Crackhead Posted February 14, 2002 Share Posted February 14, 2002 Sunny day today! Good bouldering going on at Larrabee state park in Bellingham. It felt good to press my face against REAL rock, and not that plastic I have to climb all winter. I bet Mount Erie was great today too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dyno_merchant Posted February 14, 2002 Share Posted February 14, 2002 quote: Originally posted by Crackhead: Good bouldering going on at Larrabee state park in Bellingham. ahh...larrabee state park. the bouldering version of the fisher towers in utah. not quite but still pretty crumbly. still, the bouldering is fun (unless a hold breaks and you get barnacles up your ass) and the view is spectacular! Larrabee is always good for a quick session in the winter. hope you had fun out there...can't wait to do some laps on some larrabee classics when i get back up to b'ham. what are your favorite problems or circuits? have you bouldered at the 45 degree wall at mud bay-that wall is rad when it's dry and the tide isn't nippin at your heels (it's the only good wall at mud bay, everything else is choss) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DPS Posted February 14, 2002 Share Posted February 14, 2002 I have a great 'epic' story about a friend of mine with whom I went to school with at WWU. He rode his bike out to Larrabe and was bouldering on a steep traverse. He popped off and landed with one foot in a tide pool. As he continued to fall over his ankle snapped. He instictively put out his hand to catch his fall and broke his wrist. So, he gets on his bike with a broken ankle and wrist and starts to ride home when he discovers he has a flat tire. He has to stop and pump up the tire every so often. He makes it back to town and is heading up the final hill to his apartment and he falls over bloodying himself further. I think at that point I would have just layed in the road and waited to be run over and get it over with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dru Posted February 14, 2002 Share Posted February 14, 2002 if you like larrabee (and i only went there once, it's so SMALL!) get a boat and head out to Tumbo Island off the coiast of Saturna Island in the Guilf Islands of BC. Exactly same rock formation... 4 mile long traverse on vertical to overhanging huecos all the way around the island. For trask-types there's feral sheep too. My dad used to drop my brother and me off there while he went fishing and we would boulder along with our life jackets on so that when we fell in we could float over to a spot where you could actually climb out. Those Brits and their deep water soloing...I didnt see any of them there in 1978! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dyno_merchant Posted February 14, 2002 Share Posted February 14, 2002 quote: Originally posted by Dru: if you like larrabee (and i only went there once, it's so SMALL!) the nice thing about larrabee is that it's only 15 minutes from WWU. if your from B'ham you can get a good session in (on real rock) without wasting most of your day. i agree that it is limited but there is alot more sandstone peeking out on the surounding hillsides that is just waiting for someone to come along and find. some even is being developed as we speak. there's even a few topropes and a selection of great problems on seahome hill (right next to WWU campus!) for quick climbing. thinking of towns with universities in them...do you think there is a better town then b'ham to go to college in washington (thinking purely of closeness to rock)? b'ham has real rock bouldering/trad/sport 0-30 minutes out of town (along chuckanut dr.) and mt. erie and roserio park 45 minutes away. mt baker sport climbing 40 minutes away. a selection of "secret" areas being developed 30 minutes to an hour south and east of b'ham and seattle/vancouver crags an hour and a half away. not to mention the new climbing along hwy 20 that is about an hour away. oh yeah... then theres all the mountains close by!!! i could be all stupid like in my choice though...there's probably better college towns out there in the evergreen state for climbing. seattle? or something on the eastside. do these other towns have climbing as close to them as b'ham??? [ 02-14-2002: Message edited by: dyno merchant ] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erik Posted February 14, 2002 Share Posted February 14, 2002 CENTRAL WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY LOCATED IN ELLENSBURG IS ABOUT 40-50 THOUSAND TIMES BETTER THEN BHAM ANY CENTURY FROM NOW TILL THE END OF THE WORLD..... oops.. vantage 20 minutestieton 45-1hrlworth 1hrstuart range 1hr to trailheadsnoq pass 1hr bham rock is about as weak as it gets the only things good about bham is the coeds, the ski resort and squamish and canada owns sqaumish.... plus there is this one guy avypoodle who is over the top.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie Posted February 14, 2002 Share Posted February 14, 2002 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erik Posted February 14, 2002 Share Posted February 14, 2002 i am serious eburg better then bham Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
