The darrington digital guide

[chirp]

I was thinking about getting the darrington guide, it's really an area I have VERY little experience with but it looks great, just like Red Rocks without the red. How would you all rate the "Digital guide". It looks promising, or should I just use my copy of climbing Washington by Brooks and Whitelaw. Remember, I have been out of washington for awhile

[Peter_Puget]

The print out of that guide has almost been a marriage buster for me as I am constantly leaving it on the bathroom floor. After spending a winter reading and dreaming I am still finding little things hidden in the artistic flourishes. The ornamentation doesn’t interfere with the utility of the topos at all and give it a style and character a cut above standard topos.

 

Reasons to buy the guide:

 

1 Best topos of the area.

 

2 Most up to date info regarding fixed protection condition.

 

3 Best approach info.

 

 

If you just want to test out the area, check out Mattp Darrington site.

 

PP

[chirp]

Wow, very positive. Ill get right on it! I remember Darrington being some obscure place and I dismissed it as too far off the beaten path for a day trip.

 

I think it will be a good cure for my need of a Red Rocks fix. Thanks for the info and if anyones down for a Darrington trip sometime I typically have Mon/Tues off and would be down for a trip.

[mattp]

Yup. It's a great guide. My website will get you through a test run in the area, and more, but Dave's "book" is well worth it. His drawings are fun to look at, he has tons of pictures, and there are lots of excellent routes in there that have never been published elsewhere (even though some of them are 20 years old).

 

[chucK]

 

This pic really does make it look like Darrington would be a great place for Chirp's Red Rock fix.

 

But seriously, Darrington is actually similar to Red Rocks only in that they both offer many long moderates () with clean rock and fun climbing. I'd say the two places are almost opposite in terms of the specific nature of the climbing.

 

 

[shapp]

I have the guidebook CD. It is worth the $17 bucks, but the topos don't print that well with my setup. Mattp web site topos print more clearly, but I would defenitely get the CD! Darrington is great, but you will have to get used to the routes if you have been climbing a lot in red rocks, not to many incut edges and plates at Darrington. PS i am going to red rocks this sunday for a week.

 

Cheers,

shapp

[Alpinfox]

[Darrington] looks great, just like Red Rocks without the red.

 

What?

[layton]

please post a link to said guide

thank you

mike layton

[dbb]

...but the topos don't print that well....

If you use the “print book” button the topos will look crappy (my experience); just print them out from the individual PDFs and they should look quite nice.

 

This is true. to get the topos into the "whole book" pdf, they needed to be shrunk down a bit. However, if you print each topo out individually, you have the full 11" x 22" (or so) resolution available. the PDF printer will automatically condense this into 8x10 for you, and will be razor sharp even on a lame printer like mine!

 

What do people think about the digital format? Would you be willing to pay more for a CD coupled with a printed and bound version (say, one small enough to take to the crag)? Do the CD features (color images and limitless-topo reproducing, lower overall cost) add enough value to the product to make the CD aspect worth it?

 

here's the website: http://www.darringtonrock.com/

 

either way, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Nice job Dave!

[mattp]

please post a link to said guide

thank you

mike layton

 

Three posts above Mike Layton's, I posted the link.

 

If the scroll button is broken, here you go.

 

Warning: Dave's site is done in Flash, so it will take over your computer. You cannot press "Back" to get back here and spray, and you won't have multiple windows available if your boss comes around the corner real quick.

[dbb]

Actually the site is using a HTML redirect, not flash. It is true though that the redirect is faster than your back button skills Matt!

[chucK]

You can use this link

 

http://students.washington.edu/dbb/darrington/guide/

 

which will let you go back. However, anytime you click on a link from cc.com it opens up a new window anyway.

[mattp]

OK HTML Redirect. But no matter how many times I hit "back", it doesn't go back. It used to open up and take my entire screen, so I couldn't back out without using the "Exit" button or something. I brought this to his attention a month or two ago, and it appears that he took care of it: now I see that it is opening up just a partial window so I do in fact retain control of my computer.

[lancegranite]

Darrington is not The Red Rocks....not enough bolts.

[chirp]

[Darrington] looks great, just like Red Rocks without the red.

 

What?

Lol, well from the perspective of long moderate routes its very similar...slabbiness aside. I'm not talking about first, second, or third pullouts...I mean where the REAL men climb.

