Thin seam with pockets just left of Burnt Crack.

Mononucleosis

Flakey Nine

Open Project

Beginner's Hand Jam

Original Horak Route

Blow Hole

Unrelenting Nines

Route 20

Vulture Roof

Route 16

Route 37

Flying A

Advanced Start

Code Brown

Moment of Inertia

Flying A Buttress

Route 25

Repo Man

Route 6

Face Variation

Luke and Carlo's Route

Route 18

Texas

Route 27

The Cheeks

Route 1

Black Wall

Tree Climb

T2 Flake

Cactus Climb, Left (var.)

Route 17

Upper Left Roof

Fingertip Layback

The Playgrounder

Battle of the Bulge

Obsidian Corner

Playground Traverse

Mr. Foster's Lead

Barlow's Buttress

Burnt Crack

Zander Zigzag

Route 6 (var.)

Cactus Climb

First Strike

Moon Dog

Flakey Face

The farthest left, short, overhanging and really nasty looking face climb at the Playground. Luke Laeser and I spent many an afternoon attempting this TR problem and never came close to linking moves together. There are, however, holds. Mostly crappy crimpy underclings.  

  And someone will do it someday.

The initial part of this climb ascends a thin flake for the first 15 feet (crux). Gain the ledge and go left up a finger crack to a small roof. Turn the roof to the left or the right. This route is easily rigged for TR from the top.  

  [If you know the "real name" for this climb, post up. -Admin]

The best route here at this grade.  Perfect hands for ~20ft to a ledge, then small hands to fingers on increasingly thinner ground to the belay ledge.

Bouldery start up a blank face with a single pocket.  Grab a ledge ~12ft up, swing left, then stand up into a weird balance position at the start of the crack.  Follow the crack up and right to the belay ledge.

Probably the longest climb at the Playground, with a couple good cruxes. Blow Hole is one of the only climbs at the Playground that doesn't have the big ledge near the top of the cliff interrupting it.

 The immediate first crux is the first 15' of finger crack with poor feet; this spits off many suitors. Place a good small cam (#0.3 camalot or equivalent) to keep from decking on the rocks. If going direct is too hard, try to sneak past this by climbing in from the left or right. In any case, once you reach the namesake "Blowhole"-- a unique pocket just left of the crack-- you'll start the second crux, where you'll work up the overhanging finger crack and mantle onto a mostly sloping big ledge to the left. The rest of the climb follows easier cracks with some rubble, but it's no big deal.

 Falls near the start can be particularly nasty, and at least one accident has occurred here (have your belayer spot you to keep you off the rocks). Falls at the upper crux are clean and airy but on solid gear.

Start with thin balancy boulder moves up to a bomber jug and then continue up a two sided overhanging finger crack to a good hand ledge. The crack then turns to a single crack that starts with hands and then into strenuous fingers to a powerful lieback directional switch (crux) to more thin fingers out the top. Mega classic!

Excellent route. 

  Starts just right of the Cheeks and left of Vulture Roof on a prow.  The first crux is 15' up.  Above follow the finger crack straight up the headwall, with a 2nd crux getting started in it.

20 feet of thin crack and face moves lead to a strenuous roof. Height dependent.

Start in the first place that seems reasonable to the right of Flying A. Boulder up on good ledges to reach an obvious big flake (wiggly, don't pull too hard!) and traverse right and move up in a hands section. Exiting the flaring slot above this is the crux. The thin crack above this is easier climbing with more footholds, but prevalent gear placements for 15' or so. Near the top, the crack widens to hand size.It's a worthwhile easier climb (for the Playground). Tough for Playground 5.9, but easy for Playground 5.10.

The open book left of the upper section of Blow Hole is an obvious line but lacks an obvious start.   

  Begin about 10' left of Blow Hole in seams. Make a long reach from a lieback/stem (crux) to get to some edges that let you move left to join the start of the featured upper dihedral.  You can place a #3 or #4 cam before committing to the crux moves.  The open book above is fun sustained stemming in the 5.10- range to the top.

This White Rock mini classic may just send you flying.

 Stem up a "phone booth" chimney and exit it using a reachy crimp to a good stance (1st crux) and a few feet of easy finger crack to a no-hands stem rest. Step left and follow a beautiful thin finger crack using edges on the face to the left, or lieback off the right wall, with TCUs or nuts for pro in the thin finger crack. Committing to a thin section just after the corner changes to the left side is probably the psychological crux for the leader.

Flying A eats up small gear, but the stances to place it from are sometimes strenuous.

Sharp, painful crack right of BHJ, then traverse left to rejoin.

