Pillar Talk is located on the tall white pillar to the south of and directly across from the first parking lot in Willow Springs. Approach by heading down the Hidden Falls trail, take the SMYC Trail that branches to the left and as you cross the wash cut right and head straight for the feature up faint trails. Alternatively, you can approach as per Hidden Falls Wall and once there, contour to the left, east, around the base of the crags for about 100 yards.

 This route gets an R rating from the guide books for the 5.4 run-out on pitch 2. We felt this section to be an easy jaunt up low angle slabs with a few opportunities for protection.

 Pitch 1: On the right side of the pillar, climb the crack through wide sections. At the roof, do a fun hand traverse left on to the arête. Move up the face to belay in a crack above some tall grass. (5.7, 150 feet)

 Pitch 2: Continue up the white face on balls, to the top of the pillar. (5.4 PG, 50 feet)

 Variation: On pitch 1, rather than traversing left, climb the crack through the roof then catch up the regular route that is to the left. (5.10b)

 Descent: Go right and rappel with a single 70 meter rope or two ropes from slings around a pine tree. This is the top of the route Sleeper.

Pillar Talk

Headless Chocolate Bunny

Chocolate Tranquility Fountain

Fun And Games

The Abdominizer

New Hips Corner

Wheat Thick

Nadia's Nine

Lucky Charms

Geezer's Face

Beyond and Above

Honey Combs

Cereal Killer

Count Chocula

Hawk Eye

Taking Care of Business

N'Plus Ultra

Fruit Loops

Above and Beyond

New Hips Face

Double Pin-etration

Senior Moment

Gimpy Arete

Above, Above and Beyond

Sleeper

Little Black Book

Chutes and Ladders

P1 - start under a roof problem off the ground (crux) into a giant open book, make your way left   into another crack through a bulge.

Climb the rampy white rock for about 40 feet to a less than vertical wide crack.  Climb this to the top, trending right to a belay ledge.

Deliciously steep and highly aesthetic, Chocolate Tranquility Fountain is a worthwhile objective after climbing any of the routes in the vicinity of Pillar Talk. Located on the level where the lower routes top out, this line is hidden inside a chimney on the beautifully varnished and heavily pocketed Supra Ultra Wall.  

    From a rectangular block, climb up into the chimney on light colored rock to reach a finger crack running up through solution pockets on the righthand wall. Enjoyable climbing on interesting features leads to a flake where the crack ends (crux.) Continue past a thin horizontal seam as the angle eases and holds get bigger toward the top. Spread out and relax on the comfy belay platform. Walk off (mostly 3rd class with a few 4th class moves.)

Start in a small choss cave, stemming up on a few good edges and smears to a burly move with an odd under cling to a tiny crack/corner for balance. Sandbagged, but with a #5 cam you can figure it out without commitment. Follow the crack starting without feet, or go right over questionable rock to the next ledge. The occasional solid jug gives you some security while stepping on marginal rock. Build belay in the cave, as the trees are looking fairly shabby. On the next pitch, stem up and follow the corner with odd placements, a short section with laybacks on varnished jugs takes you to a ledge with a big tree. Belay from crack behind tree.  

  The bad: loose rock laying everywhere, and loose rock on route.  

  The good: interesting figuring out the crux beginning, and pushing through the juggy laybacky section up top, "interesting" descent.

This route goes out a "line" of 2 bolts on the N'Plus Ultra roof.Approach as for N'Plus. Climb out the obvious flakes... 

  Although protected by bolts this is not a sport line.You need gear for the anchor at the base of the roof, and againfor the anchor on top. 2 Bolts are enough, but if you fall if will be big air!

Climb a short arete past two bolts (stick clip the first one!) to gain the namesake flake. Climb the flake with difficulty, passing another bolt and optional gear placements, and execute a big move (crux). Clip a final bolt, move right, and follow jugs and sparse pro to the top of the wall.

 The anchor is a slung tree set way back from the wall which might make top-roping problematic.

See photo for exact location, about 100 yards to the left and slightly lower than Nadia's Niche.  The climb's distinctive feature is an overhanging, cobra-hooded dihedral that forms the second pitch.  Both pitches are well-protected and interesting.Pitch 1 -- Climb a smooth-walled dark V-corner with good rock (5.9+).Pitch 2 -- Move the belay a few yards to the right, then climb a prominent, steep inside corner/crack that overhangs at the top (5.9).

The crack 5 ft to the left of Senior Moment.   Climb the varnished crack to the rotten over hang, then traverse left 15 ft on white rock up through the slot in the bulge.

Climb the corner past a large tree, step left out on the arete to the varnished face (1b).

This route starts out with a squeeze section that leads to a dogleg to the right.  A tricky traverse leads to a section of nice climbing to an alcove.  Pull through the difficult looking roof to the dwindling crack and finishing slab.

Face climbing on good holds, steeper near top.

