[tomtom]

Hello,
I'm off to Washington State in late July/August to do some fieldwork on Mt St Helens (Woot!) and am probably spending 10-12 days before wandering around with MrsT in the general (i.e. within 500 mile radius) area.. we're flying into Seattle and picking up a car etc..
Does anyone have any knowledge/idea of anything near there that I could 'engineer' into my holiday/work schedule
TT (excited!)

[slackline]

Stone Crusade mentions a rain shadow east of the Cascade Mountains with boulderable rock in the area.  Specifically mentions "high, hard boulder problems near Leavenworth [....] spread out along the canyons leading into town. Swiftware Picnic Area (6.09 miles upstream on US 2 from the Icicle Road turnoff) is one of the few spots with enough problems to constitute a circuit, and even then one must hunt around in the woods for some of the boulders." [1]  It then goes on to describe another area, Minnehaha east of the city of Spokane.



[1] Sherman J (1994) Stone Crusade : A Historical Guide to Bouldering in America.  AAC PRess

[tomtom]

Its worth going to Minehaha nr Spokane just for the unusual names visiting ticks

[Stubbs]

Here you go dude,  http://www.drtopo.com/submitted/leavenworth.pdf  quite a bit of other info and videos etc out there,doesn't look too far from Mt St Helens either.

[tomtom]

Superb thanks Tim

[Stubbs]

Some vids to give you a taster here http://vimeo.com/search/videos/search:leavenworth%20bouldering/st/f95cfd9b/page:2/sort:relevant/format:thumbnail

[Lund]

You're not a millions miles from Squamish.  But then it might rain.  Leavenworth is on the other side of the mountains, so often when it's raining up north it's dry there.

There are some other random locations along the beaches and stuff too.

I've a friend who lives out there... I'll see if they've got any more info.

[Stubbs]

I would assume all those cars are full of people who want to multipitch chuff?  I'm not sure WA has anything on Squish in those stakes

[Lund]

I would assume all those cars are full of people who want to multipitch chuff?  I'm not sure WA has anything on Squish in those stakes

There's index... http://www.stanford.edu/~clint/index/

Apparently it's very good.

On the border crossing... Coming into the states it is truly truly a pain in the backside.  Going out was easy, but then I'd already been in.  It took a couple of hours to get through - and could have been more if there'd been a bigger queue on the road.

[SA Chris]

I think dom who used to pos on here has moved out that way.

Worth getting in touch?

http://www.climb8a.blogspot.com/

[AndyR]

As people have said, main bouldering is in and around Leavenworth, and is pretty good - but it's a shoulder season type of place - generally a bit too hot in summer.  People have been climbing there for a long time, so good mix of problems.
Other main location is Gold Bar, which is close to Index - generally more 'Pacific North West' type weather so a better option for the warmer months - this is relatively new and looks to have some nice problems (I haven't been).
Other area that is hinted at a lot, but tough to find info, is bouldering up in the southern extension of the Okanagon - pictures look good though.

There are other bits and bobs in and around the I5 corridor (especially at the northern end close to Chuckanut, but then you'd be crossing the border and going to Squampton anyway...) - don't know anything about stuff closer to the Oregon border I'm afraid.

Have fun - Wa is a cool state.

[SA Chris]

Shame the back of the DC boulder has been chipped and chopped to buggery.

[tomtom]

Some great replies there - thanks everyone. We'll have a car, and will probably spend a couple of days in Seattle (mrsT likes the citys) then set off on a mini roadtrip somewhere... so I suspect many of those places will be in range. Excellent - yet another bouldering holiday cunningly disguised as something else

[SA Chris]

Well that rules out Squamish entirely, Chris ... 

Just a general observation.

[AndyR]

Some great replies there - thanks everyone. We'll have a car, and will probably spend a couple of days in Seattle (mrsT likes the citys) then set off on a mini roadtrip somewhere... so I suspect many of those places will be in range. Excellent - yet another bouldering holiday cunningly disguised as something else

Have fun - drop me a pm if you make it to Squamish - happy to provide spot/guide/second pad etc

Cheers,
Andy

[iwasmexican]

this leavenworth place looks fantastic

[tomtom]

Hello from Leavenworth!
After 10 soggy days in Western WA, the rain stopped as I headed over Steven pass and dropped into Leavenworth.. stopped in the local climbing shop, got some 5:10 mocasymII's for $80 (as I'd dumbly left my rock boots at home) and some good advice as to where to head.. Had a great 2-3 hours getting aquainted with the local granite.
Its superb! I understand its a little cool here for the time of year (its normally 25-30) but it was a little overcast and conditions great. I've got tomorrow morning to play again before I have to head off, but the blocs are in some really great locations.. well reccommended. I'm padless, so teamed up (tagged along) with some Canadians who had sacked off Squarmish after 30 rainy days (onyl 5 days climbing possible) and had taken a punt down here...
Thanks for all the advice everyone, I'm glad I made the effort to get over here instead of working for a couple of days.. just wish I had a couple of weeks here!
I'll stick some pics up when I get back/more organised.

First time climbing on Granite like this (previous was in Cornwall) and its superb

TT

PS - might be worth telling any folks in soggy squamish (if it still is) about this place - prob 2-3 hours drive away..

[tomtom]

It seems the summer in the Pacific North West has started late/ not at all! From what I hear it is much worse than usual so: bad luck!

Well, we spent a few days in the Rain forest areas, so that didn't matter so much, but 2 days in Mt Rainier park were turdish as low cloud and drizzle. Shit loads of snow still around down to 4500 ft, (they had 25m this winter!) which meant most of the decent high trails needed cramps and axes - I'd only packed light summer hiking gear etc.. And mrsTt's outdoor trainers were not up to it.. Ho hum. I do have a comprehensive understanding of most forms of lardy breakfasts though.. And I ate the best blackberry pie of my life

I rather like this picture...