Face climb a detached pillar past a bolt. Step left on a ledge. Face climb past a 2nd bolt to a nice finger crack.  Bolted anchor, needs a long cordelette to be usable for toprope/lowering. 

  Rated 10a by the FA, but I thought it a touch easy for the grade.  Worth a visit if you're into exploring obscure White Rock cliffs.

Climb the slick black dihedral just right of Vulture roof. Pull over the glassy bulge about 20 feet up and continue easily to an upper overhang which is passed to its left.

Flying A Buttress is a fun thin face toprope problem, taking on the buttress and face left of Flying A and right of Texas. It is rather sustained, with about the first 30' of continuous face climbing at approx. hard 5.11 with a short section with one or two harder moves. 

  A bouldery start with sidepull holds and small crimps gets you to a   stance above the small bulge 8' up- this is a fun boulder problem in of itself.  Thin crimp move past the small roof and you can grab a larger flat-topped ledge.  Manteling onto this ledge is tricky, then a weird move to more crimps, lets you reach the thinnest and cruxiest section of the climb; bear down on tiny edges or find some trickery for 2 or 3 moves on the slightly overhanging face. Better edges & ledges are above, and the hard part of the climbing is done after 30' up. 

  Obviously the "Flying A crack" is considered "off" throughout the climb but for the most part moving over to it is not too tempting, so it's not unreasonably contrived. 

  The line as shown in 'Jemez Rock' is a little off- the start should be independent and just left of the chimney that is the typical start for Flying A. 

  (I toproped this route -as does virtually everybody else- and I think the only place you could get get any meaningful pro is the horizontal crack under the roof about 12' up. I think if you fell at what I think is the hardest part, you would deck from about 25' up, maybe landing on rocks. The climbing gets easier above, but there are still no more gear placements until almost the very top. I think one would be better off soloing vs leading. Edit: See Lee's note below for beta from someone who's done more than I have with this climb.)

Up the same start as Black Wall, then left and up over the slick bulge. Follow the left-slanting seam, then to the top. Straight over the bulge is 5.11ish.

Climb a micro-crack, then up and left up the steep dihedral (just right of Blowhole)

This is the overhanging finger crack/seam just right of Unrelenting Nines. In the guidebook it and the 5.10 that joins it up high are listed under a single entry, but I wanted to add a separate description here, since this is one of a few 11+/12- cracks at White Rock that actually has decent gear. The crux is pulling the overhanging bulge on insecure locks or tiny face holds, which has good gear. It's a bit runout up high but the climbing is 5.10 up there.

 Rated 5.12a. It's kicked my butt the few times I've tried it so I'd like to think it is harder. (If anyone's sent, and wants to rewrite the description and get mountainproject points, contact an admin and they can reassign it to you.)

Climb Cactus Climb or HandJam for 15 feet to the large ledge, then up the face between them, without using either crack. Contrived.

This is the hardest (completed) route at the Playground, albeit kinda contrived. Climb straight up the face between Original Horak route and Zander Zig Zag, without using the crack or arete.

The low big black roof is the most obvious feature at the Playground. The easiest passage through this feature is this unnamed climb, which passes through an A shaped slot in the roof. Better than expected for a climb with no name.A few tricky moves down low out of an annoying flared hand jam reach a rest below the roof. Chimney and stem your way through the black roof, a neat crux. Above, you can angle to the left and head up steep juggy cracks, or angle to the right and head up easy juggy cracks or maybe go straight up harder face. Expect possible dirtiness on all variations up higher, but it isn't bad enough to be a deterrent to climbing it.

The easiest route at the cliff, but still exciting.  Obtain the top of a short column, then layback up to the base of "Texas".  The second layback section (up  to the right and over) is the crux of the route.

Start up the next stemming corner left of Cactus Crack, up to the roof.  (This felt hard for the grade, but maybe I didn't have my smear game on.).  Exit the roof to its left and find unexpected face holds on a face that, from below, appears featureless and makes you question whether the book was wrong.  Resist the temptation to keep going left into the Black Wall crack, and instead angle slightly rightward into a hanging R-facing corner. Turn a 2nd overhanging, and climb the pocketed face above.Overall felt hard for the 10d grade in the Jemez book.  Kind of contrived but has some neat sections.  Perhaps you can bypass the start crux to its left.  (Or possibly turn the corner right at the first roof to avoid poorly protected stuff above?).  Would be a scary lead for the face climbing sections.

Up the farthest right crack in the bulbous roof. 

  Crux is turning the roof. Finishes up easy lower angle cracks.

Wide, wide crack on the far left side of the crag. Offwidthy goodness!

