Washington Pass, WA - Lexington Tower, East Face

A late season foray to the pass to finish off one of the routes that had been sitting on my tick list. Sarah joined me for a fun outing and her first serious alpine adventure. For some reason she enjoys the off widths and found it rather comical when I dropped the #5 Camalot, my only BIG piece, during the wide section of the route. However, I was not the only one to have a mishap as we discovered on the summit that Sarah's shoe was swallowed by one of the off widths. Being a good sport she ran down Blue Lake Trail in her climbing shoes.

Sarah leading off on pitch 3

Almost at the belay - them roofs look big!

Let Toph tackle that wide stuff...

Traversing time

Summit party

Leavenworth, WA - Castle Rock

I rallied home after dealing with the goons at the border and another cavity search for no good reason but still didn't make it before o'dark thirty in the morning. I promised to meet Sarah for some climbing in Leavenworth and was up before I had a chance to lay down. On Hwy 2 with lots of coffee, little did I know it was going to be in the upper 90's in Leavenworth today. We met at Castle and hiked up to the lower section to dispatch Mr.Clean, 10c as a warm up. Shortly after we jumped on the classic Brass Balls, 10b which neither of us seemed to have as I got up most of the route but upon reaching the last roof felt really dizzy, little did I know but severe dehydration was setting in. The temperatures were soaring at this point and I hadn't been drinking much at all. Sarah set up to give it a go and fared slightly better by getting gear in over the roof but she wasn't prepared to send it. After lowering her we both struggled in the blistering heat to stay awake and not pass out. The water I did bring was already hot and did little to cool us. It wasn't until the sun moved around and off the face that I could muster the energy to finish the route. Once down we waded into the Wenatchee River to stand in the icy cool water and watch the sun set.

Nice anchor setup eh?

Somebody is all smiles

Mr.Clean gets a go