I was going to climb Mt. Rainier last weekend with my friends Steve and Josh, but we shifted to the back up plan (Sherpa - West Ridge 6 Pitches 5.4) due to a chance of rain on Sunday morning. Steve wrote a great TR about the trip on cascadeclimbers.com, so I will just post a link to his TR to save me from writing it all down...
http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=891253
After wasting two days of my week off (car issues and rain), I decided that even though I couldn't find someone to climb with I was going to head to Leavenworth to boulder and camp for a night. I was all packed up with my car camping essentials and Lilly by 8:00am and headed east on Highway 2. I arrived at Bridge Creek CG at about 10:15am and as luck would have it, I got a good spot there. I unloaded all the gear and set up camp. I was done quickly and off to climb.
I decided to hit up the Forest Land Boulders. I've been there before and figured since I didn't have a spotter, I would work on some easier problems. I did a bunch of V0/V1's I've done before and a couple new problems including Tahitian Moon and Moondog. I was working on Bad Moon Rising, a tough V2 slab, but decided against going too high, as the landing was slopy and I didn't feel like tumbling down the hill if I came off. I'll be back for that one with backups. The afternoon was progressing, so I decided to head back to camp for beers and a fire before dinner.
When I got back to camp, there were people setting up next to me. They were there for 5 days for a softball tournament, and turned out to be totally cool. They had a mountain of wood and a fully stocked bar with booze and beer... offering me all I could handle. Shots of whiskey and kamikazes wee flowing freely. We hung out by the fire... ate, drank and were merry. I stumbled back to my tent around 11:00pm. They were still going, but I couldn't take anymore.
I was up early and had slow cooked oats with brown sugar & banana for breakfast before I broke down my tent and packed up the car. I was out of camp and headed to Mad Meadows at about 8:00am. There I got on Woolly Mammoth V0, The Dish V1, Pruning Sheers V1 and worked on The Break V2. I will need a couple more pads and spotters before I send The Break. I can't wait to get there with some people and give it a better shot. It was approaching noon-time and I was ready to get back on the road and get home to pack for my upcoming weekend adventure, Mt. Rainier. Little did I know that we would change to our backup plan due to a marginal weather forecast. (Which ended up being wrong.)
It's been a while since I posted anything, but I've been having too much fun with my week off work climbing to get anything up here. Now that I'm back to work and into my normal schedule again, I can get back to it.
I had planned on climbing with Dave at Index on Monday, but the weather was not cooperating, so we headed to Leavenworth with John and "J" another friend of Dave's who's name is escaping me at the moment. We got to the Snow Creek Trail Head and hiked up to Pearly Gates. The Hike included a sketchy creek crossing over a fallen log, but was mostly uneventful.
Upon arrival, I paired up with Dave and we did a 5.8 crack (on the right side of the left area) which Dave strung together with the pitch above which was 5.9 and pretty fun. Next Dave cleaned a 5.9 J had led, which I didn't do... I'm not sure why? I then belayed J on a 5.9 crack and followed him, it was fun. I then decided to do a trad lead, and there were not many easy routes... none under 5.8 for me, so I sacked up for my hardest trad lead to date. The lead went well and I on-sighted my first 5.8 trad lead, nice.
Next J led another 5.9 crack which I followed, then moved the rope over to the next crack, a .10 I think and we climbed that to finish off the day. It was about 8:30 and by the time we arrived at the car it was 9:30. We headed off to the Munchen Haus, but it was closed, as was Gustavs. Damn! We settled for Ducks and Drakes for a quick beer and meal, which lasted way longer than we planned. We got back to Index at about 1:00am, and I was home about 1:30. Day one of my week off work in the books.
I headed out to meet up with some friends at Exit 38 after work. I arrived at the Far Side Parking lot at 6pm and was at Interstate Park at 6:22pm. Not bad.
