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!

Getting Burned at Vantage

Just back from a hot weekend at Vantage. Man, I love that place. It feels a million miles away from Olympia. We were in a group of about a dozen, we got on some routes I've done before, some I haven't, swam in the river, drank lots of beer, ate lots of hot dogs, bonfired, it was a great weekend. I'll let the photos do the talking.

We put the "ow" in crowds!

Surprisingly Justin wasn't the whitest person there

Riverview Park

Riding in the back of the truck with Rachel and Sara

Esteban catching some rays down at the river.

How can you not have a smile on your face when its this nice out!

Oh yea, I did some climbing too. Here I am flailing on a stout 11a. I got it 2nd go.

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.

Fall Weekends

Its been a little while since my last post, and looking back at my previous one, it feels like a lot has changed. The rain has come and we are deep into fall here. I've been climbing more indoors, but have still managed a couple of weekend trips. A few weekends ago Tony and I drove out to Vantage and met up with some other folks there for a fun weekend. I was pretty tired from work, so didn't really feel like pushing myself, but I never really do at Vantage. It was nice just to be outside having fun with friends.

Tony showing us how to "plank" on top of The Cob at Corn Wall

Last week I made it out to Tieton and met up with a good group from Olympia. It was many peoples first time climbing at Tieton so we started out at The Cave area which had something for everyone. We managed to avoid the dozen or so rattlesnakes we encountered and I did a few new (to me) routes there, which were really fun. After an excellent campfire Saturday night, Chas and I got our trad gear out at The Bend. According to the notes in my guidebook, it had been exactly 5 years and a week since I last climbed at this crag. I don't know why I hadn't been back since, because the routes are great. I felt pretty challenged warming up on a 5.8 hand crack, but decided I'd be more comfortable on a 10c finger crack. There was one point up high in the climb where I was in a sketchy spot above a half-set small nut and a tcu with only two lobes in. I swore at myself for putting myself in that situation but I managed to get through it and can now look back on it and laugh. Chas opted wisely to just top-rope that one. After that experience it may be a while til I get my trad gear out again, but most likely I'll forget about it until the next time I do a route like that. Here's a few photos of the Tieton trip from Tyler.

The routes on the middle wall at The Cave are phenomenal, I just wish there were more of them.

Mark's Wall at The Cave has some pretty awesome routes too!

I don't think I've got many more climbing trips in me this year. Maybe a Smith trip in November. I'm loving teaching but it leaves me pretty tired on the weekends, and its nice to able to have a relaxing weekend in town, like I did this weekend.

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

Trad is Rad! Sport is fun too.

Trad climbing is awesome, especially the next day. Yesterday Chas and I tradded it up at Vantage. We started out at Sunshine Wall which was a circus. It seemed like every climber in seattle and his girlfirend was out there. Chas and I both led the classic Party in Your Pants 5.8, then I did a good 10b crack. I felt good on it but there was a lot of loose rock in the crack so I wasn't to confident in my gear. It was pretty hot out in the sun and the crowds were rediculous, so we headed to Middle East Wall. I'd never climbed there before, but its a sweet wall, stays a lot cooler since its north facing, and there was barely anyone there. We led an awesome 10b finger crack called slim and curvy, we both loved it. I did a 10d trad route next, it was pretty tricky. The crux was in a shallow corner double gastoning in tiny crack that was just big enough for a size 1 nut, but not for my fingers, I was ready to take a whip, but I held it together and somehow made it to the chains. I wasn't having fun at the time, but thinking about it now my hands sweat and I want to do it again.

Today Chas had to be back in town early, but we still got out and did some fun sport routes. We did 5 routes at Moonshine Wall and Fat Man Wall and made it back to Olympia by 2. They were all really fun routes, it was a totally different feeling from climbing trad though, I actually enjoyed myself while I was on the route. I have another spring break this week, so I'm hoping to get out on another short trip later in the week, I'm psyched to get on more trad, but I'd happily settle for sport. And maybe this time I'll remember my camera.

