Leavenworth

The warming temperatures signal the nearing of summer, and a change in scenery. For the last three years, I have spent the summers up on Mt. Hood, coaching ski racing for the National Alpine Ski Camp. It's back to Oregon for me.

We decided to head up to the area a week early in order to spend four days climbing in Leavenworth, Washington and to explore Seattle for a few days.

Leavenworth is a strange place. The whole town has a Bavarian theme going. The authenticity of that Bavarian theme is questionable. For instance, not a single one of the pretzel shops has butterbrezeln. This is one of Dasha's favorite German dishes- simply put, a buttered pretzel. We asked some of the owners of one shop and they had no idea what it was.

But, put that strange Bavarian theme aside and it's a beautiful place. The town is situated in a beautiful narrow valley with canyons leading up in every direction. For kayakers, hikers, mountain bikers, and most importantly climbers, this place is one of the best in Washington. Lots of granite boulders (with a little schist mixed in) and exceptional scenery.

Unfortunately, one of the downsides is the weather. Pacific Northwesterners can say whatever they want about outsiders' misperceptions about the weather here. But I've spent a fair bit of time in the Northwest, and it rains...a lot. We are being rained out again today which will make the number of days I've climbed in Leavenworth equal to the number of days I've waited out the rain.

I will admit that when the weather is nice the bouldering is outstanding. The areas are fairly small and spread out but the rock is very high quality and most of the problems are fun, proud, independent lines. Here are some pics. Hopefully, I will post more if it ever stops raining.

The pics: 1-Me warming up on the super fun and tricky 'Fun House Stairway' (V1+). 2-Dasha rising above on 'Jetsam' (V0+). 3-Dasha busting through the opening moves of 'The Fin' (V2). 4-Me on 'U2' (V3).