Across the road from the main Sespe Wall lies a steep 50 foot high face marked with two huecos on the bottom half.

Strenuous and dynamic climbing is the name of the game.  The route starts with a run-and-jump to the first hueco, followed by a huge throw to the second hueco. Two more big moves up and then left lead to easier climbing and a vintage bolted anchor (1985 originals?).

The lead bolts are in decent shape, although the 4th bolt is missing a hanger.  Use a wired stopper, rivet hanger, or bring along a hanger and crescent wrench :).

Glory Days

The Boss Man

The White Spider

Tree Root

Pipe Cleaner

Floyd

Roadside Cracks

Chips Block

Wadka

Pine to Pine

Edge of Night

Mrs. Murphy's Rusty Old Packard

Ending Crack

Lost in the Sespe

Bee Line

The Wasp/The Sting

Black Wall Traverse

Half Ascent

This small crag has a 5.11 face climb on the far (climber's) left, which I believe was first bagged by Kevin Brown. Currently, I don't think there is an anchor on top, so you have to scramble (not recommended) or rappel from a tree. The face of the crag that overlooks the road touts several auspicious cracks, the leftmost being the hardest and most aesthetic. The aforementioned crack climb is actually quite fierce, and can be likened to bouldering with a rack and rope. Still, the climbing is sustained, steep, and variedall in a mere 25-30 feet.

A short hand crack out a roof, then thirty feet of low angle climbing to a spacious ledge.

Rappel from a stout manzanita to get back into the gully.

White Spider is the vegetated thin crack just to the right of Pipe Cleaner.  It's not as dirty as it looks, and provides a nice option when the more popular lines are full.  Protection is a little tricky and sparse in places, and due to lower traffic may have a little more friable rock than adjacent routes.  There is a short runout section about 30' up with potential ground fall exposure.  Not recommended for the budding leader.

This route starts two cracks to the right of Ending Crack, sort of underneath a large tree growing at the base of the wall.  Climb the splitter to a small tree growing out of the crack and two bolt belay. P2 follows the crack up to left, joining the final segment of Ending Crack and Wadka.

Pipe Cleaner follows the third most-obvious line on the wall (in this case, left of Ending Crack).  The route follows an undulating crack which occasionally masquerades as a shallow corner.  The crack ranges from a few millimeters wide to about 8 inches (although no gear over 3-inches is absolutely necessary).  The gear is good and the climbing is fairly sustained.  Unlike Ending Crack, which has abundant face holds on either side, this route forces you to use the crack--expect plenty of fist jamming and even a little off-width climbing.

The top of the route features a bolted anchor--2 glued-in eye-bolts and a Fixe Triplex.  It takes two ropes to reach the ground.

The most unusual feature of this route is that it seldom has any dry ground beneath it.  This means that you will likely have to build a hanging belay in a large hole about 8 feet above the water.  Keeping the rope dry is an excellent test of your rope management skills.  When you pull the rappel lines, one of your ropes is surely getting wet.

Though not truly multi-pitch, I find the climbing on this route to be more enjoyable than Tree Route.

Floyd is an adventurous multi-pitch outing on the leftmost side of the wall. The technical crux is likely 20 feet off the ground, but the main challenge lies in the anchor building and route finding required to complete the route.

There is clearly an opportunity to rappel on the second pitch, but I haven't tried it (we walked off). Rapping might be less involved than the extra 150' of scrambling plus walk-off. Bring two ropes (or a 60m tag line) if you're planning on rapping, at least until you have word that a single line will get you down.

Also come prepared to leave slings at your stations.

Pitch 1: From the creek, climb up to a right leaning corner. Climb past this corner into the dihedrals above, until you gain a wide ledge. Construct a belay.

Pitch 2: Exit the ledge on the left side, and climb the airy slab above.

Either rap off the obvious large tree, or extend the pitch another 150' over easy terrain and walk off.

This route follows a striking feature up the left side of the Black Wall.  Despite being an eye-catcher from the road, the rock quality is merely okay and the climbing is not that interesting.

What is very interesting is the protection on this route.  First of all, the gear on the traversing first pitch is scarse and hard to place.  The second pitch provides an exhibit of many of the different types of harware-store-variety gear (bolts, nails, you name it).  Obviously, all of it is suspicious.  Fortunately, the climbing on the second pitch is rather easy and the gear becomes a  curiosity rather than an objective hazard.  The top anchor above pitch 2 is difficult to build.

From the top of the route, make an exposed 3rd class traverse left until reaching a gully(some parties may want to belay this as a third pitch).  Descend the gully to a large rappel tree.  I believe that a 60m rope is required to reach the ground.  Be sure to top-rope Half Ascent (5.5) which is directly beneath the tree.

In summary, this is a real adventure route--the kind that you're glad you did and glad you'll never have to do again.

The crux is just over half way up just past a bolt where pro is almost impossible. The first half is mostly face climbing straight up to the bolt under the over hang or climb the crack on the left up and slightly right putting in pro in various cracks. After the bolt follow a crack up past a couple of trees to the anchor which is also the rap station for Ending Crack and Tree Root.

