Climbing Flyboys, Prime Rib, Methow Valley Inspiration Route, and Earl Grey felt worthy of a write up. But, for exactly 1 year minus 1 day, I couldn’t really figure out if I wanted to really post about these climbs individually, jointly, or at all. I’ve, for the most part, kept my posts solely for “alpine climbs”. I say “alpine climbs” in quotes, because I don’t think there really is a good definition for what that even means. That’s come to my attention, because as more and more people from my non-climbing-life begin dabbling in gym and crag climbing, the question “what does alpine climbing mean?” comes up fairly frequently. And for Mazama’s Methow Valley multipitch sport routes, I don’t really know if they are alpine climbs or not, maybe because nobody really knows what “alpine climbing” means in the first place. But regardless of whatever these are, I feel good about having managed to get up and down them all.
Prime Rib (5.9-, 11 pitches)
Goat Wall
October 2, 2022
Prime Rib! The route that started it all! For me and Jess, we originally hopped on this route thinking we just needed something dry in October. We didn’t really know what to expect, as this would be our first “alpine sport” climb really ever. We had done a lot of shorter sport multipitches in Smith, but Prime Rib breaks into the double-digit pitch count. Being more accustomed to alpine climbs of this length at this point, we fully anticipated to have a HUGE day. But the climbing went by quick, and we accidentally linked a few of the pitches requiring some makeshift draws.
The climbing proved to be fluid, and the bolt job was pretty extra, which I thoroughly approve of. (If we are going to drill, let’s effin drill!) I am pretty sure quite a few of the bolts were placed purely for routefinding rather than clipping. Topping out was a bit of a funny ending, because the bolts just simply end. We got back to the ground far earlier than expected, and had a blast the whole way up and down. A+ route makes for an A+ day!
This climb inspired us to go to El Potrero Chico a few months later, and just generally explore the slowly growing number of alpine sport routes in the Cascades.
Andrzej Pronobis’s blog has this wonderful topo of Prime Rib. While this is not super necessary because one can literally just follow the bolts, it is pretty to look at!
Earl Grey (5.9, 8 pitches)
Valhalla
May 27 & 28, 2023
Weather wise, Spring 2023 had been tough. During the last weekend of May, we went from itching to get into the alpine, to downright bummed that the weather was so unfriendly for the alpine. By this time past years, we’d already have a lot under our belts. Seeing a fairly shoddy window for Washington Pass come up, we decided to plunk down in Mazama for 3 days. Ideally we could ride out the bad days in Mazama, and if a good day materialized, we’d launch into the Cascades.
Really really good weather didn’t come, but we managed to climb the newly (almost) published route, Early Grey in the Valhalla crag. The Valhalla mini guide book came out a week or two later officially opening up the crag. Day 1, we fired up, but rain eventually came down on us. The lichen didn’t want to cooperate with our shoes, so we rapped down half way up. The climb was cool enough that we came back on day 2, this time watching the weather storm around us, but never actually hit us. The climbing proved to be classic quality Mazama sport climbing, with pretty fluid and intuitive movement all the way up.
Methow Inspiration Route (5.9+, 5 pitches)
Goat Wall
September 24, 2023
I hate being sick during the climbing season, and late September is, well, kind of the climbing season. The few days before, I could feel a cold lingering during the days before, and sleeping in the cold van the previous night seemed to do me in. Well, we are here. My scratchy throat made coffee feel unappealing, which is very atypical for me, so I mixed up a big cup of very overly strong matcha. That should hold me over.
I huffed and puffed getting through the approach, the sickness was definitely hitting my cardio, but I didn’t want to make the drive from Seattle in vain. 5 pitches of 5.9+ sport climbing seemed doable, and it was. The recent re-bolt job made for a pretty friendly feeling route, with only a short 5.7 mildly run out section.
I’ve heard many sentiments with the nature of, “Prime Rib, eh, whatever. Methow Inspiration is where it’s really at.” But getting to the ground after the final rappel, I was left wondering how that sentiment had come about. While I certainly had a fun day, it was maybe the least exciting of the climbs in this family for me.
Flyboys (5.9+, 18 pitches)
Goat Wall
October 1, 2023
The pièce de résistance of the Goat Wall, and apparently the the pièce de résistance for apparently quite a few people in the wider American climbing community. Getting to the base of the climb, Jess and I were quickly joined by quite a few other parties queuing up behind us. To our surprise, all of them had flown in just for Flyboys. This was literally the most traffic we had ever seen in Mazama, by quite a long shot.
Jess was just starting to get sick, and I was still recovering from being sick the previous week. We still managed to move efficiently, choosing to not link pitches due to some pretty significant rope drag. We found that with efficient transitions, we moved at a reasonable pace in-line with those linking pitches.
We expected the climbing to be similar to Prime Rib, just longer. However, the climbing proved to be a noticeable step up. The 5.9 sections were stouter, and the bolts were spacier (but still not runout). There were a few burlier moves than I expected for 5.9, reinforcing my feeling that “5.9+” in the Cascades actually means “maybe sometimes 5.10b”. The chimney pitch was pretty wild, especially for what we have come to expect in Mazama.
We planned to rappel all the way back down, but thinking about doing 18 rappels made it super easy for me to start asking other groups if we could hitch a ride. Everybody was super chill on-route, and 3 parties managed to squeeze into a Subaru for the ride down. Jess and I hiked back to our bag and shoes at the base of the climb in the dark, me in my TC Pros and Jess in her Birkenstocks.
If I were to do this again (I probably won’t), I would just wait in the Flyboys parking to see if any other group would coordinate for a shuttle. It seemed like most people were in a similar boat to us descent wise.
Thanks, Mazama!
Check Out the WoRld Epicenter of Sport Alpine Climbing
El Potrero Chico 2023, Vamos a México!
January 2023, just like every January, the climbing withdrawals set in and I start going crazy. It’s like clockwork. They say the horrible grey and wetness it’s perfect for skiing, but I feel like climbing. So there I am in Smith, frozen numb fingers, gripped out on some random route, trying to warm my hands…