The Feathers

[bunglehead]

Any of you Washington cats care to to share some beta on this area? Easty of Vantage? Size? Peeps density?

What's this shizzle with this place? Worth a Washy road trip to hit Vantage, Feathers, other??

Thanks!

 

[erik]

 

the feathers is the newbie zone for vantage, it is located approx 50 feet from the vantage campground......

 

tieton is better is you are looking a columnar climbing area.

[jkrueger]

Though it has its merits, Frenchman Coulee (of which The Feathers is a small area) isn't worth the drive in and of itself.

 

If you're going to head to WA, seek out the granite!

[Sabertooth]

Vantage is a cool place. Each wall has it's own character. If you dig granite only, you won't like it. Both Tieton and Vantage are Basalt Pillars. If you're making a road trip, stop by both. They are close to each other. Not too much overhanging stuff, but lots of dead vertical climbs at Vantage. About 800 or so routes now. Sunshine Wall is the best known. If you want to practice your trad leading on long sustained 5.10 to 5.12a hand and finger cracks, then you've come to the right place. The Feathers has a couple fun routes. Desert Shield, Satan's Wagan, and Hardening of the Arteries are all worth a stop by.

 

It's hotter than hell out there during the summer, so wait a couple months. If you forget your helmet, go to the store and get another one, or turn around and go home.

[bunglehead]

Ooh I get PLENTY o' Basalt here in Oregon. But I like it, as long as it's bone dry. Or wet and filled with mud, both are frictiony (?? is this a word?). Yeah, you lucky bastards up there have Acres of Granite don't you? Thanks for the tips!

[Dru]

here's a pic of the feathers from the campground

 

[wdietsch]

Dru said:

here's a pic of the feathers from the campground

 

 

 

don't forget your trail pass

[bunglehead]

Those aren't the Feathers!

[matt_warfield]

The Feathers have much greater glaciation than what's in Dru's pix!

[Paul_detrick]

Dru that was the best yet, crack my shit up.

[Paul_detrick]

the feathers is my climbing gym, it is closed monday and tuesday afternoons.

[russ]

Dru said:

here's a pic of the feathers from the campground

 

 

This is exactly what the Feathers looked like the first time I saw it. Probably 10 years ago, didn't know anything about the area, drove up at night. As we turned into the pullout the headlights hit the walls and we all went "Wow!". We couldn't tell the scale of things, and as I started to 'hike' up, I thought it was 100-150 yards away. Needless to say I really dissappoint when it turned out it was 100 feet away, and the towers were just over knee high.

[bunglehead]

Knee high? That reminds me of this "boulder problem" in town in this park. The boulder is about 4 feet around and 2 feet high. "Watch me, dude"

And there's also this basalt looking rock sculpture thing that's fun to climb drunk in the middle of the night by the skate bowl. But you gotta be pretty drunk to make it fun.

[thelawgoddess]

yeah, feathers can be fun ... especially for newbies. easy to watch the anchors from the ground. the coulee has some good stuff. but if smith is closer, you might as well go there. unless you're catching a concert at the gorge ... and in that case, be prepared for the crowd.

[bigwalling]

Dru said:

here's a pic of the feathers from the campground

 

 

Dream on that's just a bunch of chossy granite dude. The feathers are awesome!

[catbirdseat]

The Feathers can be fun for farting around on when you arrive at FC late in the day and want to kill an hour. Pencil_Pusher and I ran into FiggerEight there on Friday night. He told us he had met Erdan there earlier in the day and they had climbed Air Guitar together. How cool is that?

 

That night three fellows from Montana showed up with a guitar and one of them was really talented. He could make up lyrics as he went along. We sang around the campfire till the wee hours of the morning. Every once in awhile wild howling would come from the West side of the Feathers (concert goers). We figured there must have been chicks over there taking their tops off, but we never bothered to verify this.

 

The concert crowd is really getting out of hand. There must have been several hundred. They fill the two privvies with their shit and cover the ground with their litter. They don't pay a nickel and don't give a damn.