Olympics Bouldering

The Imperial Cruiser Boulder

An undone arete, Viper anyone?

Viper like arete, with project to the right.

No spotters=3 pads

I recently purchased the Olympic Mountain Rescue guidebook to the Olympics for information about Elhwa Wall, (a cool sandstone sport crag I'm checking out on Thur.), thumbing through the book I stumbled across a page called Jefferson Lake Boulders. I was surprised to see bouldering in a book like this since very little if any mountaineers boulder. So, I decided to go and check it out. Friday I left around 10ish with three pads an my mom to film, (filming over spotting, bring lots of pads). It took only around 1.5 hours to get there. I looked around first and saw 11 or so good boulders with at least 50 or so lines possible, most need a good scrubin' though. The best part is, if you want to camp the boulders surround a free campsite!

I grabbed my pads and headed off to the Yoda boulder, it had the most chalk on it, and was pretty steep. I flashed the line and then started cleaning the left side of the wall. I found a cool dyno and sent it with only a little hesitation before the big throw. Next, I had my eye on a cool arete on the Imperial Cruiser boulder. The start went at about V5ish but the top out was dirty. There was a slopey line to the right which had one or two hints of chalk. I gave this line a couple burns and figured its around V9/10 range. I'm really psyched to come back and work it some more.

After calling it a day for bouldering, it was time to explore(I probably like exploring more than boulering). We went over to the lake and first thing that catches my eye is this block with a 45 angle and a decent slab top out. I meandered my way over and was glad to find a line on this sick face. It would start on a juggy rail and go to two juggy pockets, a crimp then the lip! Next time this sick line is going down! Bad landing so some spotters would be nice.

It was a good day out, and I am definitely coming back. These blocks are certainly worth the time and effort... -JC