[Off_White]

I get what you're talking about Chirp, more about the feeling of doing long adventuresome routes, rather than the particular vagaries of style due to rock type. You'll like it, Darrington is great, and the new guide is too.

[chirp]

Yeah, spending a long day climbing on great rock, with good scenery away from the maddening crowds is definitely a good thing...amazingly alot of the long mods in RR are getting a crazy amount of traffic...the queues for Cat in da Hat, Crimson, Black O and Hot fudge Thursday make Darrington sound like the Cirque of the Unclimbables.

 

I sent an Email off for the D guide...awaiting a reply

[JoshK]

What routes would you recommend for a wankass rock climber who has never been to darrington? I am getting interested after looking at all these pics.

[Peter_Puget]

What does wankass mean? What do you like?

[slothrop]

Start off on Under the Bored Walk (1p 5.7, well-protected fun knobs) and then go and do Silent Running. You can rap off at any time and the first five pitches are great! You can always come back to do the sixth (so-so) and the super-cool bonus pitch (a bit harder than the rest at 10b).

[JoshK]

What does wankass mean? What do you like?

 

wankass means sucky. Like 5.9 climber and a pussy that doesn't want to scrape himself all up on a 20 foot fall down slabs

[shapp]

if you climb 5.9 I would start out well below to get the feel of the rock unless you are a tuolomne slab bad ass mofo. I like the big tree route and I also really like garden weasel 5.10 and cornicopia flake

[slothrop]

Falling on slab is not that bad, actually. Just try to slide down and use the friction of your feet and hands to keep from picking up speed.

[mattp]

I don't know about Garden Weasel, but if you're going to Three O'Clock Rock I'd start with either The Big Tree One, Silent Running, or "Till Broad Daylight" (though I'd recommend getting on "The Kone after a few pitches rather than completeing "Daylight." In my view, Board Walk is OK as far as it goes, but it is one overbolted pitch with little to recommend it as far as the actual climbing goes (it has some amazing giant knobs and it is very easy to manage so it is a good choice for a beginning leader).

 

If you want 5.7 climbing, hit Big Tree 1. It is depicted quite well on my topo, labeled incorrectly as "Three O'Clock Rock, - Arch Area" in the link on my site, but which opens up and shows it is labelled "Big Tree Area." This has a combination of easy cracks, bolted face, and some of the mandatory DTown bush pull. Topo.

 

If you think you're ready for 5.9 -- which most climbers with a signficant amount of climbing experience probably are even if they've never been on slabs before -- go for "Silent Running." As noted, "Silent Running" is straight forward. The first pitch can be wet, and it has some long run-outs for the Darrington flavor (up to 40 feet, perhaps), but the harder climbing is all quite closely protected. You may be skating a bit on the crux, but it is plenty safe. Topo.

 

 

The combination "Daylight" to "The Kone" is also a great outing, though a little more complicated and it involves more traverssing and ends up a couple hundred yards to the left, with a rappel down a completely different climb ("Tidbits"). The first pitch (5.8) is one of the best 5.8 pitches in DTown (skip the first anchors and combine two 75 foot pitches into one). Leave "Daylight" on what is shown as the fourth pitch and jump on "The Kone" to what is shown as "The Kone's" third belay (variation right is more "sporting"). Two more pitches of slab dancing at a moderate grade lead to the top anchors. Topo.

 

If you like these climbs, or if you want to jump on something harder right off, "Total Soul" has eight pitches of great climbing. It is a little harder, but it is also straight forward and you can rap off at any belay. It may be a bit gritty early in the season, and it doesn't look all that great from the bottom, but it is a good and varied climb with mostly pretty comfortable belays. Topo.

[Peter_Puget]

Matt has chosen some good options. To them I would ad that in the roof area to the left of Boredwalk are a couple of other fun routes. (.10a, .9)Still further left is the Magic Bus 5.8 and just to its left is another 5.8 (I haven't climbed this one) still to the left is another short bolted pitch. (5.8)

 

These are all fun knob climbs and are easy to squeeze in at the end of the day.

 

Big Tree 1 is a great climb however Matt doesn't show my favorite variation. Variation: From the top of the first pitch move right and then up to a LFC. Climb the LFC unitl it is possible to traverse left to BT1. There is a super exposed traverse crack which is really fun. This climb is atypical for Darrington because it is primarily a crack route until the top of the second pitch.

 

PP

Edited April 17, 2004 by Peter_Puget