Icicle Ridge & Leavenworth Cragging 2.14 - 2.15.15

I haven't gotten out very much this year due to school and the lovely lack of winter. Normally we'd be skiing a lot but for that we need snow, which we don't really have. If it weren't for volunteering with Outdoors For All, I'd have a third of the total ski days this season (2 instead of a whopping 6). School has been keeping me busy too, requiring a few more Saturdays dedicated to studying than I was initially anticipating. The weekend forecast was looking sunny and we had Sunday off from volunteering, so we decided to head out into the mountains for a weekend trip. Aaron mentioned Vantage as looking warm and sunny, then we kicked around the idea of heading into Gothic Basin, a place that's been on my list for the past three years. When the forecast there changed to a 30% chance of rain, we decided to switch again and head to Leavenworth in search of sunshine and less crowds.

[Left] Mark climbing the 5.8 crack at Barney's Rubble. [Right] The 5.7 face climb at Barney's Rubble

As we drove out on Highway 2 Saturday morning, I think we were happy with our decision as we didn't break out of the mist until we hit the east side of Stevens Pass. We drove up Icicle Creek trying to decide where we wanted to climb. There were some large groups of cars along the road, we were guessing for some of the bouldering areas (turns out that was a correct assumption). It was more overcast than we were anticipating. We decided on Barney’s Rubble since you can’t really argue with the approach and it looked available. As we got to the base of the rock another couple of people dropped a rope on the 5.6, so we claimed the 5.8, 5.7, and 5.4. Aaron took Luke and Lauren to the top to set anchors and drop ropes on the 5.7 and 5.4, while Sara belayed Matt as he led the 5.8 crack. With the wind and lack of sun it was definitely chilly, I was bundled in my fleece, puffy vest, and wind jacket with a hat. Once all of the ropes were up we rotated through the routes so that everyone could get some climbing in. It was Mark and Lauren’s first time doing any crack climbing so the 5.8 was interesting for many of us. I do a mix of liebacking and jamming to get through the crux. Everyone got up the route though and the 5.6 became available so I led that. It was my first lead last year as well but this year it went a lot better, I think I found some sort of state of relaxation I’m not sure I’ve ever had while on lead. I think I really just focused on finding good feet. Matt and Mark moved the rope over from the 5.4 to another nearby more challenging climb while I led the 5.6 so I didn’t climb that route.

[Left] Luke belaying Lauren as she climbs the 5.6 crack at Barney's Rubble. [Right] Luke leading Tea Part (5.5) at Playground Point

Having exhausted the routes at Barney’s Rubble, we drove up the road to Playground Point in hopes of getting Luke and Mark some leads. After filtering through a large group of boulderers, we made our way to the rock. As a side note, we didn’t see many other groups with ropes, it was mostly boulderers out for the weekend. Luke took Tea Party (5.5), a nice, straightforward climb with plenty of bolts to clip. Mark took Aisle to the Sky (5.6) with a more challenging start and slab moves until reaching the fun, knobby terrain of the upper half of the route. I led Tea Party for fun and then just top roped Aisle to the Sky as I had never climbed that one. For having been to Playground on multiple occasions, I haven’t climbed many of the routes there. At this point people were cold and looking forward to some warm food in town so we called it a day and went in search of sausage. Leavenworth was busier than we expected, having to circle a bit before finding parking – lots of tourists. After food and drinks in town, we drove back to Icicle Creek and parked on the road outside of Eightmile, walking in to pitch our tents for the night and get some sleep.

We woke up to lots of sunshine on Sunday, a nice reprieve from Saturday. Our plan was to hike up Icicle Ridge in the morning, then after the rock had warmed up, get on a couple of routes. We didn’t start hiking until a little after 9am but there were only a few other groups on the trail with us. We parked along the road as the parking lot was full of snow, but the hike itself was largely snow free. We had never done this very popular hike, so we picked a good day to explore. The trail switchbacked up to the ridge, mostly out in the open but we ducked into the trees a few times. I picked a sunny section of the trail for my break about 500’ shy of the top. It took us about an hour and 20 minutes to reach the ridge, after about 2.5 miles and 1800’ of elevation gain. We followed the ridge until we got to the nice, fairly clear viewpoint overlooking Leavenworth. A couple that was just ahead of us left the area so we got to enjoy it all to ourselves as we grabbed some food and snapped photos. After a little while we figured it was time to head down. As we crossed the ridge we met several groups, and met many more groups on the way down. We were thankful for our somewhat earlier start and lack of crowds on the way up. With Sara’s foot bothering her, we ended up half jogging down most of the trail, jumping off to the side quite often to let groups pass on their way up.

View of Leavenworth and Icicle Creek from the top of Icicle Ridge

Mountains in Tumwater Canyon

Aaron and I on Icicle Ridge

Ski Tracks (5.9) near Sam Hill has been on Aaron’s tick list for several years now. He was going to lead it last fall but it was full of bees so we opted for a different area. He guessed that the bees would be gone since it was February and he was correct. Aaron geared up and led the challenging, but fun crack. The start and second section were the most challenging I think. I ended up doing a lie back through the start (surprise) to get through it since my crack climbing skills aren’t as good. The next section I was able to get some good jams and smear my foot out – although thankfully I was on top rope for all of it. After heading up the flake, some more hand jams along the traverse end at the slab move to reach the top.

Aaron leading Ski Tracks (5.9)

I was the last one up Ski Tracks so after I finished cleaning the anchor and rappelled down, we headed climber’s left from there to find Daiber Buttress. Matt dropped a rope on Juvenile Judgement (5.9) and then appropriately led Matie Steps Out (5.8). Juvenile Judgement has a very tricky start. Aaron did the direct start while I opted to head a bit farther left at the start before traversing onto the face at the first bolt. The slab had thin features which were unfortunately sometimes covered in moss, adding to the challenge. It was a nice, short little slab route. Matie Steps Out also had a more challenging start, ending with a solid undercling to reach the second bolt. Once above that, there were great feet features on the face to follow, with a few small cracks as well. I thought it was a fun route to end the weekend on. The sun had disappeared in the valley so we headed into town to get some burgers at Fresh and then grabbed milkshakes at Heidleburger on our way home. It was a fun weekend in Leavenworth, I never imagined rock climbing there in mid February! I think many have given up on skiing for the year and are instead getting an early jump on rock climbing. Conditions will definitely be interesting this year!

[Left] Juvenile Judgement (5.9) at Daiber Buttress. [Right] Matt leading Matie Steps Out (5.8)

Our hike up Icicle Ridge above the town of Leavenworth, see GPS track here

Trail up Icicle Ridge, fairly mellow with quite a few switchbacks