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Midway Direct Grade II; 5.6****

The Approach

Once again all of my cowardly climbing partners have bailed on me (You know who you are, you bastards!). I spent the last couple of days texting people and basically begging them to go climbing with me. I Hardly even got any replies (that's pretty rude Adam!). Lacey, although she has only climbed once before at our Leavenworth camping trip, jumped at the opportunity. She had class until 11am so we met at Seattle Central and headed for dry weather on the east side of the cascades.

The drive over highway 2 was beautiful with the trees turning bright orange and red and even a hint of snow on the surrounding peaks above Stevens Pass. Fall is defiantly a good time to be in the mountains. We were planning to climb February Buttress again and actually making it to the top but a last minute decision lead us to Castle Rock. I've climbed Castle Rock a ton and frequently find myself back there to do the classics of the area.

The Climb

Pitch 1, 5.5

The first pitch up Jello Tower is a pretty good introduction to the sandbags of Castle Rock. Some people think that everything is about a grade harder than it is actually rated. Although Midway is a pretty easy route it does feel a bit more technical than the rated 5.5-5.6.

The pitch starts out with some easy climbing on the right side face with good holds and cracks. Make good use of stemming on this pitch as that is what makes it easy. Once you are right below the top of Jello Tower you encounter a smooth face that has a crack on the far right with old rusty pitons in it. This is probably the crux of the route and where the chimney technique comes in. I have found it easier to use the right side wall with feet and hands and the left side to lean against with my back.

Pitch 2, 5.6

Pitch 2 starts with the scary step across move. Jello Tower is hardly connected to the rest of the wall so you have to step across from the tower to get onto the upper route. The moves are easy it is just getting the guts to do it. After the step across I moved to the corner system using the face at times and the corner. I continued past the corner and up the airy face until you can clip a piton and traverse across the face to the easy gully system. The traverse is scary with tons of exposure and connects with the original Midway route.

Lacey was having a little problem trusting her feet on the delicate traverse. After a fair amount of cursing she stepped into the large crack/gully system and made it to the belay ledge.

Pitch 3, 5.4

Pitch 3 is the fun pitch! Easy climbing and tons of cracks and weird slab climbing. We stepped right out of the belay and pulled a small roof. Above the roof we traversed left into the main crack that slant back to the right. The crack is real fun but way to short. A short cruise to the top and we were done.

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