Rebecca, Ryan and I climb Outer Space (III 5.9) on Snow Creek wall

On a rainy weekend in the beginning of October my wife Rebecca, Ryan O'Connell and I drove over to Leavenworth to climb Outer Space on the snow Creek Wall for an upcoming Classic Climbs article and I needed some photos. While I have climbed Outer Space many times I was extremely excited to climb it with Rebecca because for all the climbing she has done in Washington (And all the sometimes burly, loose and run-out routes we try together) she has never climbed Outer Space. It was raining in the parking lot when we arrived but only lightly and with an improving forecast we decided that it might even be a good thing and less crowded.

 

 Ryan and Rebecca on the Approach to the Snow Creek Wall, even from a great distance the awesome head wall crack is obvious.  I was excited to climb with both Rebecca and Ryan again something the three of us hadn't done since the previous October for our 2:20 hr ascent of Town Crier (IV 5.9 C2)

 Here Rebecca is following the end of the famous "Outer Space" pitch, named because of the airy traverse out over a roof and the threat of a big fall might land you in Outer Space. You can tell by Rebecca's layers it wasn't that war.

Above is Rebecca leading the First of the two amazing head wall pitches,

Another head wall shot of Rebecca,

Do these ever get old, this pitch certainly doesn't

Rebecca topping out the pitch.

Rebecca belaying Ryan up to Library Ledge

 Rebecca and Ryan sitting on the comfortable and exposed Library ledge. Library Ledge splits the two 150ft head wall pitches in half and takes small cams, a blessing for sure otherwise you need even more #2 and #3's

Rebecca and Ryan discussing something on the top of Snow Creek Wall

Rebecca and Ryan disagreeing on which way to go or where something is or .....?

Am I the luckiest guy in the world or what

The Southern Man (IV 5.12a or 5.10a C1)

The Southern Man (IV 5.12a or 5.9 C1) was put up by Mark Allen, Joel Kauffman, and Leaghan Falley in August of 2008 at 5.9+ C1 and Freed by Bryan Burdo and Bobby??? in Sept of 2009 at 5.12a. Bryan spent 3 days cleaning the aid pitches and called them so of the best free climbing at the Pass, this was something I had to check out. The route follows the normal Direct East Buttress (DEB) of South Early Winter Spire (SEWS) for the first 4 pitches, then when the DEB goes right on a bolt ladder, The Southern Man breaks out left on a series of corners, going up a 130' 5.10a pitch, then the first ascensionest did a 105ft aid pitch followed by a 195ft aid pitch, Bryan Burdo broke it up (as most free climbers will likey do) into 3 "hard" pitches, each around 100ft long and all stopping at small stances.

 I hiked up to do the route with Tino Villanueva on Sept 29th, the day before my birthday (Yeah!!!!). We had just climbed SEWS less than 12 hrs early completing the Liberty Traverse the previous day. We where stoked to climb in the sun!!!!

 Tino starting up the first pitch of the DEB, Tino lead the first block, climbing the first 4 pitches in 2 pitches (with a fair amount of simul-climbing) with each pitch averaging about 250ft. Way to go Tino 

 Looking up at the corners heading up and left that marks the point where the Southern Man leaves the DEB.

 Tino following pitch 5 (5.10a) which was really fun climbing on Solid Rock. Tino has a pretty heavy pack on. We went heavier than we needed to (In retrospect) because of the cold temperatures of the previous day we brought a ton of cloths, most of which we didn't use while we were in the sun.

 Me starting up the 5.12a pitch (Stoked to have no pack on, thanks Tino!!!), I made some attempts to free climb this pitch, but certainly ended up aiding on some gear, its pretty incredible, super splitter, steep and sustained, 105ft, 5.12a, bring lots of finger and small finger sized pieces and some med sized nuts, there is a nut fixed by BB at the crux, leave it, you'll be stoked it's there, belay and the next takes 4" piece, leads to a small stance.

   Tino had a heavy pack (freaking heavy, WTF did we have!!!) and claimed he hadn't been climbing enough (plus too much guiding, though he almost sent Rainy day woman (5.12a) a couple days after this trip). So after some talk back and forth to save time, to stay out of the burtal shade and to prepare for our single day push of T-Trip in mid to late October he decided to jug the harder pitches, since he was jugging, I might as well short fix to save time. After Tino arrived at the anchor and put me on belay I tried to free climb as much as possible  but certainly aided on some gear. I'd like to come back when climbing in the shade wasn't miserable and try to send this thing, it really is spectacular, the route might not be as sustained as the passenger, but these three pitches pack a punch. The route is a super splitter 5 stars for sure. The short fixing was fun and it was good to move quickly up steep terrain. The three crux pitches are Steep and go at 5.12a, 5.11b and 5.11b and final short 5.9 section on a long pitch brings you near the summit 15 feet from where the DEB tops out. The route is also good for folks who still want a 5.10a C1 aid route, the aid is straight forward and the wall still steep and clean.

