BajaNomad - rock climbing/bouldering

rock climbing/bouldering

rin - 8-22-2005 at 02:34 PM

Hi:
I'm planning to take a couple of weeks late this year to climb in Baja. Does anyone know of any established climbing areas where I can boulder / do sports routes. Do any topos exist? I think there may be stuff in Catavina - has anyone been there? Any info would be greatly appreciated.
thanks
Rin

David K - 8-22-2005 at 03:00 PM

Get Peterson's 'Baja Adventure Book'... then get the 'Baja Almanac' topo map book... Camping and Climbing in Baja is another good book, but a bit outdated. Go to Tienda here on Nomad or BajaBooksandMaps.com... Mexican Topo maps are available at Map Centre in San Diego or online at MapWorld.com (part of Map Centre).

Baja Nomad 'jide' loves the granite canyons of Baja for hiking and climbing... also 'Don Jorge' and others too...

Anonymous - 8-22-2005 at 03:44 PM

Bouldering....takes me back. I still like "Camping and Climbing in Baja" by John Robinson, although Peterson's book is a little more up to date.

A really good place for bouldering (maybe the best in Baja) is El Picacho del Diablo...Devil Mountain. If you go there, prepare for lots of rough bouldering, you will be route finding, and a little rope climbing...100 feet should do it. We used to get there a long, long time ago about 80 miles south of Ensenada and head inland into the Sierra San Pedro Martir. Most will be at 7000-9000 ft. Lots of wild looking chickenheads. The road in sucks...or used too, anyway. Might be a superhighway now, with all the development that has happened since I was down there. You go thru villages of San Telmo, Sinaloa, and the Meling rancho way up high. Bust a leg. Too old now, but will be there in spirit.

Neal Johns - 8-22-2005 at 04:11 PM

Established? Not very, except for a few of the canyon hike/waterfall climbs. Lots of 20-30 foot high boulder piles in the Catavina area, but the best bouldering is about 20 miles further south, a half mile diameter boulder pile, 200 feet high, a couple of hundred yards to the right of Hwy. 1. The old pre-pavement road takes off of Hwy. 1 to go right, behind the pile, about a half mile or so North. Great camping spot, zero traffic. Road ia a little bumpy but 2wd should be OK.

Used to be climber - see avatar for what happened. :lol:

Bruce R Leech - 8-22-2005 at 04:16 PM

what is an established climbing area?

I like to climb any where In Baja ca. just find a mountain, check to see if you need permission or permits. and go for it.

Bruce R Leech - 8-22-2005 at 04:19 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Neal Johns
Established? Not very, except for a few of the canyon hike/waterfall climbs. Lots of 20-30 foot high boulder piles in the Catavina area, but the best bouldering is about 20 miles further south, a half mile diameter boulder pile, 200 feet high, a couple of hundred yards to the right of Hwy. 1. The old pre-pavement road takes off of Hwy. 1 to go right, behind the pile, about a half mile or so North. Great camping spot, zero traffic. Road ia a little bumpy but 2wd should be OK.

Used to be climber - see avatar for what happened. :lol:

that is a great spot Neal I know it well

I wonder if any one has a GPS address

[Edited on 8-23-2005 by Bruce R Leech]

bajaandy - 8-22-2005 at 05:53 PM

Rin,
There is definetly some good bouldering in Catavina, and as Neal said check out the huge boulder pile a few miles south. I believe it is marked as Cerro de Piedra in the Baja Almanac. I have also heard rumor that there is some good bouldering in the Sierra San Pedro Martir, but have yet to check it out. (See anonymous post above.)
As for a real climbers topo, good luck. You might try the San Diego Climbers Coalition, at
http://www.giantsoftware.com/sdcc/
Post a question there and see if anyone has beta about Baja climbing. I remember many years ago there was an article in Climbing Mag about Baja bouldering, but it mainly focused on Catavina.
My advice, take your shoes and chalk bag and just have a great time exploring.

If you don't want to go so far South...

vgabndo - 8-22-2005 at 06:50 PM

Laguna Juarez (Laguna Hansen) area is easy to get to and very challanging. Smooth with a lot of DG. MANY years ago we put several "new" routes up there. The boulder fields extend for miles to the South. The empty spaces between house-sized boulders were often as big as a big living room.

David K - 8-22-2005 at 09:42 PM

Check out http://vivabaja.com/jide for some Sierra Juarez granite faces...

Anonymous - 8-23-2005 at 07:08 AM

This is coming from a boulderer of 15-years...

Catavina has a handful of sport routes on volcanic rock/choss, it is good for a day adventure, but not a destination.

Boulders in Catavina SUCK, a whole lotta choss. A shame given the vast amount of rock. One would expect J-Tree rock by the look of it, but it falls short.

Laguna Hansen is the spot for climbing in the north. Very high quality rock, sport, trad, and aide routes...don't get hurt as help is a long way away. The rock is like southern sierra.

The climbing in Cabo blows.

Canyon Guadalupe has some boulders that could be fun, but I never seemed to make it too far from the tubs.

Don Jorge - 8-23-2005 at 07:24 AM

Anon 2 has covered it pretty good.

Do stop in Canon Tajo, close to the border and San Diego climbers. This is a world class, established, trad route destination. Lots of beta on this area. Lots and lots of bolted routes with bolts ranging from rusty 1/4 " yikes, to better looking hardware. Routes to > 5.11

Anonymous - 8-23-2005 at 08:34 AM

Don Jorge correclty corrected me; I meant Canon Tajo when I wrote Laguna Hanson, my bad. It is world class, no doubt.