mountainsloth Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 Trip: Banks Lake - Various Date: 10/10/2012 Trip Report: Another trip to Banks lake without seeing a single other climber or human-powered boater. Paradise is a lonely place After my last visit, there was one climb that continued to linger in my mind... PRIME CUT! taken 2011. We made a quick visit to this classic and it was just as lovely as I remember. Thank you Mr Whitelaw and Brooks. We tried a mixed line to the left of Prime Cut but found it much harder than expected. Anyone know what it goes at and who put it up? Also, these two climbs deserve a bolted 2nd pitch through hueco'ed roofs. Next mission of the day, find a camp. We aimed our canoe West figuring we would find something nice closer to the more remote walls. Within 30 minutes we found this... Exploration of the beachy saddle gave us a sweet camp, great climbing, and the obvious name of our home for 2 nights... Camp Wind Puke! It was apparent that many drunken teens made this their home as well. When the wind picked up in the afternoon we put two and two together making sure to watch were we stepped The cliff in our camp had some obvious lines. The one right above our tent and the wind puke sign showed signs of being climbed via top-rope with spots for gear above that had been cleaned out. The route has some pretty great moves with some hidden holds and tricky sequences on slightly overhung rock. Should probably be named Wind Puke, no? Figuring out the sequence on TR I only TR'ed it because it needed a bolt half way up to protect the 5.11 crux. The other two lines we climbed were new and took about 30 minutes of cleaning each before we sent them on lead. 5.9ish 5.7ish Brother making a lap on the 5.9 FYI, none of the climbs have any hardware. The next morning was leisurely with another lap on Wind Puke and then packed up the canoe for a trip to the Post Modern Wall. We had our eyes set on a 2 pitch 5.9 called Seam-iotics linked up with a 3rd pitch called Sky's the Limit. The obvious chimney, center photo ends the first pitch. my bro coming up through the chimney The book boasted the 2nd pitch as the best crack climb in Banks and I might have to agree. 60 ft of a perfect 1 inch crack with occasional features for feet! Brossif enjoying lovely fingers The 3rd pitch was a bolted slab following small edges. Fantastic! After tagging the summit, we began setting up for a rappel. The "Rock Climbs of Central Washington" guide does not mention the descent off "Sky's the limit" but we assumed you could rappel it with a 70M rope since the lower two pitches stated you could. We were wrong. I found a single bolt with very old tat that I removed and began to replace. The bolt looked solid but upon further inspection the hanger and bolt both wiggled in the bolt hole!! F that! Plan B... I slung a horizontal horn and made sure to angle my rappel in the proper direction. We thought about climbing the adjacent 10b but the heat had kicked in so we defaulted to Banks Lake's other amazing pastime, swimming and cliff diving! On the way back to camp we checked out some of the other cliffs around. We found this block perched precariously and quickly skedaddled. Back at camp, more silliness, laps on our camp crag, and dinner convinced us to crawl into the tent early. Day 3 dawned bright and sunny like every day this Summer. Feeling beat with the climbing canoeing combo, we decided to take a leisurely canoe around the islands east of us, West of HWY rock. The water was near glass and made for very pleasant paddling. camp entering the canyon between islands Steamboat rock! The canyon The potential for possible first ascents is pretty staggering. lets play a game of pick your line! There is always next time Banks is certainly a Washington climbing gem. If you haven't made it out to Banks yet, then your either missing a boat or you prefer the crowds. Gear Notes: Full rack of cams and nuts. Doubles were helpful on quite a few climbs. Approach Notes: 4+ hrs from Seattle to the Boat launch just North of Steamboat rock state park. Don't forget your Discover Pass! Canoe to the islands in the middle of the upper lake and pick your camp and route. The bigger walls (up to 5 pitches) are to the West. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyson.g Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 2x:tup: Nice! Banks is way cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Off_White Posted October 11, 2012 Share Posted October 11, 2012 We tried a mixed line to the left of Prime Cut but found it much harder than expected. Anyone know what it goes at and who put it up? Also, these two climbs deserve a bolted 2nd pitch through hueco'ed roofs. That's "The Men of Banks Lake" put up by Steve Grossman with me holding the other end of the rope in the midst of the Memorial Day fishing derby sometime in the early 90's. The name was inspired by the thought of all those hardy fishermen in their fast bass boats and the resulting Playgirl photoshoot. After the tricky face bit there's just the coolest smooth quartz lined tips crack. I think we called it 11a. That same weekend we ran into Bryan Burdo cleaning and bolting something up on Highway Rock, and we all speculated that it was perhaps the first time two unrelated climbing parties had ever run into each other at Banks Lake. Awesome place, thanks for the great TR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rad Posted October 11, 2012 Share Posted October 11, 2012 Great TR. Love the Wind Puke name and your adventurous spirit of exploration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jens Posted October 13, 2012 Share Posted October 13, 2012 Deep Water Solo cc.com party next August anyone? Cheaper than a flight to Thailand! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomhanks Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 Super fun spot! I had the opportunity to get out there and do some deep water soloing out of a canoe this summer, great fun to be had all around that end of the lake. We also camped at point wind puke and that crack that was by your tent was quality fun, didn't consider a top rope though, instead we took the easier crack to the right of the first part and scrambled down the steep gully. I'd love to make it back there again next summer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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