mountainsloth

you are correct Riley, Lesser Evil is the left most route on the wall.

wicked! I always wondered. Thanks!

@ andy: Thanks, that makes sense, they are some purdy flowers @ the hammer-dancing-dude: butterfly it is. The top out of that route is rounded and anchors far back. It was much easier to see my followers, remove unnecessary rope drag, and avoid sending loose rock down. @ Off_White: I noticed those bolts on the way out and was curious. Thanks for scratching that itch. I will give it a go next time.

Trip: Banks Lake - Various Date: 5/29/2011 Trip Report: Memorial Day weekend forecast: Rain, rain and more rain.... crap. There goes my ski trip up Mt. Adams that has been planned for 2 months. No surprise really. Its still Spring in the PNW. One thing is true, if you want a life in the outdoors you have to be interested in a variety of activities or face sitting on the couch sometimes. So my ski mountaineering trip turned into a canoeing and rock climbing trip at Banks Lake because it boasted the best weather in all of WA. Our goal... a mellow weekend of easy climbing, camping, canoeing, and exploration away from the masses. The weekend went so well, plan B could have been a plan A Launching the boat on Friday with 3 people and a mess of gear for 3 days pushed the limits of my old canoe. This and the choppy waters that afternoon pushed us to camp much closer to the dock and the highway than planned. We hit the first major island across from the dock and found a perfect camp on top of the island that required a 4th class scramble. Our island's inlet views of Highway Rock from camp This not only gave us great views but kept the motorboat yahoos of the fishing derby at a safe distance while on dry land. But this did not stop them from nearly running us over mid lake as the completion started on Saturday. Wave after wave of high speed boats flew feet past our over-stuffed canoe thwarting attempts at peeing and climbing out of our vessel. After setting up camp we explored the shortie cliffs around the island and found a few nice-n-easy hand cracks to mess around on. We are claiming first ascents, giving them a V status, and I am writing up a report for the AAJ since the approach, camp set-up, scouting, and sending took all day. Day two sent us canoeing around our island looking at all the untouched granite and scouting out the climbs in "Weekend Rock". I was surprised to notice that all the climbs in "weekend rock" are not in the "Rock Climbs of Central Washington", especially for such gems as "Prime Cut". If I have climbed a flake as fine, I do not remember when. This is certainly not the norm at Banks and was enjoyed thoroughly. The rock above the anchors have potential for a pretty sweet looking sport line. We then climbed "Supprehension" to "Creamsicle Buttress" on Highway Rock and enjoyed the partly sunny skies and perfect temps. The first portion of "Creamsicle Buttress" Satisfied with climbing, we headed back to camp for burritos and relaxing. A strange sight caught our eye atop the next island North, prompting us to explore. A canoe and scramble got us to the top and discovered an old, broken windmill light installed on top of the island. Anyone have info on this? Chased by a pack of rabid coyotes... My last trip out to Banks included a fantastic trip up the Orange Wall. It took little words to convince mi amigos to take another route up this towering piece of rock. Taken from last Summer Keeping with the mellow nature of the weekend we thought we had decided upon an easy 4 pitch route called "Lesser Evil" but forgot to factor in the approach. Canoeing up to the wall was no issue, but finding the route, navigating the talus, brush, poison ivy, rattle snakes, and exposed, loose, 5th class scrambling proved otherwise. After about 45 minutes of this, we discovered the start and I began leading. (FYI the first pitch is on a ledge at the far edge of the wall and the massive gully.) The 1st pitch was short and ended on a small ledge with a horn. The book says to use wide gear and a bolt, I found it just as easy to sling the horn. The 2nd pitch started with a few bolts and then followed a nice, low-angle off-width. 3rd pitch was a long, well-bolted face climb. 4th pitch pushes through a roof with an interesting couple of moves to unlock it. Bring a #1 or a wrench and some hangers for the crux move as there were 2 or 3 bolts with no hangers. The climbing eases back after this to low-angle scrambling to a set of chains. There is lots of untouched granite out there We hit the summit, took some photos and began to rap. Last year on "Heart of Stone" (a few climbs over) I planned on rapping the route but found that not all anchors were equipped to do so and ended up thrashing through a heinous walk-off with no clear route down in my climbing shoes. Learning from my mistakes, I brought extra materials in case this happened again. Sure enough, The anchors atop pitch 4 had chains on one bolt, but not the other. I fashioned a small piece of webbing and off we went. 3 double rope rappels got us to the bottom without incident. On the canoe back to camp, it finally rained on us. The clound dumped steady rain on a quarter mile square chunk of the lake and followed us back to camp. You could see people outside the ring of rain still sunbathing. Oh well, it could have happened on the rock right? After packing camp and loading everything back into the car we finally deemed it hot enough to take a dip. The Michaels decided to jump off a nice looking rock near the dock. The flowers and greenery make Banks Lake even more beautiful in the Spring. Anyone know this flower? Sun lakes below Dry Falls Dam (Keeps Banks Lake a lake) Long story short... Banks Lake = Gear Notes: Most routes are sport, but there are some quality gear routes to be had as well, bring your rack. For "Lesser Evil" the book says gear 2-4 and draws. I brought singles from .5-4 and used them all. Bring at least a dozen draws and don't forget the rap material. Approach Notes: Canoe, walk, or schwack... your choice.

