One More From The Cove

Christian Prellwitz silhouetted against the sky on the awesome 'Pine Tree Left Arete' (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).

Hidden Gems

Went to Ilium again today. Seems to be an ongoing theme. It's not that I'm avoiding the Mine Boulders or other areas, I just have been having a fun time cleaning and climbing new problems at Ilium and spending time in some of the more obscure areas. Today, Dasha and I climbed all of the problems at Rivendell and some problems in the North End. Here are the photos.

(above) Me on the sit start to 'Bilbo Baggins', a hard V3.
(below) Dasha midway through the sit start to 'Shadowfax' (V1+).
(bottom photo) Here is me again, this time on 'Heroine' (V2+). The left hand edge of the sit start has broken, so this now starts standing, as shown. Right hand on original low pinch, left on bad pocket, finish straight up. The grade is pretty much the same.

More From Ilium

Today we spent some more time at Ilium, climbing some fun problems and cleaning some of the problems on the Black & Tan Boulder. All of the problems were looking really sweet by the time we were done. One problem that we spent a lot of time on was the right arete (when looking at the main face of the boulder). This problem is listed as the 'Black & Tan Arete' in the guidebook. This problem has an interesting story. When I was researching the guidebook, I was told this arete had been climbed and went at V3. It was quite mossy, but seemed to be plausible, especially if one used the killer undercling to the right. The hard moves are all in the first half, and then it's glorious jugs to the top. I figured I would come back and clean it, and all would be good to go. Well, it took me a long time to get around to cleaning it. After vigorous removal of moss, lichen and pine needles the problem was ready to be climbed. Damon Johnston showed up shortly thereafter and started giving the problem some serious burns. We decided to do this problem the 'proud way' and started from the lowest holds- left hand on the sidepull at the right end of the shelf, right hand on a small sharp edge, both at 2.5-3 feet. We also decided to avoid the holds out right and climb the true arete, finishing up and slightly left for a tenuous, full value top out. This new take on an old problem has outstanding and hard moves with sneaky beta.

Here is Damon on the 'first ascent' of an old problem. We named it 'Climbed Out', and graded it V5. The name comes from the fact that everyone keeps telling us Ilium is climbed out but we keep finding new and fun lines. All you need is a sense of adventure and a wire brush. The stand start, off of small crimps directly on the arete at 5 feet, goes at V2-ish. Enjoy!

Ilium Boulders Update

The time is here again, when the evenings grow long, and temperatures at Ilium are perfect. Since we got back from our trip, Dasha and I have been spending the evenings climbing at Ilium, cleaning old problems that have grown a little licheny, and even putting up a few new problems. Nothing super proud, just fun lines on some of the more obscure blocks. Damon Johnston and I also talked about bouldering the proud face of the Black & Tan Boulder. It's almost certainly been climbed before, but probably not ropeless. We agree that it's probably in the V4/5 range, so not super hard, but certainly tall, with a bad landing. But, there's some cleaning to do first. I'll be heading back out there again today, focusing on cleaning a couple of the Black & Tan problems that need love.

Each spring it's interesting to head back out to Ilium and see if anything has changed- if holds have broken, if any new rockfall has come down from the cliffs above, if some hidden block in the forest has revealed itself. A few of the more obscure problems have had some holds break. The 'Pool Problem' at the Shire had a key hold break, but it still goes at the listed grade of V2. Both this problem and 'Elf Magic' (V2) right next to it appear harder than the listed grade, but go at V2 with tricky beta. For more problem info, check out the new bouldering guide, written by yours truly- 'A Guide to Bouldering in the Telluride & West End Areas'.


(above) Dasha Zamolodchikov on a new V1 just left of 'Video Killed The Radio Star' in the One Hit Wonder area. It starts off two opposing sidepull/edges at 3 feet, and goes straight up on good holds. 'Video Killed The Radio Star' (V1+) had a key hold break this winter, but still goes at the same grade via a sit down start right of the dihedral with your left on a crimp and the right on a good edge just right of the flake. The problem still avoids the flake, instead moving to a left undercling and then up. Here Dasha shows us the beta.