Colchuck Balanced Rock - The West Face 5.11+

CBR. The West Face route goes up the center of the wall through
the obvious triangular roof.

There's something cleansing about a good day of suffering. I often feel refreshed after having an experience that forces me into new realms of exhaustion or discomfort. It's what drives me to go camp out in the desert under some of the worst conditions imaginable, and occasionally it's what drives me toward really long days in the mountains.

As is often the case this time of year, a late-summer apathy was creeping into my thoughts. After so many months of training and climbing and neglecting other aspects of my life I get complacent, or bored, or something. My thoughts drift toward other, far-off adventures and I have a hard time living in the moment. Re-focusing myself can require a monumental effort. One effort that I set my sights on earlier in the year (when my motivation was much higher) was the West Face of Colchuck Balanced Rock, car-to-car, in a day.

Generally I avoid long approaches like the plague. I'm a rock climber - if I enjoyed endless slogs I would be a mountaineer. The past couple years I hiked into the Enchantments before the permit season started, taking a much more leisurely two (or more) days to hike and climb. This year the permit season was extended so that it began before any of the peaks in the range were in climbing condition. Anyone who lives in the Northwest knows what a pain in the ass it is to get a permit for the Enchantments, so that leaves us climbers focusing more on single-day objectives.

The West Face is one of the all-time classic hard alpine routes in the Cascades. It certainly isn't the hardest climbing I've done, but combined with the long, steep approach it would make for a very difficult day. A worthy challenge to shake off the August apathy.

Reed and I drove to the Stuart Lake trailhead on Friday night and slept at the trailhead. The alarm went off at 5:00 AM and was greeted with plenty of bitching and moaning. We packed up and left the trailhead at 5:30. The first leg of the approach is the hike up to Colchuck Lake. The trail starts out leisurely until the angle kicks back, gaining another 2000-something feet to the lake. We made it to the lake in about 1:40, a good time in any regard. Colchuck Lake might be one of the most perfect places on this face of this earth, so we took a decent break there to snap some photos and eat a snack.

Dragontail

At that point the approach leaves the main trail, crossing the dam at the North end of the lake and taking off uphill, following a steep climber's trail. This trail is unrelenting with very few switchbacks, and the best way to get it done is just zen out and ignore your burning calves. It seemed to go on forever but after only 50 minutes and maybe 1500 feet of elevation gained we were at the boulder field below CBR, and I was reminded how special this place is. It might be Washington's best kept secret, since there is no reason for non-climbers to go up there. We were lucky that there was no one else up there except one party working on a new route to the left of the West Face.

A somewhat sketchy scramble brought us to the start of the route and we were off, shaking out our still-burning legs when we could. A long 5.10c pitch followed by an even longer 5.9 pitch (one of the best pitches of 5.9 in the range?) brought us to the base of the first of a series of three 5.11 pitches, the Enduro Corner. No move on this 190-ft pitch is harder than 5.10c, but after the tiring approach the sustained laybacking definitely got my heart rate up. I managed to hang on and onsight the pitch.

Reed following the Enduro Corner

The second 5.11 pitch involves a bizarre traverse out the left side of the huge, triangular roof (the most obvious feature of the wall). Reed took the lead and made it through with a little bit of french-free. I was able to barely make it through. Wearing a backpack on this pitch was a mistake.

One of the coolest belay ledges around, with a great view of Mt. Stuart.

Third 5.11 pitch, the true crux. By this point in the day the cumulative fatigue was really building. I looked up at the roof above with a feeling of dread. But it was my lead, so off I went. Most of the pitch is a really pleasant (although somewhat sharp) 5.9 hand crack. I climbed through that to the start of the crux, a powerful 3-move sequence around a roof. I placed a cam, started to pull into the roof, but the will wasn't there. I let slip my least favorite four-letter word, "take". So that was that. I wasn't attached to the idea of onsighting the route, and Reed and agreed at the beginning of the day we just wanted to get up the thing and back to the car in one piece. Besides, this leaves me something to go back for and now I know the crux moves.

Colchuck Lake taunted us far below.

Following the crux were about three more pitches of climbing but only one of them worried us. The "hardest 5.8 in Washington", a bizarre chimney/offwidth/handcrack feature that some people feel is the crux of the climb. I did manage to onsight that pitch with a combination of some of the wildest moves I have done on granite (knee lock - double hand jam - cut feet - heel hook inside the chimney - 180 degree spin - knee bar......WHAT??). Some of my proudest climbing of the day. We trudged up the final 300ish feet of climbing to the summit, took a short rest and started the descent.

