Gold Bar Bouldering

On Sunday, I checked out the bouldering at Gold Bar about an hour northeast of Seattle. I went up with the Olympia crew, Me, Laura, Micah, Nick, Jimmy, and Whitey. It was my first visit to Gold Bar, and I'll definitely be back for more.

Whitey on a slopey V6 highball

First we went to the Five Star Boulder which is described in the guidebook as 'one of the best boulders in America, hands down' and having climbed on it I can say its probably the best boulder I've ever been on. Its got high clean independent lines on pristine granite on all sides. The only negatives are the landings on some of the highballs, even with 3 mats and good spotters it was quite scary.

Micah on the steep Five Star Arete V6

I sent a great V6 lowball called Sobriosity, along with Jimmy, Nick and Micah. And Jimmy who was on fire, sent the V7 Red Rover straight afterward. We also took some big falls off of the highballs. Fall of the day went to Jimmy who came off the top jug of the Five Star Arete (V6), missed the mats completely and landed right on Nick. Good spotting Nick! I'm glad it wasn't me, at least we got it on camera though.

Nick on Sobriosity V6

We also checked out the Camp Serene boulder a little bit down the road. This boulder is even taller but with better landings. We tried the two best lines on the boulder a V4 and a V6. But the topouts were wet and dirty so nobody tried to top out on this boulder which was a wise decision in my opinion considering the lack of a descent off the boulder.

Jimmy high on a V6 at the Camp Serene boulder

I was very impressed with the quality of bouldering at gold bar, we only checked out two boulders so there is plenty more to return for. Its cool to have quality bouldering close enough for a day trip, we don't have to drive all the way up to Squamish now. As Micah put it Gold Bar is a goldmine!