Vantage or Frenchman's Coulee

[LUCKY]

I was hang'n and drink'n at the local pub with a few of the locals and was doing quite well coming from a logging/ construction worker back ground. When I mentioned Frenchman's Coulee one of them said are you a KCB, when I ask what a KCB was, his reply was that only a King Co Bitch refers to the old Vantage road as Frenchman's Coulee

So after going over the maps, I realized that most of the climbing is in Echo basin or the mesa top and very little is in Frenchman's coulee.

So was Matt Stanly's guide Vantage Rock copyright 1995 a better or more proper name for the area ? Most climbers think it's a cooler name!

I find both names being used,i'm sure there is some back ground history. So Frenchman's Coulee or Vantage?

[Szyjakowski]

doesn't the name have to do with the fact that you drive into Frenchman's coulee to get there?

[LUCKY]

doesn't the name have to do with the fact that you drive into Frenchman's coulee to get there?

 

oh yeah! some feedback

you actually drive down the Vantage road on top of the mesa above Frenchman's Coulee past the climbing than into the coulee.

So what name do you like best, I hear both being used?

[Alpinfox]

I always say "Vantage".

 

Only "MotherFin' 206'ers call it 'Frenchman's Coulee'".

[ChocChick]

Yep, Vantage. Frenchman's Coulee, no way, hate calling it that.

[catbirdseat]

Who gives a shit, anyway? Just climb.

[EWolfe]

I call it Lousy

[Drederek]

I've always called it Vantage, you know, Frenchmans Coulee. Or was it the other way round?

Blewett or Swauk Pass while we're at it!

[b-rock]

Who gives a shit, anyway? Just climb.

 

Who pissed in your Cheerios?

[Szyjakowski]

I've always called it Vantage, you know, Frenchmans Coulee. Or was it the other way round?

Blewett or Swauk Pass while we're at it!

the highway is on Swauk, the old highway (fun drive btw) is on blewett or was it the other way around........

 

I always like to call like that (cool-guy everyone loves) ERIK does, DISVANTAGE!

[drater]

How about hot, snake-infested, greasy-shit-paper-everywhere choss pile?

 

Some of us MFing 509ers call it Frenchman too!

 

BB

[Jens]

I called it Vantage when I was a 509er

I still call it Vantage. (I'm a 206er)

[LUCKY]

Now that I have read The Washington Desert by John Eminger and John Kittel 1991 I see how the name has transfered from that guide to the new guide, but most of the climbing is in Echo basin or off of old Vantage road not in the Frenchmans coulee.

Vantage does sound cooler and I did have to look up coulee for the meaning.

I call it both...it's all good

I love to step back in time with old guide books.

[EWolfe]

360 Represent!

 

I like to think of it as Vantage because it reminds me of the petrified ginko forest, and the old highway that goes right into the Columbia..

 

[olyclimber]

I've always called it Frenchman's Vantage, but then I'm a King County Beyotch.

[COL._Von_Spanker]

Frenchmans coulee is what people who are sort of in-the-know call it to sound cool to the folks at REI.

 

Person A: "...yeah, I'm going climbing at Frenchmans coulee"

 

Salesperson B: "really, where's that?"

 

Person A: "Well it's near vantage, in fact some people call it vantage"

 

Salesperson B: "Cool dude. Would you like to buy some fleece gloves

 

PERSON C: GO BACK TO FRANCE FREEDOM HATER!!!

[LUCKY]

When you stand on top of the Mesa after a days climbing and take in the setting sun it's definitely the Vantage point of euphoria

Hey.... to some it may not be the best climbing area, but to me it is the best climbing experience. Nothing like the Coulee in the spring ...oh please let this be a short winter.

[nalo]

word I'm with you lucky... I know it's not cool to do so but I still love that place. Thanks for all the work you've put into making it even better.

 

And from now on, I'm calling it echo basin, cause it sounds kickass and noone will know what I'm talking abut, which will make me sound 1337