Vantage (April 8, 2004)

On Sunday Roanne and I drove to a climbing area called Frenchman's Coulee, to meet two friends (Kyle and Anne) for some climbing.  Frenchman's Coulee is in the desert east of the Cascades (near the town of Vantage), and has both trad and sport climbing on basalt columns.  We made good time on the 2 hour drive from Seattle, arriving at around 9:30 am to clear blue skies.  We started at the area adjacent to the parking lot (The Feathers) where we did Medicine Man (5.10a), Dance of the Shaman (5.10b), and a 5.9 to the left of the first climb (can't remember the name and it wasn't all that good).  Kyle and Anne had joined us by this time (also doing two of the above named climbs), and at this point we decided to break for lunch before moving on to a different area (the Feathers was starting to resemble a Saturday afternoon climbing gym birthday party by this point).  After lunch, we hiked towards the Sunshine Wall, and then  took a left to the Powerhouse Wall.  There is a classic climb there called King of the Ruins (5.12a) that I had read about and was excited to try.  I had two attempts on it (see photos below), and got it down to one hang on the second try, but was unable to send.  The crux of the climb starts just below the roof shown in both photos.  Pulling the roof is difficult, and then the climbing remains pumpy for the next few bolts above the roof.  Definitely one to go back to.

Next we headed over to the Sunshine Wall to do a few longer moderate climbs.  We did Throbbing Gristle (5.9), and Hakuna Matata (5.10b), both of which were long, overbolted, with climbing similar to going up a ladder, but fun nonetheless.  Below are two pictures of Anne on Hakuna Matata, Kyle can be seen belaying at the bottom of one.

At this point several group members were feeling like they had done enough climbing for the day (read: everyone except me), so we hiked back to the parking lot near The Feathers.  However, I did persuade Roanne to let me do one more climb, a classic 5.10b called Satans Wagan.  Kyle also wanted to do this climb, so we both climbed it in the early evening light, which made for good photos as can be seen below.  The first two show me on the crux sequence of the climb (using the smallish side pull in my right hand in the second photo).

These next three photos show Kyle on the same climb.  Roanne is belaying in the first photo.  The bright green lichen on the rock makes the climb really aesthetic.  Apparantly this climb has been a nemesis for Kyle ever since he tried it as his first lead, so he was happy to send it, and in fine form too.

Satans Wagan was a great climb, and a good way to finish the day.  After this we drove back to Seattle stopping on the way for Subway and Dairy Queen.