Up early again today to beat the heat and more importantly the crowds. The nearest car park to the climbing only fits ten cars, so we were pretty keen to be in one of them. To make sure we got a spot, we struck camp as soon as we woke, then had breakfast once we'd parked up.
It was a lovely walk into the gorge in the early morning coolness. No one else was about and it all felt very still, fresh and peaceful.
The climbing at the Pinnacles is good, but unnerving. The rock type is volcanic tuff which has loads of pebbles and other rocks mixed into it. It looks a bit like Monserrat in Spain, except that in Spain, the conglomerate is set like concrete; at the pinnacles, it feels like the pebbles might just pull out in your hand! You can tap some areas of the rock and it sounds very hollow. All in all, we decided that it wasn't the place to be falling off or pushing our grade, so opted for some of the easier classics, that looked well travelled and on the best of the rock.
The first route - Portent (5.6)*** - we did in three short pitches, but I had to down climb the top pitch as ther was no top lower off belay and we didn't want to hike off the top of the crag! We abseiled from the bolts of the second belay back to our bags. The route has huge holds, but we still moved gingerly across the face!
Our second route, Swallow Crack (5.6)*** was just as fun and with better protection. It followed a big corner and This time we carried our shoes for the hike off the top.
The views from the top of the cliffs were great and a slight breeze kept us perfectly cool.
After the hike back to the van, we stopped off at a viewing point for some late lunch before driving back north to Cupertino. Once again, the drive took us through ever changing landscapes. The sun and drought conditions has already started to turn the grass brown.
The 'Pinnacles' were soon behind us and the open road with it's rolling grassy hills lay ahead.
Back in the city, we met up with Anna and spent a great night chatting away over more lovely home cooked food and a bottle of wine or two...
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