Playground Point Cragging
- Gear Used:
- 60 meter rope
- gear to 2 inches
- quickdraws
April 14, 2008
The Drive
We took the I-90 route and made it in about 21/2 hours. It's a pretty quick and easy route.
The Approach
We made this approach a lot more difficult than it should have been. We were hoping to start off at Bush Gardens to climb a couple 5.7 trad routes so Dylan could work on gear placements and such. After following a very non direct series of trails I made it to the crag but Dylan was left in the dust somewhere. I waited around for about 20 minutes before I spotted him on top of the Playground Point area. So I headed over that direction instead. The trails were hard to follow and I defiantly recommend starting from the Mad Meadows area instead of the bulletin board pull out.
Playground Point is a pretty cool area of hanging' out with beginners. There are a lot of easy slab routes that you can top rope or lead with about 6 or 7 quickdraws. We started on the upper tier where we found a couple short easy cracks for Dylan to practice trad climbing on.
Mouse over the image to see the route.
Route 1, 5.4
We started with this short crack that had some easy pro for Dylan to learn on. It was actually a pretty fun climb and you could lead the route with a set of stoppers easily. I lead it first and Dylan top roped it a couple of times before he stepped up and lead it.
Dylan lead climbing the short crack.
Route 2, 5.4
I moved over to the left most crack and lead up another short and easy route. The protection was not as good on this one but it was so easy it hardly mattered.
Dylan climbing the second crack.
Mouse over the image to see the route.
Fathers Day, 5.7
No Name, 5.7
Romper Room, 5.8+
Fathers Day 5.7
This was a pretty fun and edgy face climb. You follow about 4 bolts up the slam smearing edges with you feet and pulling crystals with your hands. Great texture on the rock provides what seems like a no slip surface.
Dylan edging up Fathers day.
No Name 5.7
The Fathers Day column connects to the slab behind it and creates a pretty cool lay back. Only two bolts protect this climb but I cant really see any reason for more.
Me pulling the roof on the climb to the right of Fathers Day.
Romper Room 5.8+
This was a really fun route as you follow sharp edges and overlaps up a steep face. It defiantly had its tricky parts and the bolts always seemed to be a little short of the cruxes which made for an exciting climb.
Dylan top roping Romper Room.
-Useful guide books-
