Far Side Climbing

This digital Far Side climbing guidebook gives you GPS navigation, verified topos, and beta for hundreds of climbs. Explore classics and hidden gems with offline access to maps, directions, and beta videos. Whether it's your first visit or fiftieth, KAYA makes your Far Side days smoother, safer, and more dialed.

The Far Side holds a massive amount of boulders and granite fins jutting out from the steep hillside above Cave Rock. This area lies on the north end of the huge Zephyr Cove complex of boulders, an area that as a whole encompasses several square miles of good bouldering. The steep hillsides make the approach at The Far Side a fairly wicked uphill grind, but it’s well worth it. You’ll get a great workout, which will help justify that pint of ice cream you took down last night. And the one you’re gonna take down tonight, too! Not every boulder has a workable landing, though it’s s... Show more

This digital Far Side climbing guidebook gives you GPS navigation, verified topos, and beta for hundreds of climbs. Explore classics and hidden gems with offline access to maps, directions, and beta videos. Whether it's your first visit or fiftieth, KAYA makes your Far Side days smoother, safer, and more dialed. The Far Side holds a massive amount of boulders and granite fins jutting out from the steep hillside above Cave Rock. This area lies on the north end of the huge Zephyr Cove complex of boulders, an area that as a whole encompasses several square miles of good bouldering. The steep hillsides make the approach at The Far Side a fairly wicked uphill grind, but it’s well worth it. You’ll get a great workout, which will help justify that pint of ice cream you took down last night. And the one you’re gonna take down tonight, too! Not every boulder has a workable landing, though it’s surprising how many flat landings you will find. The lake views are stunning here, and the interesting shapes of the boulders make for a unique climbing experience. DRIVING: From South Lake Tahoe drive north on Hwy 50 to Zephyr Cove. Reset your odometer at the light, drive for 2.3 miles and when you see the “Cave Rock Estates” sign turn right on Cave Rock Drive. Follow Cave Rock Drive up the hill, then turn right on Winding Way. Follow Winding Way to the top and park in the cul-de-sac. Be respectful of the homeowners by not parking right in front of their houses, and stay quiet. Grab your stuff and be on your way. APPROACH: From the cul-de-sac find the trail that goes straight up the gully. You essentially stay on the main gully/trail and fork left at various spots to the different areas. For Early Times walk about 5 minutes from the car and take your first left. Continue on the left fork for 7 minutes until you see the Early Times boulder on your left, 100 yds away (look for an obvious left facing corner on a big boulder). Take a faint side trail to the Early Times cluster. For the Real Unreal Ridge don’t take the faint side trail to Early Times. Instead continue on the trail for another 7 minutes past Early Times until the trail brings you past the Spirit Face and into the Devil’s Haircut grotto. For Prime Time, The Pass and Valley of the Dolls, walk up the main trail from the parking area for 5 minutes and don’t take your first left towards Early Times. Instead continue on the main (right) fork for 5 more minutes until you arrive at another fork-there may be a wooden sign here with “XX” marked on it. This is the main fork. Take a minute here to orient yourself. The right fork takes the gully on the right and leads to the top of the hill and the Prime Time area. From here it’s about 15-20 minutes to the Prime Time Boulder. The left fork takes the left gully, which is called Valley of the Dolls. The Valley of the Dolls trail is another way to access climbs on the Real Unreal Ridge. Again, you will pass several left turns along the way. The Valley of the Dolls trail also connects all the way to the Prime Time area at the top of the hill. For the Arms Dealer boulder and Logan Shoals you will be using different parking areas and approaches. The directions to these sub-areas are found on the following pages, at the start of each section.