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Kris Haskins Staff Webpage |
Exit 38 - Cragging |
| February 21, 2010 |
My plan all weekend had been to go out with Brian, Dave, and Evan on Saturday and then go cragging with Mel and Dave the next day. Others had some more ambitious plans, but as it turned out decided that cragging sounded like a better idea after day 1. So, we ended up going out to exit 38 (at various times, but all meeting up at interstate park). The crew consisted of me, Mel, Michelle, Evan, Ava, Dave, Carolina, Frank, Sarah, and Pickett.
The earlier crew started off their day at gritscone climbing some routes that they weren't sure about due to the lack of an updated guide book. When we arrived, they were ready to leave for the sunshine of interstate park so they cleaned up the routes they were on and left (again at various times). I headed out with Evan and Ava to go to interstate park, but due to a little route finding error we ended up at gun show. We matched up the line of bolts we saw to a photo in the book although there were other lines there that were not in the latest edition. Evan decided to lead the .10c and I was happy to give him a belay on it. It followed a weird ramp grove that was a little bit tricky and Evans foot blew at the second bolt sending him nearly to the ground. But, he got right back on and cruised the rest of it to the top. Ava went up it on toprope next and I follwed last and cleaned the route rapping down and recovering a left biner in the process. It was a nice hard lead by Evan.
Sarah climbing at Gritscone
After that, we left to go back to the main trail and rescue a lost Dave. Once we found him (add random forest wandering to his weekend of misery), we headed up to interstate park to find the rest of the group. At this point I went up to squishy bell to find my wife. When I got there, she was starting out on a 5.8 lead, and climbed it smoothly. With her yearly goal (to lead 5.8) met, she decided she's going to have to bump it up to 5.9. I then lead the 5.8 and the kind of tricky 5.9 next to it before we packed up and headed down to the main group.
Mel starting the 5.8
Mel Midway
Mel near the top
While there, I lead another 5.8 (or possible 5.7 the book is unclear) next to the 5.10 Michelle was leading before heading off with Evan to the chock of doom to climb a couple routes over there. Evan lead up the 5.8 through the chock stone and set up the anchor. I then followed and we both agreed that the start was a bit funky before easing up to good holds for the rest of the climb. We both then toproped the .10b before starting out on a new adventure.
On the opposing wall there was a string of horizontal bolts for and interesting looking traverse. Evan let me have the lead and I was out on an interesting climb. The start required a little bit of stemming of the chock to reach the first bolt and then some moves on holds that looked good from below but were a little less than ideal. I had to do a little bit of tension traversing on the first part, but the route got much better further along with some better hands and even a few nice horizontal hand jams. With the route completed, Evan followed and trailed a rope so Carolina could give it a go. After making it to the first bolt, she decided that it would probably be best to save it for another day so I took over the following duties. After the second bolt I put my foot on a chip which was a bit too slippery and before I knew it I yelled falling and I swung out and grazed the ground before slamming into a wall. A minor hit to the now reinforced leg was the worst of the damage and I was able to climb straight up back to the next bolt with a little assist from Dave. The rest of the traverse went pretty well and all of the gear was rescued which was good because it was mine.
Me being lowered after finishing the traverse
Going inverted on the lower, but it looks like I'm pitching off in a scary way
And it finishes with me a some brush
After that, we all packed up and headed back down the trail to the cars. At the cars, we were able to convince the group (or at least the part of the group that dawdled around long enough to be convinced) to head to the Snoqualmie taproom for some beers and food. We watched the USA upset the Canadians in hockey and enjoyed our food and beer (pro tip, get the pizza, especially the greek pizza). I made some complex calculations on two iphones to split the bill among a host of cards and we then parted ways for a quick ride home.
It was an awesome day out cragging in late February!