The Rock
San Diego rock is primarily granite, but can vary greatly in compostion.

Weather
San Diego County is ideal for rock climbing. Temperatures are relatively mild year round, and rain fall approaches desert like conditions. The rainy season is January thru March, but with an average annual rain fall under 10 inches even the rainy season is usually dry compared to many other parts of the country. Summer temperatures can sometimes approach 100* at areas farthest from the coast, but these hot spells don't last long.

Bouldering
This is San Diego County's specialty. At last count, there were over 25 million boulders, and more keep springing up daily. Santee Boulders, Mt. Woodson, and Dixon Lake are the most popular easy to get to areas. Culp Valley and McCain Valley are two great bouldering spots if you don't mind driving a ways. Actually, bouldering exists at practically all the known local climbing areas, and at many more "secret spots" that don't get published.

Top Roping
Top roping can be done at almost every climbing area in San Diego. While many fixed bolt anchors exist, some climbs may require gear anchors. The most popular top rope areas are Mission Gorge, Mt. Woodson, and Dixon Lake.

Sport Climbing
San Diego consists of mostly vertical to near vertical sport climbing, but an occasional "steep" route can be found also. Mission Gorge, Valley of the Moon, and Corte Madera are the local sport climbing spots. Crest, a once favorite sport climbing area of the early 1990's ran into bolt smashing and hostility by the neighbors, and not much remains. Poway Crags, a once popular sport area, is currently closed. Otay, a small sport climbing area in south county, may be closed.

Mixed Climbing
Mission Gorge has many routes that appear to be sport routes, because they are bolted, but they require placing one or more pieces of trad gear in addition to clipping bolts. Before you start up a bolted route, make sure you know whether it is "sport" or "mixed".

Trad Climbing
Trad climbing (gear leading) exists at many of San Diego's climbing areas. Mission Gorge has numerous challenging "old school" leads. Many of the cracks at Mt. Woodson are long enough to lead. Corte Madera and El Cajon Mt. hold several multi-pitch trad routes.

Multi-Pitch Climbing
Corte Madera offers 3 to 4 pitch trad and bolted routes. El Cajon Mt. also offers multi pitch sport and trad climbing from 2 to 5 pitches. Most locals who want a multi pitch Trad experience make the 2 hour drive north to Tahquitz whenever the bug hits them.

San Diego Climbing Guides
The following guidebooks are "sometimes" available in local climbing stores.

Southern California Bouldering Guide, by Craig Fry
    (good chapters on Mt. Woodson, Santee Boulders, & Magnolia Boulders)

San Diego County Climbing Guide, by Dave Kennedy
    (the only guide that attempts to cover all San Diego climbing)