specialed Posted February 14, 2002 Share Posted February 14, 2002 Except that it smells like cowshit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erik Posted February 14, 2002 Share Posted February 14, 2002 quote: Originally posted by specialed: Except that it smells like cowshit. thats your breath Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dyno_merchant Posted February 15, 2002 Share Posted February 15, 2002 quote: Originally posted by erik: CENTRAL WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY LOCATED IN ELLENSBURG IS ABOUT 40-50 THOUSAND TIMES BETTER THEN BHAM ANY CENTURY FROM NOW TILL THE END OF THE WORLD.....oops.. vantage 20 minutestieton 45-1hrlworth 1hrstuart range 1hr to trailheadsnoq pass 1hr bham rock is about as weak as it gets the only things good about bham is the coeds, the ski resort and squamish and canada owns sqaumish.... . the bellingham list of climbing areas blows eburg away. sure ellensburg has, let's count em, 3 climbing areas that aren't mountains and only one that's less than an hour. b'ham has tons of stuff close to it and you mean to tell me that you would trade sqamish at an hour and a half to have leavenworth and hour away!!!! and if you consider vangtage to be better than the local stuff around b'ham than your crazy. vantage is easily just as big of a choss heap as anything b'ham has to offer. if your arguement for vantage is more routes than your probably right except that you never know when the bolts are going to disapear and if a column is going to crush you and your belayer!!! get on the moss trip and join my vote for the rainy coast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offwidthclimber Posted February 16, 2002 Share Posted February 16, 2002 ellensburg is more centrally located in WA, but spokane is a pretty good location as far as climbing goes. minnehaha (sport/bouldering/trad to .13) - 5 mindishman (sport/trad to .12) - 5-10 mindeep creek (sport to .13d) - 5-10 minpost falls (sport/bouldering to .13+) - 15 minsharon (sport/trad/bouldering to .12) - 20 min tubbs hill (bouldering/topropes to V6) - 30 minlaclede (bouldering/sport/trad to .13+) - 45 minbanks lake (ice/sport/trad/bouldering) - 1 hourmarcus (sport to .13+) - 1.5 hrsmetaline (sport to .13+) - 1.5 hrschina bend (sport to .13+) - 1.5 hrs selkirks (alpine multipitch trad) - 1.5 hrsvantage - 2 hrsleavenworth - 2.5 hrs peace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Szyjakowski Posted February 16, 2002 Share Posted February 16, 2002 but spokane sucks...no visibile mountatins to gaze at...bham bouldering is fun...especially in the spring when the holds at larabee are still covered with winter sands and new barnicles. as for the best school...I say the university of Wenatchee; which is located in good ole north central Wa...centrally located to all of washingtons crags... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plexus Posted February 16, 2002 Share Posted February 16, 2002 Have to join the spray. I've lived in Bham on and off for six years and the climbing nearby is pretty weak. Chuckanut is good only when you have an hour free, Bat Caves is crap, Glacier has some interesting clip-fests, but seems like mopnkeying insideThe only saving grace is it's location to the Mt. Baker Hwy, Squamish and Cruisin' Coffee. Would take the extra drive down to Mount Erie to get on some real rock with some brushy, run-out trad and boulder problems with ankle-breakin' falls (helps ya concentrate). Found Bellingham South down here in Mexico. It is located around the Mixotec ruins of Yagul. Only close rock but it is as crumbly as Chuckanut Sandstone but with huecos. Never could write a guide for it though, because the holds will breakoff on your first ascent. Found some rock near there but requires some bushwacking and I haven't bought my machete yet. Cheers, By the way winter doesn't suck when it is sunny and 85 degrees (30 C) outside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crackhead Posted February 17, 2002 Author Share Posted February 17, 2002 spray spray spray...... Who are all you sprayers kidding? For 2 hour sessions after work, the nearby sandstone offers a break from indoor climbing. You all act so Hard core. I've been to the valley and done long routes, and to places like the devil's tower...blah blah blah I was only pointing out the fact that I was climbing outside, and enjoyed the feel of real rock under my toes. I don't care where else is better, I'm focused on the experience of real rock.....stoked Who are you telling that Ellensburg is better anyway? If you like truck stop food I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dyno_merchant Posted February 20, 2002 Share Posted February 20, 2002 climbing rules! it doesn't matter where you live and climb but sometimes it's interesting to get a few opinions about different climbing towns and schools for conversation sake. I'm glad that you were able to get out and climb outside at larrabee that day. I climbed at a fun sandstone area near page, az. yesterday and that was fun too. snowed a little but the sun kept poking out to save us. ahh... climbing in the winter is fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.