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We are only two weeks into the spring athletic term, but students in the Advanced Climbing Program have been hard at work accruing vertical mileage on the rocks and, you may be surprised, cleaning our local boulders for the climbing season.

To say “cleaning” is to be somewhat poetic, since the pruning and sawing of fast-growing chaparral brush from around our beloved climbing boulders involves a good deal of blood and sweat.  The hard work has paid off already, however, by not only allowing us to train on some of our favorite boulders, but also to explore new climbs previously hidden by a woody shroud of laurel sumac, black sage, toyon and California sagebrush.  I should also mention that a group of enthusiastic rock climbers such as this can make a tremendous amount of progress in a short time.  I have been repeatedly impressed by their zest for getting dirty and working hard!  Above is a photo of the crew after a bouldering session on one of our recently cleared boulders.