I've been troubled by this quite a bit recently. I moved to Fresno 6 months ago and have been out climbing all over the state of CA with my fiancee. We do day/weekend trips to Yosemite, weekends in Red Rocks, and have been to Tahoe, Needles, Pinnacles, and Calaveras...plus alpine routes and cragging on the east side. Pretty much all of this is < 5 hr from Fresno and quite a bit is < 3 hr.

In all our travels, we haven't met a single climber from Fresno...or, in fact, from anywhere in the Central Valley. Our gym sucks here for sure, but we try to force ourselves to go once a week. But I haven't met or seen anyone there who even gives the slightest impression that they might climb trad/alpine routes with any sort of seriousness.

So my question is: given its proximity to some of the best climbing in CA and the low cost of living, why aren't there any climbers? Certainly the lack of high-tech jobs may be a factor, but there are plenty of climbers with blue-collar occupations who could find work in Fresno. It's hot in the summer and the cultural activities don't compare with the Bay Area, but the cost of living is practically nothing...and there do actually seem to be some cultural happenings here.

Anyone with ties to the Central Valley have any thoughts on this? We met a guy at Pinnacles who used to live in Fresno and he was shocked: "What," he said, "there are actually climbers in Fresno." Yeah, but apparently only me.

the real question is : why have you been wasting all your time in those places when you've got King's Canyon in yer backyard?!

Tom, try going to Courtwright.... or some other local spots. Fresno climbers don't need to drive to RR or the east side. And right now a new california gold rush is on, if you count climbs as gold, right up the road.

And sharpblue: Do you really think Kings Canyon has good climbing??????? I always found the climbs located in the canyon to be, well, sort of crumby. Just IMHO and I have done lots of them. Now KK is a great spot to start death hikes from, to get to good climbing, but it's at least 1 day to get to the good stuff.

gk

Because Fresno sucks.

Seriously, have you assessed the demographics of Fresnoid? I never considered it a climbing community, even for all the years I lived in CA.

MarthaP wrote:Because Fresno sucks.

Seriously, have you assessed the demographics of Fresnoid? I never considered it a climbing community, even for all the years I lived in CA.

Granted, it's not my fave locale, either, but you have access to SO MUCH on the westside from there, kinda like Bishop is for me here on the Eastside.

Look up the gang from Sequoia Mountain Rescue:
http://www.sequoiamountainrescue.com/donations.htm

There are a lot of young, tough, fun climbers in their ranks. There's also a ton of awesome bouldering right outside of Visalia (OK, it's an hour, but that's better than 5+ you mentioned!).

MT - I agree on all points. But what is it about Fresno that few there are actually climbers? It's anomalous for sure. Also a bit like living in some of the Denver metro areas. The Front Range is a hugely wonderful place for climbing but there are definitely pockets of the local demographics that would rather drink beer and watch ESPN than get outside. Sorta what Lakewood is to Boulder.

MarthaP wrote:Because Fresno sucks.

Does it?

I walk to work and pay less than $1000/mo for a 2br/2ba condo with swimming pool and tennis court. There's never any traffic. We're getting along splendidly with one car. My fiancee is taking pottery classes and joined a country-club swim team for next to nothing. People are friendly and there's a character to the place that big cities seem to lack. But I guess that would suck for some people.

I'll certainly be checking out Courtright and Tollhouse, and the other Fresno crags. And I'm definitely aware of what's going on around Shuteye...but it seems the access road is a bit rough and I only have a Toyota Camry. Maybe there are local climbers in these areas and they don't bother with the gym or with the other more distant climbing locations. I'm still skeptical though.

Fresno.... has some pretty good radio stations. Fab climbing is real close.

I am not to surprised that you can't find a "climbing community". It's a 1,000,000 plus population city with no "local" climbing.... the kind you do after work. So there is no place for this community to meet up.

Tom, I bet if you go to "Tollhouse", this winter, with some regularity, you will run into those Fresno Ruffians soon enuf.

