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yanqui
climber
Balcarce, Argentina
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May 19, 2015 - 06:50pm PT
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I lead my first 5.4s, first 5.5s, first 5.6s, first 5.7s, first 5.8s, first 5.9s, first 5.10s, first multipitches and first alpine routes all on roadtrips to humble, sunny Leavenworth, starting 37 years ago. So I can dig it (and have been since you first posted a while back). Have fun!
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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May 19, 2015 - 08:17pm PT
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Many fond memories of faux Bavaria. Lived there for a couple of years around 1980. As Tami said, Midnight Rock is worth the walk...not that anyone walks anymore.
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Darwin
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - May 31, 2016 - 09:23am PT
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We have rain on the West Side
Humble little climbs for the early season. Even in Leavenworth, we did have to wait out the rain on this day.
(tilted frame alert!)
OK, so it's not a beautiful crack splitting the headwall of silver white granite. It is granite and I didn't tilt this frame, though.
(earlier sunny day)
You do have to take the time to put together your stylish climbing apparel
and always sit by the river at the end of the day.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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May 31, 2016 - 10:23am PT
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So, Darwin, should I not risk inflaming my revolutionary ardor by going
up the Icicle and looking at the mansions that have been built up there?
I hear there are quite a few and that they're not friendly to trespassers.
How far up do they go? I guess I could go onto Google Earth but I don't
want to risk throwing my monitor across the room.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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May 31, 2016 - 10:32am PT
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The Icicle was doomed from the moment they turned Leavenwrth into a faux Bavarion, faux art, tourist shopping mecca.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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May 31, 2016 - 10:45am PT
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Well, Jim, it was that for a long time while we were still able to camp anywhere along the
Icicle. Then they destroyed The Face-Climbing Boulder to widen the road. That was the
beginning of the end.
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Darwin
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - May 31, 2016 - 02:09pm PT
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I should be more outraged by the building boom, but the climbers detract from my pleasure tons more than any buildings or property owners that I've run into. The whole part of the canyon below 8 Mile CG is a zoo with boulders and some climbers cars. I've run into one particularly dickheaded guide, too. Channelling my inner surfer, Mark and I have our secret spots, but then again we're happy to walk a bit and climb on stuff like:
You can't tell from the photo, but the tongue that he's climbing is actually clean.
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MisterE
Gym climber
Small Town with a Big Back Yard
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May 31, 2016 - 06:25pm PT
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Looking forward to climbing at 11worth this fall!
Little Bavaria is kind of cute, I have always thought - hard to get mad about.
Visiting family, and HAVE to take the wife up some classics at Castle Rock and, of course, Outer Space! Maybe hit Off Duty, as well...
Been 15 years - super excited!
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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May 31, 2016 - 09:38pm PT
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Nice to see this thread resurrected.
There is some fine climbing in the Leavenworth area, and, faux Bavaria aside, it's a fine setting.
But there's more than just climbing. More in fact than even extreme climbing. For those who are willing to push the boundaries of extreme zookeeping, Leavenworth is where it's all happening.
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MisterE
Gym climber
Small Town with a Big Back Yard
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May 31, 2016 - 10:32pm PT
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Nice, Ghost!
I have told the story before on a Washington Pass thread, but worth retelling via the goat pic.
My friend Mike and I were climbing the west face of NEWS fully hung over, and I was belaying Mike through the initial wake-you-up first pitch.
http://www.mountainproject.com/v/the-west-face/105847147
I look over and this puppy is hauling ass up the trail, no owner in sight and fixated on a point.
I follow the dog's line of sight and it is an OLD goat.
You know, the patchy, dreadlock ones - and he has the bead on the pup below.
"Watch me" drifts down from above...
Pfft. Mikey's got this, and check out the (good-sized) puppy finally getting to his objective!
Worst belay ever.
The old goat had moved out to a perch on a wedge of rock when the puppy came directly up the scree in full attack.
The dog reached the perch and lunged upward...
"This part is pretty hard, you got me good?"
"Fine, Man - you got this!"
The goat turned it's head quizzically towards the scrambling dog
coming towards his lone stance.
And as my friend climbed some pretty hard stuff (I would later find out),
I watched the goat pick the dog up perfectly between it's horns
and deftly flick it off
like some small annoyance
back down the slope it had charged so demonstrably up.
"OK, I think I am through the hard bit" from above.
The dog bellows off, the goat is unmoved. I am completely distracted.
And get my ass kicked following the pitch.
Later we could hear a lady following the yelping of the dog.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Eric, if you and Skip are coming to the PNW, I sense the potential for an 11worthfest. Keep us posted on your schedule.
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MisterE
Gym climber
Small Town with a Big Back Yard
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That would be so fun - thanks.
September 6-19th is the plan,
Be great to hook up with Wayno & co after a UW Wall sesh, as well? ;)
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BEA
climber
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Well, Jim, it was that for a long time while we were still able to camp anywhere along the
Icicle. Then they destroyed The Face-Climbing Boulder to widen the road. That was the
beginning of the end.
This:
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Darwin
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 1, 2017 - 02:20pm PT
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It' still possible to find completely empty crags up Icicle Canyon. Boy, Saturday was beautiful up there, with little bit of rain spitting, but not enough to keep us from climbing. The fall colors and sun glinting through the clouds had us musing about altered states of mind.
We returned through an extended effing torrential downpour in the westside foothills (e.g. Index).
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L
climber
Tiptoeing through the chilly waters of life
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This is such a wonderful thread that I somehow missed the first, second and third times it surfaced.
The photos are priceless, especially the end-of-day beer bottle one.
