Crags & Sport Routes - Hamma Hamma

[MTNEER]

Ann and I returned to the Hamma Hamma River Rocks this past weekend. Mother Nature presented us with a parade, a parade of little rain showers. Since this was not a happy thing for rock climbing, we worked on access. We brushed out and flagged the route to Bubble Wall, both sides of haven Rock, and the west side of the rock with the large right going roof, all the way up to the chains. Haven Rock is the first large rock west of Black Wall, on the north side of the road. It has a huge overhang on the road side, which is a cool place to get out of the rain.

 

Bubble Wall Access Route – Walk about 200 short person steps west of Black Wall. This will bring you to a place under an open talus field. You will find a trail nicked into the road cut and/or orange flagging. Follow the trail and flagging up the talus field and into the woods. A short traverse in the woods brings you to the base of Bubble Wall.

 

From the base of Bubble Wall you can traverse to the right, which brings you under the white, west face of a formation we are calling the Visor. This may offer some climbing but the base is not a real comfortable area.

Sunday dawned sunny. So, we tried the cracks on Black Wall. There are three major, right going, cracks. The top one is almost horizontal under the roof, and the lowest one has a pretty overhanging start. We tried the lowest and middle ones. All though the wall itself had pretty well dried out, the cracks were still a bit slimy. Clearly, the middle crack will go easily but needs two bolts. After backing off Black Wall, we moved 50 yards east to the smaller wall. We are calling this Frog Lily Wall for the abundance of Fritillia Lanceolata growing along the base of both walls. This is a really neat flower that wears camouflage. The flower is 1 to 2 inches across, but unless you know to look for it, you could sit down inches from it and never see it.

We added bolts and chains to the route we prepped the weekend before. It is called Hummingbird Liberation – 5.7, 6 clips. This route lends itself to technique. Quite a fun route.

[bremerton_john]

Sounds like some good work. I'd like to get back in there sometime soon.