I am loving Washington State. Ever since I arrived at Seattle on June 13, the experience has been very pleasant and positive. The weekend of June 14 and 15 at Discovery Park was the staff training of my summer job; it was sunny and many wild flowers were in blossom. Summer had officially made her entry to Washington. My colleagues are all passionate outdoor educators; I felt warmly welcomed from the first second I met them.

We then ran a 4-day rock climb skill training and site scouting trip at Tieton River Rocks near Yakima. Even though our schedule was quite busy, we still managed to squeeze in some personal climbing here and there. The scenic drive back to the city was also one of the highlights; we overlooked Mount Rainier from a good distance and she was resting there peacefully under the soothing snow. What a gorgeous picture. Even though all of us have been to many cool places, our breath was still taken away immediately by it and we exclaimed our appreciation with wonder.

We discovered that Royal Columns was a good top rope site for beginners: relatively easy approach with many mellow routes for selection. In order to feel the reality rather than blindly follow the description in the guidebook, as well as to assess the top rope site management for various routes, we climbed the following routes: Western Front (5.3), Rough Boys (5.5), Mush Maker (5.7), Double Trouble (5.5), and Twin Cracks (5.6). I led Rough Boys & Double Trouble and top roped the rest.

My favorite one was Twin Cracks. Basically the climbing area of this route is between two thin cracks and therefore it engages the climber to utilize different techniques. Sometimes she has to climb the face, sometimes cracks; being competent on stemming and jamming techniques is essential. Mush Maker also won much praise for its consistent fist jamming from half way up; however I remember Rough Boys better because it was my first lead after over a month of inactivity on rocks. In addition, I haven’t become intuitive on crack climbing moves yet, and the rating of this area is a bit harder; therefore Rough Boys did play rough on me. Double Trouble didn’t create much trouble, but its crux was a little tricky.

We also explored some non-driving possibilities. Since we stayed in the Windy Point Campground, we walked across the road and checked out two areas called The Oasis and Windy Point Columns. The rock quality there didn’t look too good; many routes were covered in dirt and posed potential rock fall hazard. Some routes in certain shady areas in Windy Point Columns looked mellower than the ones we climbed: a promising option for students to break into this sport. We decided to climb a seemingly easy route—possibly the first ascent. The lower 90 percent was a cruiser; a little dusty but we of course can do some cleaning if we need to. However the crux move near the top was too much for the first-timers; therefore we had to abort this option.

The last area we scouted is called Moon Rocks. Perfect trail system; super short approach. Too bad that the bridge crossing the river was bare; that means a wooden bridge on top of a rapid current without any hand railings at either side: not that great for kids. Good news is that Moon Rocks is wicked awesome for personal climbing: the rock is clean; there are many burly routes; easy access to the top to set up top rope anchors; the geology is intriguing. I love this area more than Royal Columns.

We didn’t have much time left, so we broke into two teams. One party led a 5.7 route called Internal Bliss. It was satisfying for them; that was a tunnel vision experience. While they were crawling in the chimney feature right behind the rock face, the arrangement of neighboring standalone pillars still allowed enough sunlight for them to navigate. My party set up a top rope for Straight Talk (5.10a). Oh, it was difficult; 100 feet of sustained 5.10a crack climbing. The good news is that you can always find tiny footholds on the face, since this non-smooth crack in a right facing corner did not take toe jams too well. Looking for an ideal foot position in the crack was exactly how I wasted much energy and therefore failed to send it.

The crack starts as a tiny crack which barely takes one’s fingertips and gradually widens up to hand jam and then fist jam and beyond. It then narrows down to fist jam and back to hand jam till the top. As I mentioned earlier, the crack was not smooth, taping your hands will be a wise decision.

Tieton River Rocks area doesn’t seem to get much of a crowd, even though it totally deserves it. In the guidebook, the authors encourage climbers to establish new routes over here. On our way back to the city, we did see many virgin rocks waiting for exploration. Perhaps it’s time for me to think about the art of bolting and… maybe pick up a drill?

Photo: Top-roping Straight Talk
Photo Credit: Craig McKibben

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After Constance left, I took a rest day on April 7 because my new partner would not arrive until the evening. I had a couple brief phone conversations beforehand with this new partner, Ted, and I was looking forward to his arrival. He had been traveling and climbing for a few weeks already and he was up to doing some moderate routes, which coincided with my goals. Moreover, he planed to stay in the area for a couple weeks, which meant if we developed a good partnership, I would not have to find new partners and I probably would be able to give Crimson Chrysalis another shot.

I spent most of my rest day in town; I did some laundry, bought some groceries, surfed a long while on the Internet, and had a refreshing shower!! It felt like my stay in Red Rocks was going to enter another brand new phase. This six sense appeared to be quite true. From a voice mail I received from Ted, I learned that his friends, Graham and Peter, were currently in the canyon and they happened to stay right next to my camp site. Right after I went back to the campsite after my luxurious Vegas side tour, I went ahead to greet them. What a surprise, they were the ones climbing Black Magic the day before and we already had a thorough conversation regarding desert weather on Lotta Balls Wall. I had to admit that the world was quite small. They offered me some deserts and hot drink, which injected a warm current into my body.

