[TR] Banks Lake - Various 5/29/2011

[mountainsloth]

Trip: Banks Lake - Various

 

Date: 5/29/2011

 

Trip Report:

Memorial Day weekend forecast: Rain, rain and more rain.... crap.

There goes my ski trip up Mt. Adams that has been planned for 2 months.

No surprise really. Its still Spring in the PNW.

One thing is true, if you want a life in the outdoors you have to be interested in a variety of activities or face sitting on the couch sometimes.

 

So my ski mountaineering trip turned into a canoeing and rock climbing trip at Banks Lake because it boasted the best weather in all of WA. Our goal... a mellow weekend of easy climbing, camping, canoeing, and exploration away from the masses.

The weekend went so well, plan B could have been a plan A

 

 

Launching the boat on Friday with 3 people and a mess of gear for 3 days pushed the limits of my old canoe.

This and the choppy waters that afternoon pushed us to camp much closer to the dock and the highway than planned. We hit the first major island across from the dock and found a perfect camp on top of the island that required a 4th class scramble.

 

Our island's inlet

 

views of Highway Rock from camp

 

This not only gave us great views but kept the motorboat yahoos of the fishing derby at a safe distance while on dry land.

But this did not stop them from nearly running us over mid lake as the completion started on Saturday. Wave after wave of high speed boats flew feet past our over-stuffed canoe thwarting attempts at peeing and climbing out of our vessel.

 

After setting up camp we explored the shortie cliffs around the island and found a few nice-n-easy hand cracks to mess around on.

 

 

 

We are claiming first ascents, giving them a V status, and I am writing up a report for the AAJ since the approach, camp set-up, scouting, and sending took all day.

 

Day two sent us canoeing around our island looking at all the untouched granite and scouting out the climbs in "Weekend Rock". I was surprised to notice that all the climbs in "weekend rock" are not in the "Rock Climbs of Central Washington", especially for such gems as "Prime Cut". If I have climbed a flake as fine, I do not remember when. This is certainly not the norm at Banks and was enjoyed thoroughly.

 

 

 

The rock above the anchors have potential for a pretty sweet looking sport line.

 

 

We then climbed "Supprehension" to "Creamsicle Buttress" on Highway Rock and enjoyed the partly sunny skies and perfect temps.

 

The first portion of "Creamsicle Buttress"

 

Satisfied with climbing, we headed back to camp for burritos and relaxing.

 

A strange sight caught our eye atop the next island North, prompting us to explore. A canoe and scramble got us to the top and discovered an old, broken windmill light installed on top of the island.

 

Anyone have info on this?

 

Chased by a pack of rabid coyotes...

 

My last trip out to Banks included a fantastic trip up the Orange Wall. It took little words to convince mi amigos to take another route up this towering piece of rock.

 

Taken from last Summer

 

Keeping with the mellow nature of the weekend we thought we had decided upon an easy 4 pitch route called "Lesser Evil" but forgot to factor in the approach.

Canoeing up to the wall was no issue, but finding the route, navigating the talus, brush, poison ivy, rattle snakes, and exposed, loose, 5th class scrambling proved otherwise. After about 45 minutes of this, we discovered the start and I began leading.

(FYI the first pitch is on a ledge at the far edge of the wall and the massive gully.)

 

The 1st pitch was short and ended on a small ledge with a horn. The book says to use wide gear and a bolt, I found it just as easy to sling the horn.

 

The 2nd pitch started with a few bolts and then followed a nice, low-angle off-width.

 

3rd pitch was a long, well-bolted face climb.

 

4th pitch pushes through a roof with an interesting couple of moves to unlock it. Bring a #1 or a wrench and some hangers for the crux move as there were 2 or 3 bolts with no hangers.

The climbing eases back after this to low-angle scrambling to a set of chains.

 

 

 

There is lots of untouched granite out there

 

We hit the summit, took some photos and began to rap. Last year on "Heart of Stone" (a few climbs over) I planned on rapping the route but found that not all anchors were equipped to do so and ended up thrashing through a heinous walk-off with no clear route down in my climbing shoes.

Learning from my mistakes, I brought extra materials in case this happened again. Sure enough, The anchors atop pitch 4 had chains on one bolt, but not the other. I fashioned a small piece of webbing and off we went. 3 double rope rappels got us to the bottom without incident.

 

On the canoe back to camp, it finally rained on us. The clound dumped steady rain on a quarter mile square chunk of the lake and followed us back to camp. You could see people outside the ring of rain still sunbathing. Oh well, it could have happened on the rock right?

 

After packing camp and loading everything back into the car we finally deemed it hot enough to take a dip. The Michaels decided to jump off a nice looking rock near the dock.

 

 

The flowers and greenery make Banks Lake even more beautiful in the Spring.

 

Anyone know this flower?

 

Sun lakes below Dry Falls Dam (Keeps Banks Lake a lake)

 

Long story short... Banks Lake =

 

Gear Notes:

Most routes are sport, but there are some quality gear routes to be had as well, bring your rack.

 

For "Lesser Evil" the book says gear 2-4 and draws. I brought singles from .5-4 and used them all. Bring at least a dozen draws and don't forget the rap material.

 

Approach Notes:

Canoe, walk, or schwack... your choice.

Edited June 8, 2011 by mountainsloth

[Frankazoid]

Sweet! That flake doesn't look like it belongs in eastern wa, eh? I was climbing at deep creek (spokane) that weekend. original plan was to go to Marcus and China Bend, but the locals were saying it was super wet. Have yet to make it to Banks!

[andyf]

Bitterroot. The flower is bitterroot.

 

Nice report!

[scheissami]

Rad trip!

 

Noticed you belaying the second on autoblock off your rope... Pretty ingenious way to extend the anchor, I'll have to try that. Is that a butterfly knot?

[Off_White]

Prime Cut is great. There's a good 11a (not in any guide) to the left: a couple bolts to a laser cut smooth quartz lined thin crack. It uses the same anchor as Prime Cut, and was put up during the Memorial Day fishing derby years ago, and was named after those stout fishing individuals, The Men Of Banks Lake (you can just imagine the Playgirl spread). The bolts are 3/8" Rawl split shank, so while not exactly modern, they're beefy enough you don't have to worry.

 

I'm psyched to get over to the Orange Wall, that stuff looks great.

[mountainsloth]

@ andy: Thanks, that makes sense, they are some purdy flowers

@ the hammer-dancing-dude: butterfly it is. The top out of that route is rounded and anchors far back. It was much easier to see my followers, remove unnecessary rope drag, and avoid sending loose rock down.

@ Off_White: I noticed those bolts on the way out and was curious. Thanks for scratching that itch. I will give it a go next time.

[stevetimetravlr]

Way to get after it at Banks! Love that place.

[Riley81]

Was the route you climbed on Orange wall called Lesser Evil?

Edited June 7, 2011 by Riley81

[mountainsloth]

you are correct Riley, Lesser Evil is the left most route on the wall.

[Riley81]

Hanman and I tried to do that route this last weekend and had very little luck starting out. Way to find your way through the first pitch.

[mountainsloth]

yea it was really tricky to find. we almost gave up on it when one of my partners poked his head around the left-hand corner of the ledge you start out on.

Did you guys finally get a canoe or did you brave the 4wd road and schwack?

[Riley81]

We had a 12-foot skiff with a 5 horse engine. But the wind on Thrusday still presented a bit of an issue (understatement). Fortunatley Hannas wife and kids are real troopers. I'll post a TR in just a little while.