Static Point

[hanman]

About 3 weeks ago, in a brief period of sunshine, my friend and I climbed a line to the far right of Fuddhat. I saw the distinctive 250' dike last year in a search for water at the base. The route is 3 long pitches, 5.8+, 3/8 bolts+rap stations in place (take tcu's to 1"). The route was done ground up with typical Static runouts. We call it "Sparks". Overall a nice moderate addition to the existing lines. BTW, thanks to the recent dedicated parties who have worked on the access road - your skills with cutting implements are greatly appreciated!

[scot'teryx]

So the horrid brush on the FR approach is trimmed back? Is that huge log still over the road as well (although I was able to go under it)

Thx for the info

[hanman]

Yes indeed, large tree is gone. We were able to drive to the normal parking spot with very little brush in the way.

[chucK]

Headed out to Static Point with Otto yesterday.

 

Wet wet road on the way in and lots of snow at the entrance station gave us pause, but we continued, chopped some brush on the way in, and found dry rock. No snow besides very isolated patches on the way in (probably changed today!).

 

We climbed "Besides Fudd", a new climb for me out there. It's in Sky Valley Rock but not in any of the Smoot books. The climb starts in a beautiful deep dihedral, shiny white and clean, just out right from Fuddhat. There's two bolts (and basically nothing else) on the that pitch. No more bolts, except for the belay anchors, for the rest of the climb. Fun 5.8/9, but a bit heady, doing some long runouts between positive holds. Would be a great romp if you "warmed up" on some 5.10 slab beforehand.

 

We were able to get a look at "Sparks" (see hanman post above). It looked fun. Probably a bit less intimidating than "besides". Could be wrong though.

 

Followed that up with Kill Da Wabbit. Very sweet climb. Then rapped over to The Cube and down Online.

 

All rap stations we traversed other than the Online ones are sling setups with seriously manky webbing. So if you're headed out that way, bring a knife and some replacement tat.

[David Yount]

Sparks 5.8 3 pitches is indeed a sweet and fun route.

A green alien is nice to have for the small pod between clip 2 and clip 3. It took me 90 minutes from car to get to the route Online. It took me an additional 90 minutes to get from the base of Online to the base of Sparks.

 

In general climbing is good from March to early November, but never on sunny summer days at Static Point.

 

 

September, 2012

Before you drive out to climb at Static Point it's easily worthwhile to place a phone call to ask if the South Shore Gate is open at Spada Resevoir. The gate is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from May 1 to October 31, except for 1) roadwork, or 2) dangerous conditions. And in my experience it's not rare for them to decide there exist dangerous conditions, and they have roadwork to perform every year during Spring to Fall.

 

The Snohomish PUD contols the gate and their website will give the gate's status. But the actual page with the gate's status is buried in several layers of choices and the navigation is not intuitive nor descriptive. But here's the URL as of September 2012:

http://www.snopud.com/PowerSupply/hydro/jhp/jhprecreation/jhpsultan.ashx?p=1500

 

425.783.1774 Karen Bedrossian (or her subsequent replacement)

425.783.8804 Barry Chrisman

 

If you don't reach either of them you can call the main number and seek other suggestions from the operator

425.783.1744, or 877.783.1000

 

option 0 to speak to an operator at Snohomish PUD and ask them about the current status of the South Shore Gate at Spada Resevoir. Ask the operator for the direct phone number and the full name of the person they will connect you with, for your records.

 

If the gate is closed, you can still climb at Static Point, just add 3 miles of casual downhill mtn biking or hiking.

 

Sometimes you must park at the registration station at Olney Pass if the right gate, South Shore Road, is closed. The right gate is the South Shore Road, take this. The three miles (on road Nf-6129 around the reservoir / lake) to the decommissioned spur road is gently and consistently downhill (fast and easy on a mtn bike). When you arrive at a large bridge (crossing the inlet to Spada Resevoir), the spur road is just past on the right and is blocked by several boulders and a large snag placed crosswise. Park here. You used to be able to drive part of this spur road, but now you park in a pullout on the South Shore Road.

 

You can climb all year long at Static Point. Several routes were first climbed in January. The granite slab faces south and dries relatively quickly. In the winter when it's a sunny day the climbing can be at it's best, as the friction of climbing shoe rubber reaches it's maximum at 49F, I've read. If the South Shore Gate is not opened and if there isn't snow at the 2000-foot Olney Pass, then a casual 3 mile downhill mtn bike ride accesses the old spur road (this spur road can be biked for a few minutes but quickly turns into hiking only because of dozens of deep gorges cut into the road).