View of Santa Ynez valley from the road where we parked. Hermit Rock is down below on the right.	Colored explanation showing the three separate parts of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
Another shot of Hermit Rock with Santa Ynez valley in the background	Clouds rolling by us at the end of the day

Crag Full of Dynamite is a fun little day crag with route names taken out of classic western movies. Although the drive there is a bit longer than the typical SB crag (about 6-8 miles past Gibraltar), the drive is very scenic. Once you turn off of Gibraltar Road onto Camino Cielo (the fork in the road with a big brown sign listing distances to certain locations) the road travels across a ridge of the mountain and at times you can see views of the ocean and SB on one side and Santa Ynez valley on other. Camino Cielo then curves across the backside of the mountain and eventually you come to the Crag Full of Dynamite on your right. All the routes here are sport climbs, and some of them have typical hangers on the bolts, while others have these funky curved screws that were probably bought at a hardware store. But excluding the fact that the bolts might be questional, all the routes are well protected as far as bolt spacing goes, and all routes have two big cold shuts at the top for setting up anchor. Most of the climbs are a short 30-40 ft high, except for the classic route which looms above all the others in the middle, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, which spans about 70 feet. Since this crag is north facing and higher up in elevation, temperatures can be in the extremes from very cold and freezing in the winter to hot and sunny in the summer (and lots of those annoying flies too). Therefore, the late morning/early afternoon and early evening are the best times to go, or when it's moderate outside (typical SB weather year round).

Climbs I've Done:

Upper Boulder

Approach	None
Poison Oak	None
Sun Exposure	North facing, very sunny in the afternnoon.

 

 

 

All routes start from the right and go left:

He Who Double-crosses Me and Leaves Me Alone, He Understands Nothing about Tuco...Nothin (5.8 *) Sport - The first route you come to at the crag (the name is longer than the climb, as the guide points out). A short, low angle climb that's good for warming up. The crux is going from bolts 2 to 3 as it requires some tricky footwork in order to gain access to the upper section.

The Ecstasy of Gold (5.8 **) Sport - A fun, technical climb requiring lots of crimping and fancy footwork. Stay between the diagonal cracks to work the entire way up.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (5.9 ***) Sport - As the name implies, the beginning is a jug-fest, then the middle is slabby, and the end is overhanging. Luckily, there's a great crack that fit 1" sized cams for some extra security before the crux.

Fistful of Crystals (5.8 **) TR - The variation of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly by starting directly in the middle. Feels like a completely different climb until you hit the ugly at the end.

For a Few Crystals More (5.9 **) Sport - A very sequential route, with each move to the bolt requiring some problem solving. The crux is the thin slab at the end and requires a big reach to the anchor.

Once Upon a Climb in the West (5.9) Sport - Loose rock and dangerous! Avoid this climb.