TimL

I would maybe do it the other way. Hike in via Snow Lakes Friday night, much brutal of a hike, climb SF of Prussik on Saturday, move camp into upper Enchantments or to Colchuck Lake, climb Backbone Ridge on Sunday and then decend out of the Stuart Lake and catch a ride to your car from the trailhead. Granted that leaves out Outerspace, but I'd be happy with ticking Prussik and Dragontail and the Snow Creek Wall is like . HAve fun!

I'll be there tomorrow working on one of many projects. Look for us.

If I remember correctly, we split a breakfast after the Drip Wall since I gorged all the food in my pack to eat away my "wish I was climbing" sorrows and you only had half because you just lookin out for your girlish figure?

If I remember correctly, we split a breakfast since after the Drip Wall I gorged all the food in my pack to eat away my "wish I was climbing" sorrows and you only had half because you just lookin out for your girlish figure?

I was serious about going back and dry tooling the routes on the Drip Wall. We thought it might be dry because its soooo overhanging.... Walked halfway up the trail to Clem's Hollar only to get rained out the second time that day. Got in the car, said "fuck it" started driving home. Noticed that Index was dry while driving past...flipped a bitch and landed at the Lower Town Wall parking lot. The GNS was a mob scene, so decided to climb Iron Horse. Got to the base two seconds before two aid climbers who promptly decided to circle the climb while we were racking up. You climbing that? You climbing that free? You still climbing that? ...Aid climbers are goofs. Racked up as dark clouds were building. Alex mentions, "dude, its just getting darker". Started up the climb. got to the first crux and the heavens opened up. Clipped an old binner onto the webbing, lowered off then ran for the car. Went home and sat on the couch. Watched th Soprano's which ended up being the most productive part of the day.

sporto wussy Most of the hikes in 11worth are less then the death march up to E32. Have fun and send

Come out to Leavenworthless. I think we are goig to go the Drip Wall and Rattletale areas on Saturday, then maybe a top secret, super dupa project on Sunday or Midnight if it is open yet. If not, maybe we can all go up there and have a scrambled peregrin eggs for breakfast on Sunday.

I agree with Alex. the route is good to do if you get rained out of the Pass, but I would not drive there for it. As for the grade, its 5.9 and the rock is good but not as good as the surrounding Washington Pass granite.

Rumr - Back. Spent a couple mor days at the Cookie then went up Lurking Fear but came down because an old shoulder injury started acting up. Still able to free climb but if I would of stayed on the wall, my shoulder would be done for the season. Almost got Red Zinger....again much stuff left for when I get back. Lets get out soon...maybe you can even drag me to E32

More or less the guy asking for beta is learning to aid climb and its going to be weird, and he might be scared as shit on c1 placements, I know I was when I first started aiding. My beta was so the guy could do it comfortably while learning. Cam hooking and speed climbing will follow as experience is gained. I've soloed the route around 20 times and feel like my rack recommendations will get him through the business comfortably.

If your new to aid, City Park is a good climb to start on. To lead the route in comfortable style, bring 2 sets of nuts, with triples in nut size 4-5. Bring cams to 2 with doubles in small TCU's purple, blue and yellow. You can also use the larger size HB offsets brass nuts. Bring plenty of QDs and extra biners and you should have fun. I've found cam hooks to work in the first 15 feet of the crack but the side of the crack are rounded and its hard to get a solid cam hook. If you want to cam hook and use small gear and nut placements, 10% is a good aid route. Although not, its C2 and a little more difficult then City park but it is much shorter. Another thing you might consider is to find a free climb and aid it. Best to find a crackin the 5.11 range, they usually take thin aiding gear ir aid something easier just to get the feel. Have fun.

Last year around the beginning of July the traverse was mostly snow, at least from the top of Cascade Pass to Ying Yang Lakes. I'm not a skier, but I bet you could use skies on 50-60% of the traverse in mid June depending on the snowpack. My only thought would be coverage on the way out through Bachlor Creek. My guess snow shoes might be better. Who knows though, go check it out and have fun.

Glad you had a good time!

Leaving early Friday April 30th for Yosemite. If anyone needs a ride, PM me.

I agree. Especially at Midnight Rock!