WTF WAS THAT? 5.8????

We made it to the Lake before dark and finished the rest of the hike by  headlamp. 17 hours after leaving the car and 4.5 hours after standing on the summit we stumbled back to the parking lot, very seriously asking ourselves why the hell we did that to ourselves.

Dragontail treated us to some mighty fine alpenglow on the hike down.

That plus a couple weeks off has me ready to take on the Fall sending season. On top of that, Stephanie and I have an exciting new project. We just bought a cargo van that we are in the process of converting to a camper, with the intent of leaving to travel Central and South America by land sometime in 2018! I am excited and terrified but getting in over my head is what I do best.

The Cowboy State

Stephanie at the French Cattle Ranch. Photo cred: Tony Kim

Ten Sleep:

Blue sky

Green grass

Country music

Mountains

Flies

Lots of flies

Winding roads

Clear creeks

Alpine lakes
Delicious trout
Moose

Oh yeah, climbing

Lots of climbing
Miles and miles of climbing
BBQ
Whiskey
Trucks
Late mornings
Afternoon thunder storms
Best guidebook ever
Climber's Festival
Friendly locals
Climbing
Falling
Climbing
Vacation









I'm not sure how else to summarize Ten Sleep Canyon. It is my happy place. A lifetime worth of established climbing with another lifetime worth of potential. It is the most relaxing climbing area I have ever been to. Generally nobody climbs before about 1:00 PM because that's when most of the walls go into the shade. That means long mornings filled with fishing, reading, and big breakfasts followed by long evenings of amazing sport climbing. What more could I want out of a climbing vacation?

No filter needed. #wyomingthings

A photo posted by James Ellis (@james.tiberius.ellis) on Jul 8, 2016 at 6:50pm PDT

This was my second visit to Ten Sleep. Stephanie, Reed, Tony and I drove through the night from Seattle to meet up with James, Melissa and their friends Dan and Stacy. Overall we spent 8 days in the canyon.

Bighorn dolomite glory. #tensleep #climbing #wyomingthings

A photo posted by James Ellis (@james.tiberius.ellis) on Jul 7, 2016 at 12:16pm PDT

Of course, everyone absolutely killed it on the rock. This was one of Stephanie's first real climbing trips and she really hit her stride on the edgy, pockety Bighorn dolomite, flashing a whole bunch of 5.10's and getting up her first couple 5.11's (including one 5.11c! damn girl!). Reed hit a big milestone when he sent his first 5.12a, called Oo La La. It is a gorgeous 100-ft sweeping arete that requires good pump management. He and Tony worked the route together. Tony sent first (EDIT: I have been informed that James Higgins started the send train), telling us all to be quiet rather than cheering him on, which made for an intense redpoint. Not cheering can be really hard! Reed was up next, just in time for a thunderstorm to roll in. He climbed confidently and rested well, even managing to hold it together when a crucial heel hook blew. He crimped his way through the pumpy face above the arete with thunder clapping overhead and finally clipped the chains on his first 5.12, and a proud one at that. I'm not sure who got the "most intense redpoint" award of the day.

Reed sending Vitamin K, 5.11c

A photo posted by Tony Archie Kim (@tony.archie) on Jul 19, 2016 at 9:40am PDT

As for me, I was able to send Kyberspace 5.13a/b, which may or may not be my first 5.13, depending on who you ask (I previously did a couple routes with the enigmatic 12d/13a grade). It follows a gorgeous line up some cool compression features that end with a crux stab to a pocket, followed by another 60 feet of pumpy technical face climbing. Amazing! I also managed to onsight a bunch of 5.12s and almost snagged a second-try send of Crown Prince Abdullah 5.12d until tragedy struck. I was above the crux, going for the send when I stabbed to a two-finger pocket and felt something wet. I looked at my finger and it was covered in blood. Turns out that pocket has a nice sharp edge on it that tore a monster flapper on my middle finger. That was the end of my day. Fortunately tape and super glue kept me going for the rest of the week. Next time, Crown Prince. Next time.

Myself on Crown Prince Abdullah shortly before circumcising my finger. Photo cred: Tony Kim

Sadly we eventually had to return to civilization and were bombarded with stories of police officers shooting people, people shooting police officers, and Pokemon taking over the world. Never leave the mountains, kids.


....
More photos!

@skulseth15 totally crushed in Ten Sleep last week, btw.

