California · Rock climbing · Lone Pine

Hillbilly Pillar

Hillbilly Pillar in California has 5 sport climbing routes ranging across 5 difficulty grades.

Hillbilly PillarPhoto: lamblukas, CC BY 2.0 (via Flickr)
5 routes
5.7 – 5.12b
Sport

Best time to visit Hillbilly Pillar

Best months: February–May and October–November. Best months have typical highs of 55–85 °F, lows of 30 °F or warmer (32 °F where the station doesn't record snow), at most one snowy day and no more than 12 wet days.

  1. Jan

    58° / 30°

    4 wet

  2. Feb

    61° / 33°

    4 wet

  3. Mar

    69° / 39°

    3 wet

  4. Apr

    76° / 44°

    1 wet

  5. May

    85° / 53°

    1 wet

  6. Jun

    96° / 62°

    1 wet

  7. Jul

    102° / 67°

    1 wet

  8. Aug

    101° / 65°

    1 wet

  9. Sep

    93° / 58°

    1 wet

  10. Oct

    81° / 48°

    1 wet

  11. Nov

    67° / 36°

    2 wet

  12. Dec

    57° / 29°

    4 wet

Typical high / low (°F) and days with rain or snow, 1991–2020. Measured at Independence, CA, 14.1 mi away at 3,950 ft. The station sits about 800 ft lower than this place, so expect it a little cooler here. This station doesn't record snowfall. Source: NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020.

Hillbilly Pillar is a climbing area on Bureau of Land Management land within the Bishop Field Office in California. It sits among several named climbing spots, with Paul's Backyard, Paul's Paradise and The Poodle Wall each about 0.1 mile away. That cluster makes it easy to pair with other boulders and walls in the same small area. Spring and fall are the most comfortable times to climb. A nearby weather station at Independence records typical average highs around 69°F in March and 81°F in October, while July averages climb to about 102°F. That station sits roughly 766 feet lower than the pillar, so temperatures here run a little cooler. The routes here are all sport climbs, and five of them range from 5.7 to 5.12b. Among them are Yaum at 5.7 and Hillbilly at 5.11c, with White Trash at 5.12b as the hardest. For a break from the rock, the Arch Loop Trail starts about half a mile away and the Alabama Hills Trail is about a mile off.

Routes (5)

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