AlpineMonkey Posted December 24, 2011 Posted December 24, 2011 Trip: FA - Tumwater Canyon - The Penstock Date: 12/24/2011 Trip Report: Curt Haire and I did a new route up the Tumwater Canyon. It is across the river, immediately before Rattlesnake Rock. It was pretty fun. 3 Full Pitches, WI 2-3. I'll refer to it as "The Penstock." Approach through the tunnel. The first pitch was a short brittle step of WI3. After that we found about 120 meters of WI2. Fun day out. Approach Notes: Park at the pipe bridge just after leaving Leavenworth. Walk upstream, go through the tunnel for quickest access. Quote
sobo Posted December 25, 2011 Posted December 25, 2011 Cool, Craig! I wonder how that thing hasn't been ticked in years past when things were really fat... Quote
murse11 Posted December 26, 2011 Posted December 26, 2011 Nice work, looks fun! Hopefully it's still standing Thursday so my newbie ass can get up it! So you're in east wenatchee too?! We should try gettin out sometime - it'd be cool to meet another climber from the snatch. Quote
montypiton Posted December 27, 2011 Posted December 27, 2011 most likely hasn't been ticked because in a "normal" year it would be buried under tons of snow & avalanche debris. Tumwater canyon is showing all kinds of ice at low elevations this year, a result of little snow, and a persistent temperature inversion. most of these flows are almost never seen... I'm seeing stuff that I've never seen in my thirty+ years in the area- you'll need to get on it before it either melts, or the next storm-cycle turns it into a hyperactive avalanche repeater... -Haireball Quote
AlpineMonkey Posted December 27, 2011 Author Posted December 27, 2011 The history there was kind of cool. That tunnel was not really railroad, but was built to contain a wooden water pipe ("penstock")that went to the Tumwater Dam to power the turbines. This project was abandoned sometime in the 1930's. Quote
sobo Posted December 27, 2011 Posted December 27, 2011 As a civil engineer with an eye to engineering history in Washington, I approve of the name change from the earlier moniker "The Easy One". Good on ya, Craig! PS: We actually refer to those types of wooden pipes that are wrapped in steel wire as "woodstave" pipes. But "The Penstock" will serve just as well, as a penstock is the "feed pipe" for water to a hydroelectric powerhouse. PPS: Craig, howz come you and I have never climbed together? Am I just too old, fat, and curmudgeony for a young buckster like you? Quote
montypiton Posted January 1, 2012 Posted January 1, 2012 sobo - old & curmudgeonly can't be the issue, 'cause he's climbin' with me... climbed it again on the 27th with John Tarver, WET but still fun... Craig - Tarver insists that I'm wrong -says the railroad was never on that side of the river, so maybe the tunnel really was just for the pipe... You probably have the contacts to verify the real history... and "Penstock" really is a far more pallatable name - thanks for rethinking. I was thinking of something along the lines of "Promenade", but I like Penstock. -Haireball Quote
num1mc Posted January 1, 2012 Posted January 1, 2012 John Tarver is right. That was all for the penstocks running down from the dam, to the powerhouse at the bridge. You can read all about it at the dam (?) and at the Lake Wenatchee rest area. It probably was operational into the fifties. It suppied power for electric locomotives thru the Cascade tunnel. There was also a power house in Skykomish. Into the eighties, by peering thru the windows one could see old package boilers Quote
obwan Posted January 1, 2012 Posted January 1, 2012 Very F--ing awesome, a good find! - This so-called wet and cold La Nina hasn't hit yet; so Monty is right about stuff showing up that is usually covered with snow. Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.