eclipse (5.11a), and sort of an accidental mix of Love At First Bight (5.8+) and Slacker(5.10c). None of us could make it all the way up Lunar Eclipse, we got stuck at the crux, but I- the usually weakest climber in our group- managed to get up on top of the bulge, but I continued to fall trying to stand on it. This meant I got the highest in the group! HAH!

*this was not the peak height achieved.

Actually, because none of our usual lead climbers could finish it and set up a top rope, I had to lead it, even though I did not originally want to. So I am still proud of myself for attempting it! Love At First Bite was weird, I think partially because of user error. We started Love At First Bight, traversed to Slacker, then some how used the anchors for LAFB. This is why it is important to have a book with you, or at least have done some research before hand! Haha, we were going in totally blind. It was very exciting to just push ourselves and not worry about it, but it meant that we didn’t know all the routes!

Because we couldn’t finish Lunar eclipse, we left two of our group to swing from the top of LAFB to get the quick draw. They were finishing that anyways, and as a rule, we don’t like to leave booty!

Our next climb was Deer Lick on Thunderbird wall. I did not finish this climb, it freaked me out too much. I was trying to lead it, and after a bit of a scare almost decking Ken (who weighs a bit more than me) on the first clip, I was not in the mood to fall and scrape myself up. The first part of the climb is really fun though. I managed not to fall on the first crimp holds, but then to get over the first lip and then to walk over to the first clip on the second buldge was scary to me. I think it was because if you tripped and fell it would mean rolling over and having a lot of slack on the line. Obviously it is a personal preference thing, but I like to climb for the challenge, not really for the danger. It’s like on a roller coaster- it feels dangerous, but it should not actually be all that dangerous. So I bailed on it and lowered down. * Also before you give me crap, my buddies already did. But I stand by what I did.

By this time the rest of our group had caught up with us so we had lunch! yum!

After this we wandered around a bit, thinking about what we wanted to climb next. Well, what we WANTED to climb was one of the long classic Holcomb climbs… but there were so many people there that they were all taken. There were plenty of other climbs that are lesser known and less used. So we wandered around to the right and found a place to top rope. Two short little routes that we could belly crawl to the anchors to. So we did!

I looked up it up and they was on the Rose Red Wall, but on Mountain Project it doesn’t have any names for the routes. The two climbs were both fun and easy, a little pump-y to start with then very balance-y at the top. They couldn’t be more than 40’.. .maybe 5.9s. After that we decided that we were hungry, and the rest of the group all wanted to go run before the sun set. Personally, I could have stayed and done a couple more and hiked out during the evening. But we had to drive all the way back to hanna flat and cook dinner. Basically I got out voted.

So that was it for our Holcomb Valley adventure!
I totally want to go back to lost orbit wall and finish Lunar Eclipse, and try the one to the left of it- the classic of that wall; Lost Orbit. I think if we went again I would get a propane grill and just stay at the climbers camp in the parking lot. It really seems like that is the way to go. There are so many people that go to this place that you have to get there super early and stake out the climbs you want. OR as we were leaving, Veronica saw a friend who was just leaving to go and do some night climbing. That could be fun I think, but you probably should do a lot more research, or have climbed there many times so that you know where all the bolts are.

Hanna Flat review
Pros:
Loud neighbors make it seem ok to be loud
Fire pit so we could cook on a fire, as none of us has a propane grill
Running or hiking trails
Cons:
Lots of neighbors, pretty close together.
Distance from the crag.

Medium:
Porta-potties are terrible, but I do feel bad crapping in the woods. that could be someone’s home!

I would say that what I like most about Pinnacles is the mix between really nice friendly crimps and slabs and really fun balancy delicate moves. I can’t wait to go there again!

***My friend Ken Lee corrected me that he did climb Slackers- 5.10c, not Love at first Bite-5.8 because LaFB is a trad route at the crack. Sorry for the confusion!