Omak Bouldering

[klar404]

hey! I've got the rest of the week off and was going to squishy. Rain comes. We are gonna go to Skaha instead. I wash thinking of checking out the bouldering in Omak on the way but have little/no beta on where it is. Any help would be appreciated

[Retrosaurus]

Everything in the Omak area is on Colville Indian Tribal lands and is privately owned. Access is tenuous at best. Please don't go blundering around there and f* things up for the few locals that have acquired permission.

[sexual_chocolate]

quote:

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Originally posted by Retrosaurus:

Everything in the Omak area is on Colville Indian Tribal lands and is privately owned. Access is tenuous at best. Please don't go blundering around there and f* things up for the few locals that have acquired permission.

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Actually, this is not technically true, since the best bouldering is indeed on private land, yet not under Native control. A local climber purchased the prime bouldering area, and wonderful it is, but access is limited, and requests have been made to keep the location off the public airwaves. Sorry for this lack of disclosure.

 

I think that there has been development on the canadian side, though. Ask at the climbing shop in Penticton. Good luck.

[Mike_Gauthier]

sexual chocolate is right on... there is excellent bouldering and hundreds of trad routes (not one bolt in the entire place) in the area if you know where to go... it's all on private and and some blm land... the place is rather amazing... and it's virtually undeveloped.

good luck locating it...

[Retrosaurus]

quote:

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Originally posted by Mike Gauthier:

sexual chocolate is right on... there is excellent bouldering and hundreds of trad routes (not one bolt in the entire place) in the area if you know where to go... it's all on private and and some blm land... the place is rather amazing... and it's virtually undeveloped.

good luck locating it...

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Shut the fuck up Mike. You are obviously a moron and give not a shit about preservation and access. Why don't you publish an on-line guide. I can hear the drillheads lining up now. Then all access is gone.

 

sexualchocolate is a butt-pirate

[Stefan]

I am not a bouldering person but there was a big slab I saw once on the SE side of Tunk Mountain or maybe it was Beehive mountain? I don't remember. You will definitely see it as you go east through the Tunk Valley north and east of Omak. Not Indian land, but maybe some private farmland you have to walk to get across.

 

There is also some vertical walls right next to the highway that goes on the east side of the Okanagon river north of Omak. Quality of rock is unknown to me.

[Thinker]

quote:

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Originally posted by Retrosaurus:

Shut the fuck up Mike. You are obviously a moron and give not a shit about preservation and access. Why don't you publish an on-line guide. I can hear the drillheads lining up now. Then all access is gone.QB]

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ah...........the eternal struggle.........the inevitable dilema........a secret or private climbing area gets a tiny bit of press and the locals go apesh*t.

 

Maybe a better course of action would be to develop a management plan that includes the concerns of the land owners and all potential users who are motivated to drive all the way over there to BFE and give their input. (IMHO, most sproties won't care to drive that far and get involved, nor would they care to drive that far to climb.) Maybe one could even find a template for such a plan at some recently (re)opened crags (i.e. Castle Rock Ranch, ID). I suspect that the Access Fund has helped generate coutless management plans and would be willing to help out in this case too.

 

Consider being proactive, not protective........

[MtnGoat]

Merely take a drive between Omak and Oroville and keep your peepers peeled and you'll see big slab after big slab, some close, some far, pretty much the entire way. Prowl the backroads up by Tunk, towards Wauconda, and to a lesser extent in the Similkameen drainage and you'll find even more. The entire region has some pretty interesting topography since it was overridden by the big ice it's got lots of scoured terrain. Ad once you're north of the rezz, you're off Colville territory and back to a mix of public and private lands.

 

Rock quality unknown, as Stefan points out, but there are some sweet looking walls. Not giant, but definiely new. I've always wondered why this area doesn't get more attention from climbers. I've prowled this area extensively due to my interest in pictographs, and had good luck with local landowners who usually have no problem visits *if* those visiting show the common courtesy of asking permission. Not one person has turned me down for permission to climb around on rocks on their property looking for pictos.

 

[ 09-03-2002, 03:01 PM: Message edited by: MtnGoat ]

[Thinker]

I've noticed the slabs, too, and have asked around a bit in the past. The people who have climbed on them rave about them.