Me climbing on the 8th pitch

The Liberty Traverse (V/IV 5.9)

 

The famed Liberty Bell group Traverse (V 5.9 )

Tino Villanueva and I drove up to Washington pass Sept 28th knowing it was going to be cold (near freezing temps at the pass when we arrived at 9am) and that it had snowed nearly an inch down to around 6500ft the previous day and the snow was still hanging around in most shady places. Tino had been wondering about bolts so we wasted a hour or so talking about them waiting for the temperature to warm up. I had a few moderate routes in the Liberty Bell group to do for the book so we decided with the new snow it might be best to keep it mellow.

 Tino Starting the Third pitch of the "Girl next door"(II 5.9-), this leaves the same belay as the top of the second pitch on the Becky route and climbs the arete to the left of the big third pitch corner

We didn't leave the parking lot until 12:30pm waiting for the west faces to go into the sun. We started off on Liberty Bell, climbing the Girl Next door (II 5.9), claiming what I believe is the third ascent. The route starts at the lowest toe of rock below the Becky route and shares belays with the Becky routes 2nd and third pitches. The route isn't as good as the Becky route but is decent and will clean up with time. The first pitch climbs mostly slabby terrain to ta two bolt anchor even with the start of the Becky route.  Then climbs straight up with a very short 5.9- section and a terrible 5.3 "Kitty litter pillar". Tino has still never climbed the Becky route, whats up with that craziness? After the Girl next door I had to finish up all the variations on the North Face of Concord including one that we had dubbed the North Face "Directisimo" (II 5.8).

 As you can see Tino following below on the top of the "Second" pitch it was snowy and cold.

Tino Belaying back in the sun near the top of Concord Tower, we had planned to simul-climb the whole route but the icy conditions forced us to pitch it out, the steep cracks where fine but the low angle face was very icy and SCARY at times.

 After climbing Concord tower we decided rather than walk down the wet, snowy icy gully it would be "Faster" and more fun to just rap down the South Face of Concord and climb up over Lexington Tower and rap it's south face. Tino on the ridge South of Lexington, this leads to a short exposed third class section which leads to a short 70ft rappel and an easy walk over to the base of North Early Winter Spire (NEWS)

 Tino Walking over toward NEWS after the rappel. After speaking with Larry Goldie I wasn't sure I went the correct way on the last pitch of the Chock Stone route (II 5.7), So I wanting to make sure I got it right. Tino wondered "Do people actually climb up this thing"?. Well they do and Tino was nice enough to climb up it. Larry said go all the way right and I wasn't sure if I had gone "right enough". But it turns out I did but at least we got to bag our 4th tower of the day.

Here I am standing on the summit of NEWS at 6:45pm. Not bad considering we hadn't started climbing until 2pm and everything was cold and snowy.  We decided after rappelling NEWS with the last of our day light that we climbed 4 towers, might as well climb 5. The South West Rib (III 5.8+) on South Early Winter Spire is in my opinion the best 5.8 in the state. It is due west facing and had very little snow on it. Tino and I climbed the route in the Dark with no moon (But spectacular views of the Milky way and the night's stars) justifying it to ourselves as "its good practice to intentionally climb in the dark" and "might as well finish off the traverse". It was just plane fun, while the darkness, temperature and slight dampness made it hardly the 26 minutes Chris McNamara climbed it in in 2009, Tino and I still did a respectable 1:20 on route.

 Tino starting the second pitch "Wavy hand crack" by head lamp, too much fun!!!! Also if you have an opinion on if the Liberty Bell Traverse should be grade IV or Grade V let me know, It takes me longer to do the LB traverse than LB crack, also the LB traverse normally means climbing something on the south face of LB, something on the North face of Concord Tower and Lexington, rapping each of their south faces, then west face or NW corner of NEWS rap the Chock stone route and climb up the SW rib and down the S arete, so 2 grade III's, three grade II's 26 pitches. Took Tino and I 5 hrs in the dark, snowy and cold, but it took us 4 hrs for Clean break (Grade IV+), 4 hrs for Liberty Crack (Grade V)(With Jason Broman) and 2:15 on Town Crier (Grade 4). I also feel a normal team might struggle to complete this in a day, but give me your feed back!!!!!!

Burgundy Spire, Action Potential (III+ 5.10c)

 The East face of Burgundy Spire, pretty sweet looking, Man I was just here a couple days ago.

I climbed Ultra Mega OK (III+ 5.11a) just a few days prior not even realizing that Action Potential started about 10 feet to the Left. The cracks on the right are the start of Ultra Mega and the arching flake crack is the start of Action Potential. Man does that granite look good.

