inacan

Full on Badassery!!! Looks like it gets pretty direct sun. Zat true?

If you have one please call 425-377-5501 Thanks!

I would like to do apes and ballerinas on the beach plus new route and or any of the new routes at Lookout point/Pvt. Idaho. Or anything else off the beaten path!

Der Topo...

Brown Beckey Hell Basin route is a total sandbag. Find the fissure.

Trip: Colchuck Balanced Crag - Milk n' Honey 5.11 Date: 8/24/2010 Trip Report: Over the last three months Craig Rankin, Abe Traven and myself made three quick trips to CBR to explore the rock on the right side of the West Face. During the first trip back in June, after warming up on the Scoop(awsome!) we esablished Leche la Vaca on the far right side of the massif. Leche was climbed ground up with minimal cleaning and required and no fixed gear. All the belays were from comfortable ledges with excellent protection. The climbing was amazingly fun, and varied from perfect cracks to knobby corners, huge solid flakes and a tricky little roof at the top. With four pitches ranging from 5.8-5.10 it seemed the perfect compliment to the more difficult free routes already established on CBR at that point. We were stoked and immediately began planning another trip to go back for more! The next two trips yielded two more full length routes up the steep West Face(Rikki Tikki Tavi .11 and Milk'n Honey .11) and a growing handful of variations and stand alone pitches scattered along the way. Everything was climbed free, ground up without the need of pre-cleaning. The few loose blocks that we encountered were able to be tossed off safely by the second. Since June we have free climbed at least 18 new pitches on the face. At this point there are seven full length free routes and over 30 pitches of outstanding trad climbing. Including the Tempest and the Scoop from last summer, and the recent addition of Scarface up the far left side of the wall, CBR is without a doubt the premier alpine crag of Washington. The climbing is on near perfect Index quality granite but much more sustained and Yosemite like in character. There are number of long splitter cracks that rival the enduro classics of the valley. Perhaps the most interesting development does not so much involve the climbing as it does the new approach. Paranoid Edit By literally burrowing through the mountainside via a hidden, long forgotten fissure we were able to reach the col in a causal sub three hour hike from the parking lot. This new approach has already drawn more climbers to the area. Please be respectful and conscientious. [soapbox Alert] Pack it out! Camp on the rocks out of the meadow. Don't shit near the water. DON'T burry your shit. Use the desert method. Shit on a flat sunny rock and spread it out with a stick. Pack out your papers. The sun and air will take care of the rest. Don't believe me? Look it up. http://humanurehandbook.com/ Gear Notes: double rack'o widgets Approach Notes: Milk N' Honey .11 It starts to the right of the start of The Scoop and left of Rikki Tikki Tavi. Climbs an easy corner up to blocky roofs then pulls through a strenuous flare(.10 akward) belays above in a good corner. P2 5.9- fingers layback then easy up to bushy ledge right of Scoop pitch. P3 climb large L facing corner up to cracks in slab. P4 is the real money. Climb up slabs from belay into corner with two cracks. Climb up cracks arching left until a thin crack that cuts out right through an overlap(.11). Pull through that onto face above and more easy climbing to ledge just left of the cobra head. Awsome.

Way to go you guys!!! Great to see you on the way down. Impeccable style! Holy shit Drew, still can't believe you pulled that off on second. That seems almost harder to me for some reason. Underclinging??? Savage.

Index Inner Wall about 200yrds past where all those new routes went in a few years ago on the opposite side. retro-cleaned last year and re-equiped the crux bolt. it is ultra classic. the rock is atypical to index and it's a trip being back there in that spot. yelloooooooow lichen. follow the trail past the new routes until you come to a huge log that spans the canyon gap. cross on the log to the other side and follow a faint trail along the wall. after a while you'll come to another downed tree that lies on the slop perpendicular to the canyon walls. drop down there and sneak though a small corridor of rock. when you pop out the other side you'll be looking right at it. can't be missed. i climbed it again early this season so it should be pretty clean but there are some old brushes at the base if it needs a touch up. Bobcat Cringe got similar treatment last year as well.

