Another couple of days in Tieton

I got back out to Tieton with Tyler, Laura, Rachel and Esteban on Sunday and Monday. It was looking like the best bet for weather. We met up with Boon at Lava Point, I've done all the routes on that wall already, but it is such a fun place to climb. There was actually one new route bolted just to the left of Saint of Circumstance which I climbed. It is a really fun addition to the wall, a bit balancy and technical, I thought it felt around 10d or so.

The gang (minus Rachel) at Lava Wall

After Lava Point we stopped for lunch then climbed a few routes at The Oasis. I got on a few routes I hadn't done there before including a couple of fun mixed climbs. The next day we headed straight to South Fork, I had climbed there a couple of years ago, and was really impressed with it. We spent most of the day climbing the routes on the hexagonal satellites, which are really fun and really unique looking.

I did a 150ft (or so) 11a on Astral Wall, that was simply incredible. Overhanging jugs the whole way. I've got to say Astral Wall is in my opinion the best moderate sport crag in the state, and the most under-rated. I will definitely be back there a lot this summer. Here are some photos from my camera, Rachel's and Tyler's.



Rachel enjoying the beautiful views from the crag.

Elbow deep hand jam on the 5.8 trad route at The Hexagonal Satellites.

The rock here is so cool.

It looks like there are tons of holds, but there really aren't.

Laura warming up on a fun 5.8

Rachel keeping her cool on a run out.

 

Getting ready to start a whole lot of climbing.

Its hard to photo the whole of Astral Wall, but this photo gives you a bit of perspective.



The view from below. Tyler is only about half way up.

Broken Again

Another week has flown by, and summer feels very close now. It's set to be a beautiful weekend, but I don't think climbing is on the cards for me. Last weekend I sprained my ankle climbing at Vantage, it's not as bad a sprain as previous ones I've had this year, but its taking its time to heal. Last weekend I had made big plans to climb with Chris, who is always good fun to climb with. We were going to do two days at Vantage, including some classic trad routes, then we were going to do the super-classic Leavenworth multi-pitch Outer Space. However it didn't go as planned. On the first day of climbing I landed awkwardly after coming off a route and sprained my left ankle. I managed to get in a half dozen routes before I hurt myself, including what I'm ashamed to saw is my hardest grade of the year so far, a measly 11b. The next day I didn't want to be a party-pooper so I still got out climbing with everyone that was out there from Olympia. I managed to get up a few routes one-footed, including a tricky 10a face climb and a 5.8 trad crack, but my morale was pretty low because of my injury. I am a little concerned that because of this injury and general lack of fitness, I'm going to be starting out the summer climbing season a lot weaker than normal. But its just about having fun, right?

Esteban and Rachel have fallen in love with Vantage. They were both crushing!

 

When Laura has her helmet on you know she means business. Here she is leading a 5.8 crack, her hardest trad route yet!

The Return of the Sun

Over Spring break I didn't get as many days out climbing as I was hoping for, partly due to the weather, but I also just needed a rest. I did get out for two days at Vantage. Tony, Laura and I headed out to Vantage and climbed for a day just the three of us. It was a great day, we managed to get a number of routes in even thought it was just the three of us. Then the next day we were joined by a few others. It was a beautiful couple of days in the sun.

The following Saturday the forecast showed sun again so I picked up Andrew from Seattle and we headed out to the Far Side of Exit 38. I had long wanted to climb the multipitch routes at Neverland, so we went out there and ended up having the crag to ourselves. We did the 3 pitch route The Plank (5.9, 10a, 5.7) which was really good, I led the first two pitches, the first was a little seepy, but the second was sublime. We also did a 3 pitch 5.9,5.9, 10c, and a two pitch 10c, 10c. I was really impressed with this small crag, the rock was generally very good, and it felt great to get up high on some routes. It was also really nice to have the whole place to ourselves.

