Bouldering in July?

Hi there,

I'll be visiting Seattle for the weekend of July 11th for a conference. Was wondering if it's even possible to get to the nearest area like Leavenworth for bouldering at this time of year? And if for some random reason it is, is there anyone who would be interested in letting me tag along? Unfortunately I won't have my own crash pad since I'm flying in and out, but I am a generous gift giver!

Christie

It is certainly possible to get to Leavenworth in July, but it might be a little warm there for climbing. There are other bouldering areas on the west side of the cascades that offer better conditions when it is super hot in leavenworth.

How far are those other areas? You wouldn't by any chance be going out there at that time of year? I'm hoping to get in one day out there somewhere, but if I can't make it work I'll just be headed to the nearest gym.

Christie

Its a bit far from Seattle (3-4 hours depending on traffic and border lineups) but Squamish is great in July and there are typically a lot of boulderers around. You could likely get by without a pad.

Squamish would be great, but I'll only have a day really to explore out there. And, no car.

You might look into the boulders in Gold Bar. They're listed here on MP and account for a large portion of the Central Washington Bouldering Guide. The good news is they are closer to Seattle than Leavenworth, and they're west of the crest so typically cooler. The bad news is they generally aren't as high quality as the boulders in Leavenworth, that being said there's still a ton of good bouldering in Gold Bar. Boulderers don't tend to plan too far in advance so I would make a post when it gets closer to July.

I would argue that leavenworth is higher quality than gold bar. If your willing to hike up the hill three miles there is a lovely shaded forest filled with high quality granite boulders. I does seem to shine more in the v5 and up grades though

shotgunnelson wrote:I would argue that leavenworth is higher quality than gold bar. If your willing to hike up the hill three miles there is a lovely shaded forest filled with high quality granite boulders. I does seem to shine more in the v5 and up grades though

For those that can climb v7 and above the Index/Gold Bar offers quality that is unmatched elsewhere in WA. For everybody else Leavenworth is the place to go for now... There are a bunch of new areas Morpheus, Sasquatch, Paradise, Prospect (all in the index/skykomish area) that hold an enormous quantity of good problems of all grades for which there will be a guide book for in the near future.

I realized my post may have been confusing so I will just say it like this. Gold bar is really good. I like it better than leavenworth.