Rainman

yes as, sure let's do it?

Listen up all you young climbers! If you leave stuff, people will consider it booty. It's kind of like litter. Something to be cleaned up.

I'm looking for a willing climbing partner to climb "Excalibur" on the Illusion Wall in Squire Creek valley this Sunday 6/26. It involves a significant hike of 2 to 2 1/2 hours and 8 pitches of moderate to steep slab up to 5.10+. Interested? Let me know. I have transportation and all the gear required and am willing to lead all the pitches.

Your pictures of Chumstick are gorgeous! Makes me want to go back. Nice work!

For those that might be interested, I took a walk up Squire Creek on Saturday and viewed all the events that took place this past winter. Mother nature was very busy with new and bigger washouts and landslides crossing the trail. The good news is the road is just great as the FS graded a fresh road bed all the way to the trailhead. The washouts and landslides although impressive do not cause much more problems than normal and someone has even forged a path through. The biggest hurdle is the amazing amount of snow that still remains on all the cliffs. Squire Creek Wall has the least, but there is still a fair amount of snow on higher ledges to not make any route safe just yet. Wait 2 or 3 more weeks if we get warmer weather before attempting any climbs there. The first three pitches of Slab Daddy are buried in snow and lots of avalanche debris on the way to the Illusion Wall. The log crossing Squire Creek to approach the Illusion Wall did survive. Hiking in to Waterfall basin was essentially snow free until you crossed the creek into the basin itself. About 2 to 4 feet of consolidated snow made the walk-in very easy as all the brush was buried. The Roan Wall still has a giant cornice on top, don't even think about climbing on the wall until that baby comes down. The avalanche cone below the Roan extends all the way from the creek bottom to just about the top of the second approach pitch. It will be along time before it's snow free. As usual, the Waterfall buttress is already snow free and could be climbed at any time however, the snow at the bottom is extreme. Here is the most impressive display of winter's fury I have ever seen! The basin below Three Fingers is filled with more snow than I could have ever imagined. If anyone has ever been to the basin in summers snow free days it would be worth a trip to see it now. Unfortunately, I didn't have a camera with me to show it all but judging from my pictures from summers past, the snow is about 70 feet deep in front of Martha's place and close to 200 feet deep at the base of the walls! Martha's isn't completely buried but the uphill side of the boulder has snow within two feet of the top. The downhill side is buried to within 15 feet of the top and the overhang is at snow level. The bivi site underneath is completely buried all the way to the back. No camping here for some time to come. For all the talk about glaciers receding world wide I wonder if we've got a new one being born here?

Trip: Squire Creek Wall - Illusion Wall - Excalibur III 5.10+ Date: 10/17/2010 Trip Report: For us weekend warriors, this climbing season was tough to get much done. Fortunately, October graced us with some real nice sunny weekends and I managed to complete another project on the Illusion Wall of Squire Creek. So last Sunday I rounded up a couple of agreeable climbing teams to go climb it with the idea of doing a photo shoot as well. The location of the route and the climb itself makes it very photogenic, particularly if you can get to the side to take pictures. So with two climbing teams I had the lead team fix a line for me to jug on and I was free to take pictures as I pleased. I think I got some good ones. I hope you'll agree. The route has essentially 10 pitches, but pitch two is basically a third class scramble. The tenth pitch is a lower angle somewhat dirty pitch that will get you to the top if you want. We rapped from the top of the nineth. The rest however, are very nice, moderatly sustained pitches on excellent stone in a beautiful setting. All belays have nice ledges with bolted anchors. Rappel the route for the desent using only the anchors with chain links. Some of the pitches are short (for good reason), allowing you to combine a couple of pitches with 60 meter ropes on the way down. ! Brandon leading out pitch one that starts from the left side of the base and follows nine bolts to reach a ledge system that traverses clear across the entire bottom of the face 5.8 Brandon leading out on pitch three 5.10+. This is where the route really begins. Eric leading up the corner (5.9) of pitch three Brandon following pitch four 5.10+ The only pitch with all bolts. All the rest are a mix of gear and bolts. Dave belaying Eric on pitch four Darryl following pitch five 5.9+. Now we're getting steep! This pitch takes you up to the anchor just right of the "Excalibur flake" Eric heading out on pitch five. Eric looking good on pitch five. The other route "The Holy Grail" goes up the skyline in the background. David following pitch five. Darryl heading out on the signature pitch of the climb, pitch six 5.9 Brandon following. David takes his turn on the flake with Eric drooling in the background. David heads up the other side of the flake to join Darryl at the belay. Short pitch, but necessary to keep things from getting out of hand. Darryl following Brandon up pitch seven 5.10- Eric finishing his lead of pitch seven. David working hard on the tiny finger crack of pitch eight 5.10+ Pitch eight has a short right hand traverse that gets you into some pretty high exposure. David chalking up for the crux of pitch eight. Jumbo Peak in the background. Pitch nine has an awesome corner that looks a lot harder than it is. Can you believe only 5.9? Eric at the top of the corner, pitch nine. From the corner a few face moves get you to the final flake for the top of pitch nine. Big thanks to my lead team Brandon & Darryl for fixing the jug line. How about a round of applause to the modeling team of Eric & David. Thanks guys, for all your patience. As you can see it was a picture perfect day and a good time was had by all. So if you really like clean rock and aren't afraid to hike for it the Illusion Wall is definitely worth a trip Gear Notes: All pitches except pitch four require some gear mixed in with bolts. Take a good selection of gear up to 3" with emphasis in the 3/4" range. 15 quick draws with a couple of longer runners should do. Approach Notes: The approach to Illusion Wall, which is a sub-wall of the Squire Creek Wall monolith, is nicely detailed in Whitelaw's new edition of Darrington Rock - "Rattle & Slime"

Nice Darin!! Great looking climb in a fantastic setting. Looking forward to giving it a shot next season. Good to see your still getting after it. Cheers!

Well, I'd like to say that I think Mr. hanman is on to something here. The potential for this "hot day oasis" is huge! The rock is suprizingly clean and there is lots of it! As with most Western Wash. crags, the cracks tend to be vegitated and unpleasant. The rest however, offers fantastic face climbing on bullit hard comglomerate. Lots of peebles frozen to a sandstone "super hard" matrix makes for very wild climbing! I had a great time. Super lead of p3, Mark! Nice job!

Best trip report on "the daddy" so far! You did the climg in perfect style! I propose that anyone who climbs to the top of "Slab Daddy" is an honorary member of the D.E.A.,(Darrington Enhancement Assocciation)and all the resposibilities that go with that. Contact D. Whitelaw for more info.

Let me guess...,the view from the top included all of Squire Creek Valley and down to Exfoliatio Dome. That would be quite a view! Congratulations on an FA that people have been looking at for years! Way to go!!!! Darrington has a lot more to offer than 3 O'clock rock.

Awesome report!!!! It's so great to hear from someone who spent all day above "Old Milwakee Tree". What a place, huh? Static Point; "smooth all over". "Slap and Pray" originated here, all for good reason. "The goodness that is Static still provides".

Awesome TR. Your amazing detailed descriptions brought back sweet vivid memories of doing the climbs for the first time. It's so good that people are still getting out and enjoying Static Point despite the arduous approach. Well done. I look forward to future TR's.

I'm in Shoreline and I am also looking for someone to climb a route on The Illusion Wall of Squire Creek Wall that I put in last summer. I only have this Sat. I'm hoping to add a variation to pitches 6 & 7 that is mostly all crack. Interested? It should be in good shape this Saturday, but there will be some snow on the approach and most likely at the start of the route.