Ted arrived shortly after. I had to say the combination of Peter and Ted equals a never-ending story. They never ran out of topics, were always enthusiastic about people and affairs around the globe, and had a lot of life experience. I was very much intrigued by their story telling, as I grew up in a totally different region and never lived their eras. Graham seemed to be very mellow; he was always listening to his fellows actively and always displaying his comforting smile. I later learned that Graham had done much great alpine/rock climbing all over the place, no wonder I sensed reliability from him.

Ted and I agreed to do Olive Oil as our get-to-know-each-other climb. Olive Oil is an easy multi-pitch, and various guidebooks mark it as a must-do classic climb. The descent is a hike down, so we did not have to worry about the common and notorious rope-got-stuck issue in Red Rocks. The best thing is that the route gets much sun in the afternoon, and I was longing for warmer climbs.

On the way towards Rose Tower in which the route is located, I could see Crimson Chrysalis. I couldn’t help but detail my accident that happened not long ago and express my desire to finish the unfinished. Ted understood and responded with his willingness if our partnership turned out to be a positive one. We took our time hiking in and chatted quite a bit; at some point, we took an unexpected detour and had a snack break underneath a cool natural cave—that could be quite a nice emergency overnight site if necessary.

It took us a little longer to get to the base than that was estimated in the guidebook. At the base, some people left some warnings with chalk, such as “no bolts” and descent might be an issue and so on. We learned from the guidebook that in perhaps 2002, some unknown party added some bolts to the route; however, the bolts intruded the originality of the route so they might had be removed. It turned out there was in fact no bolts along the way, at least I did not find any. All the anchors we built were either pro anchors or natural anchors.

I started out leading the odd pitches; Ted the even ones. Since we couldn’t find any bolts we only loosely followed the topo and built an anchor to belay the follower when we found the best fit spot. The climb was not as good as expected, in my opinion; I felt that if a route is described as a classic, it should have offered a lot more. There were indeed some highlights: When I followed the second pitch, the finger and hand crack was beautiful, even though it was in fact a face climb; however, if one wants to practice some crack climbing, he could throw in some crack moves. There was a short section of chimney-like feature in the last pitch I led; since it was also a bit overhanging, the move required some commitment—short and sweet. The psychologically haunting part was the last section of the same pitch; it was a run out and I had to step on sketchy hollow flakes, and therefore I walked as careful as a cat.

During the climb, I was also looking across at a route locating in Jackrabbit Buttress, Northeast Face. It was the 8-pitch Aquarium (5.9). The line looked fun and seemed to contain many features, and the top must have sweet views. Only the first two pitches are 5.9s, and the rest is easy. However, the first 5.9 is a overhang and the second 5.9 is a 5.9 run out and the 5th pitch has some off-width 5.8. I had to be realistic so I jotted it down in my to-do list.

The hike down was kind of tedious. And because we had to hike down another gully, not the one leading to the base of the climb, we had to hike back up to gather our left-behind stuff. The approach and descent combined was much longer than the climb and I felt that the climb was not worth the effort; Ted agreed. If I were the author of the guidebooks, I would rate the climb as a 2-star rather than a 3. In any rate, Ted and I enjoyed each other’s company and we both felt confident that our team would grow to be a solid one.

The attempt of Mount Wilson I did with Jason on April 5 almost drained my energy, and therefore I had no interest to do any long routes the next day. I obtained mutual understanding with my new partner Constance and we decided to go to Lotta Balls Wall at First Creek Canyon on April 6. Even though the approach to Lotta Balls Wall was not exactly short (about one hour of hiking), the terrain was super easy and sweet. Furthermore, there were many doable short routes (3-4 pitches) on that wall, which made our climbing plan flexible.

On the morning of April 6, I woke up when it was too hot to stay in the tent. It was 8 am; I had a nice, long rest. The morning tempo was relaxing—neither Constance nor I wanted to rush. Oh, this reminds me of another good thing about First Creek Canyon—the parking lot is outside of the 13-mile scenic loop, so we did not have to worry about the closing time of the loop. We were sweating on our way in because we were under the sun most of the time.

At the base, Constance asked me what I wanted to do while flaking the rope. She wanted to do some 5.9s such as Lost Marble; however, I felt more comfortable climbing something easier first since we had never climbed with each other before. Being ambitious is admirable but jumping right into the unknown is stupid—I learned the lesson a hard way and I did not plan to make the same mistake. We settled our decision on Lotta Balls. According to the guidebook, it was a 4-pitch climb: 5.7, 5.8+, 5.7 and easy 5th class. She expressed that she was in training so she wanted to lead the harder pitches. Her proposal was that she would lead the first two pitches and I could lead the remaining and if I wanted to do some harder stuff, I could go ahead and do some 5.9s afterward. I did not like her proposal so I countered it with a compromise, I said, “I want to swap leads; how about I let you lead the crux pitch, and I lead the odd pitches.”

