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The weather in the Valley for the weekend did not look good, so we decided to do a day trip instead. Choices were Sugarloaf, with a 20% chance of showers, St. Helena with 0%, and Gold Wall with 10%. Neither Jack nor I had ever been to the Gold Wall, so we decided to risk the weather. Actually we were hoping for some clouds as the wall gets a lot of sun in the afternoon. Jack, Cindy and I made a not-so-early morning start of 7:30, and were at the wall not long after 10, due to the inevitable stop in Oakdale. Not surprisingly, there were already a few people there, including Jack's friend John. We warmed up on the 5.10a furthest to the right. The rock is very similar to that at Jailhouse, though slightly more friable, and considerably less overhanging. John had gone up one of the 11c in he middle of the wall, and was cleaning some loose rock, sending down huge chunks, so we waited until he was done before moving further left. We got to the base of one route, and I asked someone what it was. He didn't know exactly, and said it was 11-ish, so I decided to go for it. Fairly moderate for most of the way, with a short hard section near the top. Turns out it was an 11d. Not what I would have gotten on had I known, but it turned out fine. John can and joined us then, so Jack climbed with Cindy while John roped up with me. I tried the 12a next, and it was a lot of fun. I was in "Tom Addison" style climbing mode, taking a long, long time with every move, but it worked. Did the 11cs on either side of the 12a, the right one of which was where John had been cleaning the rock. Despite a large section of new rock, I don't think it changed the route significantly - almost all the holds I ended up using holds had chalk on them. I don't think it changed the rating of the route either. I had wanted to try the 12b, but there were multiple parties waiting for it, so we headed back right, and I did the 11a next to the 11d that I had done earlier. Then to cool down, we headed back to the far right of the wall, and did the 10c and 10b. All the routes seemed like they were just about the same level of difficulty to me. Many of the moves were similar - lots of side pulls, bring your feet up high, reach up high again. I think that a lot of the routes are significantly trickier for shorter people. This seems like a very silly TR. I don't know the names of the routes, and all the climbs have blurred together in my mind. It's a fun place, and probably worth a trip or two every year. We climbed more than half the routes, so would be good to head back there once more on a cloudy day to finish off the others. We got rained on just as we started driving away, so we timed the weather pretty well. Of course we stopped in Oakdale on the way back, but didn't run into any of the usual crew. I wonder where they were?