Located approximately 5 miles past Kernville about 58.2 miles and about 1 hour 17 minutes from Bakersfield. The Kern Slabs also known as Kernville Rock can be seen from the road on the opposite side of the road as the Kern River. The Kern Slabs is a heavily used climbing area. The Kern Slabs has been one of Kern Counties Oldest and most climbed areas. The face of the Kern Slabs reaches around 300 ft. in some sections and has numerous slab, finger cracks and thin face climbs and dons an infamous lie back crack that in the original guidebook was rated 5.3 and now is rated 5.5 and is still stout for some at this rating.

This location is rich with some local history and is used by all. The area once was known for its routes being pioneering and to some quite scary with many routes having great fall potential (or slide potential) as of recently many routes have been retro bolted and on a few climbs additional bolts have been added which leads to a great debate amongst the climbing community. This is probably due to the location being close enough for local guides to use this area heavily. This is sad to some who pioneered routes like Chouinard Special and many others that have ratings of around 5.8 and if done in their original style could easily send most climbers to rethinking their lead ability. Many half pitch top rope anchors have been set up which allows for newbie′s to go and enjoy this area.

The community hopes that this type of climbing mentality or ethic does not spread to the rest of our areas. This site gets a great rating for those who are beginners and advanced alike with sporty routes like Dirty Dishes which has 13 new bolts or cornflakes (5.9+R) and Captain Crunch (5.11+R) that can give anyone a challenge with their road rash or even deck out potential.

"Climb Well!"

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This area is best used in any other month than July or August. If climbed towards the summer or spring and the day is going to be moderately warm it is best to climb in early morning to early afternoon before the sun hits the rock. If climbed in winter it is best to climb in afternoon once the sun has gently warmed the slab face.

All routes are one main pitch overall and have many 1/2 to 3/4 pitch variations to the top. Two full ropes are need to rappel off most of these routes or you may walk off the south side of the crag. There are many two bolt anchors a half pitch up which makes for simple easy top rope setups for new or large groups.