Peter Valchev's Rock Climbing Page

Area/Peak Route Picture Difficulty Stars Date Comments

Red Rocks, NV Various 5.9-5.11 *** November 22-25, 2007 A few days of climbing, mostly cragging.

Red Rocks, NV Dark Shadows 5.8 (4p) **** November 3, 2007 Nice short route

Lover's Leap, CA The Line, Surrealistic Pillar 5.9, 5.7 (3-4p) **** September 29-30, 2007 Two of the classic moderates in the area.

Joshua Tree, CA Double Cross 5.7+ **** February 22, 2007 My first Joshua Tree route, and a tough lead (felt way harder than 5.7!). Lots of jamming - need to learn to better crack climb!

Joshua Tree, CA Overhang Bypass 5.7 ** February 23, 2007 Me and Parisa's second Joshua Tree climb. We weren't impressed and I did an awkward and unpleasant variation to the first pitch by accident.

Red Rocks, NV Cat in the Hat, others 5.6, 5.8 ***** January 8-9, 2007 Me and Parisa spent a couple of days in Red Rocks - we climbed Cat in the Hat which was great fun and highly recommended (there's a reason it's so popular). The next day we got lost in our attempts to find sun-facing routes and eventually climbed a 1-pitch 5.8 basking in the sun.

Yamnuska Red Shirt 270m, 5.8+ ** September 28, 2006 Very polished first two pitches, as the guidebook says. Lots of traverses... fun, but not really recommended, lots of accidents have happened on it.

Yamnuska Western Union 5p, 5.8 *** October 10 A nice route on Yamnuska's western end. Nice for short autumn days.

South Ghost Macadamia 130m 5.9 ***** September 7 2006 The first 3 pitches are OK, but the 4th pitch is just amazing. Steep and intimidating, stem your way past an overhanging roof and savour the experience.

South Ghost Bonanza 260m, 5.8 **** September 23, 2006 First pitch is a nasty off-width chimney. The rest of the climb - pretty fun! Definitely bring shoes in your pack for the walk-off... it's long. We did not, and postholed through 2 feet of snow in rock shoes - yuk!

North Ghost Consolation 7p, 5.8 **** September 3, 2006 Cool climb... be careful on the traverse pitch. Go up and left after clipping the bolt - the topo suggests down, but that's actually quite a bit harder and more awkward.

Smith Rock, OR Moonshine Dihedral, Monkey Face 5.9, 5.8 *** August 17-18, 2006 Fun climbing area. I stopped there on my way back from California to Canada, and enjoyed two days of nice climbing. It was pretty hot in the middle of the day, I guess fall/spring are better times to go there.

Lover's Leap, CA Corrugation Corner 5.7 ***** August 12, 2006 It is dubbed one of the best 5.7's in North America and I agree. We did the 5.8 variation on the third (?) pitch which was nice too.

Tuolumne Meadows, CA Many on Stately Pleasure Dome, etc. 5.7-5.8 *** July 2006 There are many crags in Tuolumne with fun crack climbing and some run-out granite slabs.

Lover's Leap, CA The Line, Bear's Reach 5.9, 5.7 **** June 17, 2006 Cool climbs but beware of the crowding that can happen.

Yosemite Valley, CA Pine Line, Munginella 5.7, 5.6 *** May 20-21, 2006 First time climbing in the Valley - a couple of quick climbs for an introduction to the area. Rained the second day so we couldn't do much, but saw a bear!

Pinnacles, CA Various sport 5.8, 5.10a, 5.10c ** May 14, 2006 Cool sport climbing area close to the Bay Area. Really crappy volcanic rock but the best thing around. Don't go there after it rains!

Bow Valley Keelhaul Wall 5.6 * October 16, 2005 An old classic climb with tons of fixed gear (suspect pitons). Not really memorable in any way, other than that it snowed on us!

Bow Valley Gray Waves 5.8 **** August 14, 2005 Cool climb, highly recommended. It holds a special place in my heart as my first official technical climb a year prior, in 2004 (thanks Rich!)

North Ghost Silvertongue Devil Wall 5.10s *** May 15, 2005, 2006 Nice and friendly crag with lots of sport climbs, most of them in the 5.10s. Well protected and low stress climbing for the most part. Challenging approach sometimes.