Gawd, I had no idea this was still alive. haven't been indoors much lately... I didn't take the time to read back through all of this but just for the record, I never dreamed of putting a bolt on Iron Horse. I really had no idea what this web site was all about back when I wrote that, and to be honest I was just being provocative to see if anyone gave a shit. My apologies for being disingenuine. In fact it wasn't even original. Earlier at the crag while I was telling someone how fun I thought the upper part was they baited me by saying that they thought it should be bolted into a sport climb. Iron Horse protects just fine. In fact the upper roof is really much less difficult than the lower half of the climb and it takes a truck small wire and three TCU's right where you need them. It is very safe. Maybe 11b... Whatever. I know this has moved on beyond my stupid commit I just wanted to clear up my intentions. None exactly.

http://homepage.mac.com/vertigo_tmr/PhotoAlbum5.html Here's a few pictures of the route...It's just to the left of the third pitch of Narrow Arrow. Not that I care, but for those that do, it was first "lead" solo aid, with the intention of making it a free climb. Aiding it was cool but not really any bolder then hiking up and rapping down from above on this one. It was a bit faster though, and took less over all effort. The second pitch climbs past two bolts up the arrete to the top of the Narrow Arrow spire. This was put up on lead. It is a great position on a fun arrete. The best way to get up there is to climb Godzilla then step right and climb another pitch up to a big ledge. This can be done in one long pitch from the ground. It goes at about 10c. Traverse the ledge to the right and step down to the anchors of Salad Fingers. "not a sport climb" -TC http://homepage.mac.com/vertigo_tmr/PhotoAlbum5.html

No one wants to see 10' link ups at Index. Nor is this much of a concern. Go climb PF. It is a reasonable .11 with a bouldery bolt protected move but it's not some over bolted sport climb. Move right where Princely goes left. Bring some micro stoppers. Tell me if you still think it's a squeeze job. I hate squeeze jobs and only make it to the Exits about once a year at best. As for anchors near cracks? Nearly all the anchors at Index are near cracks. Lets place solid belay anchors in good spots that promote climbing and minimize placing fixed protection on route near where good solid natural gear can be found. I also aggree about minimizing and or hiding anchors. There are definitely one or two random anchors out there that I am planing on getting out and painting as soon as I get a chance. And how about the pile of tat half way up Narrow Arrow Overhang? Anyone mind if all that goes away?

Headed to index today mostly to climb but might also be giving Deal with it Ranger a good scrub down.

Earlier this year I became interested in retro-cleaning and climbing Tadpole. I had heard from a friend who had climbed it about 10 years ago that it was a perfect finger crack in a flare with a tricky crux and that it was on par with Sloe Children for quality as a classic, just harder. He told me that it was pretty dirty then and that he didn't think that it had been climbed much in the past decade!?! This is a four star route that can be accessed by rapping in from BeekBeekBeek or doing a unprotected 5.7 traverse over from Princely. The fact that it never gets climbed speaks volumes about us as climbers. It took the better part of two full trips to Index to clean it. First we removed what was one continuous bush from the top of the climb all the way to the start. The crack was full of dirt and two of the pins were completely rusted out. The next secession required scrubbing the walls free of all the lichen that had grown in over the years to make stemming and smearing possible and enjoyable. Once it was clean we climbed it and I have to say it was worth every knuckle scrape and dirty booger. My hats off and thanks to the original party that cleaned this route it is like so many routes at Index a classic no mater where you are. So why the anchors? In the corse of all the cleaning we realized that there was an easier way to get up to this perfect crack. The line below was, you guessed it, completely over grown. It's not some new variation of Princely. It leaves Princely at the point that Princely takes a left back across the hand traverse and joins what the Cummins guide calls P2 of Frog Pond A3. We cleaned this up, although not as good as I would like to get it but my free time is not endless. Then we placed two bolts to protect the pin flake and freed it. I think it would benefit from another bolt near the top but I'll wait and see. I agree that the anchors at the ledge above Model Worker were poorly replaced and the "new" chains are not very impressive. However my appreciation goes out to whoever put the effort in. My thinking after discussing it with two other long time Index locals(between us over 50yrs of climbing experience and knowledge of the local history and ethics) was that all but one of the bolts from the four could be removed as the new anchors that we placed could serve just as well for Model Worker as for Peace Frog(as we called it) and the belay for Tadpole. The one bolt would allow a climber coming up seldom climbed Model Worker full to clip a directional befor stepping over to the anchors for the next pitch as well as giving another clip in point on the ledge somewhat away from the main anchors thus avoiding over crowding the belay should three people ever be there. As for the top anchors of Tadpole I didn't use them at all since it seemed like the natural thing to do was just climb the extra easy 20' to the belay for BeakBeakBeak and so be set up for one more classic pitch or a fast rap back to the ground via the new anchors below. I wouldn't care if those old anchors stayed or went. Personally I think it make sense to get rid of them but wanted to talk to Terry, Greg, or Darrel first. Also I climb with a 70m rope and would want to be sure that a 60m would work just as well first. That my two cents worth, and some, if you count the time and materials. Soul Reaper I appreciate your desire to start a meaningful discussion here absent of spray. I agree that if one is going to up-grade the belay anchors on a route they should also consider the top anchors as well. And if one wants to start a thread without spray they should probably not start it with assumptive conclusions and name calling. I don't think that people who know me would consider me lazy. Crag maintenance requires time and energy. And sometime research and discussion and more time. Peace Frog adds about forty feet of fun climbing to the start of Princely and leaves that line at a natural point, in fact while princely wanders all over the place PF continues along at a persistent upward right angle. The first bolt protects some seep stemming and the second protects two successive dynos to a big flake. Form there it follows an easy lay back up to a small roof past a pin and maybe a third bolt(?) I used a not so good 00 TCU. Climb past that to the anchors. The anchors allow you to top rope PF or set you up to belay Tadpole in a position that allows you to see the leader. Peace Frog was an after thought, it's a fun route and a cool way to get to Tadpole but this was and still is for me about climbing Tadpole. Btw, SoulReaper how did you like Tadpole?

