Rock Climbing in California 2025

rock climbing adventure in pinnacles national park

No one prepared us for the beauty and adventure of the week that was associated with all the time we were not rock climbing. I had been thinking about the trip as a way to improve my climbing, sort of like a basketball camp. Not at all - what the trip caused me to do was to think in new ways, to work side by side with other students in an improvised kitchen making dinner, or washing dishes long after dark in lukewarm water in white plastic tubs. But each night and each day I talked with other students new to me, I saw things that I never knew existed. We watched giant California condors circling overhead. We clammered through caves surrounded by the sound of rushing water in the pitch darkness, relying on the headlamps we wore to find our way.

Each day we divided up into team sof about ten students and advisors and hiked to scattered parts of the park to climb tall pinnacles. A few of the students had taken “Leading on Rock” so were qualified to put up the routes/ The rest of us tried our hands at routes ranging from 5.4 to 5.10d. In all, I am told, we put up almost 100 routes in five days of climbing. We slpet under the brilliants stars in the clearest sky I have ever seen. When Friday rolled around, our sadness at leaving this magical park was mitigated - somewhat - by a side trip top visit the Golden Gate Bridge. I will be thinking of Pinnacles each day as I sit in my school classroom.