Rated 5.9 in the D. Jackson "Rock Climbing NM" book and 5.10c in the J.M. Beverly "Jemez Rock" book, I'd have to say it's somewhere in the middle of those two ratings.    This is a nice but not often climbed route that starts about 20 feet left of Cactus Climb.    Start with moderate moves off the ground on a small rounded prow to a good stance below a tiny roof. Pull over the tiny roof using the finger crack and small but positive edges on the face on both sides of the crack (crux) into the shallow dihedral above. Stem your way to the top using the tiny crack for pro to big jugs to exit onto a large ledge.  

  This route doesn't see much traffic and is often dirty because it seems it is a natural drainage for rain run-off. A good strategy is to talk your friend into leading it first so he can clean it up a bit for you.

Chimney between 2 columns to begin this climb. There is an alternate start up parallel seams to the right of this chimney that is 5.10+. These put you on a resting ledge.From this ledge, there are 2 options:a) the easier 5.10 way: Angle up and right for a ways following steep hand cracks that are shared with Mr. Fosters Lead. Near the top, bust out left on pockets through slightly overhanging ground (crux) to the stump. The finish is somewhat contrived but fun.  On lead it is more logical to stay in the crack directly above and finish as for Mr. Fosters Lead-- this is a little easier and probably 10-/10/"old school 5.9+" over all.  Even if you finish left to where the tree was, this path and Mr. Fosters Lead have a feel of largely being variations of the same climb.b) The direct way straight up (5.11 R ?).  This is the line shown in "Jemez Rock", and fully avoids the Mr. Fosters cracks.  Climb the steep overhang, turning it on its right, then continue up the pocketed face.  Not 5.10 unless I suck.  Maybe this is the "overhanging seam/face" from the sentence in the book.The book and Walt's old route list rated this 5.10c or 5.10d, but if you go the 5.10 way, most of the more interesting portions of the climb are the same as Mr. Fosters Lead, and it's not much of an independent route.  Not sure what's most correct, but hopefully this page clarifies it all.

Start by hopping up on a block to a left-angling flake to a giant pocket which you can heel hook, then continue up a right-angling thin seam up a leaning dihedral that is tricky to get good gear placements (crux), then surmount the end of the overhanging dihedral to exit.

I'll add this one so people know of another mostly independent line at the cliff that isn't particularly hard or contrived.  It's not in the books.Climb the first 15' of Cactus Crack then step left and follow mostly hand cracks on the Right-facing wall, with rests.  There's a pretty sweet-looking hand crack section that is a touch too short to be all that interesting.  The crux is the start (one of the 2 hard parts on CC); the rest is easier; and overall is an easier but less interesting variation to CC.  I'll call it 9+, as the CC start seems to give people trouble, but isn't as hard as that route's crux at the top.You could also climb CC higher and bail out left (from about the 1/2-way level) to avoid that climbs upper crux.

Climb the thin crack to a weird layback move out the bulbous roof, then straight up some (usually dirty) cracks.

Climb the huge right-facing corner.  The first half of the climb has many big ledges and positive holds.  From a good ledge, work up a tricky thin hand crack. Traverse left when you reach the roof, stuff some gear in the finger crack overhead, and commit to the crux highstep and lieback moves passing the roof.  Keep going to the exit jugs on the ledge. 

  This, and Beginner's Hand Jam are the most popular 5.9s at the Playground, I think. 

  The Fingertip Lieback variation begins in the next thin crack to the right.  It's rated 10d, and is a fun committing lieback which joins the Upper Left Roof route midway up.  It's protectable with small nuts at its crux, then small cams. 

  You can also finish the route through the next crack to the right to exit the high roof.  This is reachy and probably about 5.10+.

Up the thin crack to a small overhang, then join Upper Left Roof.

Climb straight up the face to a gently right angling seam with an offset, 10 feet right of Flying A.  Powerful moves in the beginning of the seam lead to a widening of the crack and easier climbing above.  Placing gear is strenuous in crux section, but essential to not hit the ground if you fall.  A good route with interesting climbing and solid gear.

Interesting cruxes and some harder climbing on this end of the cliff.  Kind of contrived, with some questionable flakes.Start with a slippery stemming problem just to the right of Barlow's Buttress, with a move onto some crumbly holds to a good rest below the bulge.  A fairly sequency crux IMO.  This will protect well with a nut.The guides say the next bulge following a thin seam is the crux. I didn't find it as hard as the difficult part near the beginning but my partner found it harder.  This would not have good pro.  Perhaps you could bypass this part by climbing the next crack left instead.Turn a small roof on good hand jams, and continue up a slab with lots of pockets, avoiding the giant roof above on the right.Doing the 1st half of Barlows Buttress and the top half of this climb may be the easiest combination of these two routes (but still 5.9+ or so).