Concerning the much discussed activities at Index on Tuesday, I cleaned off a ledge above and right of Gozilla as well as the route leading up from godzilla to the ledge. The route is a worthy mixed line and the ledge is large and comfortable. This ledge can be easly traversed over to the base of the third pitch of Narrow Arrow as well as a new route that was cleaned last week with the help of two other friends. This ledge also opens access to the pitches above Godzilla and City Park as well as the left side of Narrow Arrow (very dirty). The third pitch of City Park is a moderate 5.10 that was re-cleaned last summer by some other friends of Index. There is potential for other nice moderate lines that lead up from there to the summit ledges of the lower wall. The new route follows a very thin crack in a flaring corner through a roof to another ledge just below the summit of Narrow Arrow. It was not very dirty at all and only required a light scrubbing and the removal of a few tufts of grass in the back of the crack. The ledge above Godzilla and the pitch below were another story. I removed what would probably amount to a few wheel barrels of loose rock and dirt. I arrived at the parking lot around 7am and it was raining pretty hard. I hung out until it let up around 8am. I jugged the lines that I had up from the previous day in a light mist. It was a beautiful moist alpine day. I hauled up my cleaning equipment and got to work. I think that it was around 3 or 4 oclock when the first car pulled into the parking lot. By this time I was mostly done clearing the loose rocks and was dealing with what was left of the dirt. The first party approched and called up. We had a brief conversation about what I was doing, and then they offered to climb Thin Fingers instead of their intended destination of Godzilla. I thanked them and continued to work. Not long after that, two others approached. The first thing out of one of their mouths was a loud baying mammalian noise that sounded kind of like........... "WAAADAAFUUUUUUGWAAADAAFUUUUUUG". It continued to make this noise in a loud gutteral voice over and over. I simply observed them and waited for them to move away. They clambered through the boulder field and back out to the tracks. Once back to work, I almost immediately broke the tool I was using, and had to go down to get another one. As soon as I got back to my lines, there was another party preparing to climb Godzilla. I was very frustrated at that moment due to the tool breaking and the strange baying creatures and the fact that my prefect misty cleaning morning had turned into a parade at Godzilla. As a result, I was regrettably a bit aggro and curt toward this second party. Much of the dirt that I had shoveled off the ledge above had collected on the many ledges and hand holds below, and I was just starting to clean them off. Anyone who has ever cleaned new routes or taken the time to unearth old classics at Index knows the joy of dusting the cliff after their project is completed. After I'd cooled off a bit and apologized for being reactionary, I offered to hold off on my activities until they had climbed above. Back up on the ledge, I worked my way over to the base of the new route where I did some anchor work while I waited fro them to pass. When I got back over to the first ledge, there was yet another party congregated below, and it was at this point that the water bottle incident occurred. ( You can read about that in another thread). I spoke to the lead climber about what I was doing and he was positive and encouraging (at the time). Afterwards, I hung around for a bit blowing off dirt from the critical holds on Godzilla between climbers and took a few pictures. I would have liked to have continued cleaning all the ledges below on the effected routes, but that was obviously not possible with the other climbers around. When I returned to my car, the two that bayed were there. I think that I might have looked at them for a moment before beginning to load my trunk. They