Or something like that.
I've been sorta ticking off a little list of big unexplored or unsolved areas of the San Gabes. Fish Fork and both forks of Iron Fork were canyoneering big ones. There are a huge number of other unexplored canyons, but not many really big committing ones left. Several canyons dropping off Twin Peaks south side fit the bill, but that's a lot of mileage and a ton of swashbuckling bushwhacking action (looking for partners!).
Triplet Rocks, San Antonio Ridge, and the Death March are up there as far as hiking goes.
Not a ton of climbing in the dry season, save for perhaps some lines on Twin Peak's Zebra Wall and the North Face of Strawberry, which as far as I know lacks a direct line up the higher-quality right side of the face.
What big objectives are on your mind? Things you guys would like to see done, things that may have been done but nobody has taken photos or written about em. I've got a huge wall map covered in question marks, but I'm not too familiar with the western half of the range, nowhere near as much as some of you are.
Speak up! I'm bored and in need of adventure! (ropes require = mega bonus points obviously)
The last unsolved problems of the SG's!
Ze, man that's gonna be a lot of bushwhacking. I'm in. I think AW may have been in the area. I've hiked a short distance up one of the branches to a pool, and hiked to the top of Peak 3702 with AW a while ago.
-Northwestish face Pine - Climbed in 1983 I think? You mean the big shale-lookin' slab?? It's been on my sorta kinda list for a while. Wanna go check it out in winter?
-Falls gulch to Iron - The long narrow couloir in the upper section has been both skiied and climbed: http://www.sierradescents.com/skiing/ir ... where.html
If you have the Ski Channel On Demand, the film may still be available.
-Northface Pallet - What's there? I don't see anything on Google Erf.
-Cloudburst to manker multi-day winter traverse - Cloudburst near Wilson? THat is a very long hike.
-Devils cyn to west fork via twin saddle overnight traverse - AW has done part of this I think. Sorry to keep calling you out, o adventurer of obscure areas of interest.
I'm down for more.
Some of mine:
-Zebra Wall on East Twin - 500ft series of walls of granite down the south ridge of Triplet Rocks, facing east. Long hike to get in there.
-Triplet Gorge - interesting canyon directly east of Triplet Rocks south ridge. Long day with car shuttle, or two days. Canyon is 2.3mi long, 4kft loss.
-The Slot - Narrow canyon one canyon east of Triplet Gorge
- Next canyon over to the east also looks interesting, though probably the least so of the three.
-West Twin - there is a prominent rock feature that I've seen from a distance a few times on the southwest side of West Twin's south ridge. Another long technical SGW outing.
*Has anyone descended West Fork Bear Creek from Twin Peaks? I've hiked partway upstream to well below the south face of East Twin before.
-All of the canyons dropping off the north side of Pine Mountain -> Monrovia Peak ridge. Glen and Butterfield are the two prominent ones. They all look pretty and haven't burned yet, thankfully.
-South Face of Baldy in winter - Friends Scott and Aysel descended the western major gully in dry conditions. In cold conditions, it might be fun to ascend. About 10 rappels.
-Some stuff on the west face of Lookout Mountain
-Crag on north edge of Winston Ridge
-Northwestish face Pine - Climbed in 1983 I think? You mean the big shale-lookin' slab?? It's been on my sorta kinda list for a while. Wanna go check it out in winter?
-Falls gulch to Iron - The long narrow couloir in the upper section has been both skiied and climbed: http://www.sierradescents.com/skiing/ir ... where.html
If you have the Ski Channel On Demand, the film may still be available.
-Northface Pallet - What's there? I don't see anything on Google Erf.
-Cloudburst to manker multi-day winter traverse - Cloudburst near Wilson? THat is a very long hike.
-Devils cyn to west fork via twin saddle overnight traverse - AW has done part of this I think. Sorry to keep calling you out, o adventurer of obscure areas of interest.
I'm down for more.
Some of mine:
-Zebra Wall on East Twin - 500ft series of walls of granite down the south ridge of Triplet Rocks, facing east. Long hike to get in there.
-Triplet Gorge - interesting canyon directly east of Triplet Rocks south ridge. Long day with car shuttle, or two days. Canyon is 2.3mi long, 4kft loss.
-The Slot - Narrow canyon one canyon east of Triplet Gorge
- Next canyon over to the east also looks interesting, though probably the least so of the three.
-West Twin - there is a prominent rock feature that I've seen from a distance a few times on the southwest side of West Twin's south ridge. Another long technical SGW outing.