Upon arrival, Seton, Duane and Paul were getting on harness & shoes... preparing to climb. Before long, Steven, Josh, Marcin and a few others joined us. Duane led the .9 next to Ellies Sweet Kiss and I led the .8 to the right of it. It was a fun lead, with an interesting chimney move near the top... you pull up into it and kind of sit in there with your right hip and stem across with you left foot, then up and over a block. It's easily protected with a bolt right at the sketchy part, so it comes off pretty easy.
Next I TR'd the .9 that Duane had led. Last time I climbed that route I had some trouble with the start and getting up a blank-ish slab. Watching Duane gave me the beta to make it through the start easily and I breezed through it. Now it was time to step up. Everyone was looking at Ellies Sweet Kiss (10a), sizing it up so to speak; I decided to rack up the draws and give it a go, so up I went. The beginning starts off pretty easy and then gets overhanging by half way up the route. The thing is, there is plenty of bolts and many good rest areas as well as great hands. I just stayed calm and kept climb and before long I was at the final move to get over a roof, which was also protected with a bolt right at the crux. I clipped it and pulled the move... a clean assent. I was stoked!
After that, I ran laps on the .8's and .9 that were set up until 9:30pm, when it started getting dark. I ended up with 7 routes done, not bad for a few hours after work. I can't wait to hit it up again next Wednesday... hopefully I'll get a chance to lead Endless Bliss (10a), my next project for Exit 38. We hiked down by headlamp and I was at the parking lot by 10pm and pulled in the driveway at 11pm on the nose. What a great way to spend an afternoon.
I headed out to Leavenworth to meet up with a bunch of friends taking a Trad Leading class. Everyone was staying at the group camp ground at Brideg Creek, which is one of my favorite places to camp in Icicle Creek.
On Saturday, we had a leisurly start and hit a couple crags with Marcin and Lisa. We were going to do a couple routes at XY Craig, but it was full with two other parties practicing trad leads. We then headed to Stones Throw, which is just 1 minute off the road, about 300 yards east of XY. It was a small area, but turned out to be fun. I led a 5.9 face climb that was fun, but skirted around the crux a bit on the lead. I did it again on TR and went right through the crux, which was disapointing since I couldn't sack up and do the moves on the sharp end. I still haven't taken a signifigant leader fall since my surgery which seems to be getting in my head a bit. After that we did a fun 5.8 route.
Next we hit up Playground Point to meet up with a few other people we know that were going to be up there. I did a few routes on the upper slabs and led Fathers Day which was an easy fun climb. Soon we were heading back to the campsite for food, beer and fun. I broke out the guitar at the fire and played a few songs before handing it over to Hugo, who tore it up for the rest of the evening, including some sing-a-longs and fun parity songs. A great time was had by all.
Sunday brought us to the Upper Clamshell area. The group was going over Aid Climbing two students at a time, so the rest of us just worked on a few routes, including GRTC, which is a touch 10b slab route. I made it clean, so next time up there I plan on leading this one. It is very thin on the hands and feels a bit scary... I can't wait! I also did the 10a route on The Cube very easily, which was a good thing since the last time I did it, it seemed very hard for me. I also did the .8 crack in the cube without the rock to stand on at the start. This makes the starting move very tough... a hand jam way up high with the right hand and a mantle with the left, then a high step with the right and then pull into the crack, burying your left foot in the crack and up from there. It seemed as hard as the 10a climb to me. We then headed up to do the routes next to Noisy Oyster and after sending a couple of them, the thunder and lightning came in and chased us back down to the cars. After wrapping up with the group, a bunch of us headed out to Christine's Cabin about 18 miles up the Chumstick Highway towards Fish Lake. It was an incredible place and we had a great BBQ and conversation over beers. I can't wait for the next climbing trip and BBQ at Christine's.
Joel called me at 3:30 or so to see if I wanted to hit up the Gold Bar Boulders with him and Jian. Hell yea, no question! Velvet wanted to go to, so we all met at 4:30 at my house in Monroe and headed for GB.
The gate was closed, as I had read elsewhere, but we were able to take the semi-hidden path to the left of the gate and squeeze Joel's Toyota through there. The road up is in terrible condition compared to my last trip up there about a year ago. We headed up the left side trail and parked just before the end due to a road washout.