offered from across the parking lot: "are you the guy that made the fuging mess on the lower wall?" I ignored this and kept unloading my stuff. Then "Fucking stuuupid dude. You should save that shit for November" At this point, after a pause, I turned to face them and started to walk toward them near their cars. It was then that they, without any further discussion, both hopped into their two cars and, I'm not kidding, roostertailed it out of the parking lot. I think this is what one of them meant by "cussing me out because I'm a moron". So that was my day. I realize that Index attracts a very diverse user group. It was not my intention to piss anyone off or spoil anyone's climbing plans. I am simply spending time, in my own way, at a climbing area that I love. I hear what people are saying about being sensitive to others and their desires to use Index. That is why I was out on a rainy Tuesday morning. But even so, there are over 500 routes at Index. Yes it's true. And a few are even pretty good. If you show up, and someone is on your favorite route, aiding or rappelling or climbing or cleaning or looking for Sir Francis Drake's lost gold, give a shout hello and go climb one of the hundreds of other routes that are out there. From What I could tell the routes affected are the following: Godzilla- Minimal above the ledge traverse start. Deal with It Ranger is a real mess right now as are Narrow Arrow overhang and probably the start of 24hr Buck. I can say with certainty that nothing that I did on Tuesday affected any routes to the left of Godzilla. As for the "2 inches of dirt on every route all the way to Tatoosh!" Please! Anyway I plan to clean up my own mess. My mother raised me right. And while I'm at it, maybe I'll clean up a few other messes as well. You see, I love Index. I've loved Index since the first time I climbed there in '89. In fact, if anyone else is interested in giving back to this amazing little(big!) crag, I would be very interested in speaking with them. Not just cleaning old or new routes but how about trail maintainance, picking up trash, cleaning up the brush down in the bog, or just trimming back the black berry bushes while you are sitting around waiting to climb. Or how about opening up a discussion about building a composting toilet in the parking lot. So that's all I got. I don't plan to respond to this thread beyond this. If anyone wants to contact me directly for route info or otherwise, send me an email and I'll respond off site. Thanks! Really, if you read this far, you deserve it. Last Bits: Someone wrote: "As for the birds, did he actually destroy their nest or just get in their area and piss them off" This sort of thing is what is so disappointing about these online discussion boards. Someone makes a wild, slanderous, baseless accusation, and the next thing you know, lesser minds are not asking if the statement has any truth, but rather whether the guy just fucked the goat or did he kill it first. I did not disturb any birds or bird's nests. I noticed the same squawking birds that morning when I crossed the tracks. They seemed to me to be hanging around in the upper part of the quarry. Maybe the old codger came home with a little spring chicken under his tail feathers. Don't ask me, I'm not an ornithologist. One thing I can say is that I have never in 10+ years seen or heard of a raptor nesting on the lower town wall, let alone on a ledge 40' above Godzilla. I quote "did you think at all?" This was trumped up in an attempt to gain moral high ground. Weak. Something else wrote: "BTW- if anyone knows this dork-ass-retrocleaning-cidiot, please pass this message to him. thanks and have a nice day!" Pass it yourself. I'll be at Index all weekend. If you can learn to speak that quickly.

First you said... lamer is more like it. adding bolts to dumb it down is poor form....look fwd to the day i am brave/strong enough to throw myself at that one. Then it was.. man or index inbetween. the route will only get more traffic when it gets retro'd