Page 1 of 1

20110227 SA Falls and Apple Valley Crags

Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 11:47 am
by Taco
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.

Image
ZOOM

Image
POW! Literally.

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image
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.

Image
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...

Image

Image
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...

Image
Lightning Crack 5.8 (old-school 5.8)

Image

Image
Go Johnny Go!

Image
My usual leg shot

Image
Following

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

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

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

Image

Image
Aiders? Uhoh...

Image

Image

Image
Doing some aid climbing.

Image
It takes awhile...

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

Image
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.

Image
Johnny at the top

Image
I begin my rapp

Image

Image

Image
Johnny on his way down.

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

Image

Image

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

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Off we go...

Image

Image
Lightning Crack at center

Image
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.

Image

Image

Image

Image

Adios

Re: 20110227 SA Falls and Apple Valley Crags

Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 12:38 pm
by Hikin_Jim
Cool stuff!

HJ

Re: 20110227 SA Falls and Apple Valley Crags

Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 1:05 pm
by obie
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. :)

Re: 20110227 SA Falls and Apple Valley Crags

Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 1:49 pm
by Dave G
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. :D

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. :oops:

Re: 20110227 SA Falls and Apple Valley Crags

Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 1:56 pm
by AW~
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?

Re: 20110227 SA Falls and Apple Valley Crags

Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 2:28 pm
by Johnny Bronson
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

Re: 20110227 SA Falls and Apple Valley Crags

Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 3:59 pm
by Taco
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.

Re: 20110227 SA Falls and Apple Valley Crags

Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 4:49 pm
by obie
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. :oops:
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.

Re: 20110227 SA Falls and Apple Valley Crags

Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 4:54 pm
by Taco
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. :lol:

Re: 20110227 SA Falls and Apple Valley Crags

Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 5:07 pm
by lilbitmo
You two chasing cracks in the desert after hooking up with a "Hello Kitty" waterproof wallet - nice :D

Great shots, nice work TDR and Johnny :D

Re: 20110227 SA Falls and Apple Valley Crags

Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 6:21 pm
by Zach
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

Re: 20110227 SA Falls and Apple Valley Crags

Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 6:46 pm
by obie
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. :lol:
Really, it ain't about the bike - it's all about the engine.

MTB'ers have more fun anyways. Roadies = AnalMaximus :D

Re: 20110227 SA Falls and Apple Valley Crags

Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 6:54 pm
by yobtaf
Glad you enjoyed Horsemens center up here in Apple Valley. :D My two girls and I were up there last weekend. Had the place all to ourselves.

Re: 20110227 SA Falls and Apple Valley Crags

Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 7:17 pm
by Taco
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. :-)

Re: 20110227 SA Falls and Apple Valley Crags

Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2011 3:45 pm
by Johnny Bronson
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

Re: 20110227 SA Falls and Apple Valley Crags

Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2011 1:02 pm
by Taco
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.