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Darwin
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 13, 2018 - 10:52pm PT
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Another season.
First, he won't make the front page of ST, but I want to commorate the passing of Coach Chris. He graced the UW Rock, Index and Leavenworth campgrounds. I wasn't terribly close, but he was one of a kind.
I've not climbed so far this year. Still OMG it's beautiful and empty up at Leavenwoth now, at least mid-week. I didn't see a single snake, nor did a single tick suck my blood.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Apr 13, 2018 - 11:19pm PT
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The revolution will not be televised, at least at 8 Mile Rock.
So, Darwin, even the snakes have given up on the Icicle? There was an 8 footer who
lived up by Givler’s Dome. Scared the loving bejeebus outta Weigelt. Dude ran all
the way down to the road screamin’ like like a school girl.
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Tom Patterson
Trad climber
Seattle
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Apr 14, 2018 - 07:59am PT
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Love me some Icicle Canyon! (My avatar pic is from up there, from X-C skiing last winter.)
Was thinking about Ghost's pic of Mari rapping down to the welcoming goat, and wondered what kinds of experiences y'all have had with them up there. The most number of "up close and personal" encounters I've had with them were up at the Pearly Gates routes. I find myself a little skiddish, after the full on agro-goats killed that poor hiker up at Hurricane Ridge. We had to suspend all our gear we weren't using at Pearly Gates so they wouldn't lick/eat our approach packs for the salt.
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MH2
Boulder climber
Andy Cairns
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Apr 14, 2018 - 08:15am PT
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Nice morning experience. Sort of like a wake-me-up first pitch but without fear, until that last image brought some out of the past.
added:
Goats seem to like being around people.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Apr 14, 2018 - 07:26pm PT
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Was thinking about Ghost's pic of Mari rapping down to the welcoming goat, and wondered what kinds of experiences y'all have had with them up there. The most number of "up close and personal" encounters I've had with them were up at the Pearly Gates routes. I find myself a little skiddish, after the full on agro-goats killed that poor hiker up at Hurricane Ridge. We had to suspend all our gear we weren't using at Pearly Gates so they wouldn't lick/eat our approach packs for the salt.
That photo was from a day at the Pearly Gates. But, funny as it looks, it was the aftermath of a seriously frightening experience.
I think it was about fifteen years ago. Pearly Gates, a cliff band half-way up the trail from Leavenworth to Snow Creek Wall, had recently been developed, and we went up for a look at what was being trumpeted as a crack-climbing paradise.
The Snow Creek Wall goats are widely known for their human-tolerant behavior. Mostly it's nannies and kids looking for urine. Other than that, they don't interact with humans much -- or at least I haven't heard stories of anything other than them watching and waiting for the humans to pee. But at the Pearly Gates, we learned where the males hang out. I think we first met Lester in 2002. He was fully grown, but still young, and already pretty much the dominant goat dude at the Pearly Gates.
There were two other people there that day, a couple of young guys who had arrived before us. Lester checked us all out, at first from a reasonable distance. He'd come near for a look, but not closer than thirty or forty feet, then go back to browsing. After a while we assumed everything would be fine, but on his next check he became extremely aggressive. Mock charging the two young guys. Who promptly packed up and left. We stayed, but stopped doing much, and were prepared to leave. But Lester seemed to believe that he'd done his job, and lost interest. Wandered away, browsing as he went, but getting further and further from us.
So we started climbing again. It's mostly one-pitch routes, so one of us would be on the ground while the other climbed, then vice versa. Everything seemed fine, but a couple of hours later, with Mari half way up something, Lester came back. He didn't act aggressive, but he kept getting closer and closer, to the point where I could literally have reached out and touched his nose.
What you have to understand is that the creature whose nose I could have touched was twice my size, and had horns that... well, let's not go there. Suffice to say that I was thinking it might be time to become religious and hope that my death would not be too painful.
Of course as he got closer I had started yelling (_very_ quietly so as not to show any fear, or startle the goat) at Mari to plug something in and tie off, so that I could untie and move away if that's what Lester wanted. Or run away in blind panic. Or have Mari bring me up out of his reach.
But, before she could do anything, and as I was slowly turning to stone, he lay down at my feet, chewed his cud for a bit, then zoned out.
Yeah, went to sleep on the ground beside me.
What do you do? Since it seemed that we'd passed whatever test he felt determined who was welcome in his house, Mari continued climbing, and I continued praying. Eventually she reached the anchors, and set up a rap. Which was fine, until she was almost down and Lester woke up. More heart attacks for me, but it turned out we were still on his okay list, and all he wanted to do was say hi to Mari as she returned to the ground.
It was at that point that I finally unfroze enough to get out the camera. Photo repeated below:
But that was not the end of our friendship with Lester. We returned to the Pearly Gates six years later, and Lester was still running the place, but on that day he was well down the hill, hanging with a young buddy, and paying no attention to the humans fooling about on the rocks above.
So we did some climbing, and then, needing to pee, I dropped down into the boulders below the cliff. At which point I heard Mari calling "He's coming toward you!" I looked up just in time to see him falling out of the sky right on top of me. Except of course that he was aiming for the lip of the boulder above me so that he could get a better look. But from my perspective, it was more like he was going to land right on top of me.
This is not something I recommend for the faint of heart. Ten years later, I can classify it as Type II Fun, but at the time it was terrifying. Somehow I managed to get my camera out as I backed away...
And, just so you know that this isn't overhyped silliness, here's Lester at touching distance. This is the biggest goat I've ever seen. He was the size of a small horse, and those horns are...
You tell me how you would have felt about meeting him this close:
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