elwah river climbing

[james_e]

i hear rumors of a sport crag near the elwah river damn. any info/beta/online guides/directions? anything will be helpful.

[mothboy88]

I think there were a couple bolted routes just below the lower dam on river left. I could very well be wrong. I asked some people about the lines there and they said the rock was crappy and it wasn't worth the time. But this is a pretty foggy memory from about 10 years back. I am sure there is better beta out there.

[james_e]

yeah i heard from a friend that it had been developed a lot in the past few years and there are quite a few bolted lines there. he didnt have any real beta though. anyone else have any info?

[olyclimber]

Depending on where you are located, that area is a lot of fun. Just go talk to the guys at Olympic Mountaineering in Port Angeles for details. I can't remember how many routes are there, but I've had fun climbing there.

 

Here a few pictures of the area:

 

Elwah climbing.

 

Elwah panorama

 

Have fun.

[nalo]

I used to climb elwah when I lived in Pt Townsend. Never had ratingsto go by, but still had fun. Definately worth a trip if you're close by.

[whirlwind]

the panarama is a pic of "the Trench 10A but a hard onsight chain anchors but you can't see em very well from the ground (follow 8 bolts) then there is an uper pitch 5.9 goes up and rt from first anchors

the other pic is "slapin skeeters" one of the only 5.9's there route and anchors are pretty obious on this one

[willbeclimbin]

that rock looks similar to the chuckanut sandstone in b-ham.

[olyclimber]

A new way will have to be put in for accessing this area. They're tearing out the dam that you walk over to get to it right now.

[whirlwind]

that rock looks similar to the chuckanut sandstone in b-ham.

 

its pretty close some of the wall is a bit more soild though

[whirlwind]

are they actually doing it, or just talking about it, i'm sure when the water level drops it would be fairly easy to build a small crossing...hopfully

[Off_White]

Sounds like the Elwah dams are coming down for sure, agreement was just reached. I think it may not be until 2008 though. Question is, will it expose any new crags that will be vegetation free?

[cj001f]

Question is, will it expose any new crags that will be vegetation free?

Won't anything below waterline be vegetation free

[Off_White]

Sorry, poorly phrased on my part. Yes, anything newly exposed will be pretty clean, but since I've never been there I was curious to know if anyone has a clue if there are potential crags that are currently submerged, which are likely to be of interest precisely because they will be pre-cleaned.