Crack Practice Spots in WA

Wanted to check the collective beta on MP for this..  After a season of mostly climbing on rock, I've found that my major major weakness is non swim lane crack climbing.  Prior to this year, most my rock was isolated to Vantage (due to the season) or just in the gym.   Great for some things including swim lanes, but any sort of varied cracks are my major weak spot. 

Any good spots in the 2-3hr vicinity of Seattle for this that people like going to practice? Ideally good spots for the rainy months. Thanks for the help!

Index or Tieton? Both areas are way better climbing than Vantage imo.

Chris M wrote:

Index or Tieton? Both areas are way better climbing than Vantage imo.

Index fails for the rainy months, sadly.  I am hoping to find a place to climb consistently mid-fall through mid-spring.  Tieton looks great and I'd imagine is pretty dry year round..?   

Pretty sure it stays dry year round. We climbed there a bunch last oct-nov, probably can be a bit cold dec-feb if i had to guess, but still dry. A lot quieter and slightly better climbing compared to vantage imo.

Also there’s a nice brewery right by the climbing too…

Yep just go to the royal columns 

As others have said, Tieton is the spot. Royal Columns offers a great crack climbing progression from 5.5 to 5.10. Then once at 5.10, The Bend is stacked with good cracks. Tieton cracks are quite varied, so it'll help with that aspect.

Getting to the end of the season, but Squamish is IMO the best place on earth for developing as a crack climber. 

Hard to imagine a place better than the UW practice rock.

Someone on Supertopo made a .txt list of cracks in the PNW, along with notes on size and whether it's a testpiece for the grade. I converted the list into a Google Doc. Might be helpful. Mambo Jambo isn't on the list but I'd call it out as a high value, wavy hand crack, especially if you do the tilted finish.

James C wrote:

Someone on Supertopo made a .txt list of cracks in the PNW, along with notes on size and whether it's a testpiece for the grade. I converted the list into a Google Doc. Might be helpful. Mambo Jambo isn't on the list but I'd call it out as a high value, wavy hand crack, especially if you do the tilted finish.

whoever made that list got most of the 5.11 crack grades wrong, "Iron Horse 11a" lol

Yep - the list was quite old and I reproduced it as is. Gave you access, Hank.

A lot of the single-pitch crags in Leavenworth are solid. You can walk around most of the crags and set up a top-rope in order to practice harder crack climbs. I know that Leavenworth gets snowy/wet eventually in the winter but up to late fall and early winter, you hit the low crags along the icicle. Once that is weathered out Royal Columns is great and different rock than Vantage.

Mitchell Chahalis wrote:

A lot of the single-pitch crags in Leavenworth are solid. You can walk around most of the crags and set up a top-rope in order to practice harder crack climbs. I know that Leavenworth gets snowy/wet eventually in the winter but up to late fall and early winter, you hit the low crags along the icicle. Once that is weathered out Royal Columns is great and different rock than Vantage.

This, especially if index is wet. Leavenworth season basically just started for cragging and bouldering, it's more or less good through mid November. A lot easier to set up topropes for than much of index too. Start on something like roto wall or alphabet rock (5.5-10d) dogleg crack is a good 5.8+ that is easily toproped. Then move on to the harder stuff. Stay away from classic crack, it's as slick as wax, and you'll only learn how hard 5.8 can be, and not how to climb crack. Chromosome cracks are good for low grades, then JY crag for moderate. All these are near the road and have toprope access without shenanigans. 

Tietion is really, really good. 

Kyle Elliott wrote:

This, especially if index is wet. Leavenworth season basically just started for cragging and bouldering, it's more or less good through mid November. A lot easier to set up topropes for than much of index too. Start on something like roto wall or alphabet rock (5.5-10d) dogleg crack is a good 5.8+ that is easily toproped. Then move on to the harder stuff. Stay away from classic crack, it's as slick as wax, and you'll only learn how hard 5.8 can be, and not how to climb crack. Chromosome cracks are good for low grades, then JY crag for moderate. All these are near the road and have toprope access without shenanigans. 

Tietion is really, really good. 

Thanks for the beta on the specific crags!  Super helpful

Its not in WA, but if you can make the drive Trout Creek is definitely the best pure splitter climbing in the NW. A three day weekend is perfect.

Kyle Elliott wrote:

This, especially if index is wet. Leavenworth season basically just started for cragging and bouldering, it's more or less good through mid November. A lot easier to set up topropes for than much of index too. Start on something like roto wall or alphabet rock (5.5-10d) dogleg crack is a good 5.8+ that is easily toproped. Then move on to the harder stuff. Stay away from classic crack, it's as slick as wax, and you'll only learn how hard 5.8 can be, and not how to climb crack. Chromosome cracks are good for low grades, then JY crag for moderate. All these are near the road and have toprope access without shenanigans. 

Tietion is really, really good. 

I’m gonna have to disagree. If you want to learn crack climbing, classic crack is amazing. 

FYI:

https://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/topic/38308-washington-crack-workshop/

Also I visited Royal Columns at Teiton for the first time this year and was very impressed at the quality of crack climbs.

Kyle Elliott wrote:

This, especially if index is wet. Leavenworth season basically just started for cragging and bouldering, it's more or less good through mid November. A lot easier to set up topropes for than much of index too. Start on something like roto wall or alphabet rock (5.5-10d) dogleg crack is a good 5.8+ that is easily toproped. Then move on to the harder stuff. Stay away from classic crack, it's as slick as wax, and you'll only learn how hard 5.8 can be, and not how to climb crack. Chromosome cracks are good for low grades, then JY crag for moderate. All these are near the road and have toprope access without shenanigans. 

Tietion is really, really good. 

I also disagree with this opinion of classic crack. I personally think it's one of the easier 5.8s in the canyon and a great way to learn how to hand jam. 

Hangdog Hank wrote:

I also disagree with this opinion of classic crack. I personally think it's one of the easier 5.8s in the canyon and a great way to learn how to hand jam. 

Its also a good place to learn how to dodge ropes as you're leading this stellar 20' crack.  If your hands fit it really is easy, it is a good place to learn footwork, as any slab is.

Freeway cracks underneath i-5.

Beneath the Alaskan Way Viaduct. Oh wait, that’s gone…

Don Harder wrote:

Freeway cracks underneath i-5.

Beneath the Alaskan Way Viaduct. Oh wait, that’s gone…

Haha very cool.

I guess I am less cool and just cruise the swim lanes at Vertical World :) 

What grade are you looking for?

Tieton is amazing, but the cracks tend to require more thoughtful protection. They are jagged and tend to be inward flaring, making the higher grades a painful endeavor.