First time visiting Tieton ?s

[Jake_Gano]

I'm going to be in the 'neighborhood' for a Rainier trip and since we have a little wiggle room in our agenda I'm considering a side trip to Tieton.   It's a hard to get the lay of the land from Mountain Project.  The first time I went to Vantage I burnt most of a day figuring out what's what using an black-and-white photocopy of the old guidebook and I'm not eager to have a similar experience at Tieton.  Is there one spot that is the "go-to" for first time Tieton climbers?

Since I'm traveling from out-of-state I would prefer not to carry much extra gear.  Can I get around most of the crags with a single 60 meter rope? Is there enough high-quality bolted climbs at any of the crags to get by with just draws and keep myself entertained for a day?  If not I could probably be talked into tossing a single rack into my luggage but a double rack to 4 is out of the questions.

What else do I need to know that I'm not smart enough to ask?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Otto]

You don't say what grade range you are comfortable with. However, I believe the highest concentration of "moderate" routes for a day, with no more than a single rack and 60m rope, is at The Bend. 

[Off_White]

Or the whole Lava Point bluff if you just want to clip bolts - mostly 5.9 to 5.10 and interesting climbing. The Bend has a few bolted routes, but there is a reason it was once tentatively named The Crack House. ;-)

 

[Jake_Gano]

Thanks Otto and Off_White.  We climbed a day at Royal Columns, a day at Vantage, a day an Mazama.   Royal Columns were really cool, the perfect spot for sub-5.10 crack climbing.  We ended up flying to WA with a double rack since the weather forecast for Rainier was dismal and glad we carried the gear.  Then two weeks later we got the Rainier forecast we needed and flew back for a successful Kautz trip.