WA Climbng

Post by **Steve** » Fri Jul 10, 2009 5:19 pm

Which would you recommend, Index or Leavenworth?

Post by **captain static** » Fri Jul 10, 2009 6:22 pm

Niether on the weekend.

Mazama Rocks in the North Cascades is pretty nice.

How long you out there for? Skaha Bluffs in BC is awesome.

Post by **kneebar** » Fri Jul 10, 2009 7:25 pm

I have heard that both are great, index having a bit more rain. When you planning on being there?

Post by **Steve** » Sun Jul 12, 2009 5:15 pm

Sorry I was short on details, just looking for thoughts.

We're out here for an extended trip. Going to head up to Squamish this week and I was just looking for WA insight in case we wanted to do more climbing on the way back into the States. We'll probably pass back through Washington at the end of July depending on how long we stay in BC. Might be too rainy anywhere up here this time of summer but after spending a week on the Olympic Peninsula anything will seem dry. Heard that Index has nice crack climbing, or was that Leavenworth? I can't remember details anymore, I have enough trouble remembering what day it is.

Post by **clif** » Sun Jul 12, 2009 10:23 pm

well, before i pushed a button that made the post disappear, I was saying that if you've never climbed the columnar basalt of the northwest then Vantage/Frenchmen's Coollee is accessible, clean and solid except for loose stuff in top and the rare but occassional colllapse of an entire column (remember the Norwegian guy who biked to Everest, mostly soloed it...died here) river nearby and mostly dry weather. parallel crack with enough variety to keep things interesting (think Indian creek).

Post by **dirtdog** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 12:53 pm

Index for sure

Post by **captain static** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 3:16 pm

Skaha, Leavenworth & Mazama are on the dry side of the mountains. I liked Leavenworth better than Index but have been to each place only once. You could visit Skaha, Leavenworth, & Index if you drove from Vancouver to Penticton, BC (where Skaha is) and then south along the east side of the Cascades from Penticton to Leavenworth.

BTW when you are headed up to Squamish be on the lookout for Strachan Point

Post by **Crankmas** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 3:32 pm

the Sharma route Dreamcatcher is worth the short walk to just check out, off the same block is another highend line that leaps off the block to hit a sloper rail- amazing boulders all around too, sorry I can't give any Wa. state beta- hope ya made it to the Pacific coast over on the penisula- we thought it was more fun than the forest visits- if in Seattle you should try to get to Fremont

Post by **meetVA** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 5:17 pm

merrick talked about leavenworth having the best 5.9 multi-pitch hand-crack route in the US (i think i've got the details right).

Post by **Steve** » Thu Jul 16, 2009 11:53 pm

Well Merrick would know.

I might weigh in with an opinion on this WA climbing thing if we get tired of Squamish. Squamish rocks. How long do they let you stay in Canada Eh? In talking to people in these parts it seems Index is better and Leavenworth is choss. Of course people out here don't know the awesomeness of Seneca and have never been to the Red so I guess it depends on where you are and who you ask.