Banks Lake

[hanman]

I have been wanting to go to the Orange Wall to check out those longer climbs, and have heard that it's possible to 4X to get out there. Anyone know if this is doable in a Toyota AWD wagon, or shall I bring the big old Blazer for clearance issues ??

 

Thanks in advance-

 

MH

Edited August 30, 2010 by hanman

[stevetimetravlr]

Wish I could tell you. We took a boat. Lots of nice lines.

[susan]

I'd like to just know where the wall is. I've heard about it and looked for it, but never found it.

[mountainsloth]

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=47.887226,-119.131107&spn=0.0655,0.181789&t=p&z=13

 

Locate the far northern tip of steamboat rock. From there, head straight north and you will hit a large swath of orange tinted granite. That is the orange wall.

 

This photo is looking West (roughly)

Orange wall is the far right hand cliff in this photo. Far northern part of the North-South running cliff at the base of the peninsula.

 

Hope this helps!

[danhelmstadter]

i'm planning a trip up there soon, hard to find beta. are the routes generally pretty difficult to spot? i'm not planning on taking a boat.

sounds like the shoreline of steamboat rock park is the area to scour for routes, are there any good landmarks besides the above mentioned?

 

thanks

 

 

[Off_White]

Dan, the Orange Wall is on the far side of the pond from the climbing on Steamboat Rock State Park, and it's difficult to get to on foot and likely not where you want to go for a first visit.

 

There are 3 (!!!) guides that cover Banks: Whitelaw's "Weekend Rock" for Washington covers a smattering, including some water side routes not covered in any other guide, LaBelle's "Rock Climbs of Central Washington" (I saw it recently at either Feathered Friends or REI, I can't recall which) is pretty thorough on a lot of the accessible stuff, and Bland's "Inland Northwest Rockclimbs" (might have to order it from Mountain Gear in Spokane) also covers Banks. Some sort of feud led Bland & LaBelle to not share information, so Bland made up a bunch of names for routes. Those two guides also cover different areas out that way, Bland more of the limestone and Spokane area sport stuff, and LaBelle more on the obscure columnar kind of thing.

 

The climbing is centered around the big rock about a mile past Steamboat Rock, as well as up Northrup Canyon on the other side of the road, plus some fun stuff up the road by the golf course. A guide will make your visit more productive, but just exploring will turn up climbs if that's the sort of adventure you want.

 

Camp at the overflow area on the lake just past Highway Rock. Turn in on the left, then go right, away from the boat ramp.

 

Oh, must add pictures...

 

View from the top of Highway Rock, definitely accessible climbing down there

 

High up on Highway Rock, penninsula in the distance goes out to Steamboat Rock.

 

BTW, word has it that there is decent bouldering on top of Steamboat if you want to go for a hike.

Edited March 10, 2011 by Off_White

[danhelmstadter]

Thanks Off White!

[Off_White]

Here's a nice Banks Lake sampler vid, poached from Stevetimetravlr's Vimeo collection.

 

 

Vimeo video embedding doesn't seem to work, gotta be a link then.

[Dave A.]

Dan, if you are unable to find a guidebook before you go I have one you can borrow(LaBelle's Rock Climbs of Central Washington). I live in Wenatchee. I'm sure I saw a copy at Feathered Friends a week or two ago when I was over there. Dave A.

[mountainsloth]

REI has 'em too. Great stuff out there! Hope to make another trip of it this Summer.

[telemarker]

 

 

View from the top of Highway Rock, definitely accessible climbing down there

 

High up on Highway Rock, penninsula in the distance goes out to Steamboat Rock.

 

 

 

Man! Can't wait to climb in shorts and sun! Nice teaser photo!

Edited March 11, 2011 by telemarker

[stevetimetravlr]

[Off_White]

I know that route, two bolts getting up to the crack?

[stevetimetravlr]

How would I know, all I do is top rope. I'm a very good top roper however, and maybe I should write a book about it, me and Pink. Yes, I think that photo is of your first ascent crack in Northrup Canyon, what did you call it?

I sure would like to hear about anyone that has climbed some of the routes on the Ultima Thule Wall, next to the Orange Wall. That thing looks like some of the best granite climbing in one crag I've seen, stellar looking lines. anyone been? I am sure it must be a little dirty due to its remote location but if that thing was in Leavenworth..

Edited March 13, 2011 by stevetimetravlr

[mountainsloth]

i had a hard time recognizing those walls when i was out there last summer. can you see it in my photo near the beginning of this thread?

[stevetimetravlr]

Here is a photo of the Orange Wall, everything to the right of the gully, and in your photo above you can find the same section of rock in the right of your photo. In my photo, The Ultima Thule Wall is the wall that throws the big shadow to the left of the gully in the left middle of this photo. Its hard to see and stays relatively hidden until you get up close and then it gets very cool and impressive. Anyone done any routes on it???

[lancegranite]

Rock climbing canoe for rent-

Good daily and weekend rates.

Ask about our package deals*.

*Using canoes to climb rocks is not reccomended.Price is subject to change, some restrictions apply.

Dog and really really handsome mountain man not included.

[Sol]

i had a blast wearing my tips down on sharp banks lake granite this week.

 

thanks for the stoke folks!

[Off_White]

Rock climbing canoe for rent

 

Yeah, I recall thinking that climbing out of a boat would be cool, until we did Bass-O-Matic (a swell 5.9 crack) at Banks. Anchor at the base for the rental boat was a crappy #1 Friend that came loose several times, jet skis in the channel created waves that clonked the boat against the rock constantly, gotta keep extra slack in the system so boat movement doesn't put unwelcome tension on the rope, and if perchance you fall and rip gear you're not going to plunge into the water, you're going to land in the damned boat.

 

To cap it off, while David Whitelaw did include the water routes in his Washington Weekend Rock guidebook, and even did a photo shoot on this route, he didn't bother replacing the 30 year old rusty quarter inch anchors, and I didn't have a kit along.

 

Still, it was a fun route.

 

[img:left]http://www.washingtonclimbers.org/Climbing/banks.jpg[/img]

David Whitelaw photo shameless pilfered from the Washington Climbers website

 

 

[hanman]

I hope to get over there this spring to install some fresh hardware and scrub some of the boat classics. Last fall went to Orange Wall- great rock and camping!

 

MH

 

Edited March 21, 2011 by hanman

[shapp]

Hanman, You know who has boats and guns, give me a call!

[danhelmstadter]

Spent some time out there recently, good climbing in a very asthetic setting. Locals are really friendly (the owners of a cafe in Electric City bought me lunch the third or fourth time I was in there.)

Sounds like poison ivy and rattelers are abundant in the warm season -- the gas station has a pic of a local holding an eight foot ratteler as big around as a leg.

 

Dave A. - Thanks for the offer! I need to go over to the wet side soon, I think I'll check out REI.

 

Drew the man/monkey

 

Drew on Dr. Suess

Edited March 27, 2011 by danhelmstadter

[stevetimetravlr]

Off white, you were supposed to deep water solo Bassomatic! Whats with the rope??

Here's how it should be done as far as I know.

[shapp]

more believeable if the guy was 15 feet higher.

[stevetimetravlr]

Young Lions, 11c, on the Highway rock with a rope!