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Melanie McMahon on Lava Sundae, 5.10a, Dream Wall

The mountains keep pulling at my gut, but the lowland rock climbing has been really good over the last few weeks.  With questionable weather threatening many of the usual climbing destinations from Idaho to BC, a bunch of us "settled" on some of our old stomping grounds in the Tieton Valley.  We found perfect weather, sublime light and a big 'ole party complete with a posse from Portland and a bunch of tree climbing.

Spring Cragging in the Tieton Valley

Spring in the Tieton

Spring has settled over the Tieton River valley, and the climbing conditions are excellent!  Last weekend, Kristin and I spent two more beautiful days camped along the river by night, climbing by day.

The Tieton Valley

Onie on The Western Front, Tieton River Valley

Tieton Temptations

I was lucky enough to spend my weekend in the lovely Tieton River valley with Nate, Stephanie and Melanie. The flowers are just starting to bloom as spring creeps up from the shrub steppe into the forest. We spent Saturday at The Bend, shivering through a cool morning and then basking in the afternoon light. We climbed several of the cracks on the West Side, including Salmon Song, Treatment Bound, Sugar Kicks and Ambient Domain.

The highlight was definitely shooting Stephanie on lead on Hallowed Ground, 5.9.

From Tieton - April 2010

Rockclimbing at Tieton

Kristin and I hadn't climbed together in close to a month because of my travels in Alaska, so last weekend we went to Tieton for some spring cragging.



Dig those cool colors. I love this time of year of the Naches area, long days of climbing cracks and inhaling fist fulls of Rainier cherries. Free camping - good weather - few crowds. Fun fun fun.

We showed up a bit early for the fruit, but we enjoyed the rest of our weekend anyway. We spent most of our time at the Bend, warming up on Ed's Jam. As I rapped down Sugar Kicks, I started salivating over the sweet looking finger locks and friendly little edges and decided I wanted to climb that route. Fun!


Sugar Kicks, 5.10c

A couple of face holds for the right hand unlock the short crux sequence, protected by pretty good gear.

After that we stepped to the left for Pure Joy. I cruised through the first two thirds of the route, but the top felt more like Pure Anxiety as opposed to Pure Joy. The pro pretty much runs out for the top 1o-15', and with a decent pump on it felt kind of scary. Your options are kind of limited other than firing for the top once you leave your last manky piece, but the climbing eases off if you can keep your head together. All in all a great route!






Pure Joy, 5.10c

It rained a bit in the afternoon cutting us short by an hour or two, but we had a great day before retiring to the Walkabout for beers and Stanley Cup hockey. The next day we went back to the Bend and then went over to the Royal Columns so Kristin could do a little leading. Unfortunately, we didn't get any pics but had another great day! Good times in Tieton.