Otter Cliffs

Bill rapelling

Otter Cliffs are located on the edge of the ocean. It is considered a top roping area, though you can rappel down and lead some of the climbs and there are better places to lead in the park. The climbing area is located off of the loop road which is one way, so you need to be careful not to miss the parking area.

At the top of Otter cliffs, there are several fixed anchors that can be used to top rope several of the climbs on one side. The anchors are long bars that several parties may be anchored in to at one time. This area has trees that are roped off to protect them from further harm, so please do not use these trees for anchors.

In the area of the anchors, there are several climbs, including an easy corner and some challenging cracks. Remember that you actually have to complete the climb to go home, there is no simple path to hike around to the top.

Many people chose to belay from the top of the cliffs but we found that a social belay was more fun. Our only problem is that we had no one at the top to defend our space, and a guide dropped her rope (literally) without warning one foot to the right of ours.

We found that there is a wide range in the quality of the guides in this area. One excellent guide lowered on to the wall to help his students, while another not-so-excellent guide told her students to "just grab the rope" if they could not do a move. Classes usually only last until noon in this area.