Best place near Seattle for trad gear practice?

[jk82]

Hey everyone,

 

Just moved to Seattle, and wanting to brush back up on my gear placement / anchor building efficiency. Where's the closest place to Seattle with enough different cracks, etc. to offer enough variety for ~4 hrs. of practice?

 

I should add - doesn't have to be somewhere with climbable routes - just somewhere to place gear while standing on the ground.

 

 

Thanks!

Edited December 15, 2012 by jk82

[matt_warfield]

Leavenworth or Index or Squamish. Smith if you are are tuff enough.

 

The unfortunate thing about Seattle is you can sniff GOOD trad climbing but most of it is 1-3 hrs. away.

Edited December 15, 2012 by matt_warfield

[Drederek]

Index is an hour or so east on I-90, no end to the possibilities there. Its somewhere to achieve your stated goal and also a place you'll really enjoy spending some time at.

[max]

Index is an hour or so east on I-90...

Good advice for others, just bad directions: Index is on Hwy2 (I'm sure Drederek knows this... )

[obwan]

I should add - doesn't have to be somewhere with climbable routes - just somewhere to place gear while standing on the ground.

 

If you want a close in place to practice - check out the Mountaineer's Wall at Magnuson Park. It also offers some good anchors, to work on that procedure as well.

 

www.examiner.com/article/the-mountaineers-climbing-wall-at-seattle-s-magnuson-park

 

The Exit 32 - Li'l SI and Exit 38 area in North Bend, while mostly sport routes can also have a few cracks to mess around with.

[Drederek]

Index is an hour or so east on I-90...

Good advice for others, just bad directions: Index is on Hwy2 (I'm sure Drederek knows this... )

Doh! Well I guess I used to know that!

[OlympicMtnBoy]

The Mountaineers wall in Magnuson also has some granite boulders stacked up around the perimiter that make up some cracks between the rocks to build anchors in if you are just desperate for an after work practice session in the winter or something. Or the retaining wall north of Golden Gardens. Also the SR 900 drytool crag has some crappy cliffs nearby I've used for copperheading/pin practice a long time ago, muddy and chossy.

 

Exit 32 and 32 have some cracks if you look around. Index of course has beautiful routes to climb as well.

[matt_warfield]

I would recommend granite to start. Basalt, tuff, and rhyolite and etc. is a little squirrely for trad.

[mark1980]

Find a rock retaining wall. The ones built of three man size rock, stacked five to six feet high, or even the smaller rock size walls. They have multiple crack options of various sizes, for placing gear and building anchors. If you keep an eye out, you’ll probably find one in a publicly accessible place, close to where you live; shopping centers, business parks, along the rail tracks on the shoreline, or your neighbor’s backyard.

[matt_warfield]

Unfortunately always absolutely vertical and once you figure it out is predictable. A workout can be done in the gym, workout on rock requires real rock. Go to Index or Leavenworth. And you won't get arrested.

Edited December 30, 2012 by matt_warfield