Scramble up to the apex of the roof above the detached block.  Place gear underneath, turn this roof on jugs, fun & easy. Make poorly protected but easy moves on flakes up to the thin crack.  Climb the thin crack, the crux is a high step move when the crack dissipates at its upper end.  Sling a big chickenhead and traverse right on a ledge to the anchors. 

  This climb is fun and climbs better than the name might imply.

Agent Orange

South Face Left

Eagle's Nest

Zig Zag Man

South Face Right

Eagle's Nest (original)

Alias The Martian

Rainy Daze

Airy Scary

South Face Center

Yikes Dikes

Surface Tension

The name says it all.  (Although it originally had no name.) 

  Start below a small triangular roof, pull up to a solid-looking 1/4" bolt.  Face climb up to a roof (pro in crack) and traverse right on solid flakes, or take a more direct line with scarcer pro, to a roof below a piton.  Turn the roof which is surprisingly easy and protects well with a nut.  From the piton to the next bolt up and right is the technical but well-protected crux with off-balance moves (AIRY!).  Up from here past a 2nd piton leads to a series of knobs that lead to a deadend up and right, and the realization that what you need to do is leave the good knobs and take off on a slab traverse to the left with hands on a down-slanting "rail" about 10-15' above the pin (5.10R, SCARY!).  My guess is you're looking at 30' fall if you came off on this section.  Don't do that.  Join the finish of Zig Zag Man through big plates/chickenheads to the top.  Build a belay where convenient.  Scramble right to get to the rappel anchors. 

  Excellent fun climbing, with intriguing moves at the cruxes and interesting route finding, but in my opinion a little bit scarier than most other climbs at the 5.11- grade at TP.

Start by scrambling up a little to the right of the top of the big detached block.  Protect with nuts in the back, a move that turns out easier than it looks as ledges appear gains the first bolt.  Angle up and left, passing a couple small bulges to reach a big roof with a bolt right at the lip.  Figure out how to reach the giant exit chickenhead, and cruise on up to the chains. 

  This climb has fun moves on good rock, and bolts in the right places.  Don't get scared off by the TP reputation for runouts; this one's well protected, and soft for the grade.

This good crack climb is the obvious finger crack just right of center on the south face of South Rock. 

  Follow the 5.8 finger crack for the first 40' of the climb.  The route's crux is a bulge, which is well-protected by 1" cams and great stopper placements.  Fun moves through this short crux lead to a big ledge.  Walk left 15' to the anchor. 

  The Original Route of Eagles Nest traverses right just before the crux bulge is reached, keeping the climb at 5.7, passing a location where a vacated eagle's nest is (or was).

An exciting lead for my first time at Tres Piedras! Though it felt a little run-out for my standardsperhaps not so bad for Tres Piedras standards. Not to mention I was just getting used to this type of climbing after not being on it for some time. Rope up at the base of a right facing dihedral that arches up and right.  This is a bomber crack with readily available protection. Follow the crack up and right until it connects with another crack that goes straight up and over a roof. Once gaining the roof, step right and you will come upon another easily protected crack that will lead to a few easy moves. I had a little difficulty with route finding at this point in the route. At a second roof if you look right you will see a small finger crack, this is not the way! Or, at least it was not the way I went as it looked nothing like 5.9. Though you can protect the bottom of it, a fall from the slab above might leave you with a painful ankle should you hit the low angle slab at the base of the finger crack. I spent a good 10 minutes here contemplating it until I looked out to the left and eyeballed some easier slab climbing. So, climb to the left of the finger crack (which is in the left facing corner). You can protect in a horizontal seam. Continue up through some low grade and slightly run-out slab to underneath a small triangular roof. Here you will traverse right until a horizontal crack runs out. Place some gear at the end of the crack, and enjoy a spicy slab, run-out traverse to some giant chicken heads that will lead you to the near the summit of South Rock. We protected a short second pitch to gain the summit and south end rap anchors but the climbing was not difficult. 

  Descent: Rappel from summit anchors to the north or south end. The north anchors are at the top of Surface Tension (5.11-), which you can top rope after descending if you wish.  

