Non-bouldering Leavenworth

The view from the crag of the enchantments
Yeah, that's the road and creek waaaayyyyy down there

Awesome but slightly dirty wall

I finally deiced to check out what all those other people do who go to Leavenworth and wonder why we 'play' on the short stuff. This weekend was dedicated to doing Outer Space on Sun. and trad/rope stuff on sat. with Keenan, a trad junkie from climbing team. Saturday we started at the sword boulders because keenan wanted to try the old school 5.11 the Sword V3. He sent after a few goes and a commitiing move to the top! Meanwhile I walked around the corner and flashed the Tree Problem, V8. A simi-cool short thing by the boulders down climb. Afterwards I played on zorro and found beta that works and I'm looking forward to sessioning this one in the future. So, now time for the ropes. We decided to check out a new crag called Lucky Dog. 1.5 hours and 3 ticks later we arive at the base of the 'alpine' sport crag. This so far was the farthest I've hiked for climbing. 'Hiked' is used liberally since the trail disappeared halfway up so we bush wackked up to the white wall. The first clmbed we did called JBT something and it was a good 5.11b/5.9. Super soft with a small coating of sand on every hold. Besides that though the route was very city of rockish and if roadside would be very popular. after slipping our way to the top we decided to move on to another, more clean area. As it turned out the clean area had a scary runout out the beginning so we called it quits and headed over to the offwidth Carnival Crack 5.10d visible from the boulders.
After some effort to set a Tr Keenan attempted the first moves but got stuck there. Next I tied in and managed to pinch the right side, palm the left side, and scoot my thigh jam(which left some marks) up the crack to the mid level slab. To get to the slab i busted my right heel out onto a ledge and heel hooked up to the last 8 foot section. This i decided to lay back off a good foot, hit a crimp on the face and slap to the top. 1st go! I was almost more surprised than Keenan, who knew?

Day two crux was the second class pitch of the classic Outer Space 5.9. It killed me but I managed to do it with a few falls. When we arrived at the base Snow Creek Wall it seemed smaller than what I imagined. The first two pitches we simuled and Keenan lead us too high. so after an impromptu belay and down climb we arrived at the base of the crux pitch. We broke up into 2 seperate pitches and I took the first. After a slip an' slide layback I reached the mid belay below a roof and built my first ever rad anchor. It consisted of two bomber nuts and a 3/4 lobed #2 Camelot. It held Keenan's slip so I think it passed...
Next I followed the curx and it seemed easier than I was told but the holds were flexin' more than any boulder I've done (Don't know how they're still there). Up next was the 5.6 pitch I lead to the Library ledge with a natural seat!
I (heart) Grigri. Self portrait on library Ledge.
Later Keenan brought up a good point that we were both constantly doing 15-25 foot run outs. The rock is so good up high and placements so bomber it didn't really manner. (Now I know how the Marc guy solod it) The final headwall was awesome sans my untaped hands which got destroyed. I loved the unreal chicken heads and only used the crack a few times (whatever). Keenan had the great idea to summit and we hiked an extra 50 yards to the top and the view was impressive. I could see the Straightaways to Forestland To Madmeadows, the town of Leavenworth, and out towards Pesachtin Pinnacles. Pretty damn awesome!

Now the tricky part was the descent, basically 3rd and 4th class scrambles where slippinig isn't recommended. After a short random rappel we hiked on out and headed on home. It's cool cause now I can point and say, 'yeah, I've been up there' I'm looking forward to doing some more trad and learninig how to properly jam(I would be screwed in Indian Creek). But all in all the past weekend was very fun and adventurous to say the least. It's Tue and I'm still recovering getting ready for either a sport sess. in spokane or (almost better) Weekend in Leavenworth WITH the pads being the main focus (Lisa doesn't know yet but she'll have to belay me on some trad though). I'm getting pretty exited for squamish, boulder and sport then easy trad on the rest days(or swimming weather permitting)

