Moro Rock

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Messages 1 - 48 of total 48 in this topic

mission

Social climber

boulder,co

Topic Author's Original Post - Jul 16, 2009 - 12:10am PT

Would it be insane to visit Moro Rock this time of year? Like, smokin' hot? We are on a mission to fly in to Sacramento next Friday and pick up my girlfriend's son in Bakersfield the next day- looking for a place to bivvy and do a few pitches in the afternoon.

Russ Walling

Gym climber

Poofter's Froth, Wyoming

Jul 16, 2009 - 12:12am PT

Have you seen your travel agent? Do you have your tickets?

Captain...or Skully

Social climber

way, WAY out there....(OMG)

Jul 16, 2009 - 12:20am PT

There's a shady side, at least part of the day....but I think you'll be pressed for time.
DANGEROUS roads down there. We ALL know this. 1 mistake, in a hurry, & now you're dead.
It's a better place to visit when you have time to take it ALL in. Just my opinion. The Elevation in the Giant Forest area is around 7000 or so, I think, so the top is cool, but....it's a BIG rock.The base is WAY down there.
Good luck, hope it's fun.

mission

Social climber

boulder,co

Topic Author's Reply - Jul 16, 2009 - 12:21am PT

If we had some tickets, we could just stare off into space and groove on how fast the molecules are vibrating and how big the trees are.

Iron Mtn.

Trad climber

Corona, Ca.

Jul 16, 2009 - 12:22am PT

Go to Dome Rock or The Needles instead.....

mission

Social climber

boulder,co

Topic Author's Reply - Jul 16, 2009 - 12:28am PT

Iron Man,

Is that on the way- we only have the afternoon. Went to the Needles a couple three years ago. Amazing place but not the crash-n-dash we're looking for that day.

spyork

Social climber

A prison of my own creation

Jul 16, 2009 - 12:35am PT

I thought Moro and Chimney have Raptor closures. Check the Sequoia website.

Captain...or Skully

Social climber

way, WAY out there....(OMG)

Jul 16, 2009 - 12:37am PT

Chimney needs one. Those are seriously aggressive birds.
Or the ones we encountered were. Sheesh.

mission

Social climber

boulder,co

Topic Author's Reply - Jul 16, 2009 - 12:37am PT

Out here in the 'Rado we eat raptor eggs for breakfeast.

climber

Jul 16, 2009 - 01:21am PT

B-Town to the base of Moro = 3+hours

B-Town to the base of Dome Rock = 1.75 hours

snaps10

Mountain climber

Visalia, CA

Jul 16, 2009 - 02:09am PT

FYI, there has been no closure to Moro this year. It is neither posted at the trailhead, on the website, or at the ranger stations. I climbed Pennies on the Patio a few weeks ago and saw only one falcon. Chimney area is closed.
You really should go up to Dome Rock. Needles has the longish approach. You can drive to almost the top of dome, camp there in the parking area, and wake up on the crag. Pick up a wilderness permit at the ranger station on HWY 190 just before the town of Springville, across from the golfcourse.
If you're talking this Saturday (7/18) I'll be up doing some rescue training, but will be climbing in the afternoon. I may actually even be up next weekend as well.

Levy

Big Wall climber

So Cal

Jul 16, 2009 - 03:30am PT

Moro Rock will be hot this weekend. You can play the "Chase the Shade" game, if you stick to shorter routes. West face routes in the morning, East facing routes in the afternoon. I'm sure you know the drill. The approaches can't be beat and you'll have refreshments waiting close to the top of your climbs

I got a better idea, Why don't you go to Buck Rock? 5 minutes from the car, 8,000' elevation, quiet location. Fun for a visit or two.

This route is super fun & only rated 5.10a! It may be a bit harder than that but it's only 5.10 mid-grade at it's hardest.

Too bad you don't have time to go to the Needles or Dome Rock.
The Sorcerer's East face

Or Shuteye & Chiquito Dome?

Or you could go the Courtwright Reservior.
You could sample the excellent rock of Trapper Dome, a 5 minute walk from the car!

So many choices!

Fat Dad

Trad climber

Los Angeles, CA

Jul 16, 2009 - 10:47am PT

I think your shortest approaches are Big and Little Baldy (in Sequoia) and Dome Rock. From the 99, Dome Rock is probably closer to 1.75 hrs. each way. Either way, you'll be doing more driving than climbing. Nice if you can get there though.