A photo posted by James Ellis (@james.tiberius.ellis) on Jul 14, 2016 at 3:27pm PDT

Overhangs. #clymblife #photographingstrangers #tensleep

A photo posted by Tony Archie Kim (@tony.archie) on Jul 21, 2016 at 7:49am PDT

Myself nearing the anchor on Kyberspace

A photo posted by Tony Archie Kim (@tony.archie) on Jul 17, 2016 at 11:23pm PDT

Oh baby.

Cool drone shot courtesy of Tony.

Meadowlark Lake

Tony on Vitamin K

Unfortunately this is the only photo I got of Reed on Oo La La. This is him working the moves on top rope, sadly I forgot to take photos of him during the redpoint.

Reed's Catch from Ten Sleep Creek, just below Meadowlark Lake

Ten Sleep Climbers Fest

Team Slip Nips

Oh the passenger, how he rides...

I've had a little bug dancing around in my head. Ever since I climbed the Hitchhiker, he just wouldn't shut up. "Go climb the Passenger" he said. "Forget all those other spires, South Early Winter is all that matters".

"Oh, let's ride and ride and ride."

Fortunately for me Reed didn't even put up a fight when I asked him to climb the Passenger with me. Somehow I hadn't climbed with Reed in a month and a half. Somehow Reed had also never climbed at Washington Pass. I'm not sure which was more bizarre. At that, plans were made. Once I get a bug in my head it won't leave me alone until I do what it tells me. It hasn't led me astray yet.

SE Face of SEWS. Next up: The Southern Man (upper right portion of the wall)

This climb has actually been on my mind for quite a while, and was one of my summer goals that I was most eager to tick off. Although it is technically shorter than its neighbor the Hitchhiker, it is quite a bit more challenging, with rock quality that is as good or better than the Hitchhiker. While the two hardest pitches featured short, powerful cruxes, the 5.10 and 5.11 pitches seemed much more physical and sustained than those found on the Hitchhiker. In short it was a worthwhile challenge that I am stoked to tick off so early in the summer.

On Friday night we drove to the Blue Lake trailhead and camped in the empty parking lot. We were in no hurry the next morning and had a leisurely breakfast before starting the hike, which turned out to be a mistake as we arrived at the base of the wall just as another party was starting. This slowed our day down significantly, as the other party was hauling a large pack on every pitch (WHY?!) and we spent a lot of time waiting for them to progress ahead of us. Come on guys, fast is safe. Oh well, at least they were friendly.

A mist clung to the spires throughout most of the morning, and a high cloud cover remained throughout the day making the climb much colder than we expected.

Regardless, the climbing on this route is ridiculously good. The pitches are long but still each one left me wanting more. The line weaves its way through massive roofs which provide awesome exposure. Every time I am on this wall I get this weird floating feeling, sort of like a pleasant vertigo as I look down toward the highway 1500 feet below. It pushes me into that hyper-aware state that I have only ever found through climbing. The rest of the world disappears and I become so intensely focused on my immediate surroundings, noticing minute textural variations in the rock, the sound my shoe makes when I place my foot, how my protection interacts with individual quartz crystals in the granite. It's strenuous and meditative and exhilarating all at once.

Pitch 3, 5.11-. One of my favorites, it followed a splitter finger crack to a tricky pull around a roof on flared jams.

But I digress. We agreed to lead  the climb in blocks, with me leading the first half of the pitches and Reed leading the second. We ended up swinging leads on the second half to save time so I ended up leading something like five of the pitches. If any of these pitches were located on the ground at Index or Leavenworth they would be ultra-classic four star routes. Each had perfect gear the whole way, with the exception of the crux pitch which had an exciting but safe runout on the 5.11 traverse. That section definitely pushed my comfort zone a bit, and made the true crux (a v5-ish boulder problem right by a bolt) feel relatively tame. There's plenty of beta online for this line so I won't waste time with a pitch-by-pitch breakdown. See the topo above.

I definitely suggest linking pitches 2 and 3 from that topo, as well as 4 and 5. The direct finish was enjoyable 5.10- crack climbing and is quickly becoming the standard, rather than the 5.7 escape to the left.

Reed's face should indicate how much fun we were having mid-day.

After the crux we worked our way through the remaining ridiculously fun 5.10 pitches and ultimately topped out quite a bit later than we were planning. Near the end I was starting to feel unusually fatigued, so we rappelled quickly and started the hike down. After half an hour of hiking I had to admit to myself that I had caught the cold that Stephanie had been dealing with last week. We talked about possible climbs for Sunday and I feigned enthusiasm, not wanting to ruin Reed's stoke. I think he caught on and we decided to sport climb at Newhalem instead (which we didn't end up doing either because the area is currently closed).

Reed's face should indicate how worked we felt by the end of the day.

