Spokane climbers tell me about your area!

I'm thinking about relocation to Spokane and want info about the climbing scene. I've looked at the database but still have questions. What types of climbing are nearby? Are climbers open to new partners? Is there a gym in town? Thanks in advance for any help!

I think Spokane is a pretty underrated climbing city. There is a lot of decent rock close to town and really good stuff within a few hours. I'll list what I know.

Very close (less than 30 minutes)= Minnehaha (mostly trad w/runout sport and decent bouldering), Deep Creek (hard sport climbing on weird basalt), McClellen (mix of trad, sport bouldering),
Q'emlin park (moderate sport routes), dishman, tum tum (fun bouldering), Mirabau (sport climbing), and Rocks of Sharon (mix of sport and trad).

1-2 hours- Vantage a.k.a frenchmans coulee (tons of sport and trad on basalt columns (400+ routes) , Climbing near Sandpoint,ID, Chimney Rock and the Selkirk range in N. Idaho (trad and alpine)

Leavenworth is 2-3 hours. There's a ton of sweet routes in the Stuart range near Cle Elum.

I hear there is a bunch of good limestone areas north of spokane also

There is a good gym in town called wild walls. I think it would be easy to find good partners there.

Also you're relatively close to world class alpine in the North Cascades.

Sorry for the delay...thanks for the info! I'm hoping we're headed up there to check it out soon. Does Spokane have specific seasons that are better for climbing? Here in Flag there are more options spring, fall summer but you can climb year round, just more limitedly. Is it impossible to climb in the winter in Spokane?

There are definately specific season for climbing.

Vantage, WA Frenchmans Coulee= Awesome winter climbing, Usually in the 50's and 60's(it's like a much bigger, but with shittier rock, paradise forks.)

Marcus and China Bend are also good in winter washingtonclimbers.org/Clim…

Most stuff around Spokane= great fall and spring, and decent summer

Deep creek is a great summer place to climb as is Leavenworth and the N. Cascades.

Another great winter area I forgot to mention is Hells Canyon with over 400 limestone sport routes.

A lot of the climbing around the area is somewhat adventurous.

I think winter climbing in Spokane really depends on what your used to. I grew up in Laramie, WY, and when I moved out the the NW found it pretty easy to climb in the winter, but others from hotter climates have not agreed.

That's funny your moving from Flagstaff, I'm moving to Flagstaff in a few months, and advice on the climbing there?

I've got lots of advice, what're you interested in particular? And when do you get here?

here's an excellent guide to post falls, a few miles east of spokane
THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE
and other excellent rockclimbs
at Q'Emlin park
Post Falls ID
3rd edition 2008
also
Marty Bland has a great guide for the spokane area

Thanks! How long have you lived in Spokane? What's your opinion on what I asked in the first post?

I've lived here since 1990 but spent a few ywars overseas with the military. i just started climbing about 6 months ago. quickly becoming a fanatic. i've looked at climbing at dishman, deep creek, minnehaha, and post falls. dishman is slightly overhanging, seems beyond my skills at this point. deep creek looks well beyond my skills and strength. minnehaha is right in town and is great for top roping, climbs for every level, minimal bolts on the routes so not so good for someone learning to sport lead. post falls is a well bolted park, great climbs for all levels, awesome place to learn to sport lead climb. made my first attempts to lead there last weekend, the 5.7 was easy, then tried a 5.10a and made it first try.

Nice job! Is the climbing community pretty open and friendly or more cliquish? What do you love/hate about Spokane in general?

everyone i've met has been great, they put up with all my questions on how to do things the right way. the wild walls climbing gym has a great group of people there. as far as spokane itself it seems like an overgrown small town, the major issues like gangs and drugs are nothing compared to a big city. drivers aren't too smart though.the military moved me out here from a small town in illinois and i never wanted to go back. we're close to just about every kind of terrain you could want, all within a day's drive.

I lived in Spokane for 5 years.
I liked it a lot. There is good mtn biking near town, great trail running at Riverside State Park. Selkirk mtns nearby, they kick ass. When I lived there I hadn't started climbing yet but I ahve tried some stuff there when visiting relatives.
The routes I got on at Deep Creek seemed really sandbagged. I didn't have a great time climbing there but that could jus tbe my problem. It's possible taht I would go there again and love it. Maybe if I tried a different wall or something. Or tried harder.
Climbed at Post Falls once and thought it was great. When I was visiting there in the winter I went to Wild Walls and I thought it was good. Not as good as my home gym quarryclimbing.com/quarry/i… but maybe I'm spoiled. Or prejudiced. But the people at Wild Walls, staff and patrons were cool.
You have access to a much wider variety of good beer in Spokane than you do where I live now.
All in all, Spokane is good. I'd live there again.

crackrn wrote:I've got lots of advice, what're you interested in particular? And when do you get here?

I know there's multipitch here in Flag but haven't done any. CW is that it's pretty chossy but it still gets done. Sedona has plenty of multi-pitch, most have a certain degree of choss but the well traveled ones have less than others. Tons of bouldering, some in town, other areas within 15-20 minutes of town (Priest Draw, Kelly Canyon, etc. ). The Pit is the 'local' sport area (10 min out of town) with routes from 5.7-5.14, mostly concentrating in the 11-12 range. If it's sunny you can climb here when it's 20 degrees out. A new area just out of town has gotten some good press but I haven't been there so no beta from me. Jack's and the Asylum are about 90 min out of town, some hate it, some love it. They have routes at all grades and I've always had fun there. The Forks and the Overlook are close (40 and 20 ish minutes respectively) single pitch trad. There's definitely more to be had and I think a new Northern AZ guide is due out soon if it's not already here.
What brings you here (me being nosy :) )?

JacobD wrote:There are definately specific season for climbing. Marcus and China Bend are also good in winter washingtonclimbers.org/Clim…

David Stephens wrote: I would guess and say; you have never been to Marcus. It's great in the summer and the fall, it comes in to sun about 1:00pm. In winter drive to the Bend.

David, what do *you* think of the climbing scene and Spokane in general?

Thanks for the helpful responses Jacob, Paul and Darrell. Looks like we're coming up there for an interview in a couple weeks. Hopefully we'll be able to get out and check out one or 2 of these places. Any recs for which one you'd go to if you only had one day?

Relocation to Spokane is like voluntary pergatory. The comment about big/small is right on. It's the biggest small town in the country, and not in the good ways of a small town.

Residents there share a single strand of DNA, inbred from decades ago, continuing to the present. On top of that weirdness of the inhabitants are oddities too countless to name. But a few are blatant disregard for grammar, parents letting kids raise themselves, sand for soil with one single native species of tree (Ponderosa Pine), and credit card debt larger than the rest of the country's combined. One reason for this hell on Earth is that central WA has a nuclear plant, Hanford, which was the last to institute safety regulations of any kind. The wind blows east from there, so you know what's in Spokane's soil. Obvious advice is to stay on I-90 and not to stop at a gas station or restaraunt. Even the door handles likely have gonneria.

You have to pity "Spokanites" though. They're completely clueless to it all.

Now, if you must go, hit Minne and Dishman. This from a guy with two FA's at Tum Tum.

Please don't flag my post. He asked about relocation.