Fish Out of Water – 5.12a (trad)


FA: Jake Tiger - 2022-07-17

Description:   (under review)

To approach this cliff drive to the Tantalus Lookout. There are two ways to access the talus field:
1) Walk up the road towards the Chalet. PLEASE REFRAIN FROM DRIVING UP THE ROAD AS IT MAY CAUSE ACCESS ISSUES. The owners of the properties there are very protective of the area and are very sensitive to climbers coming and going. Be respectful and don’t make too much noise passing their place. When you hike up the road towards the chalet you’ll see a trailhead leading right just before the Chalet entrance. The trailhead is to the right. Follow that trail towards the talus. Once you enter the talus field look up the hill and you should see the cliff. Attached I’ll leave a map. On the map: the red circle is the cliff. The red arrow is the trailhead.
2) Alternatively to avoid the Chalet all together:
Follow the road which heads up and south from the turnoff, go past the yellow gate, around the third bend in the trail, under the power lines, look for a trail on the right. Follow this trail over a small ridge and down into a valley with a creek,
(Follow some flagging) then follow this valley north until you reach the talus field with the boulder Merlin. Hike up the talus past Merlin and look uphill to find the cliff.

Recent Sendage:

  • 5.12a
    2022-07-17 (FA)
    I found this cliff while hunting for boulders in the same talus field as the Merlin boulder. The cliff sits atop the hill and the crack is the most obvious line. I added two anchor bolts at the top of the overhang (to avoided drag) but the route tops out. Really fun and interesting mix of crack climbing techniques and overhung face climbing. Absolutely superb. The name comes from me because I am certainly not a trad climber and I definitely felt out of my element.