Overall it was a good day and I feel fortunate that I managed to get through the climb before the plague took hold. Although a footwork mistake cost me the onsight I felt really good about my climbing and I am now looking toward the harder projects of the summer. But for now I am on a steady regimen of dayquil and spicy food to get healthy before I leave for Ten Sleep, Wyoming this weekend.

Managed to catch a great sunset between all my sneezing and sniffling.

"We'll see the bright and hollow sky.."

The Hitchhiker, Washington Pass 5.11a/b 9p

I guess I have to kick this thing off at some point, and Saturday's smooth ascent of the Hitchhiker seems like a good excuse.

This summer almost all of my goals revolve around the world-class alpine rock that we are so fortunate to have in Washington. Last summer I was pretty busy getting married and stuff, so I generally could only make time for sport climbing. While I do love me some sport climbing, venues such as Washington Pass and the Enchantments are much more inspiring and generally bring out the best in me. I decided several months ago that the big objective of the year will be The Tiger at Washington Pass, but I have a long road to reach that point at the end of the summer. Fortunately all of the routes that will help me progress to that point are equally stunning and worthy objectives of their own.

The Tiger, possibly the prettiest climb in the PNW

With summer in full swing here in the Northwest I decided it was time to leave the lowlands and tick off the easiest of my progression routes: The Hitchhiker on South Early Winter Spire. Fortunately Lucas was available and psyched to get outside, so we made plans to leave at 5:00 AM on Saturday so that we could get home that night. Alpine start, right? After a couple minor hiccups on the drive we arrived at the Blue Lake Trailhead at about 8:45. Not quite alpine start.

Lucas nearing the top of the snowfield below South Early Winter Spire

The trail is still hidden under snow so we set out into the woods in what we were pretty sure was the right direction. An hour or so later we popped out into the meadow below the Liberty Bell Group. Following an existing bootpack up the snowfield, we encountered a few skiers but very few climbers. We took our time on the approach, enjoying the views of what is arguably one of the most beautiful regions of the entire country.

North Cascades Glory

Some shenanigans finding the right climb put us at the base at about 11:00 am, just in time for an early lunch. Okay, finally on the rock at 11:30 am. Definitely not an alpine start.

Lucas leading pitch 2

I led us up the first pitch (5.10d) through fun stemming and laybacking to a comfortable belay ledge. Having not climbed on granite much lately I expected this pitch to feel a bit more challenging but instead I found it to be fun and just hard enough to make a good warmup. Lucas continued up pitch 2, which involved quality slab and face climbing, capped by a left-leaning layback to a small belay stance.


























Pitches 3 and 4 involved more entertaining mid-5.10 climbing. We moved quickly, wasting no time at the belays. Momentum and psyche remained high as we climbed through the following three pitches, which all fell somewhere in the 5.11a-5.11b range. Lucas dug deep and pulled off an impressive onsight of the cruxy pitch 6 finger crack.

Yours truly leading pitch 7

One more 5.10 hand crack and a pitch of 4th class scrambling put us on the summit of South Early Winter Spire after about 5 hours of climbing, extremely psyched to tick off the first climb at Washington Pass of the season with each of us onsighting the climb. We took in the view for a few minutes and then started the descent. A group of new climbers was rappelling the South Arete and were kind enough to let us pass them and rappel their ropes, which sped up our descent significantly.

We made it back to the car around 7:00, feeling much better than I expected to after the first climb of the alpine season. Well enough to fit in some 90+ degree sport climbing the following day at Little Si! Overall it was a very encouraging weekend that bodes well for the rest of the summer.

Psychosomatic, 5.12d

Now for some bonus photos!

The view from mid-route

Pitch 5

Lucas on pitch 7

Memorable descent

Boring? Probably. Self Indulgent? Definitely.

Intro posts are lame so I'll keep this short.

I am a weekend warrior by design. That means I work hard during the week to lead a somewhat normal life while still pursuing big adventures when I can. As a result, I spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about climbing, selecting objectives, training, sanding my fingertips, nursing injuries, neglecting human relationships, and generally obsessing over things that don't matter at all in the grand scheme of things. This is only exacerbated by the fact that I generally surround myself with non-climbers (also by design) in a probably failed attempt at not becoming a one-dimensional human being.

At this point I have no idea what this blog will be. It could simply be a log of my ascents. Or it could be a place to process the experiences that the mountains provide me. Maybe I'll just bitch about how my training isn't going as planned and I never have enough time in the mountains. Or maybe this is where I will finally open up about  my mountain goat fetish. Tune in next week to find out!