Mount St. Helena (The Bubble)
Robert Louis Stevenson SP, Calistoga · near Calistoga · SF Bay Area
Rock Climbing
At a glance
- Skill level
- advanced
- Grade range
- 5.7–5.12+
- Best season
- Spring & fall · Exposed and hot in summer on the treeless dome
Permits and booking
- Permit
- Robert Louis Stevenson State Park — free, no day-use fee or permit; undeveloped park, closes at sunset. Subject to red-flag/fire closures (2017 fires burned parts of the mountain). A 1.5–2 mile hike with ~1,000ft gain, no water or shade.
Worth knowing
- Good for a first timer
- No
Rock Climbing detail
- Climb types
- sport · trad · multi-pitch
- Rock type
- Volcanic rhyolite / welded ash — pockety domes
- Route count
- ~300+ across all sub-crags
- Signature routes
- Solar Power (5.10c/d) · Mystery Hole (5.10a) · Jason and the Argonauts (5.12b/c)
- First timer note
- It's a real hike to the crags with no water or shade — carry more water than you think and start early. Not a casual roadside stop.
- Intl tip
- It's a real hike (1.5–2 mi, ~1,000ft gain) to the crags with no water or shade — carry extra water and start early. Not a casual roadside stop.
The guide
This is the closest thing the Bay Area has to real mountain climbing — long approaches, a big exposed volcanic dome, and hundre…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Mount St. Helena (The Bubble) — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 38.6497, -122.6046