Zig Zag, 5.7**
- Gear Used:
- 60 meter rope
- gear to 3 inches
- slings
February 24, 2008
The Drive
Mt. Erie is one of the few crags in Washington that is easily accessible from Seattle. By easily accessible I mean less than 3 hours to reach. It usually takes us about an hour and 20 minutes to get there from my front door. After driving I-5 North for about an hour take SR 20 West for about 15 minutes. Take a left at a stop light (still SR 20) and drive towards Deception Pass. Take a right at Campbell Lake Road and another right at the Mount Erie Grocery which leaves you on Heart Lake Road. There is a small pull off shortly after the store for the Snag Buttress trail otherwise continue another mile for the state road to the top of Mt. Erie and access to the Powerline Wall and the Summit Wall.
From the parking lot you hike up the trail. You quickly find a fork with a sign that warns you that the trail is closed. Ignore it and take the right hand trail for a bit until you see another trail cut up the slope on your left. Follow it until you are at the base of Snag Buttress.
Zig Zag, 3 pitches
Pitch 1, 5.6
Start with the obvious right-facing corner near the left side of formation. Fun climbing with good pro lead up to a bush/tree that I avoided by climbing on the face/arrete. Once out of the corner system you reach a large ledge, I climbed straight up a short face from the ledge to a chain anchor on the slab. We were behind another party so we had to wait a bit before we could continue on the climb.
Lacey climbing the first pitch.
Lacey at the top of the first pitch.
Pitch 2, 5.6
The party in front of us were able to climb the next to pitches in one. This actually looks like a better way to do this route but we wanted to check out some of the routes that lead off from the snag.
We climbed up and right on a ramp like feature with cracks and ledges up to the snag tree ledge. The climbing was easy but pretty fun.
High above the water on the second pitch.
Pitch 3, 5.7
This was the best part of the climb! I started by traversing left from the tree ledge straight across to the start of the awesome lie back flake. The traverse was a little bit scary just because of the exposure and the slabby feet. Once you get into the crack though it is bomber pro and great climbing. This was a pretty short pitch which is why I think it could be a better climb if you just do it from the top of the first pitch. The crux for me was getting past the crack into the easier train above. Once you pull yourself up and out of the lie back it's easy climbing to the chains.
Lacey pulling the 5.7 crux on the third pitch.
For the descent we hiked up to another set of chains and down climbed a little bit to the top of Potholes. You can make three rappels back to the ground.
Heart Lake and beyond.
This turned out to be a really fun climb. It wasn't really all that hard but for my first trad lead of the season it defiantly got my heart and adrenaline pumping! Lacey is kind of new at the whole rock world and this was a great route to take her on. I think she learned a lot from it. I am looking forward to coming back here soon!
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