12 Apr 2025 - Conditions Report: Pine Creek Canyon Rock Climbing

The spring climbing season has officially arrived here on the Eastside!

Why's that? Because Pine Creek Canyon is bone dry and eager to be climbed!

It's time for the annual migration of locals from the pumpy climbing the steep volcanic tufts of the Owens River Gorge to the techy climbing of the slabby, smooth, intricate granite of Pine Creek.

Here's what our staff member, Colin, an AMGA-trained guide for Sierra Mountain Center, found out there:

Conditions Report:

Current As Of: 12 April 2025*

A granite lover at heart, I was stoked to find some time to finally get out for my first pitches in Pine Creek for the year! My colleague, Todd, had gotten out earlier in the week for some pitches at Fashion Slabs where he had previously done some route development and told me that the rock was no doubt ready to go.

Leaving Bishop at 0915, I got up to the main parking area at the mouth of Scheelite/Pratt's Crack Canyon just before 0945. Needing to be back in town for a work shift by 1200, I quickly hiked with my gear up to the base of Tai Tower and rope-soloed four pitches before checking out Scheelite Canyon and heading back down to town at 1100.

The granite was dry and grippy with surprisingly few friable bits (caused by winter weathering/erosion) compared to what I expected given the limited traffic so far this year. It made for a pleasant experience as I could focus on movement rather than worrying about rock quality.

Typical for Pine Creek weather throughout the summer, it was already rather hot in the sun by 1000-1100 on east/south facing features like Tai Tower, Fashion Slabs, PSOM Slab, etc., but the temps in the shaded canyons like Scheelite were far more mild and helped even further with a gentle breeze.  If climbing on the east and south facing features, I'd recommend either getting an early morning start before the rock and temps warm up or waiting until the sun drops down below the ridge crest of Mt Tom around 3pm making those features shaded. If climbing in the canyons, you can largely climb at your discretion by bouncing around to wherever the shade is at the moment.

Still on the fence about whether granite is your thing? Here's a unique weekend adventure idea: Right now is that rare window where you can highball (or lowball) in the Tablelands and Buttermilks, sport climb 30-meter walls in the Gorge, and plug gear into Pine Creek granite—all in one trip. Three wildly different styles of climbing, four major areas—what a trip that would be!

Don’t wait. Come visit us on the Eastside while the conditions are perfect!

(And if you need a guidebook for Pine Creek Canyon, a new rope for this season, or rental crash pads for your bouldering days while in town, we got you covered!)

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View from the main parking area at the mouth of Scheelite/Pratt's Crack Canyon. Look at all that beautiful granite!

View up canyon from the main parking area at the mouth of Scheelite/Pratt's Crack Canyon

The desert peach in the canyon has come into full bloom!

 

A close-up of ones of the blooms with the Tungstar Bowls in the background!

*All conditions reports are subject to change, increasingly so with each passing day since the observation(s) were made. They are provided as a tool to assist your adventuring, not to replace your own risk management and decision-making. No information in any trip or conditions report published by Eastside Sports should be considered definitive in its information or directive in its recommendation.