Rain City Send-fest

If you've been climbing long enough you will stumble upon certain people with unbelievable finger/contact strength. Those who can hang on to the smallest of holds and fall solely due to technical errors. Saturday, I was in a car with two prime examples of this phenomenon. Andrew Hou and Kevin. Saturday was the annual UW Rain City Send, a college only comp. It was broken up into two sessions and Andrew and I were in the first. I didn't know what to expect since the comp was set by college setters and I was basing my perception off of Evergreen(no disrespect Micah) so I wasn't prepared for the awesome routes! I only cheated on two of them, doing it with Jimmy Beta. I spent the good part of the Red Point qualifiers sending the hardest problems except for the one, 890(hardest), which probably could go down in a couple days. Meanwhile Andrew was busy crushing all the moderates, thin techy problems on slightly overhanging walls. Next up was Kevin who has only been climbing for two years and this was his first comp. I first met him in the gym when he was crushing my V5s and V6s! So after a little persuasion he decided to help represent SPSCC. He did great for his first comp, getting close on a lot of V7s and running out of time to complete a fourth problem(I placed 2nd to dead last my first comp!).
So when the dust settled I came out on top and was set to go first in finals. The first problem startted with low hands, a high foot, then a super cross-over behind the head. I finally managed the first move on my 2nd go and then got stumped on the third and fourth moves not making it to the bonus hold! ZERO points! I was like 'f***, i just lost the comp in 5 f****n' mins'. (So, finals were Euro style where halfway through the route, there will be a 'bonus' hold worth 1 point and a finish hold worth 2 points) Next up were Brian froom central and Jake from a community college and both managed to get to the bonus hold. Now for final prob#2, I reset mentally and gave it a good go. The problem was my style and after a brutal one arm lock off dyno to an overhanging pinch, iron cross a 5 foot span, and then duke it out heelhooking slopers. Well I came within 2 holds of the finish. OK. now I felt like I stood a chance. 1o antagonizing minutes later no one else stuck the dyno to the pinch. O.K, so now we each have touched one bonus hold, but the second one was worth more! Win! All in all an awesome small comp with just some minor glitches in the final. (final routes should get harder as you go to eliminate people and make for a better show, not ridiculous hard starts). This comp and Darth Vader have re-amped my psych for bouldering so I have no clue as to whether it'll be little si or Leavenworth for future trips. Either way its going to be a fun packed summer with a road trip in the works. Mostly vacation with a little Yosemite hopefully. One last shout out to Community Colleges!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1st and 3rd in open and ex-community college 1st in Intermediate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

See ya on the rocks...

Return to Leavenworth

On Sunday, Lisa and I headed back out to leavenworth for another day trip. First stop was Egg Rock, Lisa hasn't been there before. After a short warm up we both gave Jerry Garcia a couple burns from the 'low' start. A nasty upper gaston and lower sidepull. This line will definitely go for lisa from the proper stand if not the low. Its cool, but a Little too balancy for my taste. So I ventured up to Musashi. The first sloper was in the sun so I started projing the stand and managed to do all the move save the first 2. I felt confident that it'll go when the temps are favorable(or summer night sessions!). Next stop was Mad Meadows where Lisa got back on Hanta Man and made some good progress but she still needs to suss out the crux. While she was proj.ing I headed up to the Playground Point Crags and solod a short 5.6 crack. There are a bunch of moderates I plan on doing up here while Lisa is in the process of sending Hanta Man.
Next was a quick stop at Dirty Dude where I made some really good progress. After a few burns I managed to touch the bottom of the crimp rail! This line should go after a few good campus board sessions. All it is is one BIG move.
Finally we finished the day off at Mountain Home Road. This area has the best views out of all of Leavenworth and as mentioned before, one of my dream locations for a house. Lisa got to work on Emperors lightning but she was pretty tired after Hanta Man sess. I began working Darth Vader(v10) and was able to do the burly undercling move on my second go. Then cam the crazy duel heel hook sloper matching up to a micro crimp and, ah, mantel. Lisa caught me a good 4 times, rolling off the top, grating up my right leg, and falling on too the pads. The sloping landing makes the spotter necessary. On my final burn I managed to get to the lip, got a super close heel hook, and pushed and pulled my way over! My right heel stayed put! (don't put your leg down for top out, this is what causes the fall i found out 3 times) YES! Finally a V10 that fit my style. I think boudlering is going to be on pause and its finally time to break out my new rope and see if I can nab a 5.13a in the same year. twenty ten has been a good year bouldering for me and I'm curious to see how it plays out on the sharp end...

(No pics or footage, once again my camera spent the trip in the car...)