*Has anyone descended West Fork Bear Creek from Twin Peaks? I've hiked partway upstream to well below the south face of East Twin before.
-All of the canyons dropping off the north side of Pine Mountain -> Monrovia Peak ridge. Glen and Butterfield are the two prominent ones. They all look pretty and haven't burned yet, thankfully.
-South Face of Baldy in winter - Friends Scott and Aysel descended the western major gully in dry conditions. In cold conditions, it might be fun to ascend. About 10 rappels.
-Some stuff on the west face of Lookout Mountain
-Crag on north edge of Winston Ridge
NWish pine-Yeah the shale slab. I'm thinking it could offer some technical climbing and route finding. In winter conditions it may not be very much of either. But would offer a great ski descent! I'm not after any firsts or creating a bucket list, just intrigued by the esthetic look of certain lines. I would venture to say their are not any untraveled zones in the SGs, just lines that haven't been hit or seldom hit or just not publicized.
Falls to Iron-Yeah it has been skiied and climbed, but not climbed and skiied. Andy took the hard way and skiied it in manky snow. The couloir to nowhere goes somewhere...Falls Gulch. I'd like to climb it then ski it top to bottom in good winter snow.
Pallet-I've scouted this one once from Devil's Punchbowl. Turned around when my 4 legged partner wouldn't climb a 20'
waterfall. There's a complex of chutes that MAY have some
fun class 4-5 terrain.
Cloudburst Summit(sorry) to Manker-basically connect the
high range portion of the Crest through Prairie Fork to Pine,
Dawson, Baldy, then Manker.
Devil's cyn to West fork- I have gone from Devil's cyn to
Buckhorn. But I'm sure there is a great suffering from Twin
saddle to
West fork via West Fork Bear Creek and I'm not sure its worth
it.
A lot of your list is on the East side of East Twin. It sounds like if you could get into WFBC from Twin Saddle with overnight
gear and technical climbing gear for a few days you might be
able to tick somethings off that list.
More stuff-Telegraph eastface from middlefork(4-5k I tink wit at chik'n). I'm sure it's been done and I'm sure one could find a unique way to get up it. Dawson's northeast slope has some interesting features. Another crag that I've often wondered
about is on Josephine's north slope above the AFH and Big T Rd. intersection. Again I'm sure its been climbed and now with much of the approach burned does it give this spot more appeal. North side gunsight notch was probably climbed by
miners over a hundred years ago, but the slope/cliff thing on that side of the notch is interesting.
And I'm intrigued by a lot of fun looking crags on both side of
Winston Pk. and Winston Ridge. If you go out there I'd be interested.
I agree that on Strawberry a great route is waiting for those that can handle the stress of the rock fall and the trial and error of that face.
I am an amateur student of the SGs many of you are my teachers so please forgive me for my lack of historical knowledge and occasional geography errors
Falls to Iron-Yeah it has been skiied and climbed, but not climbed and skiied. Andy took the hard way and skiied it in manky snow. The couloir to nowhere goes somewhere...Falls Gulch. I'd like to climb it then ski it top to bottom in good winter snow.
Pallet-I've scouted this one once from Devil's Punchbowl. Turned around when my 4 legged partner wouldn't climb a 20'
waterfall. There's a complex of chutes that MAY have some
fun class 4-5 terrain.
Cloudburst Summit(sorry) to Manker-basically connect the
high range portion of the Crest through Prairie Fork to Pine,
Dawson, Baldy, then Manker.
Devil's cyn to West fork- I have gone from Devil's cyn to
Buckhorn. But I'm sure there is a great suffering from Twin
saddle to
West fork via West Fork Bear Creek and I'm not sure its worth
it.
A lot of your list is on the East side of East Twin. It sounds like if you could get into WFBC from Twin Saddle with overnight
gear and technical climbing gear for a few days you might be
able to tick somethings off that list.
More stuff-Telegraph eastface from middlefork(4-5k I tink wit at chik'n). I'm sure it's been done and I'm sure one could find a unique way to get up it. Dawson's northeast slope has some interesting features. Another crag that I've often wondered
about is on Josephine's north slope above the AFH and Big T Rd. intersection. Again I'm sure its been climbed and now with much of the approach burned does it give this spot more appeal. North side gunsight notch was probably climbed by
miners over a hundred years ago, but the slope/cliff thing on that side of the notch is interesting.