Leading the awesome 10a pitch of The Plank

Enjoying the view, about halfway up Neverland

 Last Saturday called for another good weather day, so I texted around and found a partner in Jeremy. We decided to head to the Deception area. It had been a while since I climbed at this area, I tend to avoid it because of the crowds and associated sketchiness. But there were a number of routes I hadn't done there yet, and it was Jeremy's first time there so I could bring him wherever. I got on a couple of neglected little gems, like Won't Get Fooled Again, a sweet 10a that starts up on Deception Ledge. I also got a surprise at the chains of The Overture an 11a high on deception wall, when I was stared down by nesting peregrine falcon. I got out of there pretty quick. In all we managed to lead 10 routes (9 of which were new to me). I've decided to keep a running tally of the total number of routes I've climbed on the sidebar here ----> Hopefully that will keep my motivation for getting on new routes up. Not that I need it right now. Tomorrow I'm headed out to Vantage with a big crew, it should be a fun weekend, but I don't think I'm going to manage the huge haul of 19 routes in a day I did this time last year.

Mazama

I have known about the climbing at Mazama, and have wanted to make a visit for a while now. A couple of years ago I met Bryan Burdo (the developer) at Little Si and he was practically raving about Mazama. The main obstacle to me making a visit was the 5 hour drive from Olympia, the same distance as Squamish and Smith. Laura, Austin, Chas, Cori and I were all able to do a three day weekend, so we headed out Friday night. The drive wasn't too bad and there was plenty of free camping that was easy to find.

Warning, the water is MUCH colder than it looks!

Austin being brave, not only because the water was cold, but because it was only 3ft deep here.

The first morning we climbed at the Rhinozone at Mazama Rocks, the main area. The walk to that crag makes the Quarry approach look tough, it was sweet. The climbing in these areas is moderate and blocky, similar in some ways to Exit 38, but the rock was a little different, more like basalt. To be honest, none of the routes we did here were spectacular, but it was fun getting some mileage in. Early in the afternoon the crags get in the sun, so we retreated to the local general store/cafe, which has a great shaded courtyard where they serve beer and ice cream. The river across the road is really nice as well, the river was a little too cold to hang out in for long, but it did do a good job of cooling our beer. At 5pm the crags come back into the shade so we were able to get a few more pitches in.

Not a bad way to wait out the mid-day sun

The next day we checked out Prospector Crags which is described in the guide as perhaps the best moderate sport crag in the state. We only managed to get on a few climbs since once again the sun warmed it up pretty early, but didn't think any of the climbs were worth getting too excited about. Another dip in the river and evening session at Fun Rocks followed, so far I hadn't gotten on any hard routes, or any routes that were worth writing home about, but that was to change the next day.

At 5pm at Fun Rock, right when it gets in the shade.



Austin and Chas on some samey 5.10 slabs

Monday morning we headed up to Gate Creek Crag, which has one of the longest approaches at around half an hour, but its a pleasant walk. When we arrived I wish I had brought more layers, as it stays quite a bit cooler since it gets a lot of shade and has a creek close by. We climbed at Fire Wall which is a very impressive limestone wall that raises up 200ft with some pretty steep angles in places, it reminded me of a mix between Astral Wall at Tieton and the Big Show at Checkamus, but better and on limestone. There are not a ton of routes up there, but whats there is very high quality and there is potential for a lot more. There wasn't many easy climbs but the 11s and 12s were excellent. Austin sent his first ever 11b, a sweet route called Urban Refugee (first half). I went up Firestarter a 12c the guidebook describes as "hard for the grade", I got up to the last move and was staring down a big tickmark, but I pumped out, after feeling the hold I really wish I had committed and thrown for it, because it is huge! I sent it next go, I think its one of the best I've done at the grade anywhere. The extension "The Eighth Rule" is an incredible looking 13a that I definitely need to go back for. Who wants to come next time? 

Limestone 11b at its best!

Two Weeks in Tensleep

I’m back from Tensleep Wyoming, it was such a fun trip, I feel that I can’t do it justice by just writing a few paragraphs about everything we did here, but I’ll try. We took our time getting over there, stopping to climb at Post Falls Idaho and in Montana so Chas could attend a wedding. On the way over we could see the extent of the flooding that has affected large areas of the country, the raging rivers overflowing onto the floodplains were pretty incredible.

