Leaderboard

On Saturday, June 14th, Kelly Ryan and I climbed a rock buttress in the Washington Pass area, based only on photographs I had taken of that rock buttress a couple of weeks prior. It has 1000′ of mostly moderate and enjoyable granite climbing, with trees available for almost every belay station. The route is solidly Grade III in size. We swung leads for eight long pitches, where I led the odds and Kelly led the evens. We estimate that maybe one pitch was 5.9, and a number of others were 5.7 / 5.8, but there certainly were factors that could have led us to over-estimating difficulties at the time, so it's possible those difficulties will get downgraded upon the arrival of more opinions. There is a walk-off from the top, which returns to the route’s base. We took a lot of extra time dealing with the details of the unknown here, but with the beta now known, I imagine par for the course could be 12 to 13 hours car-to-car for this moderate route. It's hard to know if this is a new first ascent or not. We definitely climbed it in the style of a first ascent; and despite a lot of searching, I've yet to find conclusive proof that the particular line we climbed has been previously climbed in its entirety. Whatever the case may be, I'm rather proud of our little effort here! More details in this write-up: https://rocknropenw.com/2025/06/17/la-croupe-du-poney/

Check with users Lunger and Sam Boyce. They did something up there last summer? And we’re at the time unaware of the BB lines as well. They may have a copy. Weird how that guidebook seems to have totally vanished. Had all kinds of random Doorish routes and what not in it.

I bet Bryan could hook you up with a copy for the right quantity of raw beef.

I borrowed a copy from a friend several years ago and distinctly remember reference to several lines on that buttress. Regardless, It's great to see attention being paid to these lesser known features!

For clarification, it's my understanding they were climbing the glacier route on Silver Star and fell in the area of Chianti Spire. I'm a mountain rescue volunteer and don't have any problem with them requesting a rescue. Falls like that can cause internal injuries that may not be apparent. Live streaming the rescue is totally inappropriate and should result in a loss of phone privileges for a minimum of two weeks and no TV after dinner.

Wayne would know better than most! Congrats regardless, it’s hard to find new territory these days!

It’s not for everyone but appreciate those who share in non-corporate media! How much do you think OnX paid REI for that site? Gotta recoup.

Likely an FA. You give great detail in your trip report. Do you have something on mountain project yet? It looks like a fine climb!