And I'm intrigued by a lot of fun looking crags on both side of
Winston Pk. and Winston Ridge. If you go out there I'd be interested.
I agree that on Strawberry a great route is waiting for those that can handle the stress of the rock fall and the trial and error of that face.
I am an amateur student of the SGs many of you are my teachers so please forgive me for my lack of historical knowledge and occasional geography errors
Fritz and I climbed the major chute going up the northeast side of Dawson, which we named Give a Dog a Bone.
I was thinking the slab on Pine could be fun-ish with snow above and below it so you can crampon up instead of scree-hate.
I was thinking the slab on Pine could be fun-ish with snow above and below it so you can crampon up instead of scree-hate.
North Fork of Bear Creek or Bear Creek via Jarvi Vista@Hwy2 are both waiting to be done. I plan on doing NF Bear Creek either way, but wouldnt mind the beta hehehe. Same goes for (east)Side Dorr canyon...feel free to change the name on it if you(or whoever) want....I just am curious about how it goes.
Ontario South looks awesome for a spring run
I wouldnt say that Falls Gulch is unexplored. But Clarks Gulch via Stanley Miller would definitely be committing. Huge waterfall/drop there.
WF of Bear Creek of course. You get triple points LOL for descending Triplet creek on the same route.
If you didnt mind going on a long hike, you could create a loop by descending from SA ridge down Coldwater canyon to a waterfall(I suspect) and then returning up to Big Horn ridge....that would be like 10,000ft gain hehehe.
Ontario South looks awesome for a spring run
I wouldnt say that Falls Gulch is unexplored. But Clarks Gulch via Stanley Miller would definitely be committing. Huge waterfall/drop there.
WF of Bear Creek of course. You get triple points LOL for descending Triplet creek on the same route.
If you didnt mind going on a long hike, you could create a loop by descending from SA ridge down Coldwater canyon to a waterfall(I suspect) and then returning up to Big Horn ridge....that would be like 10,000ft gain hehehe.
Theres really nothing on the west side thats completely new....unless you go all the way to Santa Clarita area and swoop in on Bear Canyon at the Santa Clara river or areas even further north. There are some dayroutes that havent been done yet, like Granite Mtn NW....or MtDisappointment5200SW to Bear Canyon...or the canyon one west of Long canyon@ Arroyo Seco....Castle canyon...etc .Or the ultimate is Muir Ravine east LOL...that one would be epic.
Devils canyon is overgrown...period.
Little Mermaid peak makes no sense. pk 5014 and its SE ridge are too nice to miss....then descend Chileno:D
Glen and Butterfield are blah....like almost all of the routes from Redbox-Rincon they have a beautiful last few drops.
Devils canyon is overgrown...period.
Little Mermaid peak makes no sense. pk 5014 and its SE ridge are too nice to miss....then descend Chileno:D
Glen and Butterfield are blah....like almost all of the routes from Redbox-Rincon they have a beautiful last few drops.
Butterfield I explored from the bottom a short distance and then descended,rappelling the last waterfall. The 'canyon' had widened quite a bit.
Glen canyon I explored from the bottom as well. I got to within 30ft from the top of the series of falls. Same deal...canyon widens. Plus vegetation.
Both of these suffer from a lack of waterflow, although Glen might be fine in peak rain.
Glen canyon I explored from the bottom as well. I got to within 30ft from the top of the series of falls. Same deal...canyon widens. Plus vegetation.
Both of these suffer from a lack of waterflow, although Glen might be fine in peak rain.
Finding the old "mile-high" trail, or parts of it, would be cool.
Stanley-Miller - Allison Mine = ?
Allison Mine - Coldwater canyon = check
Coldwater canyon - Big Horn Ridge = ? I found the bottom part of the trail but did not have time to continue up it.
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hillbasher
- Posts: 61
- Joined: Thu Sep 27, 2007 8:58 pm
Do you REALLY think there are any "Unsolved Problems" left in the San Gabriels?
Absolutely! Swap that word out for adventure, it's all the same. As I always say, I'm not that great of a writer and I've been hit in the head a few times, so one must think in rather general terms.