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!



adVantage Laura

We got out over the weekend again, this time to Vantage to do some sport climbing. It was Laura’s birthday on Saturday so after climbing all day we celebrated with some beers and cupcakes that Sierra made. Melody, Micah Laura and I climbed on Saturday and we were met out there on Saturday night by Sierra and Ian, and Justin and Sara, and we all climbed together on Sunday. The weather was pretty good for the most part. Saturday was a little overcast, which was nice for us because it kept the temps down, otherwise it would have been very hot, it rained for about 10 minutes in the evening. But we were done climbing by that point anyway. Sunday was a beautiful sunny day, and it got hot towards the afternoon, everyone was applying the sun screen pretty liberally. We climbed on the lower tier of Sunshine wall, which has a ton of excellent short sport routes. I have a slight ache in my left shoulder and wrist, I think its from pushing myself too hard bouldering indoors, so I tried to avoid climbs that would hurt it, but I still managed to get about 20 new routes done total, including a handful of 5.11’s. Laura was climbing awesome, she onsighted a bunch of 10's and flashed another 11a with ease. She is in the form of her life, and the way she was climbing at the gym last night as well makes me think we’ll see some harder 11’s from her this year. Everyone else had a blast, for most of them it was their first time at Vantage, and they certainly got a good first impression. I really want to go back soon and get on more routes I was scoping out, but its only going to get hotter there, so it might have to wait until the fall. Here are some photos that give a better picture of the weekend. They are all mine apart from the last one, which I stole from Sierra.
Horses in the valley below made us feel like we'd stepped back in time to the wild west

Micah checks out more routes at Millenium Wall with The Hen House in the background

Laura and Melody walk out on Saturday afternoon with rain clouds threatening in the background

Sunday morning breakfast at the campsite getting ready for a busy day of climbing

Sara looking relaxed on a 5.9 toprope
Ian belaying Justin on the start of a fun 10a

The whole crew flexing our muscles on the way out at the end of a great weekend!

Another Day Another Dozen

I thought I wasn't going to get out climbing this weekend, then Josh and Chris came to the rescue and offered Laura and I a ride with them out to Vantage. The forecast was for mid-50s and cloudy, but like I say the sun always shines on Vantage, it ended up being really hot. Chris and Josh headed straight for Sunshine Wall to get their trad on. But Laura and I took the long way around to climb first at Riverview Park. I'd climbed here back in 2006 with Doug, but never made it back, maybe because I remembered something about a sketchy approach, but the way we went was fine. At Riverview Park and the areas nearby Millennium Wall, Corn Wall etc. there are probably a hundred sport routes, mostly 5.10 and 5.11, and from what we sampled yesterday, very high quality. I ended up leading 12 new (for me) routes 5.8-11b, Laura led 11 including a 10c onsight and a 10d and 11a flash! We had a blast, among my favorite routes of the day were Heel Higher Crescent (10a), Human Corn (10a) and Crescendo... (10d). Once our forearms couldn't take any more we packed up and headed up to Sunshine Wall where Chris was finishing up his last route, a 5.8 trad route, his hardest to date. It was great exploring a different part of Vantage, and riding out there with Chris and Josh, I definitely want to come back this year. I didn't take many photos of Laura and I climbing since it was mostly just the two of us, but here are a few quick snapshots.

Taking a break in the middle of the day at the base of Millennium Wall

Laura resurrects her really small old five ten climbing shoes, look at the pain on her face

Chris finishes up the day with an ascent of Party in Your Pants (5.8 trad)

Looking Ahead and Looking Back

I just finished up with my second quarter in the Masters in Teaching program here at Evergreen. I'm really enjoying it but it is a lot of work. Last Saturday I managed to get out climbing with Dave and Lisa, and her son Sky to Vantage. It was too nice a day not to be outside climbing, I managed to get in 7 routes out in the sun. It was a really mellow day which is just what I wanted. Vantage is a really fun place to climb, and there is still so much there that I've yet to do. Here are a few photos from last week.

