ah. home again home again jiggedy jig. there is a reason we go away, to only come back and hopefully refreshed with fresh eyes on our beloved home...but sometimes, just sometimes, we wish we were just back where we were...climbing. Bob and I took a much needed vaca to Leavenworth Washington, a magnificent place for climbing. 3 full days of crags, flakes and cracks. Below are many a photos, but when you have only a 2 party climbing team, photos are scarce. Thankfully because hands are too busy belaying or climbing. I've noticed that most my shots are in this order:
- photograph the potential climb
- photograph Bob getting his rack ready
- photograph what a good dog daphne is
- put camera away as I belay Bob and he leads
- photograph Bob setting anchor and belay
- then Lindsay climbs the route and cleans up pro, no photographs happen, then Bob climbs again and repels down.
- repeat the above as many times as possible in one day before arms give out
sadly this cat nap happened after our first climb on Sunday, after leaving PT at 6am to drive to Leavenworth. We finally started climbing at close to 11 am.
Leavenworth is vast, with oodles of climbing that folks travel worldwide to climb. We stayed in Icicle Canyon and after the crowds dissipated on sunday...we had the place to ourselves.
7pm end of first day, chilly and beer snack.
we had no idea where to go in Leavenworth, and if you've ever been you'd share the feeling. It's a full on, fake facade of a Bavarian Town...all for tourism. Don't get me wrong, it's awesome...but sort of like coming off a climb and landing in Epcot Center. We got a kind tip to check out a place called "South". It suited us well, so well that we spent 2 nights there. A Latin joint with great atmosphere and huge plates of bean and rice dishes perfect for filling an empty tank.
we don't dare venture far without Bob's Bagels. Breakfast for car camping this round was butter fried bagels with cashew-pesto scrambled eggs.
par for the course, Daphne waits for my last bite.
I may camp, climb, backpack, roadtrip etc...but i am NOT a troll, crag rat or van mole. This is Bob trying to capture my morning routine of face washing and plucking, and this is me telling him how I feel about that.
And here is Ralph Macchio making a guest appearance - wax on wax off.
In my eyes I'm still a beginner climber and this trip was full of learning experience for me...for instance hand jamming, shoving your hand in a large-ish crack, then forming a first in the biting rock and letting it hold all your weight. more fun than it sounds.
monday was a great climbing day finished off by a wonderful dinner hour-happy-hour on the Wenatchee River which runs right through Icicle Canyon. We found a great swimming hole to clean off in and for Daph to eat her chicken carcass.
perfect, private eddy for a dip
thought the day couldn't get any better until we were loading up in the car and heard the squeal of a smallish child. turns out a family was doing a little post work day climb. Mom belaying what looked to be a girl no more than 5, Dad had son on top rope while Dad directed above to both kids with encouragement. Her was Margaret (so we heard) trying to climb...and succeeding. Ever so often she would turn around and wave at Bob and I as we rooted her on. AMAZING.
and Bud Light, clearly not amazing...check out these notes!
tuesday was our last day and we jammed it full. starting off with Peshatin Pinnacles, a mere 10 miles east of Leavenworth. Crazy slabs of rock nested above beautiful orchards. Was sickly hot, so only a few climbs and off we went.
this climb was great for me. it was challenging, mentally. a nice chimney to wedge into, a bit of odd vertigo and exposure and some strange bat shit filled hand holds to jam into...loved every minute of it, especially a peak through window out towards Leavenworth.
was supposed to reach mid 90's in Leavenworth on Tuesday, so after the Pinnacles we scurried towards the ocean. The sun was strong, but we felt we needed a few more climbs to warrant our brewery stop prior to the ferry. So we landed in Index. Bob knew a route that we could do, and so it was...back to the land of western Wa, since we were over the pass...horse flies, blackberry bramble and moist heat...we quickly earned our beer here.
poor Daph, she hated Index...bugs swarmed her, she tried to hide and was a tremendous distraction while climbing. Thankfully we were able to take her into our post climb brewery in Lynwood, Big E Ale House...thanks guys for letting pups hang on the patio!
stand by me
I will never, never tire of this view....coming home. Standing at the bow of the ferry looking at the Olympics and feeling the cold ocean air as we quietly make our way.
daph finds a perfect portal to watch as well, god bless the PNW.
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