Fish fork was a great example for my close peeps on here. We assumed it had been explored obviously, but we were not sure to what extent as there was no info online or in books, or by the local network of explorers. So we eventually went in there and had a helluva adventure. It's all the unknown, and the unknown is thinking, navigating, feeling nervous, feeling a good burn hiking fast up a hill, getting bitten by tons of these damn brown flies and those tiny beetle things too, and getting hit in the face with Buckthorn with your legs cut up bleedin' all over the place, yer gear getting caught on crap as you bushwhack, setting a wild looking deadman anchor off some aid-lookin' stuff, climbing that weird pitch where you thought you'd get messed up, swimming through freezing cold sections of river at midnight, spending a cold night at a bivy spot, stomping around in the early morning waiting for those first rays of sunshine to hit as if they're the ultimate prize in the game, spending that long walk out on tired legs with your best friends talking shit and laughing, all those memories with the wonderful people on here who have completely transformed me as a person. I want more of those memories.
I can see something like descending one of the Mermaid Canyons to have some elements previously mentioned. Adventure. It's how I keep from giving up on things.
Not to be all sentimental or anything. So yeah, the next greatest unsolved problem or unexplored this or biggest challenge or coolest adventure is in the imagination, really.
Kinda like the sorta high I get from doing speed runs down our favorite local canyon that's got all the rumors of it closing and whatnot. An adventure, pure and simple.
I don't say much on here so I shall take my leave. Gotta go delete some Chinese spam accounts or something.
Fish fork was a great example for my close peeps on here. We assumed it had been explored obviously, but we were not sure to what extent as there was no info online or in books, or by the local network of explorers.
So we eventually went in there and had a helluva adventure. It's all the unknown, and the unknown is thinking, navigating, feeling nervous, feeling a good burn hiking fast up a hill, getting bitten by tons of these damn brown flies and those tiny beetle things too, and getting hit in the face with Buckthorn with your legs cut up bleedin' all over the place, yer gear getting caught on crap as you bushwhack, setting a wild looking deadman anchor off some aid-lookin' stuff, climbing that weird pitch where you thought you'd get messed up, swimming through freezing cold sections of river at midnight, spending a cold night at a bivy spot, stomping around in the early morning waiting for those first rays of sunshine to hit as if they're the ultimate prize in the game, spending that long walk out on tired legs with your best friends talking shit and laughing, all those memories with the wonderful people on here who have completely transformed me as a person. I want more of those memories. I can see something like descending one of the Mermaid Canyons to have some elements previously mentioned. Adventure. It's how I keep from giving up on things.
Not to be all sentimental or anything. So yeah, the next greatest unsolved problem or unexplored this or biggest challenge or coolest adventure is in the imagination, really.
Kinda like the sorta high I get from doing speed runs down our favorite local canyon that's got all the rumors of it closing and whatnot. An adventure, pure and simple.
I don't say much on here so I shall take my leave. Gotta go delete some Chinese spam accounts or something.
You are wrong, TdR.
arocknoid
This is some damn good writing:As I always say, I'm not that great of a writer
Keep on climbin', hikin', and postin'.Fish fork was a great example for my close peeps on here. We assumed it had been explored obviously, but we were not sure to what extent as there was no info online or in books, or by the local network of explorers. Smile So we eventually went in there and had a helluva adventure. It's all the unknown, and the unknown is thinking, navigating, feeling nervous, feeling a good burn hiking fast up a hill, getting bitten by tons of these damn brown flies and those tiny beetle things too, and getting hit in the face with Buckthorn with your legs cut up bleedin' all over the place, yer gear getting caught on crap as you bushwhack, setting a wild looking deadman anchor off some aid-lookin' stuff, climbing that weird pitch where you thought you'd get messed up, swimming through freezing cold sections of river at midnight, spending a cold night at a bivy spot, stomping around in the early morning waiting for those first rays of sunshine to hit as if they're the ultimate prize in the game, spending that long walk out on tired legs with your best friends talking shit and laughing, all those memories with the wonderful people on here who have completely transformed me as a person. I want more of those memories.
arocknoid
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Uncle Rico
- Posts: 1439
- Joined: Thu Mar 20, 2008 7:48 pm
And this:
I also really dig how developers will destroy a piece of land for more houses for yet more people to store themselves in whilst not working, and then they'll put up signs calling the stuff they didn't bulldoze a 'preserve' or somesuch. 'Coastal scrubbrush preserve' or whatever, like the one in West Covina. Bulldoze and flatten the land for consumerism, then call the parts you didn't kill something fancy and win biuo-green-hippie creds! Everyone wins in these politics. How about using condoms more, people? Oh, did I just say maybe people should have fewer kids since resources are limited? Treading on god-given rights, how dare I!
