Banks Lake trip report

[Matt_Anderson]

People asked for a trip report on Banks Lake when I asked for beta, so here goes -

 

Climbed on Thursday at Banks lake. Went to "Roadside Rock" (aka Highway Rock). The guide book indicated that there was climbing on the East, South and West faces. The guidebook also called the rock granite, but it looked more like Gneiss to me - think Tonasket or Newhalem). The Rock is a few hundred feed tall.

 

It promised to be blistering hot, so we decided to chase the shade and start on the west side. Walking around the southern tip was amusing, with a bit of scrambling. We didn't see much that interested us, so we decided that we'd wait for the eastern side to get in the shade. We also figured that we'd have some time, so we'd just hop around the north side of the rock Circumnavigating the rock wound up turning into an adventure that got us dehydrated and tuckered: Much exposed scrambling, much sun on our neck.

 

We found the climbs on the west side still in the sun for an hour or more, so we jumped in the lake and had lunch.

 

Got on three routes on the west side. They were about 80 feet long and had overhanging sections at the top. I don't remember the names, but I think that they were the northernmost climbs on the east side. The moves were fun, but the rock quality and bolting lessened the enjoyment factors:

 

Rock quality - little flakes and granules sloughed off each of the climbs pretty constantly. My guess is that they were not cleaned very well and need more traffic. Possibly, the rock is just crap all the way through.

 

Bolting - The climbs were marred either by a shoddy chop job or careless placement (or both). There were a great many bolt holes, some of which were empty. There were bolts as close as three feet apart and runouts of 15 - 20 feet above ledges.

 

There appears to be a dichotomy in the style of climbing. Under .10, the climbs appear slabby and trad. .11 and over the climbs were sport bolted (some aggressively so).

 

The aesthetics of the place were great. Huge amounts of rock end in water landings. If I returned, I'd rent a party boat, get some fishing rods (you could see groups of 20 fish - all over the limit and probably trout - lounging at the base of the cliffs) and just do sea cliff bouldering/routes.

 

In the evening, we checked out the other area described in the guide - gibraltar rock. Same type/quality of rock. Relatively spread out climbing. Some boulder's sprinkled here and there could also amuse you.

 

The best part of the day was searching for a particular boulder pictured in the guidebook. It was supposed to be located at a local golf course. We threw on the pads, gabbed some coronas from the bar and toured the course. Couldn't find the boulder, but we did amuse the locals and after three corona's a piece, we didn't care if we found the boulder.

 

If I lived in the area or was more into bouldering, I'd check out the wealth of basalt plugs that exist between Chelan and Banks Lake. The plugs would take a fair amount of cleaning, but the you could explore for a lifetime and not tap the place out.

 

All in all I'd give Banks Lake a "C." It's got great potential, but I'd bet it takes more time than we had to find the gems.

 

Matt

[pindude]

Matt,

Thanks for the TR. Too bad you didn't discover more of the good routes, including vertical stuff from 5.8-5.11--it is still best to go there first time with someone who knows the area. Yes, the north side of Highway Rock doesn't have any walls...reason why I tried to direct you around the south side, from east to west. The rock is indeed granite, but like I said originally, it is not as sound as what you find in L-worth and Index.

 

Of the 3 climbs you were on, I cannot remember their actual names. FYI for others reading here, I recall there's only one instance where 2 bolts are as close as 3' apart. One of those climbs on the west side and to the north indeed has a newer bolt 3' from an original bolt, placed by the FA'ist in the name of safety to keep a falling climber above a projection (knowing this you might be able to tell now when you look at it) just before you top out on that climb. I'm not trying to defend bolting 3' apart, I'm just saying what is. Around that side I don't recall any 15-20' runouts above ledges (could this be some of the chopping you mention?), unless it was fairly easy going or there was possibly natural pro to be placed.

 

Hopefully when you checked out Gibralter Rock you looked east across little Northrup Canyon and also ran up to the base of Picnic Table Rock--many good routes there including Dr. Ceuse and others around the chimney.

 

Putting up FA's around Banks, on face or crack, takes quite a bit of work and cleaning. Those routes on the north end of the west side have already had many man-hours of clean-up. Traffic will take care of much of the little loose stuff (one reason why I said take a brush), including the detritus leftover after wintertime, but again, like I said earlier, much of the granite at Banks Lake will always be suspect. Just as well, as this will keep some of the riff raff away. Don't know exactly what you mean about careless placement and shoddy chop jobs, including empty bolt holes on that side; maybe I'll find out this weekend as I'm headed out there for the first time since last year.

 

Cheers, Steve