A group headed out to Vantage to find some dry rock to climb... the rain in Western Washington sucks! Mike, Damien and I met up with Josh and Tamber in the Feathers parking lot on Saturday afternoon. The wind was howling, but we decided to get on a few routes at the Feathers anyways. It was Mike's first time outdoors (and in a harness) and we discovered that my old size large harness was just a but too small for him. We were able to make it work, but it was quite a fiasco... him sucking in and pulling the harness tight to give me enough slack to get it double-backed enough to be safe. It was probably a bit short and way too tight, but we kept checking it every climb. As we climbed the wind kicked up and got pretty nasty, but Mike got his first top rope ascents on a 5.6 and 5.5 on the north side of the Feathers. We were ready to wrap up and headed over to find Josh and Tamber working on 'So Funny I Forgot to Laugh 5.9'... Josh got pumped while clipping a draw and had to down climb, leaving the draw. He was pumped, so Tamber went up and gave it a go, but ended up not making it past the bolt Josh placed... it was windy and super sketchy. The sun was just setting over the ridge when I tied in with a certain amount of urgency to get this done and get the gear, so we could get out of the wind and get warm. I made it up to the highest draw and did a take so I could scope the finish and make a run for it. The moves seemed like they were there, so after my short rest, I made the last few moves to the anchor, cleaned up and got the hell out of there.
Now the fun was starting... we were putting gear away in the cars in about 40 MPH wind with stronger gusts. It was hard to hear and do anything, but we were trying to figure out if we wanted to camp there, stay in a motel room or what. As we were getting squared away and about to leave for Ellensburg to search for food and lodging, I went to open my door and the wind took it and blew it open making a horrible noise... WTF!! My door "thingy" that keeps your door from closing on you snapped off and door swung wide open, bending the edge of the door back... nice.
So now were on the way to get food and decide what were doing, and I get a flat tire on 90, 8 miles outside of Ellensburg. We get towed back into town, as I don't think I have a spare (turns out I did). The tire place isn't open on Sunday, so I'm thinking I'll be waiting around until Monday morning. WTF! Everyone is tired and hungry, so we go eat. I can deal with shit after that. Dinner hit the spot.
Josh, Tamber and Damien headed to the Motel to check on a room, while I went with Mike to check my trunk for a spare. After removing wood, camping gear and Josh's Keg I find that I do have a spare. After locating the jack and tools, we remove the lug nuts to find that the wheel will not come off the car. After taking turns kicking it, I decided to call the tow truck guy to help, as we all had bruised feet by now. He came back and had to beat the wheel for 10 minutes with a 6' 4x4 to get the thing to come off. Finally the tire was changed and filled with air (along with the other 3 tires that were severely low), so we were ready to head back to Vantage. Turns out the Holiday Inn wanted $140 for a room... F#ck Off! So back to Vantage we went... turns out the wind died down a bit and camping was pretty nice. I got to the "secret spot" (not in the dust bowl) at about 11:15pm. I'll be damned if I was going to bring wood and beer and not use it, so we made a small but proud fire and enjoyed a few beers before bed.
Sunday morning came in with a whisper... no wind to speak of. We broke camp and headed off to the Sunshine Wall by 7:30 or so and met up with Kyle on the way. Contrary to the day before the weather was perfect. Josh led Chossmaster to warm up, and Tamber and I headed for Peaceful Warrior for our first route. She led it in style, I pulled the rope and led it as well. Mike went after that and did a fine job on his first Sunshine Wall route. After that I moved over a couple routes to 7 Virgins and a Mule (5.7 trad). While I was half was up the chimney I head tale of Josh taking a good leader fall while on Boshido (10b)... good on you for sacking up on a tough route and climbing hard. I wasn't finished with my chimney when Josh and Tamber headed off to Seattle to catch a plane. Finally I made it to the top, but no anchors... There was a set I could reach for Narlux (a route 2 over from 7Vs) which I used and lowered off of, so we could TR it after Damien and Kyle climbed 7Vs. They both climbed it without much trouble. We then took a burn on Narlux, which is a pumpy route with fun climbing up an arete. I took a few rests, but didn't ever find any moves that were too hard for me... just a fitness issue to lead that one I think.
On the way out, we stopped at the Feathers again for a couple last routes before going home. I was already pretty happy with my day, but ended up leading a couple more 5.7s including the Becky Route which was fun and seemed easy. Mike got back on the 5.7 that he lowered off the day before, and got a clean top rope send on that one too. After the great day of climbing, we headed to the town of Vantage and got dinner at the greasy spoon next to the gas station. Crappy food, but good company made for a fun meal. We sent Kyle off headed east and took off in our direction. Traffic was good headed back over the pass, and we were back home a 7:00pm. All I can say is thankfully Sunday was a perfect day climbing which made up for Saturday and the follies it brought.
