RAZA: The Blog: Leavenworth & Gold Bar 2011

The famous Leavenworth sign

24 hours after leaving Berkeley, we arrived at our destination: Leavenworth, WA. Lured 800 miles from home with the promise of granite boulders and loaded up with many crash pads, camping gear and our faithful dog, Lucy, we were excited to explore a new area. Our first order of business was to find a place to camp and we lucked out when guided by intelligence gathered by our friend, Justin, we found a perfect, shady spot at the end of an untraveled road near one of the many rivers.

Lyn on The Sword, v3

What we discovered immediately is that Leavenworth in August is hot. Consulting our guide, we decided to head to the Sword area since it was one of the few areas recommended to us with all day shade. Highlights of the day were doing the highball classic, The Sword (v3), seeing a cool beetle on the crashpad and finding a rubber snake on one of the topouts! I was a bit concerned when Lucy came to meet us on the top of the boulder and seemed oblivious of the snake as it didn't bode well for her awareness of rattlesnakes which the guidebook warned were plentiful in the area. Paul also managed to climb the rest of the 3-star v-hard problems that found me lacking in power and span. Yay for vacation!

A Rubber Boa at The Sword Area

Strange bug

Paul Trying the move on The Practitioner, v11

After our first day climbing, we decided the best way to get good temps was to do early morning sessions since the rock was so heated by baking in the sun all day that afternoon sessions seemed pointless. Despite being on vacation, we set our alarm for 6AM hopeful that we could get at least a few hours of climbing before the sweltering began. This was only partially successful.

The view from Gold Bar

Late on our second day of climbing in the heat, Paul suggested we head to Gold Bar, "only a 45 minute drive from Leavenworth" as our trusty friends assured us. An hour and a half later we found ourselves at the boulders wondering what kind of speed records Justin and Becky had broken to drive the 80 miles in such good time. Our first and only climb was Water, recommended to us by said speed demons. It was a good one that I found especially challenging given the big last move. It was enough to assure us of the high quality of the rock.

Lyn trying Aries: God of War, v8

Lyn bouldering on the Squamish-like boulders of the Sanctuary

One of the coolest shaped boulders around, Fraggle Rock @ Gold Bar

Lyn on Obesity, v7

Sunset view from Fraggle Rock at Gold Bar

We found the Clearcut/Sanctuary/Forest areas of Gold Bar to be strongly reminiscent of Squamish down to the same kind of banana slugs and berries that Lander love to pick and eat. Too bad there was no smoothie truck in the parking lot! The Aries problems were both intricate and interesting and I really enjoyed watching Paul send them for the family. The Obesity problem was one of the best I did on the trip, with the most amazing pinch I've ever used on a climb and the views from Fraggle Rock at sunset were spectacular. Unfortunately, there were swarms of tiny biting insects that came out at the same time, so lingering wasn't desirable. I made Paul and Lucy hang around while I beasted myself on it all the same. After most of our days of climbing, we hightailed it to the Prospector, a local restaurant/bar/karaoke establishment. We had made friends with the owner, Steve, on our first trip to Gold Bar when we realized that everywhere else was closed by 9pm and we were starving. Steve was kind enough to make us dinner after he had closed the kitchen and entertained us of life on his ranch in Eastern Washington.