Summer Locke leading the crux pitch of Outer Space.
Its not exactly embarrassment that kicks in when I have to tell people I have not yet climbed Outer Space, purported to be the best rock climbing route in Washington State. No, not embarrassement, but certainly something like it. After all, I've been living here 10 years now, I should have stuff like this down cold. So on the list this season was to finally get this route under my belt. Summer Locke also wanted to climb it again. The last time she was on Snow Creek Wall, her then boyfriend/ropegun Eric lead every pitch (as he did on every route they climbed together), and she wanted to go back and do the route in good style and lead the crux pitch. Plus, hey, its supposed to be the best route in Washington, right?
In early May the days were still cool, but we were spending alot of time cragging in Leavenworth and at Index and Vantage. So on this weekend, we resolved to get there early, so as to be the first party on the route. It was not to be. Despite showing up at 6am, one other car was alreay parked at Snow Lakes trailhead. And one other party was already on the route when we scrambled to the base of the first pitch an hour later. Oh well.
The first two pitches went quickly. I led the 5.7 corner, and summer walked across the 4th class ledges to Two Trees Ledge. From there, Summer got on the "crux" pitch, which consists of a pretty stiff initial 10 feet off the belay, to easier climbing to the base of a 5.9 crack traverse. The 5.9 traverse was not hard, actually, I thought the difficult parts of this pitch were the initial lieback off the belay, and the final 10 feet of 5.8 face climbing after the traverse.
Summer Locke leading the crux pitch of Outer Space.
I lead the next pitch, which is runout and easy for the most part, with a short 5.8 sting in the tail the to pedestal at the base of the Shield pitches. Here is a single new bolt for a belay, and the views are fine. Summer followed, and traversed into the first of the Shield pitches.
Summer Locke leading the first Shield pitch on Outer Space.
This and the next pitch are cruising ground, lots of hand jamming with knobs for feet. The exposure is not that dramatic, and the angle is not nearly as steep as it looks from the ground. I lead the second Shield pitch to within about 30 feet of the top, where a convenient tree provides a small stance. You can fashion a belay here with a few nuts or whatever gear you have left. Although many people have differnt opinions on what gear you need for these routes, from a full rack of #1 Camalots to whatever, Summer and I found the route, including the Shield pitches, had very varied protection possibilities, and a standard rack with one or two extra pieces in the hand sizes sufficed.
The best rock route in Washington State? Hardly. The final two pitches are really stellar, but the remainder of the route is mediochre. If you want to do a long route with the same amount of quality climbing, climbing Fault/Catapult/Bone/S Face of Jello Tower/Midway offers a nice long route of comparable difficulty and quality. Call me a heretic.
Only a few weeks after first climbing Outer Space, I wanted to do another long rock route. Tim suggested we try to link up Hyperspace and Outer Space in a day, car-to-car, as training for other big routes. He would lead every pitch on Hyperspace and I would lead every pitch on Outer Space. OK, I said, that sounds like an interesting idea. I had been climbing all Spring, and felt I was strong enough to do a bunch of 10d/11a.
We got an early enough start, but since we were not planning on tackling one of the more popular routes until later in the day, we didnt feel like we needed to be at the base of the wall at the crack of dawn. Tim led the first 5.8 pitch easily to the left side of One Tree Ledge. Then he launched up the Psychopath pitch, which at 11a is technically hard, but not really. A thin moves with decent gear lead to a belay in 80 feet. I followed, but didnt onsight. The next pitch is easy and cruiser 5.9 or 5.10a, with a fun little roof. So far so good.
Tim Lawrence leading the Psychopath pitch on Iconoclast/Hyperspace.
The next pitch is where the real interesting climbing begins. Start off the blocky belay to some thin, insecure low 5.10 climbing to a rest below a steep wall, with a crack in a corner. I think the crack is the regular route, at 10c. Tim elected to climb the overhanging right-hand wall directly, which was very steep and pumpy. Tim hung once or twice leading, I hung all over this like a dog seconding. It was very strenuous. The next pitch is long, technical, but off vertical and not stenuous, a welcome relief to the previous pitch. There is one difficult move getting from one crack system to another at about mid-pitch. Tim led this easily and efficiently to a belay by a big clump of bushes, and I seconded it it cleanly and quickly. So far so good.
Tim Lawrence leading a mid-11 variation to the fourth pitch of Icononclast.
Now the Heart of Darkness comes into view. The next pitch, named the Pressure Chamber, is a series of difficult chimneys ending in the mother of all squeeze chimneys, called the Pressure Chamber. It is a very overhanging, very tight squeeze slot in the underworld of the apex of the Shield on Snow Creek Wall. Looking at it is frightening. Tim set off, and took a long time. Finally, he got to the Pressuer Chamber proper, which is quite literally the last 15 feet of a difficult 150 foot pitch. Tim aided through it. He was too tired to redpoint now. I seconded, finding the climbing doable, but as the chimney got tighter and tighter, I got more desperate. The last 10 feet before the mouth of the Pressure Chamber were very dirty and very tight, and I repeatedly slid down after advancing a few feet. Finally, I got to the Pressure Chamber.
"You are sick. There is now way."
"Give it a shot man, I know you can send this."
"There is no way dude. I'm just going to prussik and clean." Then it occurred to me, that Tim had placed ALOT of gear on this last pitch, and was in a hanging sling belay at the top of the Chamber. "How is your belay, by the way?"
"Its OK."
"Bomber or just OK?"
"Just OK."
"Would more pieces make it bomber?"
There was no way for Tim to lower me at this point, so we could not bail even if I wanted to. What upset me a little was a sharp flake on the underside of the chamber, which seemed dangerous for short swinging falls. Fuck it. I sent up four pieces on a bight of rope handed down to me, and Tim beefed up the belay. Up I prussiked. Looking into the dark recesses of the Pressure Chamber, just wondering how the hell anyone gets up that. Even if if were right next to the road, it would be an extremely stout pitch. There were a number of rattly old fixed pieces in the back of the chimney, where people had stuffed gear in over the years and not bothered to clean it. This was getting epic. There was no room at all here for two people, so I hung in my harness, my ass quite literally hanging down into the gaping maw of the Pressure Chamber, and traded gear up to Tim.
Alex and Tim on the 5th pitch, with the ominous Pressure Chamber visible higher up. Photo by Loren Campbell.
As Tim lead off the next and last pitch, it became very clear how tired he was. He yarded on gear through the first few 10a moves up the corner above the belay, then almost fell hopelessly off the climb entirely as he traversed left along the lip of a huge roof. Had he fallen here, he would have fallen beyond the lip and hurt himself pretty badly with a pendulum fall back into the Hyperspace corner. This was 5.8 climbing, and he was done. He finally got to the last 5.9 roof, which leads to the top of the wall, and got over it. The rope payed out a while, until he reached a large tree and put me on belay. Cleaning the belay was hard. I basically had to do a 5.9 move, and sit there with body tension, cleaning. The TCU took about 10 minutes of wiggling. Now I was really tired, and I hadnt even started climbing yet! The nuts? Fuck it. Price you pay. I started climbing. The rest of the pitch went easily, and soon I topped out. We racked and chilled. There was no way we would tackle Outer Space today, it was already late.
Tim meets his match on the summit of Snow Creek Wall.