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Free For All Valley

Free For All Valley by Brennan Lagasse Looking for an excuse to get out of town, but not travel super far? Ever run across rumors of world class bouldering near the Sierra Buttes? Me too. Last weekend I finally had an excuse to follow up on the rumors I’ve heard about for so many years. A couple of good friends set a wedding party that saw a ton of amazing Tahoe locals come out and celebrate near the sleepy town of Loyalton. I figured if my partner and I got up early and charged we’d be able to check out the zone, get the dogs out, and hopefully find these magic boulders I had heard rivaled anything one can find in the Northern Sierra. The rumors were right, and even though proper exploration could take days or even weeks, if you’ve got an afternoon or better yet a whole day, you can head north out of Truckee for an hour or so, and after a steep gorgeous hike in a majestic pine forest, you’ll quickly stumble upon the goods. More specifically, head north on 89 to Sierraville, and take a left following 89 till it splits into route 49. From here stay left till the town of Bassets and watch your odometer. After about 2 miles you’ll pass a 5,000’ elevation sign. About a quarter mile later you’ll see a small pull-out on the right. Park here, or cruise over the awkward rocky speed bump for a spot the doubles as a stealth camp spot and a nice off the road parking space. The trail is clearly marked on your right and follows a beautiful creek for a few minutes. After you cross the creek the trails gets pretty steep and climbs through pine forest. After about a half hour you’ll start to see the peaks of the Sierra Buttes. Another ten to fifteen minutes and you’ll run into what’s known as “The Only Boulder”. If you want to warm up look left and you’ll see “The Warm Up Boulder” down off the trail. Both offer easier VB-V1 warm ups, but “The Only Boulder” has much better and bigger problems that also showcase the epic views of the Buttes and the Valley that surrounds you.

by Unofficial NetworksOctober 6, 2010

Jillian and I climbed between these two boulders for most of our session as the problems were fun, hard, and the rock quality was 5 star. I recommend bringing a pad with you if you really want to push some of the high ball routes as it makes committing to exposed moves much easier. The spot in general is worth a visit even if you just feel like going for a good hike. Amazing mountain views abound, and further up the trail the potential for this area to become “discovered” in terms of world class bouldering in very real. As we walked up the trail past “The Only Boulder” and “The Warm Up Boulder” I noticed some boulders with chalk, which meant they had been worked, but there were others that were totally clean. These may or may not have been attempted yet, but had obvious lines that begged to be climbed. As you go deeper into the valley rock features and boulders are everywhere. This is definitely a worthy spot for a quick out of town getaway, a fun hike, or for some great adventure climbing.

Better get on it soon though as October may be one of our best months in Tahoe for climbing, but it’s also notorious for bringing unstable weather and the first signs of the winter to come. Actually, as I write this, the climbing gear is getting put away for the week in hopes there’s some pow to ski above 8000’ with all the rain that’s been falling at Lake level. Probably not, but therein lies the beauty of Tahoe. Even when the weather switches so dramatically if you stay open and adaptable to the climate, there’s always something fun to do. It also looks like we’ll be back to perfect climbing/biking weather by the weekend, and with these signs of unstable weather so early in the fall, hopefully it’s just a sign of a long epic winter for the 2010-2011 season.