This climb, the rightmost of the 3 bolted routes on South Rock, is another overlooked climb at Tres Piedras.  It's well-protected, on good rock, with fun climbing.  It's an excellent choice for someone breaking into the 5.9 grade at TP. 

  Start just to the left of the Eagle's Nest crack.   Cruise up fun face climbing on good rock with good horizontal holds, you pass through some overlaps.  The crux is pulling through a bulge up high and protected by a bolt.  As with many climbs at TP, move left or right a few feet as it feels appropriate so as to find the easiest passage.

This is the original alignment of the Eagle's Nest route, as described in the 1981 guide.  Start up the cool inwardly flared crack, but instead of taking the direct line up the 5.10 crack, traverse right somewhere under the roof and ascend the next dirty slot to the right.  Paw through the solidified stalactites of bird guano (ewwww!) to a big ledge and find an easy way from there to the summit.

This is a fantastic climb following a corner system on the right/east end of South Rock. The pro can be tricky near the crux but it's placed from a semi-decent stance after that it eases off a little. Really fun and powerful moves.

A short but challenging route.  Doesn't look like much (it's not) but the moves are actually decent overhanging cranks.  My recollection is it felt closer to a 12b than an a.  But then it was cold and wet so... 

  Possibly just a high ball for some of you these days with a good pad. 

  Two bolts and a few pieces will get you up the overhanging seam and onto the west face slabs.   

  Good climb to do when the weather has screwed you from doing anything else at TP.  It's steep enough that the rock will stay dry for quite awhile.  

  We put this up sometime in the early '90s when we got nailed by a fall rain.  This was the only dry rock around.  We were hanging out staying dry when I started bouldering the start and realized there was a decent little problem to be had there. 

  Unfortunately, it took us over an hour per bolt to hand drill the darn things.  Half way into the first hole the bit broke and the second bit had a taper that caused continual binding in the hole.  We weren't going anywhere though and this was one way to stay warm. 

  And yes, it was ground up, all 30 or so feet of it.

Step up to the big roof.  Place pro underneath (small cam) and turn the roof (1st crux) to horizontal handholds and the first bolt.  The 2nd crux is right around the 2nd bolt in a thin slab section.  Up higher, you'll pass a cool quartz vein and enter a right-facing dihedral with some tricky pro but easier climbing. 

  This climb is probably a little harder than the bolted climb to its right, and is almost as good.  Like the nearby bolted climbs, it is well-protected, so it's a good climb for a someone breaking into the 5.9 grade at TP.

Area classic!  Climb straight up and over the left side of the short bisected buttress above resembling two heads (ala Easter Island) or more simply... a butt.  While a belay can be set up below the buttress, the route can be done easily in 1 pitch with a 60m rope. 

Excellent friction climbing on this one.  Bolts close together at the crux make this a good one to try 5.11 slab, but it does take climbing a section of 5.9+ or 5.10 slab with pro far apart to get there. 

  Pitch 1.  Clip the low bolt and make an awkward 5.10 move onto an easy ramp.  This section can be avoided by starting farther right, but if you want to avoid this move, you'll probably be better off avoiding the rest of the climb too.  A directional piece above this move is a good idea to protect the follower.  Follow the easy ramp up and left to a ledge below a vertical crack.  Build an anchor here, unless you have reason to do the climb in a single 60m pitch. 

  Pitch 2. Start up the slab, clip the first piton, work left and up on thin slab to the 2nd pin (5.9+ or 5.10 R) It's rather heady between the pitons but they are bomber.  A few more moves gain a diagonal crack, and you get more pro, any cam 1"- 3" works.  An intimidating but easy move puts you within reach of the first bolt on the final slab headwall.  The well-protected face gets blanker and blanker with the hardest "surface tension" moves getting to the final bolt (crux).   

  An intermediate belay at the ledge below the pitons and/or the final headwall is recommended to reduce rope drag, although I found it tolerable to climb the whole route in a single  58m pitch- a good idea if you have 3 people.

Several quality routes of "moderate" difficulty (5.8 to 5.11-) ascend this prominent formation.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in South Rock