The Spokane Spectrum, A Story of 4 Worlds

Main Wall at Deep Creek

The past week has faded into my rearview mirror with some velocity. Starting out with high hopes and a long camping and climbing trip mentality has made the last 8 days somewhat of a highspeed blur. Me and my two loyal climbing companions(Laura and Dom, duh) headed out on Thursday of last week to explore the more mysterious side of our state and the many climbing destinations it holds. With day light burning we pulled into Spokane and the campsite there, can't remember the name, and had enough time to check out the nearby crag Deep Creek. It was an eye-full and we were all ready to come back the next day and crush. The routes looked long, vertical to slightly overhung on chipped and shiny black basalt. The whole crag was in a dried up riverbed with fine grained sand as a floor and the faint trickle of water in the back ground providing a very Zen atmosphere.

Our first day on the rock was a numbing experience. Literally the first route we did was so cold I couldn't feel my fingers from start to finish. We opted for more sunlight and headed to the main wall and then decided to come back and headed to the smallest wall in the canyon on the aptly named Mushroom Boulder.


Me belaying Dom up some .11b on the Mushroom boulder.

This wall had some short little routes from .11b to 5.9 to super overhung bouldery project. We spied an .11a that didn't look too tricky and I went for the OS. Now, getting shut down is one thing, but getting shut down so early on a long trip does wonders for your psyche, everyone should try it. The shortest route we had seen so far was kicking my ass. Not one, or two, but finally three tries later I clipped the chains and was soooo pumped from 15 feet of climbing that I was ready to throw in the towel. Laura gave some valiant efforts and was nominated at the end of the trip as the person coming closest to 'sending' without actually 'sending'. She was literally on the last hold bringing the rope up to clip the chains when she decided to keep this for an easy tick next trip. What can I say? The girl thinks ahead.
Oh yeah, and about Dom, well, he just flashes or OS's things, quite annoying really. After Dom tackled a heinous looking .11b to the right of the .11a doing everything but the right sequence and still sending we left Mushroom Boulder and headed to the longer and steeper routes on the Main Wall.
First up was some prime 'chilling time' where we milled about aimlessly occasionally staring up at some random route and chatting with the extremely friendly locals. After my wonderful start I finally got some balls and tried The Roach, a long and juggy looking .11a. The first part was easy 5.9 and then a small little crux going out right to steeper climbing on really good jugs. I enjoyed this climb right up until I started to get really pumped and out of the zone. But I still managed to clip chains. Laura was up next on TR and managed it with one hang, and well, we all know about Dom already. Flashed it!
After sending there was more milling about, until Dom picked out a pretty little .12a on the far left side of the main wall. Steep bouldery start leading to more steep crimpy climbing. Here are some pics, and I believe the name of this route was Being Inferior.







It was a pretty sweet OS and probably the hardest one I have seen Dom do. I was far too pumped just watching to give it a go, but I was inspired and hopped on one of the easier climbs at the crag but no less classic, Red Hair .11b. Such a fun climb and I didn't find it that hard, especially in the technical dihedral. Another OS was definitely helping the psych level and I was looking forward to climbing really hard. The day was a good gauge on where my head was and my fitness and I was slowly realizing that neither would lend themselves to hard OS's. I believe that this was the last climb of the day and we headed back to our lovely campsite.

The second day on we found ourselves at The Pit, another Deep Creek sector not quite as big as the Main Wall but just as long, if not longer and sustained. We got right to work bathing in the sun and warming our forearms on a long .10c that I found pretty hard. I was looking for all incut jugs the whole way and found only slopey flat holds that made me feel insecure.


Laura on a long and pumpy attempt of the .10c.

