The Long Road-

Tom Frost told me a guidebook is a labor of love. He was right.
Over 5 years of work and 17,000 miles of driving around the state is what it took to get “California Road Trip: Northern California Climber’s Guide” done. And that doesn’t count what my co-author Chris Summit did. It’s hard to comprehend…

I took a look back through my files and thought I might share a few pictures and some of the stories behind the photos… in no particular order. Photos below text.

Below: My friend Brian and I headed up to detail out Demon Dome. You can pretty much climb nearly everything there in a day. It is the most user-friendly of the Needles and if you’ve never been, you should, it’s a place to start. We hopped on “The Number of the Beast 5.8/5.10a” on the far right side of the formation. We found more bolts than the old topo showed, but still got more than we bargained for. More than once I had to stop and contemplate lowering down. Some of the bolts were so far apart I couldn’t find them. I just kept committing and going up, praying I’d find them. This route was a ton of fun if you’ve got the mind for it. Not a sport route.

Another standout is “Devil Worshipper 5.8”. We actually climbed this route twice in a row. It ascends the right edge of a face, skirting the void. There are amazing knobs, a really fun face route. This photo was taken by my friend Marni. She’s a great lady and currently battling cancer.

This is the back cover photo, and it’s hard to tell but Grant Gardner and Brandon Thau are doing the first ascent of Le Petit Prince on Moro Rock. I’m using a 600mm lens and standing in the forest somewhere down the ridge. Grant went to school at the same university I went to and it was always a pleasure to watch him climb at Bishop Peak, although sometimes it was down right scary when he soloed stuff. Kinda like watching Tobin I imagine. Grant turned me on to The Little Prince, and I still read it with my advanced English class to this day. Thank you Grant.

This isn’t a great picture of the “Lieback 5.5”, but it’s the best I have. I gotta say it’s probably one of the best 5.5s in the state. Anyone? Found on Kernville Slab. It is laser cut, located above a river and has great views, has short approach, and is on perfect white granite.

This is the “Surfers Route 5.8”. My partners and I all surf. When I went up to finally bolt it with my buddy Ed, we got half a bolt in and the bit tip broke! It was hot, a 35 minute approach up a steep hill, and let’s just say he wasn’t as motivated as I was to get it done. We hiked back down, drove into Kernville and stopped off at a hardware store but no bits. Turns out one of the guys working there was an old climber. He said… “Give me 10 minutes… I’ll drive home and get one.” We waited. He came back with a Bosch bit. We gave him $5 for a sandwich for lunch and then headed back up. We got the route done, but it was a lot of work for a 50’ route!

Here is Grant on a sport route (“Ejection Seat 5.12a”) in Jamestown, a couple years before he did “Nightmare on California Street” on El Cap. This is at the Grotto, a crag that reminds me a lot of Devil’s Tower, at least the bottom columns. I wanted to use it in the book but it was a tad out of focus. It was before digital, and before I could afford good lenses. I was hanging from a rope for 2 hours in a Black Diamond Bod harness and my legs were numb. But I like the shot anyway.


Brandon and I spent 5 days in November up in the Sonora Pass (an early Birthday trip… we share the same birthday). There was plenty of snow around, but we still got everywhere I needed to get to. I had some photo deadlines. The black and white shot in the guide just doesn’t do the pass justice. The Hummingbird Wall is worthy of a trip… like I said, a piece of Toulumne up in the pass. We had just climbed a face route and wanted to head over and finish on the classic hand crack to the right, so I was making this traverse up. Glad to have a knob around.

Like I said, plenty of snow around. This is the trail to Genesis at Burst Rock. I’m positive we were the last ones in that year. Great cracks and plenty of them.

This is Doug Englekirk on “Spin Doctor 5.12d”. This crag has “the steepest 5.12 in California” although maybe there is a route on the Matrix Roof that is steeper? All I know is that at one point you’re actually horizontal and then you start heading down (head down). That’s pretty steep. Doug wore some lame light brown shirt and I made him wear my Swiss shirt for the photo. If you climb hard, this crag is pretty amazing. “Hexcentric” nearby is a freakshow as well, but only 5.7. Imagine Devil’s Tower if it fell over. You climb the butt ends of the columns. Very bizarre.

Funny story with this one. I was scheduled to teach the local Boy Scout troop how to climb at the Pinnacles on one of their outings. While I was waiting for them I did a few routes with two friends on the Chockstone. It was pretty hot out, and the girls weren’t shy. When the Scouts arrived the boys were blushing, bumping into each other, staring, giggling. The girls took it in stride, but I think some of the boys actually hit puberty right there on the spot.

This is Tara. She is a talented boulderer. We hit Castle Rock in the Santa Cruz Mtns. She nailed Mr. Magoo and then I asked her to do it one more time. After a few falls, she wasn’t sure she wanted to do it again. But she went for it. She’s pretty high up (use the boyfriend spotter as a reference) . Her right hand is palming and skidding and she’s caught below the “bump” and the bucket is just out of reach. She committed and nailed it again. She was fun to watch.

OK crappy old film photo, but my favorite boulder problem in the world. I went to West Valley Community College and Castle Rock was so close I’d hit it after, during, before school. I used to do the “Spoon V1” over and over. After you stick the top tiny rail you have to let go and get your other hand up, all while you’re feet cut loose. The shorter you are the harder it is. Although I watched a 6’2” muscle dude try it and he couldn’t stick it.

This is me on Beaver Street Wall in San Francisco. If you live in the Bay Area, you have to at least go once. It’s quite unique, and the main crack line is actually pretty good. If you can lead this, hats off to you! It was like climbing a brown sheet of marble or glass. Weird enough, but when you look down there is a park, tennis courts, bathrooms, children’s playground, and picnic tables. Quintessential Urban Rock.

Had to show it in color. Slate’s Spire “Regular Route 5.5”. I did this route back in the mid-‘90s. I grabbed my Bosch Bulldog and waded out into the Pacific Ocean near Big Sur and hoped like hell the rock was solid enough to hold bolts. I got in two on the way up the 50’ spire. It’s become a classic and if you ever drive Hwy. 1 along the Big Sur coast, bring some old draws and a bad rope and do it! You can’t help but get soaked, so don’t worry about it. A minus tide makes things a lot easier.

To get the cover shot I wanted (and with only a couple weeks to get it before the printing deadline) I had to take a snowmobile out to Shuteye because the roads were still snowed over. After 10 miles of riding on one with Grahm I realized I never wanted to do it again. Grahm was pulling wheelies for like 70’ at a time. I almost died a few times. Anway, on top of that I had the worst cold of my life. Then after a really long day of hiking in the snow to 3 different crags Grahm’s Jeep and Leo’s truck both got stuck when we tried to leave that night. Three hours of winching and shoveling snow (I thought I was going to die I was so sick) we got the jeep out but not Leo’s truck. We left it and got back to Oakhurst at midnight. I passed out in the back of my truck and didn’t make it home until the next day. But I got my cover.


That’s it, I hope you enjoyed the pics and back stories. As we edge into fall, and with winter looming, I’m already yearning for sunny days and road trips to my favorite crags.

Cheers, Tom