A busy day at The Feathers

Dave clipping the chains on a 5.9

Dave belaying Lisa up a really fun 5.5 chimney

Now that I'm done with the quarter I can start thinking about our spring break trip more. We leave tomorrow to Spokane. We're going on a 10ish day tour of some of the best crags of Eastern Washington, from Banks Lake to Metaline Falls up north to Post Fall, just over the border in Idaho, and a couple other places in between. I've looked through the guide and made a ticklist of all the classics that I want to get on. I'm not sure what my expectations should be. I've been climbing a lot of routes in the gym, so hopefully I'll have decent stamina. But my overall fitness feels pretty poor since for the last few months I've done a whole lot of nothing in terms of other physical activity. I'm going to get on some 12+ routes and try to onsight some 12- routes, maybe I'll get lucky but maybe I wont. There will be a big group of us out there so I'm sure we'll have a great time. I think what I'm looking forward to the most is hanging around the campfire under the stars with a good group of friends.

Eastside Climbing

In the last week or so I’ve made a couple of trips out over the mountains to the Eastside. Last week with Laura down in San Francisco visiting her sister, Micah and I decided to have a guys trip out to Leavenworth again. Jimmy and George from Olympia, were already out there so we met up with them at Mad Meadows. I flashed a cool V5 ‘The Undercling’ there, its one of the few things that I hadn’t done already. It was getting pretty warm, so we huddled under the Hanta Man roof in the shade, despite all the heat Jimmy managed to link all the moves and sent Hanta Man (V9). Next at the Sword area Micah got the Prism (V9) pretty fast, we all tried it, it didn’t feel too hard, I just need to grow a couple of inches to make the span. On the second day we played around in the beach area, I did the (shallow) water solo Beach Arete (V2) which was fun, but I guess I was a bit disappointed I didn’t fall. So we all jumped off an even bigger boulder nearby into the river, which was a lot of fun! Micah put together a cool video of the trip here, and here’s one from a couple of weeks ago.

Laura checking out the view at Frenchman's Coulee

A typical bolted arete at Frenchman's Coulee

A few days later Laura got back and the 3 of us headed out to Frenchman’s Coulee near Vantage. Laura and I had been here before, but it had been a while, and it was Micah’s first visit. It was cool to be in the sun in the dusty desert just 3 hours after leaving rainy Olympia. Because Vantage is in the rain shadow of the Cascades it gets very little rain, it feels like a totally different country out there with tumbleweed blowing. We pitched our tents, and got out to Sunshine Wall, where we warmed up on Easy Off (10c) a typical Vantage bolted arete, and one of my all time favorites. It had been a long time for Micah since he last onsighted routes, but proved that he still had it with an impressive onsight an 11c at Jigsaw Wall, it was really fun to watch since it gave good battle. We did a couple more routes there before it got too dark to climb. We returned to the campsite to a good fire and some country music on the radio, it felt appropriate. The next morning we made a b-line for the powerhouse another powerful sport crag, we had a bit of a fright on the way over when Laura came very close to stepping on a rattlesnake. At the powerhouse Micah worked on (and almost sent) a cool 12a, King of the Ruins. He gave me streaming beta and I managed to flash it, and we did a few other things there before we pumped out. We ended the day at The Feathers, a really fun easier area with bolted pillars. That night at the campfire we met Dave another westsider who was out here for a few days working on the only boulder problem here, Merciful Fate, a 30ft long V7. He described it as ‘the best boulder problem in the state’ and got us really psyched for trying it with him. The next day he led us to the boulder problem, which was pretty treacherous just to find in the first place. It was really cool endurance problem starting with a sit-start then went up 45 degrees on slopey holds to top out pretty high above a sketchy landing. After getting the beta from Dave, I managed to flash it to the midway rest, which is given V5 in the guide, but I was too pumped/scared to continue above. It was a cool climb but we all agreed that it probably wasn’t the best boulder problem in the state. With that we headed back over the mountains to Olympia, where we were all looking forward to a well-deserved shower