Bulo Point

Dasha and I were fortunate enough to get an unexpected day off yesterday. We decided to spend the afternoon bouldering at Bulo Point. Up to now we've only explored the roped climbing there, but given that I've climbed every route, we decided it would be more fun to see what Bulo had to offer bouldering wise.

Most of the blocks are on the smaller side, and a lot of the tall blocks are slabby. But there are worthwhile problems mixed in. The rock is grippy and featured so the problems are primarily in the V0-V3 range. Here are some of the problems we found.

1-Dasha Zamolodchikov cranking a sweet arete. 2-Christian Prellwitz moving through the crux pull. 3-This was the best problem we climbed this day. We did it straight up and then as a low traverse in from the left. Probably like V2 from the left, V1 straight up. Really good rock and fun moves.

Leavenworth, Part 3

We're up on Mt. Hood now. It's been snowing since we arrived. Back to winter.

There won't be too many personal climbing trips over the next two months. Possibly a day at Smith Rocks, and some afternoons at our local climbing area here- Bulo Point. We've mainly spent time route climbing there, but we've explored the bouldering in the area as well and there is some fun stuff. I'm sure we'll explore it a little bit more this summer (especially since I've climbed every route at Bulo).

That's all for now. Here's a couple more pics from Leavenworth. 1-Dasha on the sit start to 'Sunny and Steep' (V2+). 2-Me climbing a V4 on one of the coolest boulders I've ever seen- the Twisted Tree Boulder.

Leavenworth, Part 2

It rained on and off today. Never super hard or sustained, just enough to make you think your climbing day was going to end soon. Or to make problems feel a grade harder.

But, we persevered and were able to climb a lot of fun problems. I wasn't feeling 100% today. The problems here are steep and powerful- something we don't get a lot of in Telluride.

We're going to try to get one more day of climbing in tomorrow on our way to Seattle. Hopefully we don't get rained out. Anyhow, here are some pictures from today.

1-Sticking the crimp on the short but stout 'Swordfish' (V4). 2-After the big lunge on 'Crimp, Crimp, Slap, Throw' (V3). 3-Dasha cruising along on 'Scram' (V2).

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).