This is real America, the Tensleep (pop. 304) 4th of July rodeo



Chas on a 10b at Post Falls Idaho on the way over

In Tensleep we checked out some new, and new to us areas. Home Alone, Hound Dog Crag, Downtown, and the Godfather boulder amongst others, and to be honest we didn’t climb at an area we didn’t love. The first day there I wasn’t sure how I would do, since I hadn’t been in the kind of route shape I was hoping for. After warming up, I managed to onsight a 12a, then I sent a 12d on my second go. I wasn’t expecting such a quick send, and to be honest it didn’t feel that hard. The next day I onsighted a 12a, then tried another 12d, hoping to start a trend. This one however felt really hard. I didn’t really like the pressure of redpointing, and I could tell Laura and Chas were bored as I dangled on the rope trying to figure out moves. I decided that for the rest of the trip I would focus on onsighting easier 12’s. I loved the fight of a good onsight attempt, although I managed to pretty much onsight all the 12a’s I tried (there was one route I technically redpointed because a hold broke on me) each one of them gave me a good run for my money. I also managed to onsight a couple of 12b’s, and a 12c although I think the later was pretty easy for the grade, and got another 12c second go. In total I sent 15 5.12’s.

Laura negotiating the cruxy start of Moltar (12a)

Laura higher up on Moltar

Chas blew us away with his improvements this year. While last year he was struggling on 5.11’s here, this year he looked like a different climber cruising up 5.12’s. His training and traversing has certainly paid off, he flashed or onsighted a handful of 12a’s, redpointed his first 12b then got his first 12b flash! Laura was climbing really strong as well, she came within a couple of moves of sending a 11d/12a and looked really good toproping harder routes than she normally gets on.

Chas goes for the flash of a 12a at Home Alone

We met a lot of really friendly climbers from all over the US. In general we found that the further people had travelled to get there, the friendlier they were, although the Wyoming and Colorado climbers were also very friendly. We also got to meet a couple of the route developers, Aaron Huey and Mike Decker, both of whom were very nice to us, it was obvious they were both very passionate about Tensleep.

A patriotic American on an excellent 11d at Hound Dog Crag

Hound Dog Crag was one of my favorite areas

We were there over 4th of July Weekend, easily the busiest few days of the year there, compared to last year it was crazy. On Saturday night there was a big bonfire where about 80 climbers turned up. We talked to a ranger who estimated there were about 400 climbers that weekend, which seemed like a bit of an overestimation to me, but there were certainly a ton of climbers. The forest service are coming up with a plan for how to manage the influx of climbers there, pit toilets are needed to mitigate the effect of climbers on the environment. We did our part by leaving our campsite cleaner than when we arrived, and picked up three large black bags of trash from the main climbers parking areas on a rest day.

Laura on Cocaine Rodeo one of the best routes I've ever been on

Chas at the bottom of Cocaine Rodeo

I know that this will not be my last trip to Tensleep, there are still hundreds of routes I want to get on there, and at the pace that new routes are going up its hard to imagine running out of routes to try there. After talking to some other climbers there I’m looking forward to checking out some different climbing areas as well. Right now I’m really psyched on climbing, so if you want to get out climbing with me drop me a line, I’ll drive!

Chas on a fun challenging 10a on the Godfather boulder

Me flashing As Wicked As It Seems (12a) on our last day



Working on my tan at Tieton and Vantage

For the last few weeks I’ve been super busy with school work, but I’ve still managed to make time for climbing on the weekends. Two weeks ago a group of 10 of us made our way down to Tieton, and last weekend we rolled 14 deep at Vantage. It was actually really nice hanging out in a big group, there were plenty of ropes to hop on and lots of wood to feed to the fire.