Radish

Trad climber

Seki, California

Jul 16, 2009 - 10:58am PT

Moro is alittle hot this week, but always worth it. The South Face is a great climb to get in touch with Moro.....

mission

Social climber

boulder,co

Topic Author's Reply - Jul 17, 2009 - 08:51pm PT

Thanks for the great suggestions and photos. I think we will make it up to the Needles for a few days after we shuttle Karla's son around. Went there a few years ago- it's some of the best stone anywhere!

Where is this Buck Rock of which you speak?

climber

Jul 17, 2009 - 08:58pm PT

http://www.summitpost.org/view_object.php?object_id=152273

Dr.Sprock

Boulder climber

Sprocketville

Jul 17, 2009 - 10:05pm PT

that dude's gonna pendelum, wtf, over?

and not enuff chalk.

Captain...or Skully

Social climber

way, WAY out there....(OMG)

Jul 17, 2009 - 10:12pm PT

Buck Rock is in Sequoia, In a Bitchen spot....off the Generals Highway to FR 14S11 to Big Meadow, then left on FR 13S04 to the Lookout.
Nice place......

mooch

Big Wall climber

The Immaculate Conception

Jul 22, 2009 - 04:56pm PT

DANGEROUS roads down there. We ALL know this. 1 mistake, in a hurry, & now you're dead.

??????? Like any drive to the mountains, its the same all over. JMTC.

The Elevation in the Giant Forest area is around 7000 or so, I think, so the top is cool, but....it's a BIG rock.The base is WAY down there.

Are you referring to the Neat Wall?? Located about a 1/2 mile to the west and past the old girl scout cabin foundation, once you've reached the spot where the old cabins used to be in Giant Forest. Proably hasn't seen a hand or foot in over 10 years since they did the rehab work there. Sports about a dozen bolted routes on steep slab.

Melissa

Gym climber

berkeley, ca

Jul 22, 2009 - 04:58pm PT

The S. Face route is hot, but high enough up to be more or less tolerable. We climbed it in Aug. last year and only suffered at the base.

Captain...or Skully

Social climber

way, WAY out there....(OMG)

Jul 22, 2009 - 05:02pm PT

Ya gotta warn the Flatlanders, man.
Otherwise their bodies will be EveryWhere, cloggin' up everything.
It's the good neighbor approach.Plus, I find the drive from Three Rivers to Giant Forest particularly harrowing, & I'm a professional!

mooch

Big Wall climber

The Immaculate Conception

Jul 22, 2009 - 05:05pm PT

South Face is a classic route. However, the South Cracks (just right of South face) is the far better route. Links up with the South Face three pitches from the bottom. The Rim Of The World Climbing club folks were up there over a week ago (lead by Pat Brennan and Kenn Kenaga). Ken went over and did 'Thin Line', while Pat and crew went over to Little Baldy and did 'Hairline' and 'Welcome To Little Baldy'.

John Barbella enjoying the first pitch of South Cracks (5.9)

Tork

climber

Yosemite

Jul 23, 2009 - 01:10pm PT

The Neat Wall, now thats a blast from the past. Fun after work spot. Also good in the morning on a hot day.

I bet that 30+' off width roof at the bottom right side has still never been done.

Jeff

mooch

Big Wall climber

The Immaculate Conception

Jul 23, 2009 - 01:28pm PT

Wow Jeff! Did you work at the cafeteria or for Delaware? I remember Dave Horn (was lead seasonal tool for Sequoia, now the big cheese is The Ditch) showing me that place in 1993.

Speaking of excellent 'out of the way' formations in SEKI, Santa Cruz Dome (high up on the north side of Tokapah Valley) is a schaaaahweet 3 pitch dome. Tough to get to but worth it. I believe Matt (crazyhorse) and Brutus put up a route over there about 4 or 5 years ago.

Not to rob the thread but has anyone else done 'The Timex Route' on The Watchtower? Did it back in 1996.

Melissa

Gym climber

berkeley, ca

Jul 23, 2009 - 01:32pm PT

mooch...that's actually what we did. It was a little too hot on the first pitch to be fun, but after that it was good.

mooch

Big Wall climber

The Immaculate Conception

Jul 23, 2009 - 01:33pm PT

Mel-

Santa Cruz Dome? The Watchtower?

