Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Question for climbers...

As we continue to prepare for our 2nd assualt on the MR next spring I was wondering if there are any good/fun class 3 climbs in southern california. I have 2 people thinking about joining my group who haven't done any class 3 climbing and wanted to introduce them to it and see how they handle it (both are very strong hikers) If it includes a hike to get to the climbing all the better, but a day hike/climb is perferable. Thanks for any info you can muster up. I was trying to search the net but most everything I found was up near whitney.

Strawberry Peak comes to mind. Just south(ish) of Mt Wilson and on the road to.

http://www.dankat.com/advents/strawb.htm

At least this has a trail to it. Most of the other scrambles are bushwhacks through some of the better poison oak in North America.

Another fun one is Cornell Peak just east of San Jacinto. While I think the summit block is Class 4 (??) there is some fun scrambling on the slopes, at least!

-L

Ditto Strawberry Peak. It has a short but fun class 3 section with exposure.

I knew it would be faster hitting you guys up. Thanks for the info. Strawberry Peak actually looks really fun. Amazing I haven't heard of it before. Cornell seems fun too but not for newbies. Thanks for the help!

Laura,

Cornell is a lot more fun in a blizzard with the wind a howling.

In those conditions we made to the summit block last winter and decided life was preferable.

Based on that experience, I'd say it is class 1 to the summit block or you can class 2 scramble to the block if that is your desire.

I can't think of any lengthy class 3 stuff on any of the major peaks in SoCal.

You can practice 3rd and 4th class all day in Joshua Tree. One spot in particular that comes to mind is hiking to the spires above Rattlesnake Canyon from the parking area at the east side of Indian Cove. very very cool hike with interesting routefingding problems and as much 3rd and 4th class as you can handle. But really anywhere in Josh you can find good 3rd class:
Indian Cove, Wonderland of Rocks, Hidden Valley, Jumbo Rocks, etc.

I agree with Joshua Tree and the Rattlesnake Canyon area. Or any route out of indian cove requires class three or more. Route finding is key with plenty of low altitude exposure.

I forgot about this one!

A friend and I did a hike a few months ago called the "Tahquitz rock to Tahquitz Peak Traverse"

Here is a link to the route description:
http://www.summitpost.org/route/293484/tahquitz-rock-to-lookout-tower-traverse.html

Very fun 2nd and 3rd class hike with just a wee bit (1 move) of 5.0, which can be bypassed. Very tricky routefinding though. We had to downclimb about 300' at one point in order to avoid being cliffed out near the top. Absolutely beautiful views of Humber Park, Marion Mtn and the surrounding areas from several "windows" along the way.

Have fun!