Joe flashing a really good 10c at Vantage

In Tieton I definitely felt like I was filling in the gaps in my guidebook, doing the climbs I’d overlooked before. At Lava Point I finished up a couple of routes I’d skipped over in the past, so now I have the crag ticked which is a little sad knowing there’s no new routes for me to do on this awesome wall, dream wall nearby just doesn’t compare. I also climbed at The Chunkyard for the first time, a crag so new it there were some guys bolting a route on it out left as we were there. The rock doesn’t look the most appealing but it is actually pretty fun climbing. I’m getting to the point at a lot of crags in Tieton where I’m running out of new routes to try. I repeated a few routes, but I don’t get the same enjoyment from repeating routes as I do from climbing something for the first time, partially because I know its not contributing to my long term goal of climbing 10,000 routes. But its something that I probably have to get over if I’m going to climbing at the same crags in Washington. I actually think there is a lot of potential for new routes at Tieton. There is so much rock there, not all of it is solid, and some of it would be a bit of a hike, but I’ve got a feeling there are a few quality crags still waiting to be discovered there, particularly sport routes. Just walking around the Cave area, which is one of the more popular areas I could see potential for new routes. I would love to get a drill and put up my own routes sometime, for now the cost of it and the time involved seems prohibitive.

Not sure what climb this is, they all seem to blend together

At Vantage there are a lot more routes to get on, so even though I’ve already done a lot there, there is still plenty to get on. On Saturday I teamed up with Joe, we got an early start and before we knew it we had climbed 6 routes and it was only 10am. We figured we’d try to keep up the pace and see how many we could rack up. Fatigue caused by the blazing sun and running out of water slowed us down towards the end of the day, but we still managed 19 routes that day, 16 of which I had never done before, I onsighted or flashed them all including a few trad/mixed routes. My previous record was 13 routes in a day at Post Falls last year. It was one of my best climbing days in a while, Joe and I seemed well matched in terms of our drive to get a lot of mileage in. We were talking about how at the right crag, and with the right preparation 30 routes in a day is probably possible. Laura had a pretty good day flashing another 5.11, to add to her long list, she did a couple in Tieton the week before as well. We topped it off with a big fire, some music and a lot beer. Sunday was understandably a little more subdued, but I still managed to get a good amount of climbing in, including a few 5.11s at the awesome Jigsaw wall. The warm-up Jigsaw Direct may be the best route I’ve done at Vantage, I’d highly recommend it. On the way back we stopped by a brewpub for a well deserved meal, we were all glowing from a great weekend outside in the sun. I tried to absorb as much sun as I could that weekend since I don’t think I’ll make it outside climbing for a few weeks, I’ve got way too much schoolwork to do. But in just a month I’ll be graduating with my Masters degree which is pretty exciting/scary.

About to head home after an awesome weekend at Vantage

Mileage

Last weekend I went climbing at Tieton and Vantage, putting a lot of miles on my car driving solo. I've added 15k to my car since getting it in August. The climbing trips have been worth it, but at current gas prices I'll need to carpool more. On Friday I drove down to Tieton and met up with a couple of Olympia old-timers Doug and Duke. It was a lot of fun climbing with them, and we got a lot of routes done for climbing in a threesome. They showed me Moon Rocks and The Chunkyard, both nice little crags which are definitely worth a return trip. I cruised a fun 10a trad route at The Cave, and sent another 10a crack at Moon Rocks with a lot more effort. I’m loving trad climbing right now, but its nice to mix it up with sport routes as well, which seem so much easier in comparison. Having said that I did fall off of an 11b at The Cave called Casting Stones. I don't normally fall off routes this grade but this one was pretty tricky, I had to do a full-reach deadpoint to a mono at the crux. Felt at least 11d to me, but it was nice being challenged and good for me to clean it up on my second go. Friday night a group of Olympia folks were headed over to Vantage, and the weather was looking a lot more promising there. So I said bye to the guys and drove the hour and a half up the road to meet everyone.

A few moments before falling off of Casting Stones, 11b

A 60m isn't quite enought to toprope Moonstruck (10a trad) so I had to belay from this tree. The jacket is Duke's.