You probability will not find "World Class Alpine Studs" cause they would move to better mt spots, like MarthaP.....but I know some Valley Studs who get their mail in "Fresno"

Guyzo wrote:
And sharpblue: Do you really think Kings Canyon has good climbing??????? I always found the climbs located in the canyon to be, well, sort of crumby. Just IMHO and I have done lots of them. Now KK is a great spot to start death hikes from, to get to good climbing, but it's at least 1 day to get to the good stuff.

gk

Most of the stuff in the lower canyon is pretty crumbly, granted, as is Bago, in my very limited experience, but Bubbs Creek Wall and it's vicinity, not to mention the incredible Castle Domes (have not touched, sadly) and Charlotte Dome, can compare to (almost) anything in Yosemite Valley. plus...no humans

my love has always been the climbs up high on the peaks over Kings, though, and it's more to those that I was directing my comment - and i'll never complain about a mile of elevation and a day in to get to those i know i'm a rare one in this, but i'll take Kings over Yosemite Valley any day

MarthaP wrote:Because Fresno sucks.

Careful. Didn't Chief hail from Fresno before he moved to the East Side?

Guyzo wrote:Tom, I bet if you go to "Tollhouse", this winter, with some regularity, you will run into those Fresno Ruffians soon enuf.

I dunno, Guy. In all my trips to Tollhouse over the years, I only met one active climber from Fresno, our very own Nefarius. Others encountered there were rather scary rednecks with shotguns

Tom Fralich wrote:I've been troubled by this quite a bit recently. I moved to Fresno 6 months ago and have been out climbing all over the state of CA with my fiancee. We do day/weekend trips to Yosemite, weekends in Red Rocks, and have been to Tahoe, Needles, Pinnacles, and Calaveras...plus alpine routes and cragging on the east side. Pretty much all of this is < 5 hr from Fresno and quite a bit is < 3 hr.

In all our travels, we haven't met a single climber from Fresno...or, in fact, from anywhere in the Central Valley. Our gym sucks here for sure, but we try to force ourselves to go once a week. But I haven't met or seen anyone there who even gives the slightest impression that they might climb trad/alpine routes with any sort of seriousness.

So my question is: given its proximity to some of the best climbing in CA and the low cost of living, why aren't there any climbers? Certainly the lack of high-tech jobs may be a factor, but there are plenty of climbers with blue-collar occupations who could find work in Fresno. It's hot in the summer and the cultural activities don't compare with the Bay Area, but the cost of living is practically nothing...and there do actually seem to be some cultural happenings here.

Anyone with ties to the Central Valley have any thoughts on this? We met a guy at Pinnacles who used to live in Fresno and he was shocked: "What," he said, "there are actually climbers in Fresno." Yeah, but apparently only me.

My brother lives in Fresno and he's pretty well connected to an outdoor climbing (bouldering) community through his local gym...i think it's in north fresno. There aren't tons of climbers...but enough to have a good time when he wants to.

...all I know is...when i come down to fresno...my wife and I climb like there's no tomorrow...there are lots of places to explore..pretty close to Fresno...

There are many folks in the Fresno/Clovis area that climb and have done so for many years.

They are not socialites. They are climbers.

As Guy suggested, go on up to Tollhouse on any weekend. I guarantee ya that half of them folks there hail from the Fresno/Clovis area. At least that was the norm ten years ago.






BTW, Fresno doesn't suck. The air there does...

I will post something on SuperTopo and see who I can find. I have met some of the bouldering crew at the gym in North Fresno and they seem like decent people. Nothing against bouldering, but I'm more of an alpinist and there seems to be a bit of a disconnect.

My problem is that there don't seem to be any "alpinists" in Fresno. In NYC I had friends and met people regularly at the gym who were going on trips to Alaska, Europe, the Rockies, etc. I knew there wouldn't be a lot of these kinds of people in Fresno, but I hoped that there'd be a few. I'm going to Cody in a few weeks with a friend from NYC. I was hoping that I'd meet some people in Fresno for these kinds of trips.

Tom...

There isn't that much "Alpinism" to be had in that area. That is why.

Many CA Alpinists reside over here on the Eastside, in the Bay Area or in the SO CAL area.

Most of the folks that live in your direct neck of the woods are either boulderers or trad/sporty's.