I had an unprecedented 3.75 days off work prior to this Spring's grand finale at Harborview, and Matt P., Jillson, Sam Young, and Z Burr were all in the mix for a possible Shuksan ski climb or something similar. But alas, avy danger was in the red as the weekend approached. Everyone but Jillson bailed, and we decided on some mellow cragging in Leavenworth. We rolled into town and hit up the climbing shop to ask about details of the recent landslide and its effects on camping options. We were advised that Eightmile CG was still closed and blocked by the slide. That ended up only being partly true - closed, but not blocked. The gal recommended we check out Mountain View Road for some poached camping. We checked it out, and were not disappointed. We didn't make it to the end of the road where the supposed site exists with a picnic table, but we found a great spot nonetheless and built a fire pit.
Morning came and we chose to drive out to Peshastin first, as it was a bit chilly and neither of us had ever climbed there. We climbed a variation of Diagonal Direct on the Martian Tower, which is 2 pitches, 5.8, bolted. Matt led the first pitch, which was true to Peshastin style in that it was quite run out, with some good bolts, and some loose relics. I took the second pitch. Matt was gonna lead it all in one, but we couldn't figure out where to go. The guide said to follow a flaring crack, and to supplement with gear if desired. The only flaring crack we could see was far to climbers left, which is not described in the book. I led it anyway, which was really fun. But it topped out on the summit ridge and there was not an anchor to be found anywhere! I ended up scooting down the arete "au cheval" until arriving at the belay anchor at the top of the true second pitch of DD.
Here's Matt coming down to the rap station:
After that debacle, we bailed and headed to the Icicle. We both vowed to never hit Peshastin again unless it was raining or snowing in the Icicle.
Views of Mt. Stuart from the Martian Tower:
Matt picked out a 4-pitch route on Duty Dome called Heart of Gold, 5.10-, 3 stars. It was a lot of fun. It was mostly bolted, with a few supplemental gear placements. The first and third pitches were spicy face climbing, and the second and fourth pitches were cruiser slabs (really easy).
We had a nice view of the approach to the Mole and the Rat Creek Group all day:
Matt prepares for the walkoff from Heart of Gold:
From there we wanted to do some crack climbing to beef up our skills. Dogleg Crack was taken. Instead we drove up to check out the landslide and see how close to Classic Crack we could get. The landslide stops 10 feet short of the driveway into the Eightmile CG, and covers about 200 yards of road. It is impressive!
Classic Jillson:
The origin of the landslide. We were guessing that a log or logs must have dammed up the creek and then busted, because it didn't look at all like avalanche debris.
Looking back down from just above the proximal end:
It was about a 10 minute walk to Classic Crack. We set up a TR and lapped it. We both got spanked at first, but got the hang of it after a few tries. I tried placing gear while on TR without falling, and managed but it was tough. Don't think I'll be leading it real soon.
Overall, a nice short trip with a good buddy, great weather, and good to be back on rock again.
