spionin Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 (edited) Trip: spring mountain - romantica and other side of the tracks Date: 5/16/2010 Trip Report: kind of a belated TR... the area definitely deserves more traffic for the long routes and great, varied rock! *********** Rafael_H and i climbed at spring mountain crag in darrington area. thanks to mattp for the packet of hand-drawn topos! we arrived on friday and scored a primo parking/camping spot next to a river. despite our fears there were no mice or anything else annoying. we saw a few bats at night. on saturday we climbed the awesome and highly rated other side of the tracks (5p: 5.10a, .9, .10b, .9, .9). rafael took the two crux pitches, and i mopped up the 9s. p1 - wavy. looks dirty from the bottom, but is totally fine on the ascent. p2 - our fave pitch on this route. cruiser, run-out. starts out on a slick, plated slab and goes out onto an exposed, bare arete. p3 - crux. slick, with sloped, tapered ribs and minimal feet. steep, reachy and pumpy. lots of funky chickenhead features. p4,5 - cruiser. we initially thought of simuling, i started skipping bolts, but then realized we'd have too much drag. the end is a white, moss-covered granite flake with a sweet undercling crack. there's a strip where the moss was removed to the right. it'll lead to the final anchor. sorry, no photo of this particular part. stoke! gear notes: it's possible to lead the route on draws only. however, here's additional gear beta: several horizontal placements on P1, a few key TCU placements in pods on the upper part of P2, Not much additional on P3, A few placements on P4, especially if you take the slightly easier left hand version of around the crux P5, several placements from .5 to 2" or so When climbing this route, if you feel the next bolt is way far and it isn't 5.6 terrain, look hard, there is likely very good natural pro to be had, though you might have to garden a little to find it. on sunday we climbed the 6-pitch romantica (5.9, .8+, .10b, .10a, .9, .9) p1 - slabby, but fairly straight-forward, very nice start. long - 155 ft. in the middle of the pitch was a short headwall that requires a cool mantling move. i was about 15 feet above my last piece of pro, so i put in a black alien into a thin, dirty crack. reached up to grab the mondo holds for a pullup and saw a bolt. so, technically, no gear was required. animal p2 - the rib on the right looks good, but isn't. i ripped off a chunk. stay on the face, climb the thin, balancy ribs. this pitch brings you up onto a large shelf. you have to move the belay up to the base of the next pitch. to the right is this beautiful white, overhanging wall p3 - follows a series of pumpy unlock-the-sequence moves up a face next to a waterfall i found a friend while belaying the rock is amazing. difficult and very steep. p4 - follows next to another waterfall. here's rafael leading in a shower stall. looking down p5,6 - starts cruiser, and then comes up to this steep, disconcerting dihedral made of charcoal-black stone with a series of sidepull ridges. this is where i lost my shit and had to back off the lead. thanks to rafael for finishing up. exposed Gear Notes: rafael used a yellow, a green, and a red c4 on p4 of romantica. we used a single 60m to climb, and had a 7mm, 60m rap line. Edited April 23, 2012 by spionin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtveld Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 Wow, nice photos and beta. Better late than never, fo sho! I agree there are numerous pitches that look more vegetated from below than when climbing. Best plan is to find something that looks interesting and get on it. With Clear Creek road out (for who knows how long), will be nice to have the North Fork Sauk road reopened for this great crag. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hanman Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 Excellent TR Spionin- You really captured the essence of the place. Thanks! MH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shapp Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 Nice!, Note to the not-so-hard climbers (such as my self): Leading Other Side of the Tracks with only draws and no supplemental trad gear (epecially a few TCUs and regular cams up to about 2") may result in soiling of the pants! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spionin Posted April 23, 2012 Author Share Posted April 23, 2012 thanks, guys! shapp- i remember looking for placements (for those supplemental TCUs), but couldn't find anything. maybe i missed the opportunity from being in the "slab climbing zone", just trying to desperately reach the next bolt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shapp Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 (edited) thanks, guys! shapp- i remember looking for placements (for those supplemental TCUs), but couldn't find anything. maybe i missed the opportunity from being in the "slab climbing zone", just trying to desperately reach the next bolt They are there, several horizontal placements on P1, a few key TCU placements in pods on the upper part of P2, Not much additional on P3, A few placements on P4, especially if you take the slightly easier left hand version of around the crux P5, several placements from .5 to 2" or so, I can't believe you lead that pitch with no additional gear. When climbing this route, if you feal the next bolt is way far and it isn't 5.6 terrain, look hard, there is likely very good natural pro to be had, though you might have to garden a little to find it. To clarify, by way far, I mean 10 feet or less or so on harder terrain Edited April 23, 2012 by shapp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spionin Posted April 23, 2012 Author Share Posted April 23, 2012 wow, i seem to have missed a lot. oh well, next time thanks for the beta, i added it to the TR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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