Washington Pass Climbing

After a day of rest and organization, I drove up to Washington Pass with fellow examinees Justin Merle and Pat Ormond for some more climbing/training. The Washington Pass area is on the east side of the range, so it generally experiences more stable weather than the west side of the range. If the weather forecast is marginal for the west side, there is a good chance that it's not raining on Washington Pass. Luckily, the weather forecast for the next few days was perfect though the temps were predicted to be in the mid 80's (hot!).

(Pat on the 5.8 layback crack)

On Sunday we planned to approach and climb the NW Corner route on North Early Winter Spire. The rock in this area is, for lack of a better word, perfect. Think multi-pitch rock climbing in an alpine setting with good friction on salt-and-pepper granite.

The NW Corner is a 5 pitch crack climb, with a few pitches of 5.8 and one wide (4") 5.9 corner providing the bulk of the difficulties. The climbing is solid and enjoyable the whole way with good belay ledges and adequate protection for the most part. The summit is a broad plateau providing excellent view of the entire Liberty group and other peaks in the North Cascades. The descent was recently rigged with two bolt rappell anchors at 30 meter intervals. Nice to rappell with only 1 rope!!

(Justin using good layback technique)

I continue to be impressed with the breadth of the Cascade Range. There is a reason that there are 3 volumes of the Beckey Guidebooks. There is literally a lifetime worth of climbing to do here. If only it never rained here.........

(View of Cutthroat Peak from the summit of N. Early Winter Spire)

Great day of climbing and we're looking forward to the NE Ridge of Black Peak tomorrow. Stay tuned......