Mountaineers Dome Cragging
- Gear Used:
- 60 meter half rope
- gear to 3 inches
- slings
May 13, 2008
The Drive
We left the rain of Seattle and drove over Stevens Pass on HWY 2. Took about 2 in a half hours and never stopped raining! Getting a bit frustrated we did end up having a pretty good day staying at the entrance of the Icicle on the Mountaineers Dome. It sprinkled on and off all day but the rock stayed dry.
The Climb
I had Mark and Dylan both with me for this trip and they wanted to work on trad leads so what better place than Mountaineers Dome? It is loaded with good cracks at a moderate grade.
Middle Crack on Lower Dome, 5.6
Mark lead this fun route that follows the obvious crack on the middle of the lower dome. Pretty easy climbing with a bulge to over come which has the herdest moves. It seems kind of off-width but but the moves are good. Once over the bulge there is a nice finger crack that leads up the slab to the top.
Mark leading the middle crack up the dome.
Left Crack on Upper Dome, 5.6*
This is a great climb that you can actually lie back up. I lead it with traditional jamming in the awesome crack. It had some thought provoking moves as if you fall it is not hard to see that you could deck into the walk off gully. The route almost traverses the left side of the slab.
Right Crack on Upper Dome, 5.2*
The right side crack is a great beginner crack. Dylan and Mark both lead this and I just top roped it to take down the anchor for another party. It's pretty fun climbing with great rock!
Dylan leading the right crack. The left crack can be seen as well.
Dylan reaching thhe top of the right crack.
Right Crack on Left Slab, 5.2
We moved on to the slab left of the upper slab and took the obvious crack on the right. Really easy and really short. Not really worth much.
Me leading the easy 5.2 route on the left slab.
Left Crack on Right Slab, 5.5*
The nice crack on the left is much better but still pretty short. A few lie back moves lead you to the top.
Me belaying Mark up the lie back.
Roof Crack, 5.9*
We hiked up from the top of the Left Crack and climbed the Roof Crack. Looks pretty intimidating from below. It's real easy until you get to the roof where you have one 5.9 move to get over the roof. There are some holds in the back of the crack that are used as the crack is pretty fat. It takes a #4 BD easily. I definatly did not make the move pretty as it is pretty hard to pull over a roof like that but I made it.
Me below the roof.
Dylan and Mark were getting pretty tired but I haven't even had a pump yet so I talked them into moving over to 8-mile rock so I could get a belay on Classic Crack.
Classic Crack, 5.8+**
I think that this is a phenominal climb. Perfect jams the whole way up. The crux for me is pulling onto the slab above as you are reaching for the jams your feet get pulled away from the rock. I could do this route over and over again!
Me climbing Classic Crack.
All in all it was a great day of climbing and we managed to stay dry. It was fun to climb all the moderates but I definatly feel like it is not helping me progress any. I gotta get out and climb harder!
-Useful guide books-
