Rattlesnake Ledge-Anything out there?

[cman]

last time we were at little si we were looking at rattlesnake ledge. after looking in the rock climb WA guide i found the name, it mentions routes. anybody have any useful info on the place, approach, routes worth doing, etc

[chirp]

I climbed there in the early to mid 80's. Several old aid lines existed and we put in several short toproped routes and one lead line up near the left shoulder (right of prominent mossy chimney). Also on the bottom right toe of the formation we put up a cool as hell 5.10 flared chimney, "Binkleys closet of Anxieties".

 

Other than what I did, there was a bit of route activity in the late 80's near the aforementioned left shoulder area with several harder bolted routes going in. There is route info in the original Little Si guild book. 'circa late 80's

[Jens]

The moves on the higher cliffs are OK but the place has definite potential for some awesome climbing photography.

[cman]

Thanks for the info. are any of those old little si guides kickin' around, i have never seen it.

[chirp]

I will rummage thru my junk if no one posts, I will scan the details. AND hook up with you if you want to do some scrubbing and creating!

[ken4ord]

I had always wondered about that place, seemed like it would a scenic place to climb, to make up for the rock quality.

[nalo]

Somehow I ended up at the lake below rattlesnake ledge today... there were trails that aparantly went up there... the rock quality didnt look too bad to me, and the blocky area on the lower right looked very promising as a sport area. Does anyone have any further info on this interesting area?

[spicoli11]

Rusty chains.........and gapers throwing rocks off the lip

[ScottP]

There are some cool looking buttresses and even a small spire on the north side...

[catbirdseat]

I will rummage thru my junk if no one posts, I will scan the details. AND hook up with you if you want to do some scrubbing and creating!

I'd be interested in checking it out with you all.

[DCramer]

I believe that a number of people have climbed there over the years. I climbed there a bit in the 80s. This was before Bryan’s guide and we just assumed after finding a few bolts that others had been there before us. Bryan certainly wasn’t active there at the time. The rock is highly variable ranging from solid to kitty litter. Many of the ledges are flat out impossible to be on without dropping a lot of stones.

 

From the left shoulder if you walk (North?) along the base Bryan put up a couple good routes – well a route and variation. I believe these were started and abandoned by some earlier climbers. The rock is not so bad although time may have loosened some holds. There are some fun Washington hueco holds and the routes are pretty steep. Hard to remember how hard; I am thinking solid 5.10. I remember these routes as the best I climbed in the area.

 

The area is pretty popular with hikers. I’d be pretty low key if I was new routing. That said I am sure some nice climbs could be found.

[nalo]

who currently owns/manages the area?

[chirp]

Ok folks, found my old 1992 Burdo guide. Here is the info as of 1992. I added several notations, also note that this shows the old trail which went directly to the SW shoulder of the formation.

 

 

 

[Bug]

Cool stuff Chirp. Thanks for posting it!

[RichardKorry]

Note that there's a new trail put in this year going up from the lake to the Ledges. It's apparently about twice as long as the old one (I never did the old one). It may or may not coincide with the marked trail on Bryan's guide.

The trail up to the Ledges is very popular on weekends (think Mt Si) so one should be careful if pulling off loose stuff that is going tumbling into the woods.

 

Rattlesnake Lake is administered by Seattle Public Utilities. The Ledges might be part of the Cedar River Watershed that is open to the public. If you continue on the trail to Rattlesnake Mt East Peak you pass into WA DNR lands. So, there might be a patchwork of ownership.

[thelawgoddess]

5.11d? ouch!

[chirp]

Back in the late 80's there were a plethora of "GREEN RIVER WATERSHED: No trespassing!" signs, but after conferring with the North Bend ranger station we deemed it open range.

I still have one of those warning signs, LOL hung in my bathroom for a LONG time.