The next route was Pit Lizard and I had a terrible time climbing this classic line. I think I wandered too far and had to down climb at least two or three times; made a real mess of any conceivable rest or sequence, and finally came to the last jug a mere 5 feet from the chains and decided to fall off. It was epic.
We took a break from the longer routes yet again to find sheer climbing bliss on the shorter walls below the pit that had some pretty fun .10's and .9's.
The morning turned to afternoon and we found ourselves at the Main Wall yet again with noone in sight. I was ready to give a good OS attempt on a cool looking .12a called Naked Man, which was much in the style of the .12a Dom had done on the previous day. Steep and bouldery at the beginning with mostly good incut crimps and a huge jug rest in the middle. I fired off 2/3's of the route before hitting a wall. Literally. I jumped off with the bolt at my feet and came slamming back into the hard basalt. Oh well, it was a fun try and very good climb, I just couldn't finish it. Dom cleaned it up for me and I managed to snag a vid of him on it. (Coming soon)


Me on the beginning of Naked Man(5.12a)

The day ended in a little more frustration than it began. I recovered from my harrowing fall and after a few routes on the Mushroom boulder we were back at the Main Wall for the last climb of the day, a steep looking .11c called Overhangus. Again I fought with flat holds and a pretty hard bouldery start only to pop off just before the slab and a huge no hands rest. It was a really great route however and I look forward to getting back on it next time(a year from now maybe?).
More wood was collected and a nice fire was had by all.


Me taking my frustrations out on the wood, Grrrrrrrr!

Okay, that is a wrap for Deep Creek. Next up is Banks Lake. We drove a mere two hours to Grand Coulee where the granitic mecca of Banks Lake was lying in wait. Our timing could not have been more perfect, for as we pulled into the gravel drive of the campsite pulling in just behind us were our friends from Oly' who had planned to meet up with us on this very day. Erica, Sarah, Meagan, and Melody stumbled out of the car and greeted us with road trip enthusiasm. We pitched four pretty little tents all in a row and were climbing in no time.


The view from Highway Rock at Banks Lake.

A few 5.8 slab climbs later and I found myself growing antsy and wanting to step it up a notch. I spied a line of verticalness with awesome looking crimps at the beginning and was psyched. I made it three bolts up before realizing there were no more bolts and had to back clean to the ground. Turns out the route was not in the guide and was probably not even a finished route. Stepping farther right I got on a sweet looking .11c called young Lions. Easy start on jugs lead to a slightly overhung wall split perfectly down the middle by a slopey looking vertical seam. I just kept on climbing and clipping. The seam was much better than it looked and the crux was right underneath the chains, a deadpoint to a perfect crimp rail and then a victory jug. I had the best time on this route and I think it was the best route I did all trip. The granite is impeccable. Wonderful moves, no awkwardness, well protected. I could go on and on.


Dom on the last move of Young Lions(5.11c).


Melody on the arete of Bono(5.8)

The rain moved in pretty much on Dom's second go send of Allergic reaction(5.12a) as he was almost blown from the top by strong gusts of wind, we packed up in the ensuing torrential downpour and made our soggy way into the local bar. The rain abated and we headed to the homefront where store bought wood warmed us to the core that night.
The next day we woke to the sounds of a million bird songs and checked out Northrup Canyon(amazing) but decided to start out at Golf Course Rock. A huge granitic slab adjacent to a golf course.
The first route I tried was a .10a and it was out of this fucking world good. No hard moves, all crimps, great movement up a flat slabby face.


Erica on the right, and Meagan on the left. Right (5.10b), left (5.10d).


Dom on the .10a lower right corner, and the expanse of the Golf Course Rock sector.

I climbed two other routes on the slab; a pretty nice but awkward in some places .10b and a really good and hard .10d, both OS and fun ascents. Slab climbing is great because you don't get pumped. Hooray.
The last stop of the day was Northrup Canyon.


The pillar ledge view. We had to climb through a cocaine gullyesque nostril to get to these climbs, and I guess it was worth it.