We headed to a huge boulder with an anchor on top so Joel set up a TR. The first route was about 5.7ish and has a few fun moves. I then headed up to a boulder just up hill from the huge boulder and started working a line up the left side. After a couple tries, I had Joel and Jian spot me and I sent the problem, probably a V0+. Joel sent it as well. Jian wanted to work the much harder right side, so we all tried that for a while... making very little progress. Joel then moved the rope over to the other arete of the huge boulder and we TR'd that route... somewhere in the 5.10 range we decided.
Next we headed up the trail to some more boulders with obvious chalk and route on them. Many are in need of cleaning, as the tops were mossy on many lines. We worked on a tough over hung route and I was able to link a couple hard moves to the top, but none of us could figure out the very hard sit start variation. We moved up hill from there to a really nice boulder with a couple great problems on it. The harder route on the arete had a very tough sit start that only Joel was able to pull off. From there you move up to some side pulls and a flake before a committing top out. The other route (probably V1) was a fun traverse to a top out which Joel, Jian and I did. Velvet worked the route too and made great progress, epecially one huge lunging move that she was able to pull off one time before she was pumped. It will not be long before she is all over these boulders. After that we headed back to the truck for a quick beer before the ride out. Good times in Gold Bar.
I headed to Leavenworth with Velvet and Lillie for the weekend to enjoy some climbing. It just so happened that Rockfest was going on, so we decided to camp and enjoy the festivities. We headed out at about 5:00pm Friday afternoon, after some last minute delays and got to the Bridge Creek CG Group Area at about 7:30pm. It was already pretty crowded, but we were able to get a good spot to set up camp. Friday night was not too loud or crazy, but more of a mellow night with people streaming in.
Saturday morning was nice, as we had coffee and relaxed while we were waiting for the seminars to start. Velvet was going to go to beginning climbing and I went in for some Bouldering Techniques. Bouldering was fun, but was more of a session that a class. About 5 or 6 of us headed up into the Forestland boulder area and worked a few problems. I did a few V0's to warm up and a nice V1 before moving up out of Lower Forestland and getting on a super-nice V3 that we all worked at for a while. It was a touch sit start to a ledge, then get a side-pull and slap a block... stand up and keep reaching for a jug on the top of the block and finish off the top out. I worked on it pretty hard and finally hit the money move, but was pumped and chickened out on the top-out. The landing was not too good and I wasn't feeling it, but I will be back to send that problem for sure.
It was about Noon, and I went back to Barney's Rubble to meet up with Velvet. After her class, there was a group of beginners on TR doing one of the slab routes on Barney's. She was pretty nervous, but when it was her turn, she roped up and gave it a go. She did great, and then got to a tough spot she couldn't get past. It was a committing move with just a smear and no good hands. She tried for a few minutes, then lowered down. We practiced on the slab at the ground, and she realized her shoes will hold. She went back on the rope and gave it another shot... after a minute of getting her nerve up, she went for it and made it no problem.
At this point, lunch and some rest sounded pretty good, so we headed back to camp to fuel up and relax for a little bit. After lunch, I borrowed a demo pad from Joe from P-Town, who was one of the gear reps showing products. He was a really cool guy and hooked up the pad so we could get in a bouldering session. We headed back up to the Forestland boulders and did laps on a bunch of 0's and 1's. It was a lot of fun, but I banged my knee (good one) and decided to call it a day.
We headed back to camp, and the BBQ was already starting. Feathered Friends and a variety of sponsors put on a great BBQ, free beer and Sonnie Trotter and Collin (something-or-other... sorry man) did a great slide show, with some amazing pictures. After the slide show, the music was cranked and fire started, which carried on into the night. We were pretty tired by about midnight, and headed to bed.
Sunday morning brought pancakes, courtesy of Rockfest, which was awesome. So nice to have a hot "real" breakfast which camping. After that, we headed out to Playground Point so Velvet could conquer Baby Steps. I led it and she was able to make it up without any trouble at all. After that we headed to the upper slabs and I let a 5.8 and 5.9 up there that I had done before. We still had to pack up our camp, so we headed back to BCCG and got ready to head home. We finished off the trip with a stop at Munchen Haus for a Cheddar Jalapeno Brat and a beer. What a way to finish a great weekend.
