20110227 SA Falls and Apple Valley Crags

Post by **Taco** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 11:47 am

Johnny and I wanted to go see if SA Falls froze up, since it was 20 in Chino. We drove up Baldy Rd (as is often necessary to reach SA Falls), and walked up the nicely snowed-in SA Falls Road.

ZOOM

POW! Literally.

Going up the Maxon trail

So, that ended in us doing a lot of odd postholing and getting our feet soaked in the stream, which is much wider when you can't see that sumbitch under all the snow and weak ice covering it. Needs to be cold for longer or something for this high-flow falls to freeze.

Check out my new waterproof wallet!

We then headed down Baldy Road, to go attempt different objectives for the day. Rocks were falling from the cuts in the road as we drove down, and one fell right in front of us...

Crap. Blew out the right rear.

We changed that, then headed out to go try our luck in the desert. One of those socal things where you can ski on snowy peaks, then offroad in the desert and shoot things/blow things up, then go surfing, then get drinks at a world class bar in the city. All in one.

Headed out to Apple Valley Crags...

Lightning Crack 5.8 (old-school 5.8)

Go Johnny Go!

My usual leg shot

Following

We then headed over to another area on the hill to climb some routes Johnny had done not long ago.

Super classic 5.10, I think it's called "Necessary Evil", though I could be wrong.

Look at all that gear! What are you guys up to?

Aiders? Uhoh...

Doing some aid climbing.

It takes awhile...

...then you switch to free climbing when aiding becomes essentially pointless.

Johnny climbed up from the belay slot to the top, where we set up a rapp anchor off 3 cams, then redirected and re-established off some bolts/links.

Johnny at the top

I begin my rapp

Johnny on his way down.

We left, vowing never to come back to such a nice place with such good climbing. ;-)

Johnny got in a bouldering problem he wanted to tackle...

Off we go...

Lightning Crack at center

The SB's

The other week, I fixed up a bike my friend gave me and rode it from my place in West Covina up frontside (south section) of GMR a little bit, and back. Turned back before Newman Point, as it was hailing and my ass really hurt from the seat. Rode back in pouring rain, which was a lot of fun, and made it home in a timely manner. 40 miles round trip.

Adios

Post by **Hikin_Jim** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 12:38 pm

Cool stuff!

HJ

obie · Post by **obie** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 1:05 pm

Taco wrote: ↑ ...and my ass really hurt from the seat

Try one of these Selle SLK Gel Flows(not cheap tho - $150):
(Find it under 'Road' on the pulldown menu)

http://www.selleitalia.com/eng/index.html

Lot less money ($50) @ Performance but still a good saddle:
http://www.performancebike.com/bikes/Pr ... 000_400195

I run the Selle's on both MTB & Road bikes. Use the Performance around town - the Selles' get snatched if you're not watching.

Dave G · Post by **Dave G** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 1:49 pm

Great adventures, guys! When I see you and Johnny out there tearing it up, the nether regions of my brain power up and I [however momentarily] remember what it was like to be young again.

Obie: I wish they'd made them saddles back when I was riding centurys and whatnot. Prolly could have avoided some of the, uhh, dysfunction which could sometimes occur.

AW~ · Post by **AW~** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 1:56 pm

We need to get to Newmans Point before it gets overgrown.

Did you just see the last SA falls or go up to the first ones?

Johnny Bronson · Post by **Johnny Bronson** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 2:28 pm

What a blast it was.Even with the flat.The mountain was trying to tell us,don't leave yet,you guys didn't climb any ice today".

Good times =D

Post by **Taco** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 3:59 pm

Thanks guys.

AW wrote: ↑We need to get to Newmans Point before it gets overgrown.

Did you just see the last SA falls or go up to the first ones?

Are you thinking what I'm thinking? I'm thinking we need a raft or something.

We saw the 4-5 main falls. We didn't go all the way up to the top. I didn't feel we'd get anything out of it other than more wet and mildly frustrated.

obie · Post by **obie** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 4:49 pm

Dave G wrote: ↑ Obie: I wish they'd made them saddles back when I was riding centurys and whatnot. Prolly could have avoided some of the, uhh, dysfunction which could sometimes occur.

Yea, I went up north and rode a couple days on a borrowed MTB with the old style soft saddle. It also had one of those 'shock absorbers' integrated into the saddle rails. Got out it with my junk in order but don't think I'd wanna take a crack at GMR with that kind of setup - butt slid all over the place while climbing.

Post by **Taco** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 4:54 pm

I took a gel seat cover thing off my old decrepit bike and put it on this one. We'll see how that works.

I know I probably look like a complete noob riding a boring Mongoose mountainbike up a hill that people climb on their mega high speed racing bikes, but whatever.

lilbitmo · Post by **lilbitmo** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 5:07 pm

You two chasing cracks in the desert after hooking up with a "Hello Kitty" waterproof wallet - nice

Great shots, nice work TDR and Johnny

Zach · Post by **Zach** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 6:21 pm

what roads are closed right now in that area? i'd love to find some mountain roads to train in without the fear on death

obie · Post by **obie** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 6:46 pm

Taco wrote: ↑I took a gel seat cover thing off my old decrepit bike and put it on this one. We'll see how that works.

I know I probably look like a complete noob riding a boring Mongoose mountainbike up a hill that people climb on their mega high speed racing bikes, but whatever.

Really, it ain't about the bike - it's all about the engine.

MTB'ers have more fun anyways. Roadies = AnalMaximus

yobtaf · Post by **yobtaf** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 6:54 pm

Glad you enjoyed Horsemens center up here in Apple Valley.

My two girls and I were up there last weekend. Had the place all to ourselves.

Post by **Taco** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 7:17 pm

LOL yeah, but I guess road dudes are kinda the same as some kinds of climbers. Same people, different jobs, gnaw mean?

Zach wrote: ↑what roads are closed right now in that area? i'd love to find some mountain roads to train in without the fear on death

Off the top of my head, R39 is closed beyond Smith Mountain, the trailhead where you and David went for that round trip hike up Bear Creek. From there to ACH is closed with minimal traffic (just USFS, fire, and a few residents).

fatboy, we had it almost completely to ourselves as well, just a few spectators wondering what those two fools were doing with those metal clanky things and all that rope.

Johnny Bronson · Post by **Johnny Bronson** » Fri Mar 04, 2011 3:45 pm

Zach wrote: ↑what roads are closed right now in that area? i'd love to find some mountain roads to train in without the fear on death

As Taco mentioned,and I think I mentioned it before ,39 to crystal lake and back is really ideal for training and not being bothered by motorists.Only people driving on that road are residents which are a total of 3 people?

yobtaf good stuff =D

Post by **Taco** » Sat Mar 05, 2011 1:02 pm

True that. Really fun downhill. One can pair it with an ascent of Islip, which is real easy. The NW ridge of Islip is nice and has a good wilderness feel to it.