Vantage, February 20-21: Spring is Here

Sketchy and Denny had to work on Saturday, but I knew there would be plenty of Seattle climbers looking to take advantage of the unseasonably warm and dry weekend. Sure enough, I found a Saturday morning ride with Nikki’s friends Dennis, Bill, and Tigger the dog. We joined another large group of people, who turned out to all know each other from a Mountaineers Basic Class. It was a kind of unwieldy group in terms of the number of people and the kind of routes we wanted to do, so we did the default of hanging around the Feathers and then hanging around the Sunshine Wall.

Sunshine at the Sunshine Wall

Bill and Dennis weren’t staying the night, so I said goodbye to them in the parking lot and made my way across the campground to look for Denny’s red Subaru in the usual spot. When I dropped my bags off next to it I heard some yelling from the Feathers. Denny and Sketchy were apparently getting a few quick climbs in before dark. I grabbed my harness, shoes, and headlamp and went up to join them, just in time to watch Denny take a spectacular penduluming lead fall. I was glad to have the headlamp to help finish that route.

On Sunday my goal for the day was to go back to a route that I tried to lead — and needed my gear rescued on — more than three years ago. I didn’t know the name of the route when I tried it, so all I remembered was that it was 10+ish, started out on the less steep left side of a big overhang in the entablature with 11s and 12s, traversed right on a jumble of jugs and slopers, and finished on vertical balancey stuff in the gas pocket layer. The guidebook picture and description of Pornstar on the Fat Man Wall seemed to fit this description, so we headed straight over there in the morning. When we got there, it didn’t look right — in particular it didn’t look overhanging enough for me to have taken a 15 foot lead fall on. I figured the length of the fall had increased in my memories after 3 years. It turned out to be an onsight because I have actually never been on that route before. I’m still not sure what the route I did three years ago was, but I have another candidate (Queen of the Gym at Powerhouse).

Since I’d gotten my goal for the day out of the way already (or what I thought it was), and I’d gotten some remarks about me “showing off” from Sketchy, I kind of backed off deciding what to do and let him run the show instead, so we went back upstairs to the Sunshine Wall. After a couple of nice longer crack routes, we went to the lower level again to the Jigsaw Wall. I tried the easiest route on the wall, a 10c, but it became clear that I was the only one who wanted to climb any more, so we left after that. I would like to go back to Jigsaw when we are more in the mood for it.

• The Feathers, Dance of the Shaman 5.10b sport (lead) we had kind of an unwieldy group in terms of group size and grade spread, especially for the Feathers
• Sunshine Wall, Boschido 5.10b sport (lead)1314 clips (fortunately the last bolt is easy to back clean) — fell off just about halfway like I always do on this route
• Sunshine Wall, Vantage Point 5.8 sport (TR) TR’d to clean after Dennis led it
• Sunshine Wall/Tilted Pillars, Chapstick 5.6 trad (lead) We played around on this while waiting someone to finish TRing on the Preying Mantel anchor. The guidebook says it’s “a nice beginner’s crack” — the climbing is easy enough but the gear placements might not be close enough for a real beginner
• The Feathers, Wish I Were Skiing at 49 5.10b sport (gear rescue) headlamp climbing!
• Fat Man Wall, Day Tripper 5.9 sport (lead)
• Fat Man Wall, Pornstar 5.10c sport (lead) not the route I thought it was, but still fun
• Sunshine Wall, Tangled Up in Blue 5.9 trad (lead)
• Sunshine Wall, George and Martha 5.10a trad (gear rescue)
• Jigsaw Wall, Jigsaw 5.10c sport (lead)