[TR] Peshastin Pinnacles Fantasy Climbs- Various Fantasy Routes 10/21/2006

[telemarker]

Climb: Peshastin Pinnacles Fantasy Climbs-Various Fantasy Routes

 

Date of Climb: 10/21/2006

 

Trip Report:

I and friends decided to take advantage of the only real time it's tolerable to climb at Peshastin. Had the Goddamn park been open, we would have climbed Vertigo and Lightening Crack, two fun trad routes there, especially Vertigo. We then would've hiked up to Windward Direct and climbed that one as well, had the Goddamn park been open. We then would've gone down to Baseball Nut and done that one, then on to Buttebrickle and climed that to round out the day, had the Goddamn park been open.

 

Oh well, maybe we'll actually get on these when the Goddamn park opens again in, oh, June when it's 90 degrees outside again!

 

But of course, I totally understand the work involved with unlocking the gate in the morning, then closing it up again at dusk.

 

Gear Notes:

We would've taken a light rack and draws.

 

Approach Notes:

Nice hiking amidst the orchards.

[Cobra_Commander]

I thought the gate was to keep climbers from running away from Peshastin.

[mattp]

It is indeed sad that the Park is closed during the spring and fall months when one would actually want to climb there. The ranger once told me that this was because the trails are easily damaged when the soil is saturated, but even if this may be true during early Spring, it is certainly not true at this time of year.

[still_climbin]

Its a shame. The land was freed only to have it shut down when its most needed. Peshastin has always been the bad weather, cool weather place to go. Some of my best times there were in November or March. Shows what the state knows.

[G-spotter]

So hypothetically speaking where would one park unobtrusively in order to hop the gate and sneak in? If you were a lawbreaker, that is?

[mattp]

My guess is the State doesn't "know" or "not know" anything. I bet they simply run it as they would other State parks of similar usage - in terms of numbers - with the same season and hours. It is a shame, but I bet it'd be hard to change this. I'd like to hear otherwise.

 

My impression is that some other state agencies run more lands with specific user groups in mind - DNR manages lands for hunters and for motorcyclists and Fish and Wildlife manages places for fishing... but do State Parks?

[roboboy]

Keep us posted on when the gate opens. I want to go back and do this fantastical climb again (old joke but new photo at least):

 

[ZONK]

Having Climbed there for more Years then most in the Closed Season, Here are a few things I know and a few tips.

You can park by the gate just keep Your car from sticking out into the road, The only thing the Sheriff worries about is people blocking North Dryden RD, Keep a low profile, Talking with the powers to be over the years its closed because of funding, not because they dont want people in there. There is a trail in there from Olalla Canyon that comes in by Grand Central, PM Me for info on that. It is the best time of Year to climb there !

[telemarker]

Having Climbed there for more Years then most in the Closed Season, Here are a few things I know and a few tips.

You can park by the gate just keep Your car from sticking out into the road, The only thing the Sheriff worries about is people blocking North Dryden RD, Keep a low profile, Talking with the powers to be over the years its closed because of funding, not because they dont want people in there. There is a trail in there from Olalla Canyon that comes in by Grand Central, PM Me for info on that. It is the best time of Year to climb there !

 

I don't agree with you on this one. Twice I've been evicted from the Pinnacles by overzealous wardens and deputies. The orchard owners in the surrounding area don't like it when cars park by their trees and such, as witnessed by the no parking signs gracing that part of the road. Finally, the two times we've been ejected, it was because the orchard owners saw us climbing, looking at us with binoculars from their fields, and undoubtedly making the call to law enforcement. So, bootleg climbing there isn't an option.

[goatboy]

I don't get it. What the hell do they care if you park near their trees or climb rocks near their orchards? What am I missing?

[mattp]

I too have been evicted when climbing there during the closed season. I had assumed that it was as Zonk says - they really probably didn't care whether you climbed there or not but probably just lacked the money to open the gate. However, the Ranger was pretty upset about it and I regretted having made this assumption.

