San Francisco and Castle Rock

Last Thursday Laura and I flew down to San Francisco to visit Laura's sister Erin and her boyfriend Ben. We had a great trip and even managed to fit some climbing in. On Friday while they were at work we borrowed their car and drove to Castle Rock a bouldering area about 45 minutes south of them (at least thats how long it should have taken us if we didn't get lost). I had heard about this place from the classic bouldering movie Rampage, and I had also seen lots of photos and video clips online of the bouldering there. When we eventually arrived we were blown away by the beauty of the place and the cool looking boulders. It was very reminiscent of Fontainebleau, with its weather sculpted sandstone boulders and shaded forest. To my surprise it was really busy with other climbers, I guess a lot of climbers in the Bay Area call this their home crag. I kept thinking how cool it would be to have an area like this so close to where I lived, although it isn't a huge climbing area, it would still keep me busy for a long time.

Spotting another climber on a tall V1

We got shown some problems by some friendly locals and soon got a feel for the rock. Laura did well flashing a bunch of V1's and 2's and managed to redpoint a slopey V3 called The Swim. Once I warmed up some boulderers there showed me Bates Problem, a fairly basic crimpy problem, I pulled on and surprised myself by flashing it. I then did Bates Eliminate, a V7 just to the right in a few goes. I was really pleased to have done these problems so quick, they didn't feel too hard, but I guess pulling hard off little crimps is my specialty and I am climbing well at the moment. For the rest of the afternoon Laura and I just took our time exploring the area, and had a nice lunch under a boulder. I would definitely recommend this area to climbers visiting the Bay Area, although its just a small area, there are lots of top class problems to do, I know there's still plenty there for me to go back to.

The cool features in the big cave at Castle Rock

After climbing we picked up Erin and Ben and had an awesome dinner out at Half Moon Bay. The rest of the weekend we kept pretty busy with activities like squash, lawn bowling, museum, going to the beach, cinema, games and a bit of sightseeing. It was a really good break, thanks a lot Ben and Erin for such a good time! Below are some more photos of the weekend.

Laura and I at the Golden Gate Bridge

Erin demonstrating her lawn bowling skills

Ben having fun at the beach