Leavenworth Rock - 03.20-24.10

With a few of the students off from school, I decided to make an extended weekend and get some climbing in. Five of us would leave Seattle on Saturday and climb throughout the weekend. Steen would leave, and we would be joined by Sam, Andrew and Tony on Monday. Andrew and Tony would only stay the day, and Sam and Adam left on Tuesday after climbing which left only Sal, Kaeli and myself to climb on Wednesday.

Saturday I was billing as the fun day, and then there would be instruction from Sunday through Tuesday with another fun day on Wednesday. When driving out, Kaeli and Sal suggested they would like to follow trad lines on Saturday to get some practice at looking at gear etc. So after we set up camp at Bridge Creek, we decided on Domestic Dome as our first stop of the day.

I led up B.S. which I still feel is stiffer than its 5.6 rating. (Perhaps why it is called B.S.?) I then watched as everyone other than Sal had difficulty making the crux clean. Once at the top of B.S., I led Kaeli and Steen up Underachiever and Adam led Sal up Connie's Crack. Underachiever was a pretty fun route with some cracks and flakes leading to a 5.8 slab finish. Unfortunately someone stole the second bolt off the slab and I used easier ground to avoid the run out. Once at the top we attempted to hike up to the Rare Earth area. This proved harder than it should and I cursed the maps in the guidebook for making it look easy. After two hours or so of wandering around, we decided to head back to Domestic Dome and do the opposite routes that we had done earlier. To our dismay, a single rope rappel did not make it from the Underachiever anchors to the base. Adam and I were successful at changing it to a double rope from halfway down although our stance was not great and we had no anchor. Once we were back at the base, Adam and Sal top-roped Underachiever while I led Kaeli and Steen up Connie's Crack.

Day 2: Instruction at Mountie's Dome
Sunday started a bit darker and cooler than the previous day as we headed to Mountie's Dome to practice gear placement and mock lead. Kaeli and Sal did great and near the end of the day started their real leads. Steen got some practice in as well, while Adam and I got our practice of climbing in boots and trail runners. We also had a two manned pink tricam removal session. We had light showers throughout the day, but the sun came out for when the real leading started.

Day 3: Instruction at Roto Wall
Sam met us at the campground and then we had a short drive to Roto Wall to start climbing. Sal and Kaeli finished their leads and went on to climb the 5.6 on the slab. Sam worked on gear before eventually getting in his mock and true leads. Andrew and Tony arrived a bit late and did ground work before eventually getting in a few mock leads of their own. Once everyone was finished, we headed to Alphabet Rock to top rope Dogleg Crack and Hind Quarters. Since Adam and I had climbed Dogleg the previous week, we only climbed Hind Quarters. I was bummed that I slipped early on the route but successfully climbed the crux.

Day 4: Climb!
Our intention for the day was to climb R&D and then head to Ground Hog's Day to complete that. However, with five people, it makes for slower and more difficult climbing. We got a fairly late start for R&D, and were doing the Cocaine Connection variation. For a Tuesday, there was a surprising amount of people looking to do the route. One party stopped by while Adam and Sam were on route and decided they did not want to pass us. Kaeli, Sal and I had a party on our tail from below the chimney, and when we got back to the base, there were two parties on route and another team heading to the start. Lots of traffic for a Tuesday in March.

Sam and Adam swung leads on the climb while I played monkey in the middle and Sal and Kaeli swung leads around me. I did lead the second pitch of Cocaine Connection, but it was mostly a traverse as the rope drag of two 10mm ropes became too much for me. Due to my short pitch and other difficulties, we ended up doing the climb in six pitches. This was good, as it gave both Kaeli and Sal more opportunity to swing leads, and place gear. Everyone did great, but it was late in the day when we topped out. Adam stated he was going home with Sam, and Sal, Kaeli and I headed to the campground.

Day 5: Castle Rock
If Adam had stayed, the idea was to be the two of us swinging leads with the students on Midway and Sabre. Since it just three of us, I was monkey in the middle again as we climbed Sabre instead of Midway since it seemed a bit cold when we arrived. I had my shoe tear through on a crack jam near the bottom of the first pitch, which led me not to trust it too much for the rest of the climb. I also got a curved nut off the route too. The climb took a long time, and we called it quits after our "summit".

Overall it was a fun time. I did not get too much leading in, but that is what happens when you volunteer sometimes. I also didn't take too many pictures as I was concentrating on the instruction etc. The climbing was fun, but I was getting a little tired by the last few days. Hard to keep up inspiration during that time period when climbing routes I have already climbed. One way I found was to climb in approach shoes or boots for a different challenge.

My pics are here.
Sal's pics are here.