 

Two weeks ago, I went to climb there on a gray day and was quite surprised to find it closed on October 15 (I thought it usually closed November 15 or so). My hand was already inflamed and we were only looking to do a little bit of climbing anyway, so we didn't feel like driving to Vantage. Although I know there are other areas to climb in the nearby canyons off highway 2, it was by then already raining in Leavenworth and we elected to head back to Seattle.

 

It is too bad we climbers are not organized like fisherman, hunters, or ORV groups - we'd have it run in a fasion more to our liking.

[ZONK]

WTF Gee maybe thay dont like You. I dont know! I have climbed there every month for the last 15 years and only once had a run in with a warden from the State Parks, But after talking to him for a bit I got a "Thank You" for picking up trash, And only once talked to a Sheriff, Who was really nice and told Me to keep the truck off the road, Now I know the People who own the Orchard across the road from the gate they are Butt Heads, and will do anything to ruin Your day, but only because of all the trash they have picked up over the years, and from cars blocking there driveway !

It would be nice to have it ran better, but whenever I try I get told its a funding thing, and its summer help that keeps it open, but its kind of nice to have it to Yourself

[sobo]

Am I missing something here? It was my understanding that we (climbers) purchased that sand castle with our donations/dues to the Access Fund, and the AF's legal efforts in that regard, back in 1991 or so. We then "gave" the area to the WA State Parks Department, not as land in fee simple for them to own and operate it as a revenue-generating State Park, but for them to "manage" it for us, since the AF, as a 501c3 corporation, couldn't do it for themselves.

 

It would seem that now the WA State Parks has decided it belongs to them, to operate when and how they see fit...

 

andyf, any comment here?

[mattp]

I don't think "we" retained any specific rights to have it open any particular season or hours. It is a State Park and, as you know, State Parks all over the state are seeing cuts in funding and corresponding closures and reductions in facilities.

 

Maybe the State Parks management was not a good idea -- I don't know. Two years ago, when "we" bought some land in the Icicle Creek Canyon, we gave it to a land trust instead of State Parks. Ten or twenty years from now we may find out this was better or worse.

 

I think that, as a user group, we could probably make more noise about this and maybe there'd be a cost-effective solution of some sort. My guess is they get an irate phone call from one or two climbers a years, but little more. Weighed against the expense and work that might be involved in changing the closure, and with little clear indication that there are many potential users affected by the closure, a longer season is probably understandably not high on their list of priorities.

[hlgt]

Are the IndexTownWalls also now owned by the state?

[MisterMo]

Yes and no. The bulk of the rock is in the undeveloped "Forks of the Sky" state park. The parking area is not state land nor are the frequently used camping areas immediately across the road.

[jfreeburg]

If people were really interested in getting the state to keep the park open for a few more months, it's possible. They dropped the parking fee this year because they got lots of complaints and had more money to pay the bills. The state has some more money now- and like MattP says, it would just take climbers getting organized to get this changed. I really don't think it would be incredibly hard. I work for a state senator, so I'm not just speaking out of my ass. Your legislators set policy for state departments - just let them know what you want.

[ScottP]

Your legislators set policy for state departments - just let them know what you want.

 

I have contacted my legislators on numerous occasions about a variety of concerns... the response has always been a cordial form letter or quaint hand-written note and never (despite the promise) any follow up...

 

In other news...

 

MattP says

It is too bad we climbers are not organized like fisherman, hunters, or ORV groups - we'd have it run in a fasion more to our liking.

Look at that Bolt Nazi thread...we can't organize a consensus about a couple of ancient bolts let alone an entire climbing area. I agree that we could have some clout if we got our collective shit together, but I see that as quite unlikely to happen.

