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James
climber
My twin brother's laundry room
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May 23, 2013 - 05:45pm PT
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I Love Washington and went once to investigate the ghosts in the Bush House. I wrote a story about it in Alpinist here's a version on my blog.
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Studly
Trad climber
WA
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May 23, 2013 - 06:08pm PT
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yedi
Trad climber
Stanwood,wa
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May 23, 2013 - 06:38pm PT
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Lots of good stuff at Index. Check out "kite flying blind, Dark crystal, Centerfold, to name a few.
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Dave Davis
Social climber
Seattle, WA
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May 23, 2013 - 09:05pm PT
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I'd love to bust out all of my Index photos if I actually had any. I will search the archives Reilly, and see if I come up with anything...
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MisterE
Social climber
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Topic Author's Reply - May 23, 2013 - 09:23pm PT
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Upper Town Wall - there's a few climbs here:
L.Skoog photo.
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MisterE
Social climber
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Topic Author's Reply - May 23, 2013 - 10:39pm PT
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Ohhh - Davis-Holland? I got a story for that one...
I found this guy on the "partners forum" of CascadeClimbers.com and we decided to try Davis-Holland at Index for our first climb. I camped out overnight on the beautiful Skykomish river and the next morning I waited...and waited...
Finally he shows up a good 2 hours after our arranged time, and as he is getting his stuff together, casually asks me if I mind if he "inspects" my gear.
"I'm an engineer, you see." As if that explained it all.
He declared my rack "incomplete", and I say "I don't usually place a lot of gear."
This agitated him greatly, and he was eyeing me nervously. Just then he said, in a total non-sequiter,
"I think I have to shitt now"
...
"Umm, OK. Do your thing that you gotta do!"
"Well, I might be able to wait - how far is it?"
I told him, and he decided he could wait, after much verbalization of information about said bowel movement I didn't really need to hear.
Oh, this guys name soon becomes (to me) Bowel Movement Fixation Guy (BMFG, for short).
As we are walking up the trail, he asks me if I have toilet paper - he forgot his. I say yes, he says how much. I say plenty, he says let me see.
...
So we stop, and as I am taking my pack off, he launches into this story about an alpine trip that ANOTHER guy forgot his TP, and how angry he got, because he always has a certain amount with him, blah, blah blah.
I am starting to get irritated by BMFG.
He inspects the TP, declares it adequate, and promptly takes off up the trail ahead of me at a blistering pace, yelling back:
"I feel it coming, gotta hurry!"
Whatever.
At the base of the climb is further talk (on his part - I quickly learned this doesn't need my involvement, discussion-wise) about whether to go before climbing, or wait, and all of the hazards and pitfalls of not going before climbing.
Jesus, Dude! STFU, and get ready!
He finally gets all geared up for the first pitch, tied in,me on belay (my lead) and guess what? Now is the time! Drop harness, borrow my TP, and he's off again. I fully expect never to see any TP upon his return, given his bent.
He gets back,returns not-much TP and tells me all about it. I finally snap:
"Listen, man. I don't want to hear any more about your shitt!"
He seems crestfallen as we start climbing, but soon finds new diversion by criticizing my gear placements, and their infrequency. The next pitch is his, but he backs down - obviously nervous about climbing with such an "unsafe" climbing partner. So I lead again.
BMFG follows, and is shaken as he gets to the belay, then his eyes widen as he looks at my anchor points.
I am clipped in with two draws to 2 1/2 inch bolts with shiny hangers.
"What? No lockers? Your anchor isn't equalized!" he seems outraged that I would put his life at risk like that!
I'm done, and I tell him so. He balks, so I say:
"OK, your lead." That does it.
He offers to rappel first, after retying his own knot in the ropes because my overhand was "unsafe".
I'm getting pissed.
He yells up as the rope goes slack,
"Ummm, off belay, but the anchor isn't very good."
My God, what has this guy done? This route gets climbed and rapped more than any other route at Index in the 5.10 range!
I rap down and am flabbergasted by what I see: He has found a ratty old aid anchor with 1/4" rusty bolts (one is quite loose) and light grey webbing that is total tat. I look 10 feet to the right and 15 feet up from where he is, and there are shiny bolts with Metolius Rap rings. No way for him to get to them, so I am stuck going to HIS anchors. I am fvcking pissed.
I lose it, realizing that We have to rap to the ground off this crap anchor.
"This your choice of anchors" I say, pointing to the half-inchers 20 feet away, "so you go first."
