The south side of The Playground
The southwest side of The Playground
The Guardian boulder	The south side of The Little Lebowski Urban Achivers Crag
Another scenic shot at dusk
Penis Rock	Maze of boulders

The Playground is one of Santa Barbara's best kept secrets and most guide books and online resources intentionally try to keep it that way by giving vague descriptions on how to find it. It's an elusive labrinth full of boulders and hidden climbing gems that are well worth the trials and tribulations involved in trying to find it. I knew I had to climb there not only beause of the mystery but also because there was a rock there called The Little Lebowski Urban Achiever Crag, named after one of my favorite comedies The Big Lebowski. Little did I know that this wasn't going to an easy task! A first attempt by Jordan and I to locate this place resulted in getting seriously lost and covered in poison oak, and I waited a full year later to try again with Steph. Our second attempt ended in another dead end and more bush wacking, but when we decided to turn around and head back we meet up with a climber who was responsible for creating this "decoy trail" (he was developing a new bouldering spot) and he tipped us off that the trailhead for the Playground was just another mile down the road and right across the street from a ranch. Thus we got in the car and headed a little further down West Camino Cielo Road and found a small little trailhead across the street from a gated property and knew this had to be the spot. After a good 20 minute hike on a small but developed trail, we eventually came to a huge boulder and I knew right away this had to be the Guardian marking the beginning of the Playground. We had finally found it! However, my elation soon came to a quick end as Steph managed to slam her head against an overhanging rock as we were climbing around the Guardian and our day was cut short. Was the Playground cursed and telling me that we were't meant to climb there? I had a year to ponder this, and then I finally decided it was time to try again and perhaps we'd have a little better luck this time with our friends Mohit and Moriah. Our fourth time was the charm and I finally got to climb at the Little Lebowski Urban Achiever Crag and it was well worth the trouble. The location was perfect, offering plentiful shade, easy belay spots, and enough sport climbing routes to keep us busy all day long. There were so many routes we actually could only finish one side of the wall and had to leave all the routes on the other side of the rock to be climbed for another day, one that I hope comes soon....

Climbs I've Done:

The Little Lebowski Urban Achiever Crag

Approach	20-30 min. moderate downhill hiking
Poison Oak	Moderate
Sun Exposure	Partly Shady

 

 

 

All routes go from right to left and are quite diverse:

The Dude Abides (5.6 **) Sport - The first climb you see on the right boulder, facing the ocean. The crux comes right at the very beginning, after the first bolt as the move is a little thin and balancy. A good beginner lead climb, well protected, and gains you access to all the anchors on top.

Careful, There's a Beverage Here (5.10a **) TR - A bouldery, steep start leads to easy climbing above. The crux is getting past the powerful crumps at the bottom and onto the juggy holds above.

The Jesus (5.10c ***) TR - A very fun start that begins in two large huecos. After a couple reachy moves to get to the top of the upper hueco, you'll hit the crux which involves going out of the cave and onto the upper face full of slopers. Being one of the most challenging climbs on the face, iit took us a couple tries to get the crux down somewhat smoothly.

Nice Marmot (5.8 ***) TR - To continue with this face's diversity, this route is the very opposote of The Jesus: crimpy and technical climbing on a slabby bottom that leads to a little steeper end. Quite challenging for a 5.8 climb, so I think these ratings are a bit sandbagged.

Gutterballs (5.8 *) TR - Crimpy, technical face climbing at the bottom leads to some awkward moves getting over the upper bulge. The climber we saw leading the route had some trouble hitting the crux and thought it would have been easier if he were taller since the grab was pretty far.

 

 

 

Note on climb ratings: * - Good, ** - Excellent, *** - Classic