Russ Walling

Gym climber

Poofter's Froth, Wyoming

Jul 23, 2009 - 01:37pm PT

30ft roof? undone? OW? Jaybro.....calling Jaybro..... there is gas in the car.

snaps10

Mountain climber

Visalia, CA

Jul 23, 2009 - 01:39pm PT

The Timex is my goal climb of the year. Gotta love the guidebooks description. Sling vegetation and use sparse vegetation for holds. LOL.
I hear it's very dirty (gotta clean every gear placement), and something that even if you say you'll never come back, you'll be glad you did it.
I've eyed that dome North of Tokopah a couple times. The color of the rock is absolutely beautiful.
Gotta love the complimentary photographers/videographers you find at Moro Rock.
A couple weeks ago on "Pennies on the Patio", taken by a touron and emailed to me.I'm pretty sure I'm a star of some Japanese videos now too.

Where's Neat Wall?

Nefarius

Big Wall climber

Fresno

Jul 23, 2009 - 01:44pm PT

Shhh... Don't be telling people there's more rock in Cali than Yos.

Tork

climber

Yosemite

Jul 23, 2009 - 02:13pm PT

mooch-

I did six summers at Crystal Cave, one summer in Lodgepole campground and five winters at Pear Lake. I know Dave well. We organized the first Moro Rock clean up. He is no longer in Yos.

Snaps10-

mooch already gave the location away above. There might still be a topo in a binder for new climbing routes at the visitor center. I put a bunch of stuff in there.

I did the Timex route years ago, I don't remember it being to bad. Also did a ton of stuff on both sides of the canyon. I remember finding some bolted slab on the south side of the canyon with homemade bolt hangers you could bend with your hand, scarry!

climber

Jul 23, 2009 - 02:39pm PT

Timex looked good...

'attempted a second ascent with Laeger's topo (pre-guidebook)...and had to bail. The topo had a gross error in it that got us into deep sh#t.

Laeger insisted (you know, he's always right) it was correct, only to admit he f*ck-up months later.

Never went back...yet.

JEleazarian

Trad climber

Fresno CA

Jul 23, 2009 - 02:46pm PT

True, Melissa, but we're in the middle of a heat wave, even by our standards. 100 would be a cooler than a normal day (of course, in fairness, our average high in July is 101). It was 112 here last Sunday.

From Bakersfield, the Needles or Dome Rock makes more sense just because of the driving time, but Buck Rock is wonderful. Mowing the Yawn (the route pictured) is amazing.

Enjoy.

John

Radish

Trad climber

Seki, California

Jul 24, 2009 - 11:05am PT

I know it looks like we're getting arrested here, but it was actually taken at the Moro Rock cleanup Tork was talking about, back in 98 I think. I'm barefoot and Dave Horn and Scott Wanneck are also in the shot. We rapped down to the bottom of the west face and found all kinds of stuff like len's caps, one shoe, a golf club, part of a wheel chair, trash cans, old Burgie beer cans, a guys head.........................................

Tork

climber

Yosemite

Jul 24, 2009 - 07:59pm PT

Radish any more pics from that clean up.

Yea, that was kinda grim for whomever found the bits of Jeds head. I remember climbing on Moro not to long after Jed went over, found bits of skull with skin and hair hanging off. Stuffed it deep into a crack so my partner/wife wouldn't see it and freak.

Jeff

Radish

Trad climber

Seki, California

Jul 24, 2009 - 08:23pm PT

Tork, I do have more pics from down at the bottom of the west face. But, I don't have a slide scanner yet. I hear Walmart has a decent one?? I projected this one on the wall and took a digital pic. Pictures of the Helicopter pick up and the folks working in general. I remember you from those days. I work in the Fire Dept at Ash Mountain right now so we're right in the thick of it............

climber

Jul 24, 2009 - 08:43pm PT

Rene'
'tell me which copies you would like; remember I digitized the slide show that included that and a few of your other shots. I don't have many of the clean-up though.

ß Î Ø T Ç H

Boulder climber

bouldering

Jan 15, 2013 - 01:17am PT

climber

Jan 15, 2013 - 01:43am PT

That be a mighty pluton!

limpingcrab

Trad climber

the middle of CA

Jan 15, 2013 - 02:27am PT

Great picture of it! All covered in snow now though...

limpingcrab

Trad climber

the middle of CA

Apr 21, 2017 - 01:25pm PT

Great news! Here's a recent email from the very friendly new biologist in SEKI:

"Hi Daniel,

Thanks for reminding me about this. I had meant to make the change before the season got started and it slipped my mind. The website has been updated and now states:

"the closed routes include The Couch Trip, Full Metal Jacket, and all routes between them."

