remote trad climbing

I'm really into backpacking and would love to find some trad climbs in remote areas to spend a whole week or longer. Anywhere up in Washington or Oregon would be perfect. If anyone knows of a place or just has ideas, it would be greatly appreciated.

The Pickets? North Cascades National Park? The Enchantments?

mountainproject.com/v/wallo…

Too bad you aren't looking to work Colorado. The Grenadiers offer some fantastic back country opportunities. My personal favorite range.

The North Cascades have a tremendous amount of potential but in my opinion very little of it has been realized due to wilderness regulations and other access issues. Quite a bit was done in the Enchantments before the current permit system was put into effect, there's lot of obscure established routes that I can't imagine get done very often because the majority of serious climbers use a car-to-car model for the area.

The same is true for WA pass, except that the rock is not as good and there's a ton within a two hour hike of the road, so people don't seem to venture deeper.

It sort of depends on how committed you are to established areas. I can't think of any developed crags more than a day's hike from a trailhead but that doesn't mean that they couldn't exist. I also used to think a lot about combining my loves of backpacking and crag climbing, and then I starting doing alpine climbs and realized how disgustingly heavy a full rack and rope is.

I do actually have a couple areas up my sleeve, places with real potential that I've hiked past on my way to other destinations, but forgive me for not posting a list. My point is just that they do exist, they're just a bitch to get to and at my skill level, there's enough at Index to last a lifetime.

Ryan Seek wrote:Anywhere up in Washington or Oregon would be perfect. If anyone knows of a place or just has ideas, it would be greatly appreciated.

If you are comfortable with glacier travel: Ptarmigan Traverse. Maybe move camp every other day a couple miles. Climb easy/short stuff on the travel days. Longer and a bit more challenging stuff on non-travel days. Hard to beat if you catch a week of good weather. A party of three might be best for sharing the load of a rope, perhaps half a rack, tent, etc..

Enchantments and WA Pass are the standard attractions for quality trad in the high country. Further off the beaten path is the Cathedral area in the Pasayten Wilderness with more across the border in BC.

Others are right that hauling ropes and cams (along with food and other gear) for miles is daunting... but yes, also potentially beautiful and uncrowded.

Firstly, while it's not in Oregon or Washington, the style of climbing you're describing/seeking is exactly what you find in the Wind River Range. Go there.

Jacob Smith wrote:The North Cascades have a tremendous amount of potential but in my opinion very little of it has been realized due to wilderness regulations and other access issues. Quite a bit was done in the Enchantments before the current permit system was put into effect, there's lot of obscure established routes that I can't imagine get done very often because the majority of serious climbers use a car-to-car model for the area. The same is true for WA pass, except that the rock is not as good and there's a ton within a two hour hike of the road, so people don't seem to venture deeper.

Secondly, I've got to respectfully disagree with some of the statements above.

The 'potential' of NCNP hasn't been realized because it's choss. It takes a special breed of climber (and they're out there, but they're the minority) to get excited about new routing through sometimes-vegetated, low angle rock of suspect quality. Development has by no means ceased in the Enchantments. Many new routes have been put up (or old aid lines rediscovered as free classics) within the existing permit system. As to the rock at WA Pass, it's terrific. So is the rock in the Enchantments. To say one is superior to the other is a moot point. They're both rad.

Max - I feel I should clarify my statements. By "North Cascades" I meant the Cascades between Snoqualmie Pass and the Fraser River, not North Cascades National Park. Regarding the Enchantments, most of the new routes I've heard about have been in, for lack of a better term, the Colchuck Lake cirque, Prusik Peak still attracts it's fair share, but I can't remember the last time I heard about a new route anywhere in the Enchantments proper. I may just be out of the loop.

What I was mostly referring to is how there are about 20 spires and other named features (20 is a random guess, haven't read through that section in years) listed in the Beckey guide between Temple and the back side of Dragontail and I have only very rarely read a report of someone actually climbing one of them.

It is indisputable that the permit system makes spur of the moment trips difficult, also, i can't imagine trying to project a climb up there as you can only get one camping permit per area per season. I fully understand why the system is necessary, but it's still kind of a bummer.

Rock varies everywhere. In my experience you have to go farther off the beaten path in the Stuart range to find the choss than you do in WA pass, but i really haven't climbed that many routes in either area.

I totally forgot about ptarmigan pass. That sounds like a good option. I've been out and around the enchantments a few times. While they were fantastic trips, i wasn't thrilled by the amount of people who i encountered on that trip. Seemed slightly crowded to me. Ill definitely have to look into the Cathedral area, it looks pretty much spot on what I was looking for. Thank you all very much for your replies!

for washington, the enchantments would be the place to go. not too far out there, but theres some great routes.

for oregon...not too much. the wallowas have a few established climbs, but not worth a trip in my opinion.

really the place you seek is the sierra nevada. more than a lifetime's worth of bc climbs. perfect weather, great rock, easy permits. you could take 3 weeks and just hike around an area and do a different peak each day. There is a vimeo video of fitz and becca cahill doing a trip just like that.

vimeo.com/22356025