 

You'd definitely have to do your homework and find out who owns the land they're on and be responsible about your impacts.

[MtnGoat]

Here is an airphoto of the region just SE of Oroville, notice the extensively scoured region of bare rock and short walls, all on NF forest. Not giant pitches, but lots of virgin couple pitch routes if the rock is good. Click in the menu box on left for photo/map view to change views. Scroll S and zoom in if you want to prowl for other areas.

 

http://terraserver.homeadvisor.msn.com/image.aspx?t=1&s=14&x=101&y=1693&z=11&w=2

 

[ 09-03-2002, 03:21 PM: Message edited by: MtnGoat ]

[Dru]

so is it granite like pocket desert or gneiss like skaha and macintyre bluff?

[Peter_Puget]

Not to get MM riled up but I have seen small guides to the area. Photcopy jobs. And I think one was available at a sport shop somewhere at one time.

 

PP

[mattp]

Mitch: Have you actually heard of any "issue" following from climbers tresspassing or otherwise annoying landowners around Omak? I've climbed on some granite over there that was pretty damn nice but it is a long way from anywhere and I have a hard time imagining it becoming anything like crowded. I understand why climbers over there might fear any kind of promotion (some Okanagon residents have been worrying about this for over twenty years and i believe they have even contacted guidebook authors to request that they omit any reference) but even at Banks Lake, where there has been a magazine article and some mention in guidebooks, in addition to being featured in Jim Nelson's "select climbs" for its ice climbs, has never become busy and there have been no resultant access issues as far as I know.

 

[ 09-03-2002, 03:44 PM: Message edited by: mattp ]

[sexual_chocolate]

What's with Mitch Merriman? Are you offended because I never taught you the Moondance?

 

Skaha is way better than any potential in the Omak area, and I'm not saying this just cuz I'm protecting anonymities. I've explored the area quite a bit, and the rock tends to be flaky, loose, and dirty, with big access difficulties. Alot of the stuff right off the highway past Tonasket is wedged behind apple orchards (private), while the bigger stuff around Omak is indeed on the rez (no climbing under penalty of jail and fines).

 

There is awesome bouldering, but even that is privately owned.

 

Save yourself hassles, and just head up the road an hour to the awesomeness of Skaha. There's enough legal climbing there to last you many a road-trip.

[Paul_detrick]

O.k.here's my 2 cents, I have climbed in Omak and there are great climbs there, but Mitch is right,access is tight. Most of the guys who climb there don't want no one else there. They are concern it could become a Vantage. There are nice bolted climbs, but noone wants it to get out of hand. If you want to climb there you need to get with a local, and then don't take all your buds back.

[Jarred_Jackman]

This is kind of funny, one guy says, yeah go, the other says, stay the fuck off or else, and a couple others simply state that access is tight and to beware of overcrowding. In a day of overdevelopment in almost every nook and cranny of human existence, expecially within the state of washington, people actually think that a climbing area that had potentially good rock and many routes could ever stay pristine without being bought and fenced? I think it's funny that those who want to enjoy the land and the climbing tell others to fuck off, or to be wary, while those same folks were once in the exact same position of wanting to climb at that new place where there aren't many people and the rock isn't all chalked up like a home gym. Seems as though there's some hypocrytical bug out there biting people, maybe it carries West Nile virus too, better look out, you may be the next victim.

 

Climb where you want, don't trespass if you're afraid of the consequences, and don't blab to everyone you know if you truly want something to stay private and pristine. We're all just working toward a mass destruction and regeneration of the Earth anyhow, or so it seems.

[erik]

jarred,

 

we dont use logic or common sense here...just pure emotion and opinion....

 

hehehe

 

[allison]

Yah, what Erik said, and hey, what's up with the Mona Lisa? She's mine baby, all mine!

[sexual_chocolate]

quote:

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Originally posted by Jarred Jackman:

I think it's funny that those who want to enjoy the land and the climbing tell others to fuck off, or to be wary, while those same folks were once in the exact same position of wanting to climb at that new place where there aren't many people and the rock isn't all chalked up like a home gym. Seems as though there's some hypocrytical bug out there biting people, maybe it carries West Nile virus too, better look out, you may be the next victim.

