'Tis the season for climbing at Pinnacles National Monument. Saturday I headed down to the westside with my buddies from Santa Cruz, Justin and Lisa.

Ever since I started climbing with Justin I could tell he was above average, and this was his day to start leading. Lisa has been recovering from cancer surgeries and a hip replacement, but used to lead at the Monument and knows it well.. she just wants to get more mileage in before setting out on the sharp end again.

Above the Salinas valley fog it was a crisp but clear morning, and we set out for a convenient practice area, the Northwest Streambed slabs just past the third bridge.

Justin headed up The Big Bad West (5.5) first -



We all took laps on the toprope he set up and warmed up. Way to go dude !

My turn, Passion Play (5.7) -



While we were taking laps on this one Brad Young stopped by and said hello. We had a nice chat, and then headed over to the Destiny Wall. I wanted to lead Dos Equis (5.8 R) before Brad & Eric started hammering on the new route they were finishing just above.



It was good fun, and I didn't get Elvis Leg but once :) Is it lunchtime yet ?

Next Justin decided to lead Corona (5.6) just to the right as his second lead. He cruised it.



Lisa followed him on this one, and it looked like the route was still in the early stages of being "cleaned", but was mostly pretty solid.

By now it was mid-afternoon and we decided to go do some short routes on Chockstone Dome. Lisa's feet were hurting so she just "supervised" :) I led Overboard (5.8), which seemed easier but steeper than Dos Equis. Justin led Walk the Plank (5.6) -- fun and airy. We found that using two 20' cordelettes to extend the anchor worked pretty well.

What a fun day .. our only regret was that Lisa forgot to ask Brad to autograph her guidebook. Some other time I guess. We hiked out, happily observing the scenery.