8-Mile Buttress

[TimL]

This past fall I was climbing around on lower 8-Mile buttress and happened to notice from a ways what looked like an assortment on interesting rock climbs on the middle and upper 8-Mile Buttress. I checked in the Leavenworth guide book by Kramar and only received the following brief description:

"The middle and upper buttress have many routes climbed over the years and would require extensive research to document. This may never happen but will likely to remain as it always has been, an adventuring area."

Has anyone been up there or have any beta about this adventuring area? Not that I want to take away from the adventure, but a little background info in addition to Kramar's brief description would be awesome.

 

[erik]

tim

i think the buttress you are talking about s condor buttess. leland wyndham put a .10a mutli pitch sporrt route there and ther is another exisiting line to the left of it. if i can find the topo i'll scan it and mail it to you.

[DPS]

The route is called Condormorphine. Leland did the route with Ron Cottman (used to work at second bounce) Leland gave me the topo when I last ran into him. I lost it though. Count on excellent bolt placements and generally safe climbing. Leland is nothing if not meticulus.

[Wallstein]

I have looked at the route from the road and it looked fairly obvious. You can see where leland scrubbed and put in the bolts. It is the only big clean streak down the wall. So a topo might no even be need. It looks fun.

[Freerider]

I figured I should finally reply to a topic since I am 50% responsible for the recent addition on Condor Buttress, and can offer any info needed. The route's full name is "Condorphamine Addiction", it was put up by Leland Windham and myself (Ron Cotman) in May of 2000. We have rated the route 5.10b, and most who have climbed it agree, although I have heard ridiculous comments such as "it felt 10b but if the bolts were further apart it would be 9+"!?! It can be climbed with a dozen draws and a 50 meter rope. To get there follow Victor's Bathtub Dome approach and continue up and right following a reasonable trail and lots-o-cairns. (Thanks to whomever the cairn builder is!) Aprox. 1-1.5 hours from valley floor. The recomended decent is to rappel the route, 7 singles, although it is possible to hike/downclimb to the right from the top. I do have a topo available and would be glad to post it, if I knew how. As it was pointed out, a topo isn't really needed since the route is visible from the road and there isn't much else to choose from on the buttress. Condorphamine is well cleaned and well bolted, as was assumed by Dan. All "cruxes" are well protected.

Pitch 1 - 5.7

Pitch 2 - 5.9/10a

Pitch 3 - 5.4

Pitch 4 - 5.8

Pitch 5 - 5.10b

Pitch 6 - 5.10b

Pitch 7 - 5.4

There is an alternate starting pitch (to the immediate left) called "Opus of the Condorian kind" which is also 5.10b for those trying to make the route more "sustained".

The bolted route to the right (90 feet) is called "Condorification" and is a fun 5.6.

Killer rock and spectacular views of the Stuart group should put this route on everyones to-do list.

If anyone needs more info or wants a copy of the topo they can email me at rjcotman@qwest.net.

Ron Cotman

* I do believe Tim's original question was about 8-mile Buttress which seems hard to confuse for Condor since they aren't very close to each other and are seperated by the massive Bridge Creek Wall. If he was climbing on the lower tier of 8-mile he wouldn't be able to see Condor. I can't say I'm not glad for the confusion though!

[TimL]

Thanks everyone for replying. Ron - I've heard many great things about your route on Condor Buttress. Honestly, I think we are all talking about 2 different areas. The place that I am talking about is, I believe, the upper tiers of 8-Mile Buttress. The lines that I saw were crack routes. The most notable feature that I can remember is a rather large dihedral in the middle of the formation that you could see plainly from the top of the lower 8-Mile Buttress. Either way, in the next month I will be up there checking it out. If I find some good stuff, I'll post it!

[Wallstein]

There you go again Erik, blindly spraying wrong beta everywhere!

 

quote:

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Originally posted by erik:

i think the buttress you are talking about s condor buttess.

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[erik]

mike,

you better find yourself a new belayer. little bastard.

tim since i was spraying blindly, i can refund your purchase price of one can of beer.