Favorite pitches at Darrington?

[curtveld]

Although Darrington is known for it’s superb multi-pitch climbs, all that have done any exploring know there are some amazing single pitches up there to be savored. To kick off the discussion, here are a few all-time greats in my book:

 

• Dreamer pitches #6 & 7 (i.e. Blue Crack and Undercling pitches, both 5.9, can’t decide which is better). So much variety in those two pitches: slab, huecos, underclings, nubbins, jagged flake crack , with gear and bolts. Oh, and watch for rope drag....

 

• "Flange pitch" #4 on Dark Rhythm (10c). Slab climbing to arête with nubbins. A unique feature for sure.

 

• Third pitch on Urban Bypass (10b). Slopy knobs of increasing difficulty to a crimpy final traverse.

 

• Pitch #2 of a great 3-pitch climb (name unknown) on the Comb (5.8). Improbable meandering up swirly dikes and features. Maybe I’ll post a topo and/or take some photos some day, or you can go discover it yourself, like I did.

 

It's raining up there, so lets see more pics or nominate your own favorite pitches. Not trying to ignore the Squire side, just haven't done many of the newer classics over there yet.

 

[genepires]

I am pretty fond of the bonus 10b pitch on silent running.

 

can't remember the name (either big tree 2000 or cornocopia) but there was some sweet pitched on that somewhere.

 

would add the rash to this but that runout on second pitch excludes it from my book.

 

my favorite pitches are not runout ones.

 

good topic for a rainy day.

[Otto]

Pitch 5 of Revolver, Three O'Clock Rock. Steep friction to a high reach, then scampering up a cool crack.

 

The first pitch of Gastroblast. A balancing act into a deep hueco! Then more balancing act!

 

Pitch 2 of Dirt Circus. Knobs, knobs, knobs. Recently rebolted.

 

Pitch 19 of Slab Daddy, Squire Creek Wall. Half-pad tips with smearing feet from the anchor into the Arch crack. Then easy crack climbing for a long way.

 

Pitch 22 of Slab Daddy. A mixture of crack styles - layback, fingerlocks, stems and a little wide.

 

Pitch 10 of Oso Rodeo, Squire Creek Wall. An unusually flat plane of slab tilted up to a perfect friction angle, with sills.

 

Good topic. Keep 'em coming folks, I need new ideas for next season.

 

 

[bwwakaranai]

Pitch 2 of Holy Grail...199.25ft. Cruising face, to a sweet tips corner, back to excellent face climbing on orangish features that make you say "Ah yeah!". When you bring up your second, you pull about half a foot of rope up. Good stuff.

 

Pitch 4 of The Page....knob fest, a move in a corner, to more knobs, to a paper thin flake that feels like it will snap in your hand but somehow doesn't, to more knobs, to an unlikely undercling move, to diagonal features that are facing the wrong way to pull on. Nice sustained pitch...crux, stance...crux, stance...crux, then stance all the way up.

 

The real Pitch 1 of Center Stage.... sustained and beautiful and pretty close to a full 200ft.

[Peter_Puget]

Maybe not favs but certainly forgotten pitches that do not have the typical Darrington ambience:

 

Big Tree 1 - the traverse pitch is fun quality climbing at a moderate level of difficulty. And it's crack climbing!

 

Jinx - a layback to a move past a crazy feature. From there to the anchor it's typical D Town slab.

 

Both are right off the ground.

[Rad]

The real Pitch 1 of Center Stage.... sustained and beautiful and pretty close to a full 200ft.

 

You mean the first one on the main wall with the credit card edges? Loved that one! So much easier than some of the "10b" slab pitches at the end of the route, but maybe that's just me.

[fgw]

the kone had fun climbing, esp on this pitch (#4 or 5 I think):

 

revolver seemed memorable because it was atypically early in a season (march) & had some shitty bolts, esp. this here pitch (#4?)

 

another vote for the blue crack - spectacular stuff:

[wetslide]

Any of the 5.10 pitches on Total Soul.

[bwwakaranai]

The real Pitch 1 of Center Stage.... sustained and beautiful and pretty close to a full 200ft.

 

You mean the first one on the main wall with the credit card edges? Loved that one! So much easier than some of the "10b" slab pitches at the end of the route, but maybe that's just me.

 

Oh yeah, sustained fun!

[Otto]

fgw said:

revolver seemed memorable because it was atypically early in a season (march) & had some shitty bolts, esp. this here pitch (#4?)

There are no bad bolts on Revolver. Only one 5/16" bolt left, it was rebolted last year.

[fgw]

the revolver pic is from march of 2010, pre-refresh. I remember you guys mentioning the hw upgrade on the route later on (many thanks! it's a nice route)

[mountainsloth]

 

Pitch 3, 4, & 5 of Holy Grail on the Illusion Wall.

 

Pitch 5 might be my all time favorite. Crazy flake leads to a ridiculous knob traverse then up to a great right facing hand-crack to a perfect ledge. 180' of stunning climbing.

I have climbed it twice just to be sure

 

Pitches 5,6 & 8 of Excalibur, Illusion Wall.

2 pitches of interesting 5.9 including the "Excalibur" flake pitch.

8 is the technical crux. Finger crack, traverse, to a lower percentage steep edge/smear problem.

 

Good topic!!!

[bwwakaranai]

Pitch 3, 4, & 5 of Holy Grail on the Illusion Wall.

 

Pitch 5 might be my all time favorite. Crazy flake leads to a ridiculous knob traverse then up to a great right facing hand-crack to a perfect ledge. 180' of stunning climbing.

