ONE DAY LIKE THIS:
MORTAR ROCK + INDIAN ROCK
All words and photos by Liam Lonsdale © 2020
The early fall mornings are a mix of crisp air and a gently warming sunshine. The leaves tease with golden tips and the rock is cool to the touch. Squirrels spring between boulders and branches, packing their cheeks with acorns and other fall fodder. I close my eyes and I’m in the middle of a dense and ancient forest, in perfect solitude, the rock, and the squirrels. I open my eyes and a cyclist passes me on the sidewalk, tinny hip-hop beats bleed out of the headphones of a city worker as he collects garbage. I sharply exhale. Blow the excess chalk from my fingertips. My fingernails scrape against the rock and it bites back into my tips. I pull on.
Every good climbing session starts with coffee. It’s a fact I established some time ago. Driving to the boulders I spy an as yet unvisited spot, just over a mile from the climbing. ‘Cafenated’. A quick google search reveals it’s a chic joint known for its single-origin beans and patio garden. The barista treats me with just the right amount of indignation. Perfect. A wall mounted menu describes a multitude of brewing methods (including syphon for all the hipsters and aficionados out there).
To the rear, sunlight reflects off the glass and wide open doors draw me to a post-COVID garden scene.
I sip at my pour-over, soak in the sunshine, and lament the death of real crockery. I thumb the pages of my guidebook to decide on my lines of choice today to the soundtrack of student chit chat and keyboards tapping.
The Pit | INDIAN ROCK | a natural amphitheatre of sorts, where generations of climbers have cut their teeth and tested their mettle.
“Mortar Pits”, literally carved out of the rock by hand. The Huichin Ohlone indigenous people used these rocks to grind acorns and seeds. The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe preserve the traditions and memory of their ancestors in the Bay Area.
Exploring Indian Rock and Mortar Rock reveals to the curious that these are more than just parks in the city of Berkeley, much more precious than outdoor climbing areas for the Bay Area climbing community.
For millennia, the Huichin Ohlone people have called these places their home. Living with the plants and trees in what was once rich woodland above a now dammed tidal marsh. I observe the pits, carved out of the hard, igneous rock by hand, used to grind acorns and seeds into flour for food.
Today, the same as every visit, I sit atop the boulders for a moment and look out on the view of the San Francisco bay, the city shrouded in fog in the distance. I meditate momentarily, placing myself in this these lands, in their pristine untouched state.
Despite the genocide and countless atrocities endured by the Ohlone people, and all the indigenous tribes of North America, the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe still remains in the area.
Chris Sharma shows the author the ins and outs of Mortar Rock on lap 6, or 7, or 8 of Nat’s Traverse back in October 2019 © Liam Lonsdale | Tenaya
Much as the now immortalised Nat Smale and his crew once did, I finish my warm up at Indian Rock and make the short walk up the hill to Mortar Rock. The once vine-covered collection of boulders provides plenty of entertainment for climbers that have exhausted the endless possibilities of variations and eliminates at Indian Rock … or like to push that bit harder. I lock eyes on Nat’s Traverse the obvious girdle that weaves its way around the north west side of the boulder. A pumpy and technical bloc, I run my fingers over the rock with familiarity and remind myself of the holds, piecing together a few of the intricate sections. Three friends, local to the area, work on variations. Baby Nats, Sunshine, and the full traverse. We bond over the subtleties of the moves, and the intense nature of the sequences. The toe hooks, the knee bars, the hidden pockets, the perfect dimple in the rocks volcanic texture to catch your index finger.
I cast my mind back to my first time visiting this place, with a friend and my camera, ‘working’. Stories were told of his running laps on Nat’s as a kid, as he proceeded to do the very same thing, twenty years on. We are only as old as we feel.
I check my watch. The zoom call I have to be back for in 30 minutes is looming, and although this is an ‘urban crag’ the signal isn’t quite sufficient for a proper video call. I gather my belongings, shuffle the twenty feet down the stone steps to my parked car, and load up.
Glancing back toward the boulder, elevated from the roadside as if it were on a stage, I exhale in relief and in gratitude.
“I won’t ever take this for granted.” I say to myself, and I begin my commute home, through suburban-Berkeley.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
Please be respectful of the community in Berkeley when climbing at any of these areas. Be especially polite to the neighbors whose houses actually back onto the climbing. Park sensibly and thoughtfully, drive slowly. Be mindful that these lands are not just for climbers, that they have been significant to the indigenous people of this region for millennia. Comport yourself accordingly. And of course climb hard, be safe, and enjoy.
The Author at Castle Rock, CA | 2019 © Alton Richardson
About the Author:
Liam Lonsdale is a creative climber and runner based in Oakland, California. Specialising in photographing and writing about climbing, he joined KAYA in the spring of 2020 as Creative Director.
Liam is an English transplant to the USA and has competed in British National Championships, worked alongside the best athletes in the world, and hosted some of climbings’ biggest events. These days he gets the biggest thrill from teaching his four year old the wonder and joy of the outdoors.