I think there is a little road side cragging at the pass, just down from the big bend. We also noticed some bolted 10 -20 meter clip ups on either side of the avy gully heading up to the early winter spires. I think there's enough variety of things to do there to keep a whole family happy for a while.
Excellent hiking objectives.
Good burgers and Pizza down at that little town too.
Good burgers and Pizza down at that little town too.
We often go to Winthrop (that little town) for dinner during or after trips to Washington Pass. Funny little place, with some psuedo-Wild West tourist trappings. On one of those dinner excursions we thought we'd maybe somehow been transported to another dimension, because parked in front of the restaurant we were headed for were four shiny new Ferarris and a Di Tomaso Pantera.
That is not a sight you see every day in tiny little towns in Eastern Washington.
I'm gonna punch the next book that lies to my face. Yeah, show it who's boss.
Yeah, Luke, I have no idea where that nonsense started, but you should definitely kick sh#t out of any book that reprints it.
Here's a shot of the biggest chunk of granite I've personally ever seen. Almost exactly 7,000 ft from base to summit. And it was surrounded by thousands -- yes, literally thousands -- of other lumps bigger than the Squamish Chief. And I know there are plenty of even bigger granite lumps that I haven't seen. But try telling that to your local Chamber of Commerce.
whoa - are you saying that spur in the middle is 7000 feet? Thats a big route! Anybody climbed it? Thats in the weasel valley isn't it?
Yes, it's Mt. Odin. Base is about 200 feet above sea level, and summit is over 7K. The smaller thing on the left is about 4,500. (Which, for the mathematically challenged Californians who occasionally visit this thread, is about one-and-a-half-times the height of El Cap.)
Odin is pretty much the easiest-to-get-to peak on Baffin Island, and there are some moderate routes to the summit, but it is so f*#king off-the-charts huge that most people just pretend they haven't seen it and roll on up the valley to things that humans can understand.
I bought Mark Synnott's Baffin Island guide book from a clearance bin at MEC. It's a real work of love for an incredible place.
I wish the bean counters of our MEC would return the variety of books available to their rightful place instead of only promoting "how to" books as the only relevant form of literature.
I did a little burn up the backside trail yesterday. I hadn't bothered lately due to icy conditions and a bum knee but all the recent warming had fixed it up fine. I stopped at the big rock and was a bit surprised to see there on the other side of the valley the decaying remnants of "The Dream", a Peder Ourom mega classic three pitch ice route. Looks like we've all been snoozing! That dosn't come in often and it came and went. The Dream is probably the finest ice route that ever forms around here.
There's a funny story there. I was up on the ski hill one day when out of the blue I get a phone call from Peder. He wants to know if I can join him to bag this route up behind the Chief. Our timing isn't right but it makes me think to go climb the "Scottish Tale" in the same neighborhood. Next day me and Beeker (Chris Romeskie) head on up there and sure enough on the approach we find ourselves right under this magnificent object of Peders desire. It is a gorgeous strip of challenging white ice shooting up dead vertical granite walls.
Beeker looks at me with wide eyes and says "Well? what are we waiting for?" Seriously tempting but I just couldn't do it. Fact is, we wouldn't have even been there if Peder hadn't called but even just knowing he was a day short I just couldn't bring myself to poach it off him. Beeker understood so we went off and had a good day on the Scottish Tail then marched back under that shimmering virgin prize at the end of the day.
Bright and early the next morning Beeker, not having any particular allegience to the Bear through any amount of history, recruited his buddy Derek and headed straight back armed for battle. Funny thing is as they're racking up at the base guess who comes up all snorting and huffing up the hill - Peder! After a short little negotiation the three of them rope up. It turns out that Peder totally saved the day with his power drill as that provided the only chance for decent belays. The route went in 3 superb solid grade 5 pitches with just enough ice for a few screws. A week later and its all down on the ground. thats how it goes around here.
The things done now but last week it was probably good to go.
Let us know!