He gets upset by this, but I stand firm, as close to wishing tat would part as I have ever been.
We get down safe, and he sees a friend, so he decides to go visit.
"I'll be back in a minute and we can talk about what else we want to do!" he opines cheerfully.
As soon as he is out of sight, I quickly pack my gear and leave, being sure I don't have any of his gear. I get in my car and leave the climbing area.
An hour later, my phone rings. The ID reveals it's BMFG.
"Where did you go, Man? I waited at the car for you!"
I inform him in no uncertain terms that I will never climb with him again, citing: fixation, criticism, no head for trad climbing, inability to see what's around him, ad nauseum.
He lashes out, saying it was me, and like a pitbull, would not let it go. Finally, just to get off the phone, I say:
"Look, Dude. It was all my fault, OK? You are a great climber, whereas I am unworthy to climb with someone of your caliber"
(or some such shitt)
Finally, he accepts my apology, and I hang up.
It felt like I just broke up with a girlfriend
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mikeyschaefer
climber
Yosemite
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May 24, 2013 - 12:05am PT
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In my opinion Index is the best granite crag I've ever been to. I'd take it over any of the climbing in the lower Merced canyon. Though the weather truly does suck there and getting good climbing conditions is nearly impossible. I sweated my way up a few hard climbs there.
Its a shame that it doesn't see more traffic, from locals and visiting climbers.
Here is an overview of the Upper Town Wall free climbs that I put together. Redpointing all 13 is probably one of the things I'm most proud of in all my years climbing. At some point I'm gonna write a TR about it.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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May 24, 2013 - 12:19am PT
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Its a shame that it doesn't see more traffic, from locals and visiting climbers.
I've never understood that. The Seattle urban area has close to 4 million people, including boatloads of climbers, but the Upper Town Wall is often deserted. The pictures I posted upthread of DGS were taken on a perfect summer weekend, and Julie and I were one of just three parties on the entire wall. (The other two were both on the Davis-Holland.)
Sure, it's a 45-minute walk from the parking area, but it's hardly a death approach, and the climbing is phenomenal. WTF is up with nobody going there? They'd all rather be tenth in line for Godzilla or Japanese Garden?
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mikeyschaefer
climber
Yosemite
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May 24, 2013 - 12:27am PT
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And its not even 45 minutes to the base. More like a steep 20. About the same as going to Little Si.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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May 24, 2013 - 12:28am PT
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Okay, 45 minutes for elderly cripples, 20 minutes for 20-something 5.13 freaks.
Say half an hour for normal climbers?
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Darryl Cramer
Social climber
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May 24, 2013 - 01:27am PT
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Yikes! Mike, it looks like you have to come back for the STP & Beat Box! :)
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mastadon
Trad climber
crack addict
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May 24, 2013 - 01:29am PT
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I remember the Upper Town Wall as a surreal magical place.
The old trail started from the railroad tracks directly below the middle of the main wall and went straight up the hill. I don’t think there was a single switchback. There was some ancient piping with a little water trough just when you left the tracks that seemed to run with water year round. If the gate was open, you could drive along the tracks to where the trail started otherwise you had to park on the road where the tracks crossed and walk. There was always that smell of creosote that changed to wildflowers as soon as you started uphill.
As you plugged up the hill, sounds, responsibilities and all that silly city-business would drop away. Time seemed to stand still. At the base, you could hear water dripping from far above. Every so often you could hear a rock bounce and hit somewhere. An occasional train went by leaving a faint trace of civilization echoing in the distance. My mind always wandered to the distant past and imagined what it was like when the ancient ones, like Beckey, Stanley, Madsen, Burgner and all the others walked the same path. Had Jim Madsen leaned against the same tree that we leaned against as we carried our loads up? Probably. Following those ancient ones was like following smoke. You’d see a wisp here and there but by the time you caught up, it was gone. It has only been in recent years that I’ve realized that we too, were ancient ones. What was it like for us?
When my friends and I started exploring the UTW, I think there were only four routes to the top. Everything was a total mystery. The only place where I’ve had the same feeling is at the base of the Northwest face of Halfdome-on the right side over by Zenith or Bushido.
Everyone, I think, experiences moments where they remember something in their distant past with absolute crystal clarity. It may be some life changing moment or it might be something totally innocuous like walking down a certain street when you were 9 years old and you can remember the smells and sounds of that moment. I still remember clearly a total feeling of the unknown when looking out left around the overhang from the top of the second pitch of the Beckey route in 1970. I was awed by the mystery of it. What could possibly be up there? We had to go up to find out.