It is so nice to be able to climb after work, especially on the hottest day of the year... and stay cool in the shade. I have only climbed the Lower Town Wall, so I was excited when I picked up Dave at the Index General Store at 3:40pm and found out we were going to head to the Inner Wall.
When we pulled into the LWT parking area, I noticed that some of the "long term" RV campers (AKA squatters) had moved on and there was room to camp next to the river again... about damn time. We then headed up to the IW, and I realized I was in flip flops and had no other shoes, which ended up sucking on the upper part of the trail. When we arrived, we were in a small canyon with a few routes and a cave, but mainly over grown lush vegetation, moss and most importantly, shade.
We got geared up and Dave led Toxic Shock (5.9). It was a sweet route with a finger crack for 15 feet or so, then a easy-ish section, followed by a committing, exposed step onto a slab to gain the next 20 foot hand crack that leads to the tree anchor (slings and a rap ring). From there, Dave traversed and set a TR on Even Steven (11a) and lowered down. Next, I followed on TS and cleaned gear. The first piece would not come out easily, especially while in a lay back, so I had to sit on the rope and work out the cam... the second cam in the same crack was not as difficult to remove, but tough also. From there I scaled the gully section and across the slab to the hand crack. This was tough but fun climbing and soon I was at the anchor.
Next Dave worked Even Steven on TR, the two crux sections were thin fingers and looked very tough. After he lowered, I climbed the easy crack below to gain Even Steven, but getting on the lower crux was a bit over my head, so I lowered and Dave worked it again, trying to work out the cruxes so he could send it clean. I then got back on TS again, trying for a clean send, as now I don't have to clean pro and can just climb. As I was doing the lay back up the first crack, I popped off and fell quite a ways for being on TR. We had the whole rope out over both climbs, so there was a lot of stretch. I couldn't believe it! The hands were thin in that area, and I just lost it. And it happened 2 more times before I was able to do it without falling off. Once past that section, I was able to gain the upper crack easily and did a combo of lay back moves, stems and hand jams to finish it off.
After that, we headed over to Corner Flash Grandeur Buttress (5.7) on the other side of the canyon. Dave led it easily, and I followed and cleaned pro without incident. It was a fun, easy climb to finish off the day... it was now about 8:00pm and the sun was fading into the trees while the shadows were growing long into the mountain side. The hike back down over quickly and I was dropping Dave off in Index shortly after before heading down Hwy 2 towards home. Another great afternoon on the rock.
This was my first trip to Smith Rocks, and I don't really know where to begin. I guess let me first say WOW, what an amazing place! The spectactular beauty is hard to put into words that can do it justice.
Ashley and I left Kirkland at 6:00pm on Friday evening, very excited that out first trip to Smith had finally arrived. The traffic was flowing well on 5 south for a Firday evening. The drive went uneventful and we arrived at about 12:30am. We signed in at the Bivy Area and went about trying to find a place to set up shop. The directions were slightly vague... no sleeping in cars, and camp in the woods. In the dark, this didn't make as much sense as it would have in the light. We wandered around the grassy area around the parking lot for a few minutes, and almost set up a tent right by the car... luckily Ashley spotted a sign and trail to the bivy area. Once we figured out were to go, we set up in the first empty place we saw. In the morning we realized we were about 20 feet from a guy in a bivy sack... we felt bad that he had to listen to us drink beers and carry on. Luckily we were being fairly civil and I don't think we caused too much ill will. We finally got to sleep around 2:30am.