Pretty crispy rock that may clean up with time. Pick your way up the path of least resistance. Try and stay near the edge/arete as you move up, steering clear of Hawk Eye. Build a belay at the top and then rap back down with a 70m rope from the top of Sleeper

Start up slabby white Boulder to base of crack. Crack starts off wide fists and quickly narrows . Follow the crack to top out on a good ledge. 

Ascend the crack/seam through a couple of bulges to a point where the crack dwindles and it is possible to cast out right and up on white stone with no protection.  Another lost opportunity for a really good route!  The addition of a couple of bolts to extend this route up the bulge and into the next crack system would produce a fine route that many could enjoy.  As it is now, the finish is sure to dissuade most.

This route goes out the obvious splitter crack in the 15-20ft roof just south and east of the parking lot. The roof is very obvious. To acess the roof scramble up an easy 5th class gully, climbers left, some people will want a belay up this section. There is a good ledge at the start of the roof, you'll want a small selection of gear to build an anchor here. climb out the Fist crack doing approximately 3 fist moves before gaining jugs. 

  Descend by going south and east to the obvious gully- it's a walk off.

Very nice trad climb, start in a bomb bay crack   and continue up through giant wacos and ledges.

Tip toe right of the crack on a thin rail, grab the pockets and SMEAR! Thus begins the enjoyable movement that is Above and Beyond. Follow the pockets left and right of the crack, then reach way out right to swing into the large hueco. Continue up and slightly left through the thin plates, then easily to the top.  

  Same anchor spot as Chocolate Tranquility Fountain. 

  Fun, technical climbing on some very nice varnish makes this beautiful route a fine bonus after climbing Pillar Talk below it.

Great quality route that climbs the slabby face to the right of Gimpy Arete and starts out at the same spot as New Hips corner.  An easy start gets you to a tricky move down low to gain the seam in the lower face (small cam necessary to protect this move). Easier climbing through the middle of the face with big holds and ledges gets you up to a bolt.  Gear is good here except for the last stretch getting to the first bolt which is slightly runout.  The bolt is oddly positioned out right and slightly awkward to clip.  Two more bolts up left get you to the bolted anchor.  To keep it at 8+, move out left after clipping the 2nd bolt and finish on Gimp's Arete with one more bolt on the face before the anchor.5.10 variation: instead of moving left to the arete at the 2nd bolt, climb straight up the smooth face.  Balancey with thin holds and small feet.

climb past 2 pitons, then follow crack to anchor

Climb the varnished crack system on the face to the left of the Pillar Talk pillar. Bear right about 2/3 of the way up, staying right of the small roof.

Start on the face, climb through some cracks and onto the arete - clip the bolt on the face just before the anchor

After a wide start, this route heads up to a nice hand crack at a bulge. Continue up the crack to an alcove with a dead tree.  Chimney through the roof and continue up the crack system to the top.

Climb up the face onto a hallow flake, traverse under the roof (bail slings), pull roof into 1" crack continue up the crack to the anchor.

A micro adventure route that has many aspects of a long multipitch:  not obvious approach, scramble to base, where to leave the pack strategizing, route finding, no bolts, rappel descent down a different aspect of the feature.  Great for dialing your multipitch systems, without having to stress a bunch on the climbing aspect.P1: After scrambling up a ladder-like section of rock, belay the leader from an alcove at the base of a nice varnished crack with large huecos. Climb up past a very cool cave, to just beneath a roof, then pull a slabby move or two left (well protected crux.) (Do not be tempted to go left lower on what looks like easier rock;  it is unprotected and crunchy.) Scrunch under the bulge and climb into a comfortable narrow ledge nook. Build an anchor in the cracks at your feet. 5.5, 80' or so.P:2 Climb up a varnished flare on the right side of the ledge. Continue up until reaching the obvious wide open area at the top. There are several options to build an anchor. 5.5? Another 80' or so.Descent: Scramble down a rampy boulder into a sort of large hole, just climbers' left of where the climbing stops on P2. At the bottom of the boulder continue down further and a bit right down a 4th class ramp. Scramble down until the need to rappel presents itself. There is a rappel anchor on a tree or bush( I forget which, but it is easy to spot.) Rappel down to a scrub oak with a webbing anchor (brushy.) This gets you to the middle of the second pitch of Nadia's Nine. 2 raps from the bush and down Nadia's Nine gets you to the base of, well, Nadia's Nine, which is around the corner to the left of Chutes and Ladders. If you left your pack at the base, you might be kicking yourself for not leaving it somewhere less effortful to get to. Variation: If you are able to determine that you are at the top of the first pitch of Nadia's Nine, you can scramble climbers left and down, instead rappeling that pitch.Note: If soloing the route, descend by down-climbing the way you came up.

This is a section of cliffs- you guessed it!-  South of Willow Springs.  This area ranges from Nadia's Nine to the Hidden Wall.It includes the classic N'Plus Ultra roof.

Description

Protection

Routes in Willow Springs South