[TR] La Croupe du Poney 06/14/2025

[RobUSA]

On Saturday, June 14th, Kelly Ryan and I climbed a rock buttress in the Washington Pass area, based only on photographs I had taken of that rock buttress a couple of weeks prior.  It has 1000′ of mostly moderate and enjoyable granite climbing, with trees available for almost every belay station. The route is solidly Grade III in size. We swung leads for eight long pitches, where I led the odds and Kelly led the evens. We estimate that maybe one pitch was 5.9, and a number of others were 5.7 / 5.8, but there certainly were factors that could have led us to over-estimating difficulties at the time, so it's possible those difficulties will get downgraded upon the arrival of more opinions. There is a walk-off from the top, which returns to the route’s base.  We took a lot of extra time dealing with the details of the unknown here, but with the beta now known, I imagine par for the course could be 12 to 13 hours car-to-car for this moderate route.

It's hard to know if this is a new first ascent or not.  We definitely climbed it in the style of a first ascent; and despite a lot of searching, I've yet to find conclusive proof that the particular line we climbed has been previously climbed in its entirety.  Whatever the case may be, I'm rather proud of our little effort here!

More details in this write-up:  https://rocknropenw.com/2025/06/17/la-croupe-du-poney/

Edited yesterday at 06:29 PM by RobUSA

[wayne]

Likely  an FA. You give great detail in your trip report. Do you have something on mountain project yet? It  looks like a fine climb!

[olyclimber]

19 minutes ago, wayne said:

Likely  an FA. You give great detail in your trip report. Do you have something on mountain project yet? It  looks like a fine climb!

It’s not for everyone but appreciate those who share in non-corporate media!  How much do you think OnX paid REI for that site?  Gotta recoup.

[olyclimber]

Wayne would know better than most! Congrats regardless, it’s hard to find new territory these days!

[RobUSA]

Thanks so much!!

Yeah, I intend to post it on Mountain Project in the near future.  I was initially holding off on doing so for a little while, partially to see if the route had history so that I could report it accurately, and also partially in case I get a chance to go re-climb it myself to make sure it's really ready-to-recommend before I start advertising it more broadly.  (Doing one more lap myself would give me a chance to get a second take on the difficulty ratings, see if there's anything loose enough that should be trundled preemptively in case there were ever more than one party on route, maybe even add a bolt to the friction-slab section of the sixth pitch.)  It's unclear if I'll find the time re-climb it in the next few weeks though, so maybe I'll post it on Mountain Project before doing so after all.  I'll add it on Mountain Project within a month either way

[dberdinka]

You might try to track down a copy of Bryan Burdo's old WA-Pass guidebook.  He did several routes on that feature (if I'm recognizing it correctly as above the big waterfall east of the pass).  I know that a couple other CC users went up there a couple years ago and climbed something. 

[RobUSA]

Yeah, I've been trying to track down a copy of exactly that book.  I went to the Seattle Mountaineers Program Center in hopes that their library would be the best-bet, but the staff there does not know where the keys are kept to unlock their own glass covers over the bookcases, so I'm at a bit of a dead end there.  Does anyone here have a copy of that book?

[Michael Telstad]

34 minutes ago, dberdinka said:

You might try to track down a copy of Bryan Burdo's old WA-Pass guidebook.  He did several routes on that feature (if I'm recognizing it correctly as above the big waterfall east of the pass).  I know that a couple other CC users went up there a couple years ago and climbed something. 

I borrowed a copy from a friend several years ago and distinctly remember reference to several lines on that buttress. Regardless, It's great to see attention being paid to these lesser known features!

[RobUSA]

Thanks!

Yeah, I am already aware that a 1997 out-of-print guidebook mentions the overall buttress.  I have been able to find that one of the routes in it was named "Archer", and that route is completely distinct from what we climbed.   What I haven't been able to find are any specifics about what those other lines were.  Further details of my search so far are here:  https://rocknropenw.com/2025/06/17/la-croupe-du-poney/#further-efforts-to-determine-first-ascent-history  It certainly feels more likely than not that the prow of the buttress (what we climbed,) would be seen as the most likely line, and therefore is likely to have been climbed before.  What I'm having trouble with is getting past vague generalities and "probablies." Does anyone have a copy of that book that I could see?  Can anyone share a link to prior trip reports so that I could compare the details of the lines?  I'm doing my best to uncover some concrete details here.

[JasonG]

I bet Bryan could hook you up with a copy for the right quantity of raw beef.

[RobUSA]

Ha!!  Yeah, I have sent Bryan himself message, but quite recently though, so I'll give him some time to reply