Velma's Crack and Shaggy's Secret Stash

So, like I said, we went back up and did some new routing up there at Silver Lake. We went back to the same area as Zoinks!! and Mystery Machine and did two new routes there. Rich lead a two pitch climb we've called Velma's Crack, and I led a one pitch climb called Shaggy's Secret Stash. Both climbs are way fun.

This cliff is pretty cool for a bunch of reasons. First all there are a bunch of awesome boulders at the base. This is actually the first place were I've been really psyched about the bouldering potential. Secondly, there are hardly any pitches of climbing reported up there, so the potential for first ascents is vast. Thirdly, there are tooooooons of natural lines. Cracks all over the place. Like sick cracks. Like um, overhanging finger cracks and laser cut corners, and roofs and everything! The last reason this cliff is cool is because most of the rock is clean. Well, it's clean enough to climb. Rich and I did both Shaggy's and Velma's ground up and on-sight. The lichen and moss only caused minor frustration and a few falls. With a little traffic these routes will clean up nicely.

Velma's Crack shares the same start as Mystery Machine (5.6), which was a previous "exploratory" pitch of climbing, led by another party. From the end of that pitch, you move left into a discontinuous corner and crack system, ending in a nice fat crack. The route is 105 feet long (after the first 45 feet from Mystery Machine) and the first pitch goes at like 5.10b, and the second pitch goes at 5.9.

Shaggy's Secret Stash is a little left of Mystery Machine and although the start doesn't look awesome, the higher you get on it the better the climbing becomes. You start in a chimney/gully. When it's possible, move out right on to a ramp. Once you are at the top of this it's on -- the angle kicks back a little and the climbing becomes a little tougher. It ended up going at 140' long 5.10c. We had some fun throwing some pretty sizable rocks of this climb too. There were definitely a few that were 24 inches by 10 inches. Big rocks. This route also has some nice exposure too!

This means we have more than doubled the amount of reported climbs at this cliff. And in only two days of work. And we are going back today! Woo Hoo!