At Vantage on Saturday we climbed at Fat Man Wall and M&M wall which were not nearly as crowded as some other areas. It was me, Sierra, Melody, Laura, Gretchen, then Shannon and a couple of her friends joined us out there, then Micah and Steph met up with us later that night. Despite waking up with a bit of a cold, I got a lot of routes in. Some of my favorites were The Pod, Cold Cut Combo, and Ridin' Sidesaddle. Although a lot of the routes at M&M seemed pretty tough for the grade. I finished up the day with a smooth send of Snake Crack a fun short 10c layback crack. 

Sierra, Me and Gretchen having a good time at M&M wall.

Sunday we weren’t sure what the weather was going to do so we headed over to Zig-Zag Wall in case we had to make a hasty retreat, but the weather turned out to be perfect all day. Zig Zag doesn’t have the most solid rock at Vantage, but despite this there are a few worthwhile routes. I got 10 routes in that day including all the bolted routes at the crag that were in my guide, and one that wasn’t. Nothing hard, but it was nice to get a lot of mileage in. Special mention should go to Micah who managed to get up quite a few routes, despite having to climb in a hefty boot because of his injury. It was a fun first big group trip of the year, I’m looking forward to more to come. This weekend I had to stay home and get school work, but I’m hoping if I pull 12 hour days this week I should be able to get out next weekend. Its only 7 weeks til I graduate, then I’ll have a lot more time to climb. I’m feeling pretty strong right now, which can only mean good things for the rest of the season.

The obligatory group shot

Front Page News!

Smith Rock

I just got back from three days of fun at Smith Rocks. It was just Me Laura and Chris this time. Everyone else was put off by the thought of November weather at Smith, but it was actually some of the best conditions at Smith I've experienced. Temps were pretty much perfect, it was cool, but never cold enough for my fingers to go numb, and we never had to worry about chasing the shade.


Chris headed up the awesome Heresy

 

Laura on the long sustained Morning Sky (10c)

On Saturday after an early morning drive we warmed up, then headed straight to Chris' project, Heresy. A short but very stout 11c. After a couple of falls on the last the move it didn't look good, but after figuring out some crucial foot beta, he sent it on his third go of the day! We finished up the day catching the last of the afternoon sun or morning glory wall, where we all led up Morning Sky, an awesome long 10c. Its hard to believe, but that was Laura's hardest send at Smith, it just goes to show how hard the smith routes are. We celebrated the day with some awesome food and beverages at the pumphouse in Terrebonne.

Me about to tackle the steep crux of a 12a route

Sunday we got a full day in, with the new guidebook we were able to get on some new routes, and figure out whats what in terms of some old routes we thought we'd done previously. I did a bunch of new routes from 5.8 to 12a, including a flash of the ridiculously thin Zebra Direct by headlamp after dusk. Yesterday, Chris wanted to make use of his trad rack that he'd been hauling around with him, so he led up Moonshine Dihedral a classic 5.9 corner crack. I probably wouldn't have done it if he didn't get on it, but I'm glad I did because it was so much fun. It gave me a taste of trad climbing and I liked it. So I decided to get on Wartley's Revenge the classic hard trad test piece at Smith, it used to get 11b, but in the new guidebook (which is awesome) it gets 11a. I had seen some people on it before so I knew some beta, I found it to be pretty manageable, I got bomber gear in and cruised through the steep crux. I felt really smooth on it, and before I knew it I made the last big throw and was clipping the chains. It felt really good to tick the climb, my hardest non-prepracticed trad route to date, but it felt even better getting it with the ease that I did. There was no sketchy-ness or panicking like my last hard route at Leavenworth. I felt like I still had some power left at the end and could climb harder. And to make it even better, a photographer from the Bend Bulletin took photos of me on it and I made the front page of the newspaper today which is pretty cool. We finished up the trip with an ascent of the awesome long 10c Nine Gallon Buckets. It was a great finish to an awesome trip, I can't wait to get back out to Smith in the spring now, thanks Laura and Chris for such a fun trip!