Saturday brought hard-core sun and 90 degree temps. After having coffee and eating, we loaded up the packs and headed out toward th climbing. All we really knew was there was a trail and bridge... go left. On the trail down, we were excited by the spectactular views of all the amazing climbing areas. We then happened upon the Rope de Dope block area, which half of which was in the shade. We decided to climb an easy route on the left side to get warmed up. Luckily I didn't just jump on something a little harder, as How Low Can You Go(5.6) in the heat turned out to be a very interesting "warm-up", although I led it without issue. After Ashley followed up, I had him change the anchor to Low Blow(10b) which was in the shade on the other side. The shade was much nicer that the sun, although the route turned out to be very challenging, with a super hard bouldering start. Ashley also followed on this route and made it up his hardest route to date.
It was about 11:00am by now and the heat was opressive. We decided it was time to take a break from the climbing for a while and decided to check out the canyon before getting back in the shade. We decided to cross the river rather than go around, and man the water felt good. It was thigh high and moving slow, but the rocks were slick and good footing was hard to get. Niether Ashley nor I wanted to fall, as we had camera's and electronics in our packs, so the crossing was mildly stressful, but much worth the effort. Once on the other side we instantly felt the temp go up... we looked around for 10 minutes before heading to the bridge and back to the camp, with plans to get back on it at 4:00pm. (which was a nasty little hike in the heat with a pretty heavy pack). Shade and repeated hose-downs from the shower kept us cool until the sun started to back off a bit.
When the time came, we headed for the Dihedrals. It was relatively crowed considering the temps, but were able to get on Easy Reader(5.6) and Litchen It(5.7) without any trouble. Both routes were fun, but once again fely very difficult for the grade. This turned out to be the theme of the trip for me. After that, we headed back towards camp and worked on a V3 boulder problem just on the climbing side of the bridge about 15 yards up. It was fun trying the tough problem over and over, but I was never able to make the last lunge to a tough sloper, which we presumed would be the end of the problem. I got pumped out and felt great after my first day at Smith. After heading back up the trial, we had ice-cold beers and re-fueled. We were both very tired from the hot day and were out by 10:30pm.
The clouds rolled on over night, and we heard a few raindrops at about 4:00am. I was very excited to think about the prospect of climbing in the shade! Luckily the clouds stayed and we were ready for another day of climbing. While heading down, we saw no parties on 5 Gallon Buckets (5.8), so we though that would be a great oportunity to jump on that, as the day before it had a line all day. When we arrived, there was another party of 2 (with a guide) just getting there. Damn the luck. The guide led it in 5 minutes with sandals on, so we figured it wouldn't be long, and after the two TR's it, only 45 minutes had gone by... not bad. So now I jump on lead, and the first bolt is like 20 feet up... the holds are numerous and bomber, but it was scary none the less. Once past the first bolt, I felt better and continued up. About 3/4 the way up I was becoming tired and the head game began... can I make it to the next bolt. I needed to rest and think it through on each of the last 3 bolts, which sucked as I didn't get the on-sight, but I couldn't push through the self-doubt. I think I'll be much better next time, as I just took way too long pausing at each bolt planning my attack instead of just flowing past the clip and not getting pumped out. By the end of the climb, I was happy to be off, but 5 minutes later I was already thinking about the lead on it next trip. Ashley followed on TR and was able to get up it with only a few rests.
After doing 5GB, we headed over to a little ways to the Peanut and I led Peanut Brittle(5.8). This route was much different, tiny crimpers and pebbles with another very hard start and 14 foot first bolt. Luckily the couple next to us had a stick clip, or I would have been shut down before the first bolt. I let the route without issue, and Ashley followed and cleaned the route and rapped down, which was our modus oporandi for the weekend. Next I wanted to head over a bit and lead Right Side Crack (5.5 Trad). It's the crack between Litchen It and Easy Reader in the Cinnamon Slab area. It was a fun trad lead and everything seemed to be all there, the pro was good and the holds were there, making for an enjoyable last climb. Ashley jumped on it and sent it without issue on TR. We then packed up and headed out... we already had the car packed, so it was a quick soak and a beer before hitting the road for home. We stopped at Ashley's A&W on the way back and had an awesome Double Bacon Cheeseburger. Now exhausted and full, we were ready for the rest of the ride home. I dropped off Ashley in Kirkland and was home at 9:45pm. Another great trip in the books...