I'm sure DC can name many more, but the following come to mind: Shirley p1 thru Narrow Arrow Direct p2, p3 & p4 Jap Gardens P1, P2 through TPMV P3, P4 Pressure Drop on the Pressure Drop Cliff which is a *** pitch I have not heard of many people climbing Clay which is a **** pitch There are many pitches on the upper tier of the LTW that looked amazing. I'll think of more later.

Marginal Karma is good, its right next to Breakfast of Champions. Jap Gardens first full pitch. Iron Horse is super good. Best "full value" way is to lead up Iron Horse, step right at the anchors and go up through the Sagitaurius 10a corner, then step right again at the achors and pull the Sagitaurius roof. A super good mega pitch. You'll need a 70 to get off or 2 60's to TR. The inner wall also has Toxic Shock which is good and Even Steven which is even better. And of course, Thin Fingers is a must do.

From the parts of it I tried in a rain storm its a super good, mega pitch. Good job on the proud send! I'll have to get after it after I get back from the valley.

Hmmm, there are those who would argue that the words "excellence" and "Sport Climbing" don't belong in the same sentence. And there many more that would argue that your beating a dead horse.

Sweet.

I'll be leaving Seattle for Yosemite sometime between 4/30 and 5/6, dates are flexible. If anyone needs a ride to Yosemite during that time period, PM me. It would be nice to be able to share gas expenses. I'll be returning from the valley around 5/31 so if anyone would like to catch a ride back PM me as well. And if your down in the valley during May as I know many CCer's that will, feel free to stop past the white VW Golf with Washington plates and . Cheers, T

Climbing is a sport of self satisfaction. I understand Bobs concern, but its just friggin rock climbing, not the cure for cancer. What i do have to say is that crack climbing and sport climbing are to seperate genres of climbing. Roughly, you can compare them, but they are much different styles. Same with sport and slab climbing. Same with ice and mixed..... The grades should roughly correspond with the understanding in the differences in climbing. The biggest thing is to use each genre to cross train for the other. For example, I find hard sport moves fairly close to hard trad moves. Steep juggy sport climbs gain strength for thugish cracks..... see it however you like but use it to tain to climb harder. Bob - What 5.12s and 5.13s did you TR at Index and Squamish?

Who's climbing this weekend? Looking for a partner to climb rock, either Smith or Leavenworth. Might be into alpine, but rock is the money. PM me if interested.

Sweet. But many can lead bolted routes. Whats the percentage of people that lead 5.11/5.12 traditional routes compared to 5.12/5.13 bolted routes.

Nice thread Matt. Let me start with a little background. Over the past couple of years I started climbing and searching out harder traditional routes and climbing areas in Index and Leavenworth. In most cases I found that amazing routes have been left untouched for many years. By amazing I mean solid *** routes. Many of the pitches on the upper part of the Index LTW have been reclaimed by nature. These are truly amazing routes that deserve attention. There are also so many other routes that I have not had the chance to visit at Index that I bet are amazing. Another example, Midnight Rock. There are so many good routes up there its unbelievable. I'm talking in the 5.9, 5.10 range and also 5.11. Really, it has to be one of the best crags for quality and position in Leavenworth. The bummer is it appears that a lot of the routes are being reclaimed since not many people are climbing at the crag. This leads to doubt about the standards in Washington’s crack climbers are not that high, especially when compared to other areas. By no means did I want my earlier post to sound snobby. But when you actually look at the grades, 5.9 and 5.10 are moderate. When you look at hard traditional climbs that are being currently opened, new training methods and better gear, it goes to show that traditional grads are moving upward and hard climbs of yesterday are the moderates of today. I would find it hard to say that hard crag climbers are just that. Many do much more in the mountains and walls than just crank hard at crags. I think the ultimate is to go out into the mountains and climb hard traditional lines. My earlier post is more of a call to get out and get on it. Crank hard, climb some routes that you've never done before. Washington has some super good climbing areas that do not see much traffic and offer high quality routes. At the end of the day it is all about having fun and who gives a shit about grades. Personally, I'd like to see more people crank, but if thats not your cup of tea, then do whats fun. I'm not a gifted climber. I'm strong, I train and climb to get better, and sometimes crank. Like I said, at the end of the day its about having fun with your buddies and .