Dom entering the 'pillar' section of Dr. Ceuse(5.10a)

Dr. Ceuse was a great climb that would be 4 stars if not for the junky and awkward beginning. As soon as you get to the pillar part of the climb the adrenaline kicks in and the exposure is intoxicating. The lichen splattered pillar is sharp as a knife but climbs well and is well protected besides just being a straight up bad ass rock climb. I did the 5.8 slab and the crusty and sketchy .10a before we all headed down back through the nostril and collected an insane amount of wood to burn that night.


Meagan checks the weather from the pillar on Dr. Ceuse(5.10)


Sarah negotiates the corner on a .10a.


Erica leading the 5.8 slab in Northrup Canyon.


The next day would be our last at Banks Lake and we all agreed that Northrup Canyon was the place to go. I started out on an inspiring slab climb that was 14 bolts long! How Homer Got His Groove Back(5.10b) was such an amazing climb even though I broke a small crimp off of it and fell, I finished it up after that and took some photos of Laura on it.


Me tackling the slab on How Homer Got His Groove Back(5.10b), pre-breaking off a hold.


Laura TR's How Homer Got His Groove Back(5.10b).




Okay, the stitching was a little off for this pano but I didn't want to crop out most of the picture. I just couldn't stop snapping pics of this awesome crag. The potential here is amazing. A lot of decent boulders, tons of face climbing, crack climbing, roofs, overhangs, slabs, all on perfect cream/tan/white granite.
Dom and I both ended the day on a .12c called Baptism By Whipper which ascends a really overhung wall on nothing but good incuts. It was a tad on the soft side, just big moves, but really fun to climb. The weather was perfect but instead of climbing more we were all ready to pack up and get on to the next destination.

Post Falls

I'll end my blog quickly now since I have no more eye candy. A full memory card will do that to you. We spent Wednesday at a crag in Idaho just over the border of Washington. Post Falls was a great granite sport crag that has a high concentration of climbs in the 5.8 to 5.11+ range, and a couple of .12's. We did more routes on that day than on any other day, I think Dom had 14, I had 11, and Laura got in 8 or 9. The best of which was a great vertical .10c that had a tricky little roof encounter at the very top which required a high-step and a rock-over. Out of three stars I would give this crag 2.5. It was such enjoyable climbing on friendly rock but it lacked that kind of secluded feel that can be nice to have sometimes, especially when the locals start throwing rocks off the top of the cliffs. It's located in a park that gets a lot of foot traffic and most of the climbs are easy to access from the top to set up TR's. Overall it was a great high volume day and there were some definite stand outs, like McMantle(5.11b), Divine Intervention(5.10b), Jude 24(5.11a) and the aformentioned .10c, plus the 5.8 that we all did at the very end of the day.

Goose Lake

Thursday was our seventh day on, and instead of sticking around Spokane to find out first hand if the weather reports we had been hearing about rain were true, we packed up and headed to a place called Goose Lake which is 20 miles(?) east of Vantage. It's quite an obscure little place located in a nature reserve(which allows hunting, WTF?) and has some great views of native grasslands. The climbing is basalt pillars very much in the same style as the Feathers in Vantage but shorter. Out of three stars I would give this crag 1. The rock is extremely loose and friable in places, and even though the entire crag caters to the grade range of 5.6-5.10a, it might not be a wise choice to go here if you are a beginner and are not good at delineating between 'good/solid' holds from 'bad/friable' holds. That being said, I got on 9 routes from 5.6-5.10d and the majority of them were quite enjoyable, with good movement, technical in places, and powerful in others, plus the setting is very tranquil and beautiful.

Now it is Friday afternoon. My skin feels good and it is nice to re-cap the last weeks events. I'm sure I have left out something, like the dinner we had at Laura's aunt's house, thanks Larry and Diane!! The BBQ was delicious. Or the details of sitting underneath a star ridden sky every night laughing and enjoying good company around a crackling fire. Part of me would love to still be out there trying to find 'the zone', but another part of me is psyched to start my new job on Monday and completely not psyched to get up at 5:45 to do so. Anyway, thanks everyone for making the first big trip of the year a great one. Can't wait to get back out there and seek out some of the crags we didn't go to, there are just too many.