This occurred to me as brand new experience. Why so? This was the first time I talked this much with a new partner before I even left the ground. I consider this healthy. Before Constance, I climbed with Jon and Jason, and I did not communicate much with either of them. When the terrain is easy, lack of communication or mutual understanding does not pose a threat; however, when the climb gets more demanding, it becomes a hazard and creates unnecessary risk.

I took the sharp end and started leading the first pitch. I was moving slowly giving my muscles a chance to recover. At some point I got lured to the left because there was a good ledge. After I realized the bolt anchor was on the right, I down climbed from the ledge and traversed to the right and clipped in. I belayed Constance to me and she was also taking her time climbing, slow and steady.

She clipped in and looked up to assess the second pitch. She felt that the start of the second pitch looked kind of intimidating and she quoted the guidebook that the crux pitch is “a delicate lead.” I agreed with her comment and observation. From the bolt anchor to the first bolt was not that bad; one has to make some committing moves but she can have a good stance to clip the bolt and rest. The second bolt is not too far from the first bolt, but the terrain in between is exposed and only offers little chips and knobs for hands and feet. Some of my climbing friends would have described the terrain as “the holds are a bit thin.”

She took off, and clipped in the first bolt without a problem. She looked and looked and we started another conversation. She felt that she should be able to clip into the next bolt but she was pretty worried about what was after the second bolt because the holds looked thinner. I tried to encourage her and told her to take as long as she wanted since she was in a good stance. She moved up a bit and came back down, and told me that she was scared. I tried to cheer her up and in the meantime really paid full attention to her. Ryan who she met at the base and was climbing a route left of ours encouraged her as well, “Constance, you can do this!” She tried again but she came back down again saying that she really wanted to do this but was scared and decided not to lead this. I lowered her to me and started to prepare for leading—you know, taking the lead rack, flipping the rope and so on.

I took a deep breath because I was nervous. I was not sure why I was so nervous. Was that because Constance was scared or the route was intimidating or both? I told myself that I could do this and if I wanted I could always bail. I climbed up, clipped into the first bolt and rested a bit on the tiny ledge. I continued up very carefully, still nervous and a bit scared. I slowly put my weight onto the little knobs, not really trusting them because I knocked off something similar last time I was in Red Rocks; however the knobs turned out to be very trust-worthy, and I managed to clip into the second bolt also in a slow motion. I took another deep breath.

From the second bolt to the next ledge, in my opinion, was the crux of this crux pitch. The holds were worse and the terrain was still exposed and I was too nervous for no reason. I felt that my muscles were too tense because of my mental state; I made a reluctant decision to “take” so that I could shake off my arms and legs. I took another and another deep breath. I moved up little by little, reminding myself to breathe…and the seemingly nice hand hold was being approached within my reach. I had to hop to grab it, ah-ha, it was a super positive jug. Damn, I like jugs but I never knew that I might in fact love them. I climbed up to the ledge and took a good break. The climb started to ease off. Only the last ten feet to the belay station was a bit awkward. I guess the feature, a crack in a corner, explains it all.

Constance did a great job leading the third pitch. By the time I was belaying Constance at the top of the second pitch, the sun had already abandoned us. Worse thing was the wind picked up and I had to shake my body intentionally and unintentionally to keep myself warm. I saw a couple climbers to our right, who were climbing Black Magic; they were also cold and surprisingly they were in short cotton T-shirts! We talked about how climbers usually do not have enough body fat to deal with cold, and how weird the desert weather is. Eventually I heard the most beautiful voice, “Ting Ting, you are on belay,” which meant I could move and that meant I could get warm. I had some issue cleaning a nut and had to use a biner as a hammer trying to knock the nut off from many different angles. Shortly after that, I climbed to Constance and finished the last easy section.

I met three girls on the top and another girl was leading behind us. Earlier I also saw a female leader leading a pitch or two of Black Magic, plus Constance and I, I saw 7 female climbers and at least 5 of them led something. This is awesome; I love to see woman in the outdoors, not to mention how exciting that is to see women leading on real rocks. The descent was a combination of rappelling and hike. When we got back to the base, it was about 4 pm and the wind was howling. Since Constance needed to drive to LA, we called it a day and hiked out. I really enjoyed the outing. First Creek Canyon is a wonderful area for short multi-pitches. In fact, I came back on the last day of my stay in Red Rocks and climbed Black Magic.

Well, I am supposed to be in Anchorage tonight (5/8); however, I am stuck in some random hotel near Salt Lake City airport. My first flight was delayed so I missed the connecting flight to Anchorage, and won’t arrive there until tomorrow afternoon (5/9).

I really love Alaska and I guess that is why I visit Alaska three summers in a roll. This time I am going to stay for another 34 days. Friends asked me, “Are you going to try Denali again?” Of course I want to; however, not this summer. What I am going to do is also something as exciting if not more exciting than Denali. I am taking the NOLS Alaska Instructor Course, which means if I successfully complete the course, I will be a NOLS instructor. Maybe I will start teaching wilderness courses, but hopefully I can teach technical courses very soon!

That being said, my blog is going to be quiet for a while. (I did put a couple articles in the queue though). Don’t forget me and give me some of your best wishes!

- Little Po