Frenchman Coulee, 5.7-5.9
- Gear Used:
- 60 meter rope
- rack to 3 1/2 inches
- slings and quickdraws
March 17, 2008
The Drive
It's about a 3 hour drive to Frenchman Coulee from Seattle. Spring can be a difficult time for cragging in the North West. It was raining in Seattle and a complete blizzard while driving over Snoqualmie Pass. It never fails though, the sun was shinning at the Coulee!
Sunshine Wall
We camped in the main camping area for the night so we could wake up and not have to worry about the 3 hour drive in the morning. This worked out well as we were able to have a lazy morning and still make it to the wall by 11 o'clock.
I already had a list of climbs that I wanted to do as I mainly wanted to focus on trad routes. So we started off with one of the best 5.8 routes at the coulee.
Party in your Pants 5.8***
This is one of the great moderate classics of Frenchman Coulee. It's a long route with great jams and lots of stemming. It takes gear up to 3 inches. I tend to take everything with me when I climb single pitch trad and I found that this route has some great hexentric placements. /p>
Lacey top roping Party in your Pants.
Lacey climbing high on Party in your Pants.
Crossing the Threshhold 5.8**
This climb is similar to Party in Your Pants but much shorter and wider. It is located in the recess on the right of Clip 'em or Skip 'em. It's a pretty fun route with much wider stems and wider cracks. Takes gear up to 4 inches.
Lacey at the start of Crossing the Threshold
Clip 'em or Skip 'em 5.8**
After climbing Crossing the Threshold we pulled the rope and left the anchor to climb on the arrete left of the route. This is a sport route that with good positive holds. Beware of some of that fractured rock though. A lot of it feels like it will rip out of the wall. This is a pretty fun route and shares the same anchor as Crossing the Threshold. 10 bolts to the chain anchor.
Lacey climbing the arrete of Clip 'em or Skip 'em.
Pony Keg 5.10a***
To the left of Whipsaw is a great hands to slightly larger than your hands crack. This route has led to bolt wars due to the Whipsaw bolts being so close to the crack. It is still one of my favorite trad leads at the Coulee though. It allowes for some great jamming with the occasional hold in the back of the crack. Ease the stress by stemming your feet to the left or right. Great route! Gear to 4 inches.
The Chossmaster 5.7**
This route definatly lives up to its name. This was our last route for the day so we climbed it with our packs to walk back to the car from the top. This made it considerably harder for me as I threw in my whole rack minus the 15 quickdraws I needed for all the bolts. It was definatly more strenous for me having all that weight on my back.
Start off with a mix of face climbing and a little bit of stuffen your butt in the chimney to the right. Great face holds made it pretty easy. Half way up is an intermidiate belay but you can continue to the top (if you have enough draws). I continued getting completely wasted from the heavy pack I had. After some struggle I made it to the top and belayed Lacey up.
Lacey reaching the intermidiate belay.
Goals for next time at the Coulee: Air Guitar 5.10a, Tangled up in Blue 5.9, George and Martha 5.10a. Can't wait!
-Useful guide books-