I have climbed it twice just to be sure

 

Pitches 5,6 & 8 of Excalibur, Illusion Wall.

2 pitches of interesting 5.9 including the "Excalibur" flake pitch.

8 is the technical crux. Finger crack, traverse, to a lower percentage steep edge/smear problem.

 

Good topic!!!

 

Oh yeah p5 of Holy Grail!, I remove my initial P2 statement...oh wait, man its all good

[mountainsloth]

 

Oh yeah p5 of Holy Grail!, I remove my initial P2 statement...oh wait, man its all good

 

yea, easily my favorite climb in Darrington and probably in my top ten of all time.

[curtveld]

my favorite pitches are not runout ones.

Yeah, it's great that the modern route developers are putting in so much time and hardware to make well protected routes.

 

Years ago, looking for a forgotten classic, I did something in the Smoot book called 'West Slabs' right of where Westward Ho is somewhere. The crux pitch was 30' to 1/4" bolt, 30 more feet to a 5.8 overlap move and about a 100 feet of featureless grainy friction to a crappy anchor. Good times.

[Riley81]

I'm hoping to put something doable up the west slabs that heads up and right to the base of Ancient Melodies. It looks mostly 5.7 though so I will be leaving it a bit runout 10-20 foot bolt spacing. Hopefully it will make 3 good approach pitches up to Ancient Melodies, which is a fairly well protected route by Darrington standards.

[Off_White]

Maybe not favs but certainly forgotten pitches that do not have the typical Darrington ambience:

 

Jinx - a layback to a move past a crazy feature. From there to the anchor it's typical D Town slab.

 

Holy moley, I didn't think anyone else ever did that route. I'd heartily recommend replacing those 1/4" x 1-1/4" button heads if they're still in use.

[curtveld]

I'm hoping to put something doable up the west slabs that heads up and right to the base of Ancient Melodies. It looks mostly 5.7 though so I will be leaving it a bit runout 10-20 foot bolt spacing. Hopefully it will make 3 good approach pitches up to Ancient Melodies, which is a fairly well protected route by Darrington standards.

A multi-pitch 5.7 or 8 with solid pro - wouldn't that be cool! There really isn't anything of length up there easier than 5.9. Having some easier stuff would attract some novice slabbers and expand the appreciation of that valley in the process.

[genepires]

and add the trip up the granite sidewalk to make a sweet semi novice slab experience.

 

[hanman]

The West Slabs Direct was my first route out there. I and a good friend planned on a bivy at the summit, and were loaded with big packs for bear with a big bottle o' Jaeger and pots and pans etc. Needless to say, we were terrified at the runouts. I recall slumping over at one lone buttonhead weeping softly. Guess they were better than no bolts at all !!!!

 

MH

 

 

[curtveld]

and add the trip up the granite sidewalk to make a sweet semi novice slab experience.

I can imagine the reassuring words at the rope-up: "The good news is that the scariest climbing is behind you! The bad news is we have to walk back DOWN that thing"

 

Great story Mark - the crazy things we did when we were young!

[Peter_Puget]

It's very hard to remember but I think the anchor and p2 hard big bolts. Do you clip a bolt at a stance after the groovy and unique feature? If so that was small. Fun route. Easy access from Total Soul and Revolver.

[Off_White]

Pitch two was added by someone else, and it sounds like they replaced the anchor too (a damned good thing too). By "unique feature" do you mean the roof with the hole in it? There were no bolts above that, and no bolt at the stance either, but a few below in the layback section. The first time we did it there was enough snow in the gully that some hardish moves were covered up. We came back and had to add a bolt, and replace two that had broken, including an anchor bolt - I think we may have had some of the legendary bad batch of Rawls, though I suppose the damage could have come from rockfall or that weird ice creep that can cause problems out there. In any case, I'd consider any original bolt on The Jinx highly suspect.

[Peter_Puget]

Yes the feature was the hole. I dont remember the bolts below the layback section. In any event it was years ago and I've lost track of details.

 

I do remember enjoying the route and after seeing an endless series of TRs about Total Soul I am surprised it is still obscure.

[shapp]

I think my all time favorite Darrington pitch that I could climb over and over for the first warm up of any day would be 1st pitch of Rolling Thunder at Spring Mt. and it is right off the ground, clean super variable moves, some steep ness and unbelievable holds.

 

Trophy Wife (spring Mt.) single pitch route right off the ground could be one of the best single pitch routes anywhere when clean, but clean is not its normal modus operendi

 

The pitch that is simulaneoulsy one of the best (when totally dry) and worst (when a wet vegetated mud fest) is the 1st pitch (super long enduro crack pitch) of the Big Four tower Route.

 

The second pitch of the Big Four Tower route is insane slippery steep knobs

 

3rd pitch of Romantica at Spring Mt. is unbelievablely good

 

1st Pitch of Other side of the Traxs at Spring Mt. has great moves although dirty at the start, 2nd pitch has unbelivable edges, 3rd pitch is unbelievable slopy steep bastard pitch and reachy (extra difficult for midgets, fat people, and women with big jugs!)

 

Bonus last pitch on Silent running has to be one of my all time favorite leads at 3 oclock rock (thank you Steven for making me lead this)

 

Even though it is easy, I always enjoy climbing the 1st pitch flake on Cornocopia at 3 oclock rock

 

Garden Weasel is a suprisingly good single pitch route on 3 oclock rock that has fallen into disrepair (old bolts).

Edited November 30, 2012 by shapp