A 300ft tall sandstone odyssey. Pine to Pine takes the most direct line up the tallest part of the wall.

Low traffic has left the route dirty with loose rock and flakes still lurking, and the higher you climb the dirtier it gets. However, climbers willing to explore the route will find great protection the entire way.

Pitch 1 (120') - Climb directly to the clump of bushes partway up the wall. Sling stout bushes for the belay.

Pitch 2 (180') - Head upward and slightly right, moving toward the large tree at the top of the wall. In its current condition, this pitch might be best broken in two.

Two double rope rap's will get you back to the deck.

A prominent and striking line up the arete at the far right end of the main wall. A classic gear protected runout face climb.

Easy but largely unprotected climbing up the arete with occasional gear opportunities mostly in horizontal cracks. You might want to double up those placements for some added security, too. Cast off again on the exposed arete, with a few 20 foot runouts.

Starting at the base of the wall, climb the arete directly up to a belay slightly off-route at the tree, or belay off gear near or above the tree. The second pitch is much more clean, fun, and exposed.

About twenty feet right of the platform is a small cave at the base. Climb the left-leaning cracks/seam immediately right of the cave. When the seam terminates, climb up the face and into the gully. Pro gets a bit scarce towards the top.

Construct your own belay and descend the gully.

P1: Follow the striking crack straight up the face to a 2-bolt belay.

P2: Continue up the crack until it peters out, then follow face holds up and right to a shallow face crack to newish 3-bolt anchors.

Walk off to wide gully on the left or rap off anchors via two-rope rappel.

Lost in the Sespe

features over two hundred feet of continuous climbing up a wild part of Black Wall. A 70m rope is required to complete the very long first pitch.

Start by two pipes on the wall and head up towards a very small pine. Climb left up the scruffy ramp, then back right to gain the right facing ribs. Thin gear in a horizontal protects the moves to the leaning corner. Follow the corner to the huge ledge above, make your own belay.

A second pitch of easy terrain leads to the backside walk-off.

This climb will earn an additional star or two when it cleans up, it features quality rock like its neighbors down the wall. Until then expect some scruff.

In the future, it may be possible to avoid the scruffy ramp by climbing directly, but this variation would require some cleaning. For now, take the ramp.

Careful use of slings is required to avoid rope drag on the first pitch.

Making this a safe lead requires the leader be solid at the grade and experienced at placing gear.

Old-school adventure climbing at its best--and not your typical outing at Sespe Gorge.

Those who don't mind the extra lichen and who aren't afraid of tricky gear will be richly rewarded by this route.  The climbing is a big step up physically and psychologically from Ending Crack.

The route follows a single crack system that climbs nearly straight up the wall past several small trees.

At the top of P1, there are two hangars with rap rings.

The most engaging line on the wall. Low traffic has kept things from cleaning up thus far. But a worthy line for the adventurous.

Steep

climbing out of the cave leads to the long, low angle face above. The route is capped with a small roof, which contains several variations.

Although it is possible to link pitches, managing the lower and upper roofs is more reasonable when the climb is broken up into three pitches.

Pitch 1-

two options:

-

The Wasp

[5.8] lieback out the left side of the cave. The crux is getting into the lieback.

-

The Sting

[5.10+ R] big moves on overhanging terrain out the cave. The crux is pulling the lip.

Both first pitch variations end just above the cave at slung huecos.

Pitch 2-

Easy climbing follows a system of huecos upward. Continue upward until a crack opens up, offering better pro.

Belay at the small but sturdy oak, down and right from the high roof, or construct a belay.

Pitch 3-

A steep section of exposed moves past a roof, 200+ feet off the deck.

From the belay, head left to the roof and surmount it via one of three weaknesses.

The leftmost crack is 5.9, the middle is 5.8, and the rightmost is 5.7.

Getting to the 5.9 crack from the oak belay includes a great hand traverse beneath the roof.

A large oak with slings makes it easy to rappel back down and sample each top-out variation.

*tattered slings marking the top of pitch 1 on 'The Sting' replaced with black webbing and tan ring Oct. 19th 2013*

The Black Wall Traverse is nearly five hundred feet long on mostly excellent sandstone, polished clean by eons of Sespe flooding. Easy climbing separates the various cruxes, which range from thin friction climbing to overhanging jugs. The traverse goes both ways.

In my opinion, Half Ascent is the best route on the left side of the cable platform. It's rating is somewhere around 5.5/5.6 and it's currently a bit runout. There are 2 existing bolts (circa 1970) but one of the hangers is missing. If the bolts were replaced, I'd give it a 5.6 PG Rating. Begin directly below the tree and the corner of the big overhang. Look for the clean rock and the rusty, old 1/4" bolt (w/Leeper Hanger). Head straight up toward the sharp(!), yucca thing, then work your way left till you get to the belay tree. Rap here (off 2 ropes) or work your way up and left.

Description

Protection

Routes in Sespe Gorge (Black Wall)