Chris starting up Moonshine Dihedral (5.9 trad)



Me on Wartley's Revenge



The South Sound Keeps Pulling Down

Last weekend was the fourth annual South Sound Pull Down at the warehouse rock gym in Olympia. It was a hugely successful competition, with more entrants than ever before, and tons of awesome prizes. A big thanks goes to everyone at the WRG who put it on especially Fawn, Sierra and Jimmy.

Having claimed the title of best Olympia climber in 07, 08, and 09. I really wanted to keep up my streak, but I also knew that I hadn’t been bouldering as much as I had in the past and I was up against some really strong competitors, so I wasn’t too disappointed when I didn’t win. I finished in 3rd place in the Men’s Advanced category just two points (one fall) behind Eric and Olcay who tied for first. But I was also beaten by a few who entered Men’s Open, including Micah and Nathan. I was happy with my performance though, and I got a sweet prize. Laura did awesome as usual and easily won her category. This comp has got me excited for climbing indoors now, and I think I’m going to enter the Seattle competition this year as well. Check out Micah’s write up about the comp for a much more interesting report.

Laura sending her hardest problem of the competition.
Photo Credit: http://www.patrickpenoyar.com/

Making time for Climbing

I've been pretty busy recently, but I've managed to make time for climbing. The past couple of weekends I've managed to squeeze in some time. Last weekend I finished all my school work on Saturday, so headed out that night and met up with friends at Vantage for a good campfire and a fun day of climbing. It was still pretty hot out there to try anything hard, but that didn't stop Laura from onsighting an 11a.

Sierra trying an 11a on a sunny day at Vantage

This weekend, after getting my work done Saturday, I headed out to Leavenworth late that night with Tony, slept in the car and got some awesome trad pitches in on Castle Rock the next day. A few weeks ago when I was in Leavenworth, I looked up at Castle Rock and thought wouldn't it be fun to be up there on those routes, so that's what I did. This crag is awesome, my kind of approach (short), and really good varied rock climbing. I like trad routes that aren't just boring cracks, I like lots of features and holds, with good gear, Castle Rock delivered. First I warmed up on a really fun 5.8+ the South Face of Jello Tower. Then did Angel Crack, a short 10b glassy finger crack, which was pretty good. Then we headed up Canary a 3 pitch 5.8 route to the summit. It was great, good rock, nice exposure, not too hard. This was exactly was I was hoping for. We got back down and made it back to Olympia by 9. It was fun to climb with Tony again after a while not seeing him. He is a great climbing partner that inspires confidence in me, I'm looking forward to the next time we get out together again.


Tony heading up the excellent first pitch of Canary



Me about to do the exposed 'scary canary' move at the start of the second pitch.



Phew, that wasn't so bad!



What I've been up to

Summer is officially over, whether it ever arrived is still up for debate. I haven't been climbing as much recently. After my Ten Sleep trip, my parents visited from Scotland for a couple of weeks. This was their first time visiting me since I moved to Washington in 2006. We had a great time, they liked Olympia, and I showed them around the NW a bit including some places I had never visited before like Mount St Helens and the Oregon coast, both of which are beautiful. When they left, my student teaching placement started up, and I've been busy with that since. I'm at a High School in Tacoma, which has been difficult at times, but I'm really enjoying the experience. I did manage to get out a couple of weekends ago to Leavenworth bouldering which was a lot of fun. My bouldering strength is not what it should be, but I just renewed my membership to the Warehouse, so that should improve soon. I'm probably not going to get out as much this fall since I'll be pretty busy, but I'm getting out climbing at Vantage tomorrow, and I wouldn't miss The South Sound Pull Down for anything. Below are a couple of photos from Leavenworth, a shot I forgot to include from Ten Sleep, and a funny video from Ten Sleep.

Jimmy takes it to a whole new level on The Practitioner



Laura works a sweet V4 The Lobster



Totally Flashed this photo. Ten Sleep, we'll be back!