Profile shot of the west side of Upper Boulder	The top of Lower Boulder just down the hill
An example of the scenic views you get at Fire Crags. The Channel Islands in the distance.	No climbing trip can be complete without a beautiful sunset
Face the Seam, on the west side of the Upper Boulder	A couple of the routes on the Lower Boulder

Fire Crags is a very popular local crag and was developed in the early 90's after a brush fire swept through the Painted Cave area, revealing two large climbable boulders and thus earning its namesake. Despite having lived and climbed in Santa Barbara for over two years, I have never once gone to this spot and felt like I had been missing out on a great crag. When the day came to finally go, I was very excited to get to climb at a new spot and was amazed how many people knew about this place and were climbing there when we arrived. I immediately recognized why this was such a popular spot for climbers in the area: short approach, scenic views, and easy to setup climbs. All the routes were very well protected sport leads, and all the anchors were easily accessed on the top of the boulders via a trail around the rock and the one leading to the crag. The majority of the good climbs are located at the Upper Boulder, a 30-40 ft. rock that you first approach from the top on the mail trail. A little lower downhill, however, there is also the Lower Boulder which offers a few more routes and seemed to be less crowded. A new milestone was set that day by Steph climbing her hardest route to date, the 5.10b Jensen's Jugs. It took her two attempts, but she finally was able to succeed via hang dog style! Another noble accomplishment was Mohit's send of the 5.11a Grib Dat Hole. After I monkeyed around at the bottom of the route and finally gave up on the dyno crux start, Mohit jumped on the rope and was able to pass the beginning part with relative ease and successfully send the route! Overall, we all had a great day and I hope our future holds many more climbing trips with Mohit and Moriah!

Upper Boulder

Approach	5-10 min. moderate hiking
Poison Oak	Low
Sun Exposure	Partly Shady

 

 

 

Climbs I've Done:

Europe Revisited (5.6) Sport - A good beginner's lead climb or for those trying to get back into leading. A very short, 20 foot route that's good for warming up.

Bent Brain (5.8 *) TR - This was the first climb we set up in the middle of the Upper Boulder (on 2/3/07). The bottom is a little tricky, and the rest of the climb is somewhat technical and balancy.

Jensen's Jugs (5.10b ***) TR - This route is located just to the right of Bent Brain and starts in a really neat cave formation. Once you get past the two caves, then comes the slightly overhanging crux that requires a big dynamic grab up to a bomber ledge.

Grib Dat Hole (5.11a ***) TR - The bottom's crux if a one-move wonder that requies a dyno from an overhanging start to "Dat Hole". After several attempts I gave up, but Mohit was able to pull it off using a slightly different foot and hand orientation. Some people like to heel hook the dish to the right of the starting pockets, but I didn't find it terribly effective..(Update: sent the route smoothly on 2/27/08. The trick to the beginning is correct hands and feet positioning. I use right hand over left on the top pocket, and get my feet up high right underneath. I can then statically hit a small pocket as an intermediate move, and then bump up my left hand to the main hole).