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Recognize this Tumwater Canyon route?


5.12Dreamer

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On Sat 2/21 a friend and I did a two pitch WI2+ climb that lies on the other side of the Wenatchee River about 1/2 mile S of the Swift Water area. It is roughly 1/4 mile S of the pullout just S of Swift Water.

 

Curiously, I haven't come across any info on this climb. Nor does it look like anyone has been there recently, as we didn't see any rap slings. But it's a quite a fun climb, and pretty easily accessed once across the river.

 

We crossed to and from the big sandbar just N of the pullout, which made it pretty straightforward in our canoe. There is flagging on either side of the river just N of the sandbar, which we guessed might be there to signal the beginning of the sandbar in higher water rather than indicating a good crossing (there is not much of a shoulder on the hwy there and the bank is very steep and brushy; plus, there are small rapids).

 

In most (all?) seasons I imagine this tight drainage is buried in snow, and the avy danger would be off the chart. Matter of fact, all the snow that fell early this season extends down the drainage to the river now.

 

Given that the climb is well protected from the sun, it ought to be in shape for a while yet. From the highway we thought it might be 3P up to WI4, but we found that there is low angle ground covered in the upper pitch and that there isn't anything above it except for more low angle snow covered terrain. Anyway, it's quite a bit of fun if you're up to crossing the river!

 

I know I saw a topic on this site for posting pictures but I can't find it now. Seems odd it wouldn't be a FAQ. I'll try to put a couple shots in here but I don't know what I'm doing when it comes to web pages.

 

s512

 

3310282497_98f7bd7a11.jpg?v=0

 

Edited by 5.12Dreamer
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"Seems odd it (how to post an image) wouldn't be a FAQ."

 

Sorry, I checked again and saw the FAQ item in plain sight. But that method didn't work as you see above. I noted that my draft post said HTML was disabled but I couldn't find where to enable it. Also not sure how to control the image size that a site like Picassa or Flickr will use--the original? If so, I'll have to make a new folder with reasonable size images.

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looks like the flow immediately south of the gully leading to recurve dihedral. if so, it doesn't have a name to my knowledge. downclimbed what you called the second pitch and scrambled off the first to skier's left....anyone's guess when the f.a. occurred. almost always forms for some part of the winter (never seen it buried) but, like you say, threatened by the basin above.

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a few of us who've been eyeing the recurve as a possible ice/mixed line have taken to calling this flow "consolation prize" since it's more often in shape than the recurve dihedral itself. wouldn't go so far as to say we've "named" it, but it's a way to understand one another...

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