The South Face route is now open to climbing. We'll monitor the situation and if we need to make adjustments as we go, the website will be updated to reflect any changes."

This means that for the closure this year only 6 of 84 routes on Moro are closed, and the classic south face remains open.

It's great to see someone working with climbers to find a reasonable solution. PLEASE respect the closure so the relationship stays positive.

Woot?

looks easy from here

climber

Ben Lomond, CA

Apr 21, 2017 - 01:41pm PT

Awesome! Thanks for following up on that and passing it along here.

Send

Trad climber

Central Sierra

Apr 22, 2017 - 09:32am PT

Oh heck yeah! Thanks Daniel. Love the S. Face Moro. Just as good as other long 5.7s around California, imo.
Done it 6 times I think, couple times solo.
Good climbing, clean, varied, great position.

Any idea on how the NF feels about opening the Crystal Wall out at Chimney Rocks? I always thought that wall is pretty far from nests, that I believe are on the Monk (?)

Chad

EdBannister

Mountain climber

13,000 feet

Apr 22, 2017 - 01:18pm PT

route dependent, practice your one handed tie off knob with sling technique.

Vitaliy M.

Mountain climber

San Francisco

Apr 22, 2017 - 07:43pm PT

Thank you for the update. Moro is awesome!

limpingcrab

Trad climber

the middle of CA

Apr 24, 2017 - 09:48am PT

Any idea on how the NF feels about opening the Crystal Wall out at Chimney Rocks? I always thought that wall is pretty far from nests, that I believe are on the Monk (?)

Ya, I volunteered as a peregrine monitor at Chimney Rocks for two seasons to try to get to know the biologist and work something out. Unfortunately he's not really concerned about climber access and basically said it's easier to just lock the gate on the road and forget about it. I offered to make signs and spread the word but he said last time they opened Crystal Wall during the closure some climbers went into the closed area so he was not interested in trying again.

Even when the eyrie was abandoned about a month before the end of the closure he left it locked until August 15th, instead of opening when nesting ends like the press release says. It's too bad that awesome area is closed most of the climbing season...

Gnome Ofthe Diabase

climber

Out Of Bed

Apr 24, 2017 - 10:18am PT

I want this man to be known to you all, 'nuff said:

8/15/16,
It is with sadness that the College shares the news of the passing on Aug. 13 of emeritus professor of biology Heinz Meng, who taught at SUNY New Paltz for his entire career of more than 50 years.

Meng was a beloved New Paltz faculty member from his appointment in 1951 until his retirement in 2001 (he worked as an adjunct professor from 2002-2006). He is perhaps best known in the conservation community as the person credited with the recovery of the peregrine falcon in the eastern U.S.

In 1967, Meng became the first to succeed in breeding the peregrine falcon in captivity, at a time when populations had been decimated by widespread use of pesticides like DDT. His methods were replicated as the basis of a bird-release program that has restored the falcon’s population levels to the point that it was officially removed from the Endangered Species List in 1999. In 1998, the National Audubon Society named him one of 100 champions of conservation during the 20th century.

Meng shared his preternatural touch and love of birds with many generations of New Paltz students. He began flying falcons on campus in 1974, a tradition he continued until his retirement, creating countless hands-on opportunities for students to work with birds of prey in natural settings.

“Numerous alumni have shared with me the profound impact that Dr. Meng’s teaching had on their lives and careers, and the vivid memories they have of experiences in the field with him,” said President Donald P. Christian. “His contributions to the recovery of the peregrine falcon are a truly remarkable legacy. Please join me in wishing the Heinz Meng family our deepest appreciation and condolences.”

HeinzMengHeinz Meng was born in Germany in 1924 and emigrated to the U.S. with his family in 1929. He earned his Ph.D in ornithology at Cornell before his appointment at New Paltz.

[Click to View YouTube Video]

Big props, to all who can see their way to share with the boids.
I want to share this face with all .
Dr Hienz Meng, the recognized father of susscessful captive breeding practices that are now universally recognized.

While not a climber, his presence for 50 years in the Hudson valley was instrumental in saving
the spieces