Boulderfest!

The Snow Valley Bouldering Guide

Matt Artz

Snow Valley Secret Stash:The Singletrack Boulders

Naughty Jungle Love Boulder

1. Jungle Fever. 5.6.

Southeast arete.

2. Big Bad Naughty Jungle Love. 5.8.

Hand crack in center of south face.

Lip/roof on west face.

North face.

Crack in center of north face.

Northeast arete. Sit start with butt on boulder.How to get there: from Snow Valley North/The Indifferent Boulders area, head east up theridge. The Naughty Jungle Love Boulder is close to the singletrack trail.Page 111

The History of Snow Valley Bouldering

The rough granite boulders surrounding the Snow Valley Ski Resort in the San BernardinoMountains began to attract the attention of local climbers in the early 1990’s. Before long,Brad Singer, Mike Rigney, and other members of the Rim of the World Climbing Club(ROWCC) had established more than seventy-five boulder problems and the ROWCC heldthe first Snow Valley Boulderfest in 1996. The combination bouldering contest and trashcleanup was attended by a approximately 40 club members, and was a huge success. 1997 brought more contestants--and more boulder problems. By 1998, about 130 people sharedalmost 500 boulder problems.Today, the Snow Valley Boulderfest is no more--the ROWCC can no longer afford the timeor money to subsidize the event. But the roots of the Boulderfest run deep. Among the 1,000or more established boulder problems, a high percentage are VB to V0+--testament to theSnow Valley philosophy of establishing an extensive bouldering playground for climbers of all abilities, not just the mega-hard. At an elevation of 6,700 feet with a short approach for many of the problems, it’s one of the nicest summer bouldering areas you’ll find in So Cal.Singer and Rigney are still active at Snow Valley, and many others have also contributed tothe continued development of Snow Valley, including Lisa Rands, Travis McElvaney, Zack Shields, Aaron Rough, Matt Hock, Rob Stauder, Enrique Yaptenco, James March, PatBrennan, Ken Kennega, and Matt Artz.

Conversion Chart

Snow Valley "Points"YDS V

1 5.6 -5 5.7 -10 5.8 -20 5.9 -30 5.10a V0-40 5.10b/c V050 5.10d V0+60 5.11a V180 5.11b/c V2100 5.11d V3150 5.12a V4200 5.12b/c V5250 5.12d V6300 5.13a V7400 5.13b/c V8500 5.13d V9

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1996 Snow Valley Boulderfest

In the “good old days,” Southern California could boast of the annual California BoulderingContest at Mt. Rubidoux, but since the mid-80’s comps have been few and far between...unlessyou count indoor comps. Indoor climbing is bad enough, but indoor

comps

can really bite, or soI’ve heard. So news of an actual outdoor bouldering competition in our own backyard got manya local climber excited.

Climber at Jalapeno Cracks on “Ken’s Arete,” the hardest route to date(150 points or 5.12-something) at Snow Valley West.

A core group of Rim of the World Climbing Club (ROWCC) locals has been developing theSnow Valley area in the San Bernardino Mountains for the last two or three years, and finallyshowed it off. Well, at least part of it. The “Snow Valley West” area as they call it features81 fine routes in the 5.4 to 5.12 range, about 20 of them toprope routes and the rest boulder problems. I can’t wait to see “Snow Valley East”...It was a cool autumn morning as we met in the parking lot at the Snow Valley Ski Resort onSaturday, October 19th, 1996. A fair number of the 70 or so pre-registered club membersdidn’t show, probably because of the blustery weather, but it was their loss. The low cloudslooked threatening, but the borderline warm-in-the-sun, cool-in-the-shade weather was tailor made for perfect climbing. Travis “The Prez” McElvany assembled everyone in the parkingPage 113