Closest trad to Seattle/Tacoma?

[Travis Senor]

Not being from here, I was curious to know what the closest trad areas are to Seattle/Tacoma. I thought I saw that there are some moderate gear routes at Exit 38, but I figured I'd ask. Just was curious!

 

And apologies if this is already listed elsewhere on the site, but I couldn't track it down.

[DPS]

Index is probably the closest good trad climbing to Seattle/Tacoma. I haven't seen many trad lines at Exit 38, however, I haven't climbed that extensively there. There are a couple good lines at 32.

[genepires]

there is one trad line at exit 38 that I know of. it is on the Far Side at Shagri La. (I killed the spelling of this place) It is 5.10 something and pretty fun. If you ask Rad, he may take you out there for a tour.

 

Seems like there are some trad lines around blackstone wall area at exit 32.

 

Vantage has a trad climb sandwiched between every column.

 

Index may be the bestest closest trad area around.

[Ryan Canfield]

There's definitely some trad in North Bend... Not the best quality, but it does exist. A lot of the routes can be dirty and don't seem to be climbed much. Here's a list of them... I may have forgotten a few.

 

Exit 38

- Crack One With Me - 5.7 - Chainsaw Wall

- Salutiferous Exalation - 5.8 - Peannacle Wall

- One Chance Out Between Two Worlds - 5.10b - Peannacle Wall

- Ultra Mega Crack - 5.8 - Slumbersome Ridge

- AtaxiCrack - 5.11c - Valley View West

- Cascadian Crack - 5.11a - Valey View West

- Bicycling to Bellingham - 5.10b - Headlight Point

- History Book - 5.10a - Shangri La

- Guillotine - 5.10b - Shangri La

- Magic Carpet Ride - 5.8 - Shangri La

 

Exit 32

- On Second Though - 5.9 - Repo I

- First Things Left - 5.6 - Repo I

- First Things First - 5.6 Repo I

- Next Time Around - 5.7 - Repo I

- Three Legged Dog - 5.5 - Repo I

- Mambo Jambo - 5.10b - Repo II (really fun)

- Repo Man - 5.9 - Repo II

- Fixer Upper - 5.8 - Repo II

- You Get What You Deserve - 5.10a - AWOL (good off width)

 

But yeah... I agree that Index is the place to be for high quality trad on this side of the mountains.

 

[mattp]

For moderate trad climbs up to 10 pitches in length, Darrington has more to offer than Index or North Bend but Leavenworth is probably closer to Tacoma.

 

At the most accessible Darrington crag (30 minutes from the car), there are good climbs at 5.6 and up to 5.11, although the three routes at Repo (Exit 32) are better first trad leads because they are short and dead-easy half pitches. The Darrington climbs are predominantly slab and knobby face climbs, with some liebacks and cracks here and there, and you have to do rappels and maybe multiple rappels to descend. Walk off's are generally a poor option. (Having said that the Three O'Clock Rock climbs tend toward slab climbing, I should say that other formations like The Comb, Exfoliation Dome, and Squire Creek Wall have some steeper rock). An incomplete guide can be found here:

 

Darrington Rock Climbing

[Travis Senor]

Excellent info. Thanks everyone!

 

And yeah I was confusing the trad at Exit 32 with Exit 38 for some reason, whoops.

Edited August 4, 2014 by Travis Senor

[kurthicks]

There are also a couple moderate lines on the left side of Fun Forest, a little further east from Exit 38. They are even on high quality, Index-like granite.