Dear climbnet fans:

The weather report turned lousy Friday night for the Valley -
snow!  Joe and I scrubbed the trip and settled for tendon
tweaking in the City Rock gym on Saturday (not crowded).

Sunday I had an interesting opportunity to check out the
state of the sport.  I drove with Patrice Ayme and 15 year
old wunderkind Andy to the rumoured basalt areas near 
Jamestown.  We drove around some looking for an area
that was supposed to have some 11's that Patrice had heard
about.  I suspect he was sandbagged a bit.  We viewed some
interesting looking rock from a distance, but were
detered from investigating by the fortresses of PO.  We
did spot Ed Barry's car but did not hear the whine of
his Bosch.  Plan B was a visit to the "Cave."  Dave
Schultz has developed most of the routes and he
did not mess around.  The cave is about 100 yards wide
and about 100' tall at its apex.  It overhangs severly -
the only steeper crag I have seen is Cave Rock at 
Tahoe.  There is one 12b (short and near the side), one
12d, and about 6 13's including a 13d that goes to the
top.  Of course, the routes are bolted and the loose
stuff was reinforced with glue.  Still, doing a route
here is a major undertaking because one has to use ground-up
tactics to get the bolts in due to the angle and the
difficulties in getting to the top.  

Well, I certainly didn't grab the sharp end.  The kid climbed
the 12d bolt to bolt - landed about 25' out in the talus
after he lowered.   Patrice did most of the moves on the
TR, and managed to clip back in on the way down (possibly
harder).  I got up to about the 4th bolt with major dogging 
(and a backrope) - mostly athletic stretches between 
amazing jugs - and, thanks to the glue, more solid than
the Pinnacles.  The place really starts to cook in the 
afternoon, so we hiked back, adroitly skirting the PO
and following cow paths.  A refreshing dip in the reservoir
finished our day.

I have been deliberately vague about the location.  I think
cliffs are on private land and I bet it is just a 
matter of time until the usual forces forbid climbing.  There
is a lot of potential for routes under 5.12 on the just-vertical
crags - rock quality is uncertain, but consider the alternatives.
Warm in the winter as well.

Joel