The Grotto 4/15

The Pit with Ort Wall on the left & The Grotto on the right.

I met up with Alex Lloyd, Alex Lotti and Diane. We jumped in the the gigantic Suburban and drove out to Table Mountain. Lloyds Suburban cruised through the dirt road and dropped us promptly at the main trail head of Table Mountain. We did a quick assortment of gear, gathered our belongings and embarked down the trail. We eventually turned left up a climbers trail and followed it as it snaked through the hillside.The trail spat us out into a field of small boulders. Upon crossing it, your atop The Pit. The Pit contains some very interesting sport climbs while hosting many aesthetic, beautiful cracks.

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Our group scrambled down to an almost empty Pit and instantly jumped on some nice 5.8 & 5.9 warmups. Lotti and I (Alec) jumped on Bandito (5.8) for a warm up climb while Lloyd and Diane cruised up Granted (5.9) After Lotti finished his nice lead, we lowered off our warm ups and hopped on some other routes. Diane and Lloyd climbed up Go With The Flow (5.9) and I started up AC Devil Dog (5.10d sport).  Lloyd topped out and lowered then Diane was cruising back up to clean and rap off. I was getting thrown off AC Devil Dog slipping off the first sequence to the second bolt. (Ive done this route before but there are some hidden holds that are vital.) Once I topped out after a couple falls I lowered off and sat down and rested.

Me on AC Devil Dog (5.10d)

​Lloyd jumped on Raw Hide (5.10d) while i belayed him. Lloyd absolutely cruised through Rawhide. He confidently placed every cam with ease and smoothly worked his way up. As he was lowering off through the mussys, a huge group came in from Planet Granite out in San Francisco. They instantly rolled up and started climbing. I got psyched by everyone climbing and crushing, I sent AC Devil Dog on my second go. It went super smooth and even had time to slam a beer on the no hands rest. I lowered off and Diane decided to go climb Cowboy Up (5.9R sport) and she crushed it. She lowered off and a nice gentleman from the Planet Granite crew belayed me on Color Coded Quick Draws (5.10b sport). Through pumpy moves and sloppy holds, the short 30 foot route was soaked on the top. With wet feet, I lowered off and ate my lunch.

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Alex Lloyd cruising though Snakebite (5.11a) on gear.

Lloyd and Lotti were on Go With The Flow (5.9). Lotti crushed his lead while Lloyd followed. While Lotti was climbing it again, i snagged some of their gear and cruised up Bandito (5.8) again so Diane could practice leading with pre placed gear. I climbed up placing 3 pieces of protection so as I was lowering, I stitched up the climb with nuts so Diane could get a good lead in. She was slowly working up to her first lead on gear (actually placing the cams/nuts) and not just climbing on fixed gear. As she was leading Bandito, Lloyd gave a run Snakebite (5.11a). It was sick watching Lloyd get down and send some serious crack. Even though he fell and took a couple times, Lloyd killed it. Once Diane lowered off I ran up Table Manners on a top rope solo to swing around and get some pictures of Lloyd on the climb. None of them turned out that cool but in the moment I thought it was sick. 

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Once Lloyd lowered off, we hung out for a bit. I tried motivating Diane to get her first lead on gear. After some convincing and motivation from the newly formed climbing community in The Pit, Diane sent up Bandito. She absolutely crushed it with only six placements and one of the most fucked up drop knee/toe hook rest for literally two minutes (trust me, it was gnarly), she topped out. Once lowered everyone threw around high-fives for Diane just sending her first climb on gear. She even shot-gunned a beer with the nut-tool. After, we all gathered our things and headed off into the sun set.

A pretty view of the lake standing upon the field of boulders.

Diane killing her first lead on gear, sending Bandito (5.8).

With good vibes and a sick community, The Pit was the place to be. It was filled with support and good times. It was a solid session of just climbing sick lines and hanging out with each other. I met a bunch of people and saw a familiar face but it was a great reminder on how climbing isn’t serious. It was a good time crushing with a bunch of new people. ​