Climb the corner and the arete to its left with increasing difficulty (crux) to its top where big flakes and holds appear. Chimney or bridge the slick flared corner up to the 4-foot ceiling and climb directly over the roof (second crux) then easier to the top.

Traverse the entire Playground crag in either direction. Amazingly beta-intensive. I never did the entire thing, but I know it's been done. If you're willing to go high, you might be able to make this a bit easier, but the classic traverse stays within a few feet of the ground the entire time.  

  There are several sections that are easier for tall and/or flexible climbers. It's not pumpy, as there are numerous no-hands rests. Expect weird, greasy cruxes and semi-dynamic *foot* moves in many spots. Old school bouldering at it's finest.

Start by climbing parallel cracks to gain a ledge 15 feet up. Continue climbing a mix of crack and face holds to the right of a dead Juniper tree at the cliff top. Crux moves are gaining the first ledge, then again about 2/3 of the way up the route.

Barlow's Buttress is the center crack approaching the high roofs near the right side of the Playground. The cruxes are at the beginning and end of the climb.A tricky boulder problem just off the ground lets you get a hand-size cam in a slot. Pull on a chockstone through the first crux. Climb easy cracks up to the big roof (this is the next crack system to the right of Upper Left Roof, at this point). The second crux turns the highest roof to the righthand side. A harder variation at the top would be to exit by the center roof crack up high. Or, avoid the upper crux entirely by traversing right a little lower- escaping to the pocket-y slab upper section of Battle of the Bulge.Other than the tricky start (which isn't too high off the deck), good pro the whole way.Jemez Rock calls this 5.11a. RC:NM says 5.9. If you want to keep it near 5.9, avoid the upper roof crux finish by moving to the right.

Start in the shallow dihedral a few feet left of Unrelenting Nines with some thin crack moves to a nice, small ledge about 12 feet up. A few easier moves through obvious terrain lead to finger crack. Tiny gear and thin moves lead up to some better holds and big stemming. A few more steep moves with tricky gear to the top.  Use the bolt anchor for Unrelenting Nines.

Begin as for Texas, then move left into an overhanging dihedral instead of going up the Texas flake.  The crux is one or two moves- lieback to a big reach to an incut edge overhead.  The pro is small gear.  Easier stemming from there to the top.

This is the next shallow corner right of Unrelenting Nines.  It is easiest to begin in the big corner to the right and make a leftward hand traverse along a big flake/rail, then move up a featured arete to gain the shallow corner.  At the top, the features in this corner peter out- face climb to the right for a couple moves.  For a 5.12a, with decent gear, use the direct start in a seam on the face to the left.   

  There are runouts between obvious gear placements on this climb.  The hardest moves will come with gear at or just below foot level.

This climb is perhaps better now that the cactus isn't there. 

  Stem past tricky moves off the ground.  Easy 5.6ish climbing for the next 30' of the climb leads to a final thin section where the crack narrows to a finger crack, then pinches to a seam.  A 2' foot roofs bar progress to the top, which is passed by a big move for the topout jug.  The pro at the crux is small nuts or TCUs.   

  It is also possible to escape left 2/3 of the way up and avoid the crux.

The route that started it all - the great White Rock bolt war of the early 90's, that is. Climb up thin crimps just 10 feet left of the Original Horak Route. There are three chopped bolts on this route - the bolts, in fact, that eventually led to the White Rock Bolting Agreement. The chopped bolts are: 1.) Very high first bolt under the small roof (some old, orangish glue still visible) 2.) In the middle of the face left of the right arete 3.) Just below the horizontal crack jug at the top of the face 

Straight up on face holds right of Repo Man. A bit loose.

Fun boulder problem through a steep clean panel of rock. 

  Follow the initial flake on Flakey Nine until you reach the huge hollow plates and would move left. Head straight up the imposing wall above on edges and underclings. Move slightly right of the blunt prow, avoiding a hollow plate and reaching the thin seam. Follow the seam to the top.

The Playground is a 60 foot south-facing basalt cliff.  Numerous moderate to difficult crack and face climbs ascend the cliff.  Routes at this area are not bolted (by agreement), so be sure to bring your gear to lead.  While route bolts are strictly verboten, anchor bolts are allowed.  However, the last anchor bolts to be installed (over Beginner's Hand Jam) were chopped and few currently exist, so many climbs require trad gear to establish anchors. 

  Climbs are numbered from left to right with numbers as in 'Jemez Rock' and as shown in the beta photos.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in The Playground