Bishop Peak
San Luis Obispo (the Morros / Nine Sisters) · near San Luis Obispo · Central Coast
Rock Climbing
At a glance
- Skill level
- all-levels
- Grade range
- 5.6–5.11b roped · V0–V6 bouldering
- Best season
- Fall–spring; avoid hot summer afternoons (fog, sun and wind all in play). Watch for rattlesnakes and abundant poison oak on the approaches
Permits and booking
- Permit
- Free — SLO City Open Space. Access is dawn to dusk only. No standing raptor closure on the crag, but peregrines nest across the Morros, so seasonal spot-closures are possible — heed posted signage. Residential parking at the top of Highland/Patricia Dr.
Worth knowing
- Good for a first timer
- No
Rock Climbing detail
- Climb types
- trad · sport · top-rope · bouldering
- Rock type
- Dacite volcanic plug — grippy, technical face and slab with some crack
- Route count
- ~260 total (~83 trad, ~115 sport, ~61 top-rope, ~65 boulders) — the densest roped crag on the Central Coast
- Signature routes
- P-Crack (5.9-) · Camel (5.10b/c) · Western Airlines (5.11b)
- First timer note
- Bring a helmet for loose rock and long sleeves and pants — poison oak lines many of the approach gullies.
- Intl tip
- The one true climbing destination in SLO, ten minutes from town with everything from beginner top-ropes to 5.11. Wear long sleeves and pants — poison oak is everywhere on the approaches — and note the dawn-to-dusk access rule.
The guide
Bishop Peak is the undisputed anchor of Central Coast climbing — a striking extinct volcanic plug rising straight out of San Lu…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Bishop Peak — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 35.3026, -120.697