Entiat

Last weekend, all of the west-side monkeys made the trip out to Entiat, a short drive north of Wenatchee, to check out the boulders reputedly found in an Icicle-style canyon. I had heard about Entiat from many different people, most of whom shrugged it off, some of whom indicated there was some potential, and one misguided fool who declared he had just discovered "Leavenworth two." I can't pretend to know anything about Entiat's climbing history, but climbers have been visiting the canyon for many years on their way into the Glacier Peak Wilderness, and the area is even written up in Tim Toula's treatise Rock and Road as having some fun top-ropes on large boulders.

Cortney on a Classic Overhang

Me on a Fun Slab - Taller than the Sword?

Joel Crushing

While the analogy to Leavenworth is sorely lacking, the canyon is gorgeous and it was really fun to climb on problems that were all new to us. Cortney and I spent most of Saturday climbing lots of clean but chalkless moderate highballs in the "main area," before Joel, Jeff, Johnny, Dimitry, Cole, Cassie, and Tucker showed up.

Camping Time

Where are the Boulders Cole?

On Sunday morning, we checked out some new boulders above the road and everyone set to work brushing. Later in the day, Garrett Grove, Art Lim, and two of their buddies showed up and joined in the fun. Garrett is a photographer writing an article about Washington bouldering and had wanted to take photos of us cleaning and putting up new problems. I'm glad we didn't disappoint him. We spent the rest of Sunday climbing at this area and put up several fun climbs.

Joel, Garrett, and Art (trusting Garrett immensely)

Me on a New Problem

Cortney on a New Problem and a Project

Our group was a little smaller on Monday, and we went back to the main area to climb some more and work on some dirty/undone lines we had spied. All in all, I was really excited to check out yet another nice area on the fringe of Washington's Cascades, and I think everyone had a blast. The rock and setting in Entiat is similar to some North Cascade areas, but the drive is only 45 minutes further than Leavenworth. While we didn't see a huge abundance of rock, all of the climbs we did were new to us, an experience we don't get that often in Leavenworth or Gold Bar these days. It was quite the refreshing experience to have on the last weekend before my exam "crunch time" begins. I'm looking forward to soon finishing my first year of law school, and to all of the climbing adventures to be had this summer...

Jeff on a New Slab

Joel on a New Climb

Art Flying Off The New Climb

Cortney and Joel on a Fun Overhang