Leavenworth, WA (short gear climbs)

The town of Leavenworth has an interesting twist. The old logging town turned to tourism and took on a Bavarian look. By chance we happened to be there at the start of Oktoberfest. A few people dressed in Bavarian outfits where walking the streets as we went to have dinner on our last night in town. As for the climbing, it was almost all traditional (All gear, no bolts). All of the climbs we did involved walking off the backside afterwards. We found some of them tough for the grade (sandbagged) given in the older guidebook we were given. Most of the climbing was on lower angled rock (slab) with fun cracks. We started off our first day at an area called Castle Rock. The approach was short (10min) and the climbs were mostly good although the interesting climbing on the longer climbs typically only lasted for one pitch then rambled on. On the 30^th we drove up to Icicle canyon and had a day seeking out the recommended climbs around. The two routes we did on Givler’s Dome were great despite the longer approach (about 30min uphill). “Givler’s Crack” had a fun and long crack that lasted two pitches on lower angled rock. It was a contrast to “Bo Derek” which was slightly overhanging. We then used our mountain bikes to go the short distance up the road towards Duty Dome. It was a shorter hike up this time and the climbs we did were low angled slab. “Off Duty” was mostly bolted with a few gear placements along the way. The bolts were spaced out a fair bit which made things spicy. After dinner we began our drive towards the border of Oregon.

Here’s a list of climbs we did.

Sept. 29^th

Castle Rock (Lower):   The Fault (5.6)

                                     Catapult (5.8)

                                     The Bone (5.9)

                                     Smut (5.10a)

Castle Rock (Upper):   Angel (3 pitches 5.10-)

                                     Canary (2 pitches 5.8)

Sept. 30^th

Givler’s Dome:             Givler’s Crack (2 pitches 5.7)

                                     Bo Derek (5.10b)

Dudy Dome:                Heart of Gold (4 pitches 5.10-)

                                     Off Duty (5.10a)       

Castle Rock

Castle Rock, Angel (first pitch)

Givler's Dome, Bo Derek

A shot along the streets of Leavenworth at night.