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Hey, I'd love to tell everyone about the climbing there, and other areas too. I think it'd be rad to organize a bouldering and climbing trip out there. If it was up to me, I would. But part of the deal for me is respecting the desire of the same individuals that keyed me in to the climbing out there in the first place, and that desire is to keep the area pristine.

Do I personally think it would ever be over-run? No, it's not that great, nor that big. But that isn't for me to decide; it's their land, after all!

But seriously, it isn't THAT great. If it was, I'd be hoofin' over more than once a year, which is my current rate of visitation.

[icegirl]

If you've ever been ice climbing over at Banks lake in the winter, you would see that there is indeed an increase in the number of 'climbers' frequenting the area, an area that used to be mainly locals is now swarming with West Siders...

 

As far as Omak, Okanogan, Tonasket, et al are concerned, speaking as one who grew up in the area, there are indeed very nice boulders on private land, but ALSO very nice climbs on range land. Just depends on how much of a "stranger" to them there parts you are. If you hook up with the local climbers, and have a vested interest in the area (as in not just gonna show up once and leave your gu, poo, and cliff bar wrappers) you might just find yourself invited onto that private land.

[mattp]

I'm all for respecting the wishes of the locals - to an extent. If somebody shows me their "secret" crag, I'm not going to bite the hand that feeds me by publishing a topo on the internet and, if there is a group of climbers that expresses concern about outsiders, I'm not going to promote their area. That said, however, I believe it would be rather selfish and perhaps a tad bit unrealistic if someone were to develop something as inherantly crowd-drawing as a sport-crag and then actively try to keep anyone but their personal friends from climbing there. I have no idea if anybody has done that in the Okanagon Valley, but they would have to share some responsibility if they did do that and then word got out and the landowner got mad. My take? If you go over there looking for crags or boulders, exercise the same kind of common courtesy that you should show anywhere -- park your car out of the way, ask permission before trespassing, don't disturb farm animals, pick up your trash .... And if you read on this bulletin board or anywhere else that there is expressed concern about outsiders screwing it up, seek contact with a local climber who can fill you in on the issues and respond accordingly. It is certainly true that somebody who goes over there looking for fun while on vacation does not have the same vested interest in it that a local would.

[allthumbs]

It's no different than hunting by permission on private land. Take advantage of a landowner's generosity and quite possibly ruin it for everyone in the future. Common sense prevails.

 

"Matt, did ya hear the one about the attorney that...."

 

[ 09-07-2002, 09:55 AM: Message edited by: trask ]

[klar404]

uh i just got back from my trip and missed all this "beta". Thanks for responding to my original post, but I got on the road before anyone had added their comments. My buddy and I did "sniff" out some climbing in the area of Omak by asking locals. It was easy: drive into town, go to an outdoor shop and be nice.People were very friendly,as usual, in a small Eastern Washington town. They offered us the names and numbers of local climbers! They told us where some rock was. And we went and found some great bolted as well as trad climbs. It kept us busy for four hours and then we left it like we found it. without pissing off any locals, even the dude who's land borders where we parked. He was a nice guy. Not that I want to stir the pot, but I think some people might be getting a little sensetive about a cragging area that is over 4+ hours away from Seattle. And you're not gonna find it without sniffing it out AND being nice to locals. And the sign at the entrance to the climbing area we went to welcomed users who respected the land. Thanks for the commentary. And could anyone tell me why there are so many God Damn fruit stands in Skaha???!

 

[ 09-08-2002, 07:29 PM: Message edited by: klar404 ]

[Uncle_Tricky]

Because the area around Oliver has some of the best fruit and grape growing conditions in the NW interior. They call it the "Miracle Mile."

 

Basically its attributable to a combination of rich bottomland soil, low elevation, long hot sunny summers, sunny cool falls that allow fruit to crisp up, adequate irrigation, and a unique microclimate that is a product of the large lakes in the valley which provide some buffer for extrmemes of hot and cold and humidity, and the north/south orientation of the valley that provides plenty of sun, but protection from the dessicating hot Westerly afternoon sun and prevailing W/NW winds. Notice how most of the vineyard on on the W side of the valley? They get morning and midday sun but shade in the late afternoon...

[allison]

I think the amount of fruit stands may be in a relationship with the amount of orchards. Just a guess.