Return to Leavenworth

This weekend Laura Micah and I made the three and half hour drive out to Leavenworth again. The weather this weekend was much better than last, it got up into the 70's and sunny all weekend. First off we went up to the Clamshell Cave area, where we warmed up on a few easier climbs, the best being a V3 called Crimp, Crimp, Slap, Throw. And Micah and I also flashed an easy V4 next to it.

Dom setting up for the throw on Crimp, Crimp, Slap, Thow V3

Next we headed down to Barneys Rubble a new (to us) area. On the south side of the road we found a cool V5 that goes up a small dihedral on a tall boulder, I got it second go after figuring out the beta, it was a lot of fun. Then we checked out the boulder on the beach that had a V7 and a V8 on it. The V7 was slopey and powerful, we spent a lot of time falling off of it and probably wasted too much time on it. The only other chalk on the boulder didn't seem to match the description of the V8 on the boulder, but we tried it anyway. It started on some slopers, then campused up to a good slot then a crimp then finished up on jugs to top out. After a few goes I stuck the first crux move then cruised up to finish. Micah got really excited thinking I'd done my first V8, but I'm pretty sure the V8 is just to the right and this is a problem not in the guide, it felt more like V5. Micah got it straight afterwards and agreed with the V5 grade. I put it on my scorecard as 'Sandy Campus' not very original I know.

Laura on Cleaver Crack V0

We then headed over the road to the north part of Barneys Rubble, where we worked on a cool looking problem called The Rubb' Dyno V8. It starts off on a crimpy sidepull on a slabby/vertical wall, you cross through to tiny credit card crimps, and tiptoe your feet over on even smaller footholds, where you have to stand up and jump diagonally up and right to the juggy finishing rail. It looks easy but then you get on it and realize how small the holds are. After working it for a while I got to the dyno position and to my surprise I was able to slap just below the jug. I decided to really go for it, and gave it everything. I got up and latched the jug! I got my whole hand on it, then I felt my feet swing from under me and the momentum took me flying off. I managed to clear both mats and spotters and landed hard on the boulders downhill. I banged my knee pretty bad, but was more disappointed about getting so close on what should have been my first V8. I got back on it, but couldn't commit to the last move, and by that point the sharp crimpers had given a bloody flapper on one of my tips. So I hobbled on to the next problem. As a consolation Micah and I both flashed a V6, our first V6 flash for both of us. The problem was a sit start with a lot of chalked holds up a short wall to a tricky top out. Micah studied the holds for a while. Then managed to lock off and skip half the holds and did well to keep his cool on the top out. Micah's beta worked really well for me but it was still a struggle, but with a bit of encouragement I managed to grovel over the top. It was good to have at least one hard send in the bank from this trip.

With fading daylight we quickly drove down to the road for one more area, The Sword. At the first boulder in the sword laura made a proud flash of a V3, a technical slabby highball, her foot popped right near the top, but she held the barn door and topped out for only her second V3 flash. In the Sword area had some cool looking problems but they were mostly highballs, some of them way highball. Micah threw himself at a jumpy V7. But it was getting dark, so we did a V2 then headed into town for dinner.

Micah working Cattlegueard Arete at Mountain Home Road

The next day I woke up with a sore leg but some skin left on most of my fingers, so felt optimistic about getting stuff sent. We checked out the JY boulders, which were cool but pretty rough, it was tough to get used to it. We all flashed a V2 there, but weren't so successful with the rest of the stuff so we decided to go to a different area. We went to Mountain Home Road which lies apart from the rest of the boulders a few miles drive away. It has a much different feel than the Icicle or Tumwater canyons. Its out in the open on the side of a hill, and feels quite remote. We felt pretty exposed when we were told by some other boulderers to watch out for hunters, who were hunting cougars and black bear on the same hill. We didn't know what to be more weary of the hunters or the cougars and bears! The boulders here are more like Squamish granite, very rough on the skin and not many features. And the ratings here for the most part felt pretty stout, I got shut down on a V1 slab here, but Laura managed to flash it, so I guess it couldn't have been that hard. I did manage a couple of 3's and a 4 but by this point my skin was too sore to pull down hard on small crimps. Laura also managed a V3 here second go, she could have flashed it but I might have given her bad beta, oops! We decided just to head back from here since we were all feeling a little sore and weak at this point. It wasn't quite the sendfest weekend we were hoping for, but you can't complain about a weekend in the sun in a beautiful place like Leavenworth.