[mattp]

I agree, ScottP, that one thing which hinders organizational efforts on behalf of climbing is a lack of cohesion that results from the way in which we have delt with or not delt with our disagreements over what we call "ethics," but I'd say at least an equal facor contributing to our lack of cohesion is that many climbers just don't want to feel as if they are part of a "group." We spend a lot more time proclaiming our independance and bluster than we do trying to organize as a user group.

 

I bet there are fractions within other use groups as well, but many of them have a much longer history and substantially larger numbers so that, for example, those with different ideas of "fair means" in deer hunting may vehemently disagree, but they still end up with more people working on local or national issues.

 

Also, in the case of hunters, fisherman, and ORV interest groups, they have licensing fees that contribute funds which are by law or tradition directed toward the coffers of groups focussed on their issues so organizational efforts are in a sense "forced upon" them.

 

For a variety of reasons, these groups have a lot more money than we do; if groups like the Access Fund or the Washington Climbers Coalition had more money we'd have full time staff people working specifically on issues like this. That would go a long way toward having Peshastin opened for a longer season, better parking and bathrooms at Vantage, or better enforcement against yahoos throwing large objects from the top of Index Town Wall, or whatever else we might identify as an item of general concern.

[Bug]

Throwing a dozen testoterone ridden climbers into a single room to debate sensibly is more dangerous than throwing a molotav coctail into the room.

Unless there is a bong on the table.

[bwrts]

I did find it very comical when the restrooms were torched; one of the state park's reasons to close the PP seasonally... that is no budget to maintain facilities during off peak/latefall to early spring. Outhouses gone and still closed. (not sure if they replaced them yet..?...it was spring/closed when I hiked the trail last.)

[jfreeburg]

Your legislators set policy for state departments - just let them know what you want.

 

I have contacted my legislators on numerous occasions about a variety of concerns... the response has always been a cordial form letter or quaint hand-written note and never (despite the promise) any follow up...

 

 

If you think it's as easy as just writing a letter to your legislator and then things will change, you've been smoking some great weed. With your line of thought (or lack thereof), it would just take a phone call from one angry resident of Icicle Creek Canyon to shut down climbing there. Of course that's not fair!

 

You have to have a movement- groups of people who arrange meetings with their representatives, ask why things are the way they are and then figure out how to change them. Climbers can write letters to the State Parks Department, asking that they keep the Pinnacles open longer or we can just go around pretending we know better than everyone else. If you want to spray, go spray somewhere else. If you want to climb, well do something about it.

 

It's not a matter of being a part of a group or not. It's a matter of getting off your ass and doing something. Quit your bitching!

[ScottP]

Gee Professor Freeberg, thanks for the civics lesson. Now I understand everything.

Anyway...I'm not bitching. My negative response was to the notion that "just let them know what you want" is going to do anything. Along with the "write your congressman" or "change things with your vote", I have difficulty with the idea that any attempt I, as an individual, make toward changing the screwed up way things are done in government is going to amount to much.

 

You have to have a movement- groups of people who arrange meetings with their representatives, ask why things are the way they are and then figure out how to change them. Climbers can write letters to the State Parks Department, asking that they keep the Pinnacles open longer or we can just go around pretending we know better than everyone else.

 

This seems rather contradictory to me.

[mattp]

I agree with the cynicism, Scott, but consider the fact that by undertaking organized efforts we have IN FACT been able at times to have an impact. In Darrington, for example, we got the Forest Service to repair the road after they had decided to let it go. In Leavenworth, we raised money toward the purchase of a parcel for donation to a land trust. At Index, the State Parks is taking direct action in response to our complaints about people throwing large objects from the top of the cliff.

 

Perhaps there is generally a bureaucratic inertia against change favoring our form of recreation, but sometimes our efforts will succeed.

[ScottP]

Matt, I am not arguing against the organized effort. It has obviously been of some benefit for us as climbers. It is the "Your legislators set policy for state departments - just let them know what you want." mindset that seems a bit naive. Maybe I missed the meaning, but it seemed that the above statement greatly simplified that which requires considerably more effort to acheive.