This was a rap anchor I used on some obscure 5.7 on the snow creek wall. Feeling with my fingers I discovered the rock pinch did not connect!

that sounds pretty cool!

ditto on both points Matt. The granite is of Darrington quality and crowd free. I had the same issue with SATR and missing a cam. I have climbed there a few times and just finally noticed the cam notes on the Topo this weekend. doh!

someone recruit Dan the man!

http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/954806/Searchpage/1/Main/74029/Words/name+this+wall/Search/true/Re_anyone_know_this_wall#Post954806 I already tried this.

thanks for the work Frank. The woods and midland are always crowd free and alluring. too bad they always seem to be wet when I am there.

exciting stuff! I always get paranoid about cougars when out in the Middle Fork by myself.

beautiful photos. Nice to view the enchantments from angles and colors I have never seen before.

the dingford creek road is open as of last fall. http://www.fs.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsinternet/!ut/p/c5/04_SB8K8xLLM9MSSzPy8xBz9CP0os3gDfxMDT8MwRydLA1cj72DTUE8TAwgAykeaxRtBeY4WBv4eHmF-YT4GMHn8usNB9uHXDzYBB3A00PfzyM9N1S_IjTDIMnFUBADW0rdA/dl3/d3/L2dJQSEvUUt3QS9ZQnZ3LzZfMjAwMDAwMDBBODBPSEhWTjJNMDAwMDAwMDA!/?navtype=BROWSEBYSUBJECT&cid=stelprdb5150497&navid=091000000000000&pnavid=null&ss=110605&position=Not%20Yet%20Determined.Html&ttype=detail&pname=Mt.%20Baker-Snoqualmie%20National%20Forest-%20Home check out the middle fork status my impreza made it to dingford creek no problem. either way, the walk to infinite bliss is a 20 min walk.

http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=963993 I agree with Frank. That there is some fine granite.

Wicked Matt! nice adventure!

bitchin' just straight up bitchin' living the dream buddy

more and more I yearn for the Alps. Thanks for stoking that fire.

yum

i had a hard time recognizing those walls when i was out there last summer. can you see it in my photo near the beginning of this thread?

email sent, thanks for the info Shapp

oh quit bitching. Climb it first then bitch if you feel it needs to be downgraded. Technical pitches take longer.

REI has 'em too. Great stuff out there! Hope to make another trip of it this Summer.

stair master was my friend. you can also climb stairs in buildings. Just get your aerobic endurance up. Mix running around the city with stairs in buildings. It sucks not to have large mtns to train on around you, but.... well where you live is your choice right?

thanks for the update curt

people! Get on Rad's climbs! They are.... well... rad! Seriously!