andyf

Saw this out the plane window flying home from Richland this evening. http://www.yakimaherald.com/stories/2009/07/15/wildland-fire-closes-highway-12-west-of-yakima The fire was definitely burning on the Royal Columns/Bend side of the river (looked like maybe between the Bend and Moon Rocks), but I couldn't see well enough to tell if any crags are/might be affected. Regardless, a bummer coming on the heels of the area getting scorched a few years ago.

Handsome guy on the cover. Not to harsh too much on the Caldera, but it's being oversold a bit. There are a few fun problems if you're in the area (which is to say, climbing at Wildcat), but the place is pretty much limited to two, maybe three quality boulders, one of which has nothing harder than V0. There is some other, better bouldering potential in the Tieton, including one spot that might be a legitimate area if someone has the energy to scub a bit. Like the Caldera, it's a quiet spot high in the hills with a nice view. Drater, I'm probably passing through Sandpoint in a couple of weeks.

Nice pics, Wayne, especially the ones looking down Colonnade. It's been ages since I've been to Wildcat; is the bottom of Colonnade still clean? We were hit by the same t-storm at South Fork. Andy

Thanks, nice to hear.

The crag is the Chunkyard.

BOO Arete should be rebolted. (Note I said "rebolted," not "retrobolted.") I was way more spooked by the quarter-inchers on it than the RP placements, and that was more than ten years ago.

It was looking a little overgrown and lonely up there this summer.

Has there ever been fixed gear on Nightingale? I've only been on it once--probably circa 1988--but I don't remember anything fixed. What I do remember (distinctly) is that I placed a Metolius slider nut at the crux roof. I remember it because I'd never placed one before and I really didn't trust it, but I proceeded to "test" it a number of times. Nice send and thumbs up on the anchor.

Andesite. I've never had a problem with either the trowel blade or wire brushes scratching the rock. Add to the tool list: a old towel for whomping dust off the rock (those little cans of compressed air are also nice); a dust mask; and protective glasses if you don't want to wake up the next morning with lichen and dust crusties around your eyes.

Standard garden trowel, followed up by wire brush. I've been using that approach for more than twenty years on east-of-the-crest moss.

Ironically, I was replacing the last of the twenty-year old bolts on Sun and the Moon (Moon Rocks) about the time this post went up. Sounds like we're talking about Goose Egg, though, not the more "typical" Tieton crags. Summerprophet, if you want to PM me, I'd be happy to talk about my Tieton experience. Andy

I was repeatedly dive-bombed by a crow in Olympia years ago, right by what used to be the Tastee Crumb. I swung my briefcase at it.

I've found a few good problems near the beach. Very scenic!

That's by design. Thank the Makers. Design? Cheap bastards more than anything.

Yes

Hey, I've been pretty healthy! I'll be spending Wednesday nights through May picking up my son from the gym...and maybe getting in a few boulder problems myself, if traffic from Oly doesn't suck and make me late.

I'm coming this year. Really, I mean it. Although I can't till June...

Re-opened in April.

Not many consistently overhanging Tieton cracks. Tortured Landscape (.11b) at Rainbow Rocks is one, with kind of sketchy gear, although it's not very long. Georgia Peach (.11c) at South Fork has an overhanging crux bulge finish. Oh, and Community Project at the Bend (.11d) leans a bit...

It's also in Rock Climbs of Central Washington, by Rick LaBelle.

And no less highball than the Garden.

The overhanging left wall of the corner is a fun 5.11 toprope (thin crack) if you avoid stemming out. Too contrived to lead.

CandyLand might be a bit spicy for a beginning trad leader, PP. And I remember it being spot-on .10c, with one of the cruxes involving a jump off a huge knob, with the knob being slung for your only pro. Witness this dude: http://www.mountainproject.com/v/california/tahoe_vicinity/phantom_spires/106038774

Gotta admit, for years I said "rope" when going to clip in a tight spot, trad or sport. My partners always seemed to understand, but I've converted (I think...mostly) to saying "clipping," especially when out-of-sight from my belayer. More troublesome was my other (really) bad habit of yelping "OFF!" when I took a surprise fall. I think I was finally cured of this while climbing with a person who's posted multiple times on this thread. My sliding skid down a Darrington slab turned into a 40-footer before he stopped feeding slack!

Spring of 1986, my senior year at the UW. After climbing campus buildings and bouldering obsessively at the UW rock for a year, I went home to Yakima for spring break. I ran into some high school friends who'd gotten into climbing and they took me on my first trip to the Royal Columns, lending me a harness. Back then, there was no guidebook. Everything was in the style of a first ascent: you simply picked a crack and climbed it. We chose the wide crack now called "Rattler" (5.7...in Royal Columns ratings). My friend led about halfway up, then bailed and offered me the sharp end. He tied my knot for me, gave me the rack, and sent me on my way. I got up to his high point, then with no idea how to place gear, I simply ran it out the last 30' to the top. Once I got there, I had no idea what to do. My friends shouted up instructions from the base, explaining how to stick these weird things called "hexes" into the cracks and attach myself to them, then how to belay up a second. It's amazing we all didn't get killed. A week or so later, Jeff Smoot (yes, the guidebook author) took me to Peshastin and taught me to lead a little more safely. By the end of the day, I was the king of Sunset Slab! Endnote: Despite many, many, many trips to the Royal Columns since that first day, I've never climbed "Rattler" again.