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Heart of Gold
5.10a,
Trad, Sport, 4 pitches,
Avg: 2.7 from 71
votes
FA: Gordon Briody, Dave Bale, Viktor Kramar 1998
Washington
> Central-E Casca…
> Leavenworth
> Icicle Creek
> Duty Dome - War…
> Duty Dome
A pair of golden eagles regularly nest on Bridge Creek Wall. When in effect, starting January 1, PLEASE DO NOT CLIMB or travel within 1/2 mile of Bridge Creek Wall. As a reference, the climb Condorphamine Addiction is just outside of this 1/2 mile buffer, and is OK to climb still. The closure extends through August 15, but there is active monitoring to determine if the seasonal closure can be lifted earlier.
In 2014, there was an active pair of peregrine falcons at Snow Creek Wall, but no official closure was put in effect due to the location of the falcons. The site will be continually monitored with changes or removal of closures updated as necessary.
Description
Heart of Gold is a fine multi-pitch journey up the bulk of Duty Dome. Excellent face climbing and thoughtfully placed bolts make for a pleasantly hard climb up beautiful stone.
P1. Begin at the left side of a long roof, following bolts up and then right to a crystal-laden slab and the anchor.
P2. Traverse directly right from the belay, following an obvious hand crack under a roof and around the corner. Trend up and right to the anchor.
P3. The meat. A delicate section off the belay leads to 30m of friction face climbing. The burn you will develop in your calves is worth it.
P4. Easier face climbing leads to a belay near the top of the dome.
Location
To descend, scramble off the right side of the dome, and walk down the gully between Duty Dome and Warrior Wall. Rappel slings are in place on most of the anchors, but rappelling the route after the second pitch would certainly require some improvisation.
Protection
Mostly bolt protected, with a few pieces up to 1". A pink tricam fits nicely in a runout on the first pitch. One or two pieces will protect the P2 traverse for the second, and a small microcam or alien can be placed for the timid low on P3.
[Hide Photo] Two long slings on the two first bolts. We found it by finding "A Slice of Ice", which is at the upper boundary, then looking down the slope for bolts. There is a good pine tree right at the base.…
[Hide Photo] Looking up at the Heart of Gold pitch
[Hide Photo] View down on the 3rd (money) pitch from the anchors. Climber at the pitch 2 (traverse) anchors. The slab here is the only spot that feels 10a
[Hide Photo] On the "bubbly slab" (pitch 3) on Heart of Gold
[Hide Comment] I have heard how people get lost on the 2nd pitch traverse so I will add: go right till you are traversing under and around a roof till you have to mantle up past a small tree, pass 2 button head RAWL bolts on face going right and uphill till you see the 2 hangers of the belay. If when you top out and are not climbing one of the great routes at the Warrior wall you can rap down to the top of Straight Street anchor and make 2 single rope raps to Off Duty area.
Jun 16, 2014
[Hide Comment] good route. worth doing with a short approach and mellow descent. solid slab pitches at the grade that have just enough pro to not be run out but still engaging.
Mar 31, 2015
[Hide Comment] Great route. Correction on pitch 1...guidebook shows 9 bolts, but there were only 7 bolts. Wish we had known that. Went back down, re-checked guidebook and took some small TCUs to bridge the gap between 5 and 6th bolt....easy climbing but would be a bit runout w/o gear. All in all, we had a great time.
May 8, 2015
[Hide Comment] Agree with previous comments. Great bolting job on P3 which is so much fun. Just spaced out enough to keep you on your toes but not so much as to make it scary.
P2: just go directly right on the big horizontal crack until you see a bolt around the corner. Don't go up and right.
Apr 4, 2016
[Hide Comment] I felt pitch four was equally difficult as pitch three. The slab section felt steeper and more exposed. Fun route, but knock it out early in the day if it's going to be a hot one!
Jun 26, 2017
[Hide Comment] Really fun climb in my opinion. Couple notes: -P2 is basically just 'move right' I don't think the beta for this needs to be any more complicated. -The creek FLOWS in spring and is noisy, and the belays out-of-sight of each other; communication between anchors was impossible. I know walkies aren't for everyone, but they really helped us. -We attempted to rappel the routes below the top and certainly got off-route; if you are familiar with the area and can for-sure get to the Straight Street anchors, go for it. Otherwise I highly recommend the walk-off, to avoid the sketchy shit we had to do.
Apr 27, 2021
[Hide Comment] In case anyone was not sure the cruxes are really really slabby and lacking in holds... whatever sport climbing skills I have did not translate. Felt harder than Condorphamine Addiction cruxes to me.
The only gear I placed were .4 on P1 (easy runout), #2 on P2 for the 2nd, grey TCU on P3 (relatively easy section), and blue TCU on P4 (a very easy runout).
May 9, 2021
[Hide Comment] Such a great route! Awesome, engaging 10a cruxes with the perfect amount of protection to make things excitingly safe.
I might bring a brush next time just to keep cleaning the thing up, but it’s not necessary.
As of my climb pretty much all the newer bolts looked to be in good condition. I snugged up a few of the spinners and eyed some of the seemingly older anchor bolts. Those three bolt anchors make me feel all warm inside. The button heads also look damn good.
Jun 30, 2022
[Hide Comment] Used about two placements through pitch 2. At the top of pitch 4, with chain anchors, there was another barely visible set of bolted anchors about 100 feet up and closer to the descent trail, so I just kept going to these. I was at the middle mark at the official pitch 4 anchors, but there was no drag getting to the next set. There was no pro or bolts but its basically walking
Oct 6, 2022
Avg: 2.7 from 71
votes
Access Issue: Seasonal Raptor Closures
Details
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Seattle, WA
If when you top out and are not climbing one of the great routes at the Warrior wall you can rap down to the top of Straight Street anchor and make 2 single rope raps to Off Duty area. Jun 16, 2014
Leavenworth WA
Placentia, California
Seattle, WA
P2: just go directly right on the big horizontal crack until you see a bolt around the corner. Don't go up and right. Apr 4, 2016
Seattle, WA
-P2 is basically just 'move right' I don't think the beta for this needs to be any more complicated.
-The creek FLOWS in spring and is noisy, and the belays out-of-sight of each other; communication between anchors was impossible. I know walkies aren't for everyone, but they really helped us.
-We attempted to rappel the routes below the top and certainly got off-route; if you are familiar with the area and can for-sure get to the Straight Street anchors, go for it. Otherwise I highly recommend the walk-off, to avoid the sketchy shit we had to do. Apr 27, 2021
Seattle, WA
The only gear I placed were .4 on P1 (easy runout), #2 on P2 for the 2nd, grey TCU on P3 (relatively easy section), and blue TCU on P4 (a very easy runout). May 9, 2021
Joshua Tree
I might bring a brush next time just to keep cleaning the thing up, but it’s not necessary.
As of my climb pretty much all the newer bolts looked to be in good condition. I snugged up a few of the spinners and eyed some of the seemingly older anchor bolts. Those three bolt anchors make me feel all warm inside. The button heads also look damn good. Jun 30, 2022
Portland, OR