Me on the crux of the first pitch pulling over these crazy looking roofs, they look like they are going to be really hard but end up only being 5.9. That is sort of the story with the whole route, pitches look like they are going to be run out and hard but cracks and holds appear right were you need them most

No pitch was more like that than the third pitch, you almost can't even see any cracks and it looks like a blank slab with a slightly overhanging blank face above. Little did Jason Broman know that the slab had a 5.7 finger crack in it and the slab had two cracks and only a one move wonder 5.9. I wish we had some photos of the crux but alas. It is quite fun and it looks like it was even scrubbed a little. From the top of the 2nd pitch it traverses slightly left and pulls a blocky roof and gains a sweet and sustained 5.10c finger crack.  after climbing the finger crack for around 80ft it then breaks out and climbs a bunch of steep, juggy and slightly spooky flakes to a belay.

After the spooky flakes pitch Jason traversed around the corner for a fun pitch of 4th class to the base of a huge chimney.

Here I am climbing up the chimney. I don't think I stopped to short and climbed a full 200ft pitch to a ledge, of fun but sometimes loose chimney climbing. After the chimney was really the only downer of the entire climb, a 150ft kitty litter OW, the rock wasn't bad fort the whole pitch but when it was bad, it was way bad. I broke a hug foot hold and almost took a 50 footer. This lead to the Shoulder of Burgundy Spire. There was a group of three guys climbing up the regular North face route who where confused where we came from. We finished on the Original Becky finish, something I had never done before, it climbs right up the left hand arete past a small 5.8 roof with an old 1/4 bolt.  then follows just below the skyline on the north side until the final summit OW. We rapped down and packed up our bags, giving up on hopes to climb Varden Creek Spire the next day because of an impending storm.

Burgundy Spire, Ultra Mega OK (III+ 5.11a)

After a casual 7am wake up at our camp at Burgundy Col, we descending thto the edge of the Silver Star Glacier,  putting crampons on our approach shoes and daggering rocks in the semi-steep snow, making our way over to the East face of Burgundy

 The start of the first pitch, Super clean Splitter granite, too bad the whole route isn't this clean, the rock is as a whole pretty good

 Looking down at Andy Dahlen while climbing up the first pitch

 Andy Following the first fantastic pitch, Turns out Action Potential starts like 10ft to the left.

 Andy climbing a short and awkward chimney to a .75-2" splitter crack, it wasn't even that dirty this route is going to be awesome

 Andy and I trying to figure out where the third pitch goes?

 Looking down the 3ed pitch, this pitch did have some loose blocks and flakes and was quite dirty

 Andy Climbing up to the Crux, changing corner overhanging roofs pitch, turns out we should have climbed this section slightly to our right in a thinner seam

  Where do we go part 2, the topo said a crack, we climbed a face to a corner below the ridge crest, is this the way? Turns out the route did go through the roofs right above us. After the first 4 pitches the topo, was harder to follow or are 5 big days where catching up to us.

 Andy hitting the Ridge, where did we go, where did the route go? At last I would climb Action Potential a few days later and rap in and top rope the proper way. Guess I should talk to Mark Allen.

 On the big ledge that separates Piasano pinnacle from Burgundy, having fun, but a little frustrated at the route finding, lichen covered faces and dirty filled cracks. Did you climb the route or where we lost

Ah the last 250ft vertical hike back up to the Car, always a pain

Rampage (III 5.10d) on Piasano Pinnacle

  On Sept 19th 2011 Andy Dahlen and I hiked up to Burgundy Col, set up camp and climbed Rampage (III 5.10d) on our first day. We hiked up to the Col in 2 hrs and 30 minutes, pretty good time considering our heavy packs.  This was the first time I ever camped at Burgundy Col.  Every time I have every been there it has been super windy so we brought a fair bit of warm cloths and a burly tent.  Turns out it was super nice, relatively warm and not a breath of wind.

 Hanging out at the Col waiting for the face to go into the sun, rocking out to my Iphone. What can I say Every day I'm Hustling

 After soloing up the first bit of 4th class here I am tackling the first of many stellar pitches

 Andy on the super sweet sustain 5.10c second pitch, the pitch is mostly sustained 5.10b fingers but pulling the rood is a little harder (5.10c?) and Andy took a decent sized fall.

 Looking up the same amazing second pitch right before Andy's wipe

 Andy following the 5.10d crux third pitch, this pitch was just off balance, a slightly leaning some times flaring finger to hands crack, but wicked fun never the less.

 Andy climbing up and leading the final pitch. Ahhh, where to go where to go, there where three options and after a lot of looking around we did really go through the overhanging OW, they looked super hard from below, but once actually climbing them, they really weren't that bad (5.9+) and had pro in the back, something you couldn't tell from below.

 Looking up the final OW pitch

 Looking down the final OW pitch with the sun starting to set, luckily we were only rapping right back down to our tent at Burgundy Col, this is the life!!!!

Rampage is the big obvious corner just to the right of the summit, its a stellar 5 star climb on excellent rock with great protection