I had the same feeling of mystery in 1971 as I looked up from three pitches up the Dihedral Wall on El Capitan. Praise-the-Lord we realized the immensity of our mistake and came down after a couple more pitches.
I’m sad I missed the dedication ceremony when the Town Wall was saved from development last year (or was it the year before?). It amazes me how so many people are so devoted to this place. To hear people say that it’s their favorite climbing area makes me realize that maybe we weren’t so far off with our fascination so very long ago………
Here's a thought-for-the-day for the young climbers of today-it's an old desert saying: When you drink from a well, you'd best remember who dug it.
Don
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McHale's Navy
Trad climber
Panorama City, California & living in Seattle
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May 24, 2013 - 01:37am PT
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Nice tale, I'm going to have to take the hike - seems like I would have by now. What's the Beckey Route - I did not see it at Mtn Project - will have to search. I found this fun story at Climbing about Greg Child;
http://www.climbing.com/route/index-club/
1991 — Rise and Fall, 5.12a/b, multi-pitch sport; Greg Child and Andy DeKlerk
“I almost died on that route,” says Greg Child. The year after achieving renown for his ascent of K2 sans oxygen, Child teamed up with Andy DeKlerk, an accomplished Himalayan alpinist from South Africa, for this six-pitch sport route on the Upper Town Wall, the second multi-pitch sport route in Index. The route features highly technical, quintessentially Index moves: ticky-tacky, arty, delicate crimps and foot matches on micro-features on high-angle granite slab. “Quite surprising how many small holds there are on those cliffs,” says Child, “albeit covered in moss.” Amidst a final wire-brushing and drilling, Child was temporarily distracted and rapped off the end of his rope. He hit a ledge 16 feet below, fell 25 feet farther, then barrel-rolled down the forested slope, landing in a blackberry thicket. Spitting out blood, Child took stock: he had a broken right ankle and was alone, 25 minutes up a very steep climber’s trail… and it was getting dark. Child inched over to the climber’s trail and began a three-hour combat-crawl through the pitch-black forest to the parking lot, then drove one home one-footed, using his left foot for the accelerator, clutch and brake.
OK - I see Beckey Route is Town Crier route
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Darryl Cramer
Social climber
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May 24, 2013 - 01:41am PT
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It has only been in recent years that I’ve realized that we too, were ancient ones.
Not to make you feel old but I have often imagined what is was like when you did the FA of Green Dragon or free climbed Godzilla. Bruce mentioned something about the 2nd pitch of Green Dragon falling away after the FA. Do you know the story there?
Even with all the new routes there are still some amazing cracks that have yet to be climbed let alone free climbed.
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mastadon
Trad climber
crack addict
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May 24, 2013 - 01:54am PT
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Darryl,
I’ve posted this picture before but it’s at the base of the Davis/Holland route after the second pitch of the Beckey route fell off.
The second pitch was a perfect 2” hand crack in a perfect 90 degree corner. We were all appalled when we hiked up there one spring to find the pitch in pieces on the ground. We had all rigorously pounded pitons in that crack.
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mikeyschaefer
climber
Yosemite
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May 24, 2013 - 01:56am PT
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Darryl, I've actually done STP as well but I didn't list it as I figured it was more of a variation. And ya i should probably go and do beat box, though since it doesn't top out I never considered it a a real UTW route. Its more of cragging pitch, same as Tempituous which I did list for some reason...
And then there is the Klewin route, Golden Arch, abraxas, and Dana's arch. maybe I'll get around to those some day.
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Darryl Cramer
Social climber
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May 24, 2013 - 02:09am PT
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Mick -
It would be easy to add finishing pitches to both Tempituous and Beat Box.
Don -
I don't know how I missed that picture, Don. Thanks for the repost. I bet that would have been a sight to see.
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MisterE
Social climber
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Topic Author's Reply - May 24, 2013 - 10:15am PT
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Nice writing, Mastadon.
I have always wondered what the LTW looked like BEFORE they quarried the steps to the capitol from there...and how many more good climbs went missing.
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mastadon
Trad climber
crack addict
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May 24, 2013 - 10:37am PT
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I had a link to pictures of the LTW from the early 1900's when it was a quarry but can't find it. Maybe someone else can.
Here's a picture looking over towards the Beckey route. The scar in the lower right is from the tower that was the second pitch that fell off.
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