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Kris Haskins Staff Webpage |
Leavenworth |
| March 27th, 2010 |
With a forecast for sun on Saturday, and not some pretty high chances of rain the following day, a group of us decided to head out to Leavenworth. The group consisted of myself, Obadiah, Frank, Sarah, Jim, Brian, Michelle, Pickett and we were joined later by Nathan and Valerie, then even later in the day by Carolina and Gwynn at the tail end of their road trip.
We decided to head off to the Sam Hill area, and so after waiting for car two to stop and pick up the super awesome new guidebook, we were off on the trail up to the area. Once we arrived, Jim and I decided to head up further and check out the overhill area. After a bit of a kurfuffle that ended with me faceplanting in some pricker bushes, we both agreed that the water coming off the top of the routes didn't look too appealing. So, we headed back down to the rest of the group. There was a pretty good looking 5.9 that we wanted to do, but the pro looked a little bit sketchy at the bottom (it turns out it is ok if you have a 00 C3). So, I instead ended up leading the Kris Haskins adventure route that involved some 5.10+ slab climbing to a bolt, traversing to the correct crack, then not going up and right as intended and traversing to another crack system, Awesome! Jim and I then both ran laps on the actual 5.9 route.
Jim Heading left on the KH adventure route
Next up for me was giving the .10c slab a go (on toprope) after watching Frank struggle up it. The bottom portion was cruiser up to the first bolt where the real difficulties began. A bunch of sequency feet coupled with credit card crimps got you past the crux section and the top eased up a bit as there were some cracks to grab. After many hangs and a lot of singing and swearing I made it to the top (shred hella and stuff Brah!). Up next was a belay for Jim as he lead the cool flake route to the right of the .10c and almost managed to place 2 tricams! I followed and cleaned with a quick stop to liberate the nut that Brian thought he had fixed earlier in the day (it was a pain to get out).
Frank on the .10c slab
Jim leading the 5.7 flake route
My last climb of the area was a .10a slab that obadiah gave me a belay on in his sling harness (he forgot his real harness, and had to make a Kilgore special). After getting to the top, I cleaned and rapped it and waited for everyone else who was doing the same so we could head down and check out a 5.7 crack (payday) that had 2 stars in the new guidebook.
We walked back down the trail we came up, and then headed back straight up the hill from the cars towards the trundle dome. The climb we were looking for was on surfs up and was a bit below trundle dome. Jim prepared to lead it while Obadiah went around the top to rap down and take some photos (looking forward to seeing those). Jim lead it in style and then came down and cleaned the gear so I could have a go at leading it. I was expecting a nice hand crack (the photo says something about hands), but it turned out to be super awesome fingers. It was pretty straight forward and really fun until the crack runs out and there is about 15 feet of low angle slab. One commiting move got you past the bulge and then it was basically a walk up with some nice chicken heads. Obadiah went for a lap in his tennis shoes, and then we went to join frank and sarah up at the trundle dome
Jim leads Payday
Obadiah takes a lap on Payday
At the dome, Frank had lead a 5.8+ flake route that was super cool looking with some strenous lie backing to start it all off. Obadiah was keen to run a lap on that first, so Jim and I went around top to set up a rope on a route that went 5.8, 5.7, 5.10a. After setting the rope, we rapped down and Jim headed off to give Brian a belay on Payday. So, I went over and Obadiah gave me a belay on the route frank had lead. Indeed, the start was pretty strenuous, but solid and fun. The top was also fun, but a few of the flakes were a little attention getting although they turned out to be solid.
Sarah follows the 5.8+ Frank Lead
After that, Obadiah and I went to the toprope we had set up and Obadiah had the first go. The bottom bit was a little bit interesting, and the middle section was cruiser flakes. We had set the top up a little too far right, and so Obadiah had to pendulum a little to get over to the alternate finish that was tough, but doable. He then belayed me from the top and we moved the rope over to a better position. We both rapped back down to the base, and Obadiah was off again climbing the second variation. He used a hard and bouldery start this time and then made it up to the second finish which looked like it was going to be harder but was solved with a hard to see jug (at least for he and I, Brian and Jim found a different way on their laps). I then went up it, but failed to do the bouldery start and had to do the left variation again. After I came down, Jim and Brian ran a lap on it with Brian cleaning and rapping the route. We packed up and headed down in time to catch the end of Carolina leading payday.
Brian on the Bouldery Start
Brian on the fun flake section
Avalanche lilly with Obadiah in the background
We got to the cars and made a stop for food at the Heidelburger, and then we all parted ways as we headed back to Seattle. It was a beautiful sunny day and we got in a lot of good climbing with a fun group!