We decide to camp out close to home at Diablo Canyon this weekend. There’s not much sacrifice involved. Wildflowers of almost every kind we’ve seen in the past month anywhere are blooming here. We have no trouble finding climbs in the shade, and while there are more people around here, most don’t stay long. We’re not sure how we’ll climb since we’ve had a bit of a break, but we do pretty well:

Post Moderate 5.9

Called the longest sport route of its grade in the state, I combine our trad and sport draws to get up to 17, and head upward. It’s sweet climbing on big edges, and enough of it in 165 feet to really sink into the groove. I don’t even mind pulling my rope up through the draws and dropping it again to pull up another for the long rap.

Drunk Rednecks With Golf Clubs 5.8+

This is the climb we got rained off of last time we were here. I enjoy leading it this time. The crux is a committing move to a hold you hope will be good…

Waiting To Hesitate 5.10b

I’m happy to work through the pumpy lower section without falling, but the crux move over a bulge after a good rest takes me a couple of tries. It feels nice to work on a puzzling sequence though.

Hidden Slab 5.10a

A bit of work to approach, but I love the climbing. Good thin holds with some cracks and pockets for variety, and one little runout for spice.

A Day With Dr. Diablo 5.10c

This route isn’t in our book, but has the rating written in chalk at the bottom, so I try it out. It begins well, with kind of balancey moves on sidepulls, but then the upper half stymies me. After several falls and grabbing a quickdraw while trying to clip, I find a workable sequence. Should be fun to come back and try to redpoint this.

Good 5.10b

A very satisfying flash for me. Very consistent climbing on big downsloped holds, or small sidepulls. Gave me a smile.