New To The Area

[Kaymanism]

Hey everyone. Got this site from a girl at REI in Seattle and thought I would give it a shot.

 

Pretty down to earth guy who is stationed up here in Oak Harbor. Just came from San Diego and have been spoiled with Joshua Tree, Bishop, and Queen Creek. And by spoiled I mean by the weather. Snow in April? Come on!!

 

I am looking at bouldering (have my own crash pad) or sport climbing (have 3 sets of draws but just used my rope to tow someone out of a mudslide on my drive up here). I can boulder up to V6 and climbing consistent 5.12s. But as I am starting back up and am new to the area I would love to do anything honestly.

 

I am going up to Mt. Erie today to take pictures but am free to climb pretty much anytime after 2 and any weekend.

 

Also can anyone recommend a climbing gym. God do I hate climbing inside but with this amount of rain I dont see a viable alternative right now.

 

You can reach me here or email me at kaymanism@gmail.com. I check both regularly.

 

Thanks again and look forward to hearing back from you.

 

Kyle

[RideT61]

Kyle,

 

Relative to places like J-tree and Bishop you are going to be very disapoited with Mt. Erie, particularly if you prefer tp boulder and sport climb. There are several good places within a 4 hour drive of you. Squamish, Index, and Leavenwoth are all great climbing areas but, unfortunately for you, they are primarily granite trad areas some sport climbing mixed in. The biggest sport climbing areas are Vantage (still a fair amount of trad) and the Deception Crags area in N. Bend. Bouldering in Washington is pretty limited although there are a few areas. I'm not sure where the closest gym is, maybe Cascade Crags in Everett. My advice is to embrace the full mountain cluture and start skiing, trad climbing, and alpine climbing. THis will allow you to stay bust regardless of the weather. My guess is that if you do you will slowly begin to realize (if you don't already know) just how amazing the Cascade Range is and fall in love with it. If you just stick with bouldering and sport climbing you are going to miss SoCal.

 

Good luck,

Tom

[Peter_Puget]

Squamish, Index, and Leavenwoth are all great climbing areas but, unfortunately for you, they are primarily granite trad areas some sport climbing mixed in.

 

There are quite a few good sport routes at all of these places. Index is about 40% sport routes.

[RideT61]

True enough Peter, I just think them as trad areas even though they have a fair amount of both. Maybe it's bacause they just don't have the same feel as a place like Smith. Kind of funny now that I think about it because my favorite routes at Smith are trad LOL. Plus, sport routes on granite (unless they are slab routes) tend to be harder than a poser like me can climb.

Edited April 23, 2008 by RideT61