Trip Report
A quick trip into the South Gabilan Range
Saturday December 19, 2015 10:37am
seems that this is becoming an annual trip...
with a lot of fun, this year including more participants. Certainly the invitation is open for more to come in the future if they find themselves in "The City By The Bay" this particular time of the year... and have a moment and the inclination to play hooky...

Climbing on the remains of the Neenach Volcano, which have had quite a ride over 23 million years... displacing to a location that often makes a great winter climbing destination when all others are resting in the wet or the cold (or both)....

Reliably, a place to bask in the soft winter Sun...

top left corner top right corner
Bela on Wet Kiss, 5.9
Bela on Wet Kiss, 5.9
Credit: Ed Hartouni
bottom left corner bottom right corner

and to journey with friends from afar for a very mellow outing

top left corner top right corner
Chiloe belays Linda...
Chiloe belays Linda...
Credit: Ed Hartouni
bottom left corner bottom right corner

even if the day ends all too early

top left corner top right corner
Credit: Ed Hartouni
bottom left corner bottom right corner


  Trip Report Views: 2,396
Ed Hartouni
About the Author
Ed Hartouni is a trad climber from Livermore, CA.

Comments
MH2

Boulder climber
Andy Cairns
  Dec 19, 2015 - 11:03am PT
Basking in sun would be nice, as would climbing on rock.
SteveW

Trad climber
The state of confusion
  Dec 19, 2015 - 11:09am PT
Climbing with Ed and Larry--now that's a treat!
Studly

Trad climber
WA
  Dec 19, 2015 - 11:42am PT
That looks dreamy Ed, as I set looking out on a winter landscape from my window.
Ed Hartouni

Trad climber
Livermore, CA
Author's Reply  Dec 19, 2015 - 12:32pm PT
haven't been to Neenach, but it would be an interesting trip, if only to see the other half of the formation (which doesn't appear to have the same climber appeal at first glance).
Reeotch

climber
4 Corners Area
  Dec 20, 2015 - 09:47am PT
Is this the Pinnacles or the other 1/2 of the formation which was separated by a fault?
Jaybro

Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
  Dec 20, 2015 - 10:05am PT
Whose fault is that?
tuolumne_tradster

Trad climber
Leading Edge of North American Plate
  Dec 20, 2015 - 10:45am PT
300+ km of offset in < 24 MY

Neenach flow-banded rhyolite correlates to the lower part of the northern Pinnacles volcanics, not the rhyolitic breccia that we climb on at Pinnacles.
Ed Hartouni

Trad climber
Livermore, CA
Author's Reply  Dec 20, 2015 - 10:57am PT
there's more to climbing than climbing!

thanks for the details t_t...

the fantasy would be that you could climb around SF at the Pinnacles, or around LA at Neenach and have the same sort of climbing... but alas, the geology abides...

or maybe we should celebrate!


rick sumner

Trad climber
reno, nevada/ wasilla alaska
  Dec 20, 2015 - 12:26pm PT
[
With a few hours more drive you could be climbing on clean, solid granite like this ER route above we just did less than two weeks ago. Often climbable throughout the winter when the Sierra is buried.




Or this undisclosed locale which I snapped this pic of a week ago. Lot's of Yosemite like crack climbs here. The lower greenish wall is 200+'.
SC seagoat

Trad climber
Santa Cruz, Moab, Bozeman, the ocean, or ?
  Dec 20, 2015 - 01:46pm PT
Very nice...plus a lesson too!

Susan
Chiloe

Trad climber
Lee, NH
  Dec 20, 2015 - 02:35pm PT
Great day, great company. I especially treasured conversations on the drive, this time ranging from fusion power experiments and why Mars travel won't work, to finding acceptable brew & burgers in Hollister.

Linda & Ed on The Ordeal


Bela & Linda on Wet Kiss

mtnyoung

Trad climber
Twain Harte, California
  Dec 20, 2015 - 04:47pm PT
I got the rare treat of climbing with my older daughter last Friday in that part of the Gabilan range. It's not worth its own thread, but maybe I could piggyback a few photos on yours?

It was sunny, but man it got cold once that sun was going down!

Daughter Katie and our friend Laura on top of Photographer's Delight:



A really cold Tuff Dome summit in the sun's last rays:




Ed Hartouni

Trad climber
Livermore, CA
Author's Reply  Dec 20, 2015 - 06:12pm PT
happy to share thread space mtnyoung!
a lovely day though it was very cool in the shade indeed, including the shaded rock


here's some old guy leading...
661climber

climber
  Dec 22, 2015 - 02:41pm PT
Climbing content bump
Go