Exit 38 - 03.06.10

Followed up an excellent day of climbing in Darrington with a not-so-excellent day at Exit 38.

Started the day at Interstate with the intention of finally checking out Off Ramp. Before climbing, we figured out the approach to Off Ramp, but noticed it did not have anchors assessable for top roping. So I decided to warm up on Eating Dust as the stump no longer exists and makes Eating Rocks a bit more difficult start than it was previously. I had no issues on the climb and set up a top rope for Steen to climb. She climbed Eating Dust and then we both climbed Eating Rocks. I brought her to the top so I could finish off with Insomniac, but I balked after clipping the first bolt and could not seem to figure out the moves. My calves were noticeably sore from the previous day and after about four attempts, we decided to rap down.

On the ground we were met by Adam, Zach and his girlfriend. They were going to climb in that area while Steen and I checked out something different. We walked over to Kiss of the Crowbar a nice 5.7 route that I had climbed a few years ago with Lindsay. I started up and found it to be runout and couldn't even locate the second bolt so I went left to climb Attack of the Butter Knives before seeing the second bolt. I then made a traverse back to clip the correct bolt and then back tracked to unclip from the off route bolt.

I was then able to proceed upward. However I was still balking. Steen asked if I wanted to come down, but I told her I was going to go for it. As I clipped the third bolt I realized it suffered from the same problem the second bolt suffered from. The bolt was poorly placed and caused the carabiner on my draw to come to rest on the rock's edge. This concerned me as I was afraid of the biner breaking in a fall. The wind was blowing and I did not feel comfortable climbing upward from that point. But I noticed there might be a bypass around the next steep section by going around it to the right. I informed Steen of what I was about to do and went around to the right. After going around and up, I was a bit above the previous bolt and did not feel comfortable trying to get back on route. I then informed Steen of my decision to attempt to walk off to the right. There was a grassy ledge system with some small shrubs that I was able to traverse until I got to walking terrain. I called "off belay" and untied to walk down to Steen.

I apologized for the lack of my finishing and told her to pull the rope and told her I hoped Adam would be able to complete the route to get my gear. It was Noon, and we decided after telling the others that we would sit in the sun on the talus field and enjoy lunch. It was shady and cold near the base of the wall, and not much better on the route, so the less windy and more sunny talus slope provided a welcome change.

Adam two clips up on "...Crowbar"

After lunch Zach and his girlfriend left to go for a hike while I belayed Adam up Kiss of the Crowbar. He tried to rectify the same issue I was concerned with and did it with adding an additional biner on the bolt. He made his way surely to the top and set up a top rope for Steen and I to climb. While Steen was halfway up a guy came by that was an acquaintance who was hoping to get on the route. I told him I would skip the top rope and he could have it after Steen. Adam instructed me to head to Squishy Bell to see if I could set up a top rope there. I hiked up to Squishy Bell where there was already two parties on routes (which left only one anchor open.) Instead of being the person who holds movie theater seats when others are not in the theater, I dropped the rope and my jacket at the base and went back to pick up my pack. After explaining the situation to Adam, I headed back to wait for him and Steen to join me.

Steen cleaning the anchor on "Crowbar" with McClellan Butte backdrop.

By the time they joined me, I had convinced myself that I would lead Winter Rushing In to set up a top rope for November Glaze. Thankfully, I had no issues leading the route and set up the top rope. Steen followed Winter Rushing In and then all three of us top roped November Glaze. Which is a fun route that has a difficult move to reach the second bolt. After that route, we packed up and headed home.

This was a frustrating day for me as I climbed well the previous day but had some head issues attempting to lead today. Interestingly, I did not have those issues on the final lead, so I am not sure what happened. I guess some times you have off days, or off climbs. I'm going to put it behind me and look forward to the next climb.

Kangaroo Temple 07.05.08

Weather wasn't great, but we managed to summit in a long day. No real issues during the day other than some rain showers passing through. We stopped for the first shower, but climbed right through the following. The approach was a little difficult to follow through the talus fields, but it didn't seem to slow us down that much. We did don crampons for the snow up to Kangaroo Pass, but they did not seem necessary. (All these minor 'issues' seem to add up.) Slightly off route on the first pitch caused an intermediate belay. Then smooth route finding on the rest of the climb. The step around move was not as intimidating as I thought it would be, but it is never comfortable climbing without solid hand holds. We introduced an extra rap to get to the summit rap anchors, and found the descent route description to be somewhat off. ("Two double 50m raps to the packs.") The rap from the summit is a single 60m and the second rap is a double 60m back to the notch. Overall, a fun climb on decent rock, despite the rain.

Summit shot (photo by Julie Labrecque)

For more pics, click here.

Jessica's pics here.