Hi everyone, this is my web page on new routes at Vantage WA also known as Frenchmanıs Coulee. The purpose of this web page has evolved over the last couple of years. At first its only purpose was to tell the climbing public where our new were located. This year Iıve decided to expand its scope to include more news (not just new routes) of the goings on at Vantage and the climbing world in general. I plan to up-date the ³news² section as things happen (which means when I feel like doing it) and will continue to up-date the new route information as we put them in. I plan to cover climbing access, interactions with the Land Manager, Robert Kent Washington State Fish and Wildlife and progress of the MOU (and anything else that I feel like reporting). If you want to read about these issues please go to the ³Issues² section. If you want to skip all the horseshit just click on the wall names below and you will go directly to the overviews. From there you can click on the specific area (designated by a number or wall names in green on the picture) you want and see the photograph with the new routes on it. Once you have the picture you want, print it out and take it with you to the cliff and enjoy the routes. If you look on each photograph, youıll see the last time I up-dated it. You will be able to use this date to tell if the photograph has been changed since the last time you down loaded it. I will be reshooting the overview pictures this year and I hope that they will be better. If you are using a PC, the pictures have to be resized to print and you'll need an image viewer for that. You can get a free one at http://fabrizio.jth.it and down load imagoWEB. It works well and is free. To print the pages go to page set up and set it to landscape and set the size to 40% (you can do this directly from Netscape if you're using a Mac or from the image viewer if you're using a PC). If you look on each photograph, you'll see the last time I updated it. You will be able to use this date to tell if the photograph has been changed since the last time you down loaded it. IF YOU HAVE NEVER CLIMBED AT VANTAGE PLEASE GO TO THE ROCK FALL AND BELAYING SECTION. It will explain the "special" problems you may encounter at Vantage. Comments, questions or slander can be sent to me at williamrobins@hotmail.com.
The Frenchman Coulee Climbing Association (FCCC) is trying to set up a Memorandum of Understanding with the Washington State Fish and Game (the government agency that controls the Vantage area) and want people's input into the process. I know, this sounds like more paperwork bullshit but believe me its something that has to happen. Why should you care? Right now, if something bad happens at Vantage (range fire, climbing death, too many people etc. ) the Land Manager has no one to talk to and can just close the area with a stroke of a pen. We want to avoid this outcome so the MOU. This approach has worked well at other climbing areas and hopefully will work at Vantage. If you pick up either Climbing or Rock and Ice you will see articles about land management and access as it applies to climbing. The climbing community has finally gotten large enough that we are getting attention for the land owners and managers. Unfortunately, most of the time, itıs negative attention. Also, unfortunately, the majority of climbing areas do not have the resources (money) to handle one more issue such as ³what to do with the climbers and THEIR impact?². The land managers view us as just one other group of land users and they have to balance our use (or abuse) of their land with the needs of the other land users and everyoneıs impact on the environment. If you climb and care about what happens please join the FCCC and the Vantage Climbers e-group. As soon as the draft MOU is published by the Washington Fish and Wildlife I will put it on this web page so that everyone can see it. Please join, and participate in the MOU process. Everyone's opinion is important and if you donıt participate donıt bitch!
Location of Green and Middle East Walls from the Parking Lot
Overview of Sunshine, Nether World, Far End, and Rump Ryder Walls
Overview of Fugs, Trapeze and Can't Win Walls
Disclaimer
Use of any of the information in this web page is at your own risk. I make no claim that any information in this web page is accurate. Climbing anywhere at anytime is dangerous. You can get killed by rock fall, bad protection, the weather, or just plain bad luck just to name a few. If you climb long enough, there is a really good chance that you will get killed at it. If you want a list of people I have known who have died climbing I'll be happy to send it to you. Don't blame me or anyone else if you get hurt while climbing. When you bought your harness and shoes you decided that your life really isn't worth that much so don't whine. Bottom line, if you want to stay safe don't go anywhere near any climbing area. If you use information from this web page and get hurt, its your fault not mine. The information in this web page is intended for private, non-commercial uses. This means you can use it but you can't sell it or put it in a guide without my permission. All information in this web page is copyrighted. Enough shit for the lawyers.
Information that you may find useful
All our routes were put in from the ground up, no pre-placed protection (rappel-drilled bolts).
Rock Fall Dangers and Belaying at Vantage
The rock at Vantage is basalt and the cliffs, talas fields, ledges etc. are erosional features that have evolved over the last 10,000 years (a very short time for geology). This means that erosion (such as rock fall) is happening extremely quickly at Vantage. The talas slopes tell the story of rock fall at Vantage. Look down almost any of the slopes and you will see full size pieces of columns, large boulders, and millions of tons of plates. This is all crap that has fallen off the cliffs that you want to climb and it didn't happen million of years ago!!! So, if you climb at Vantage you will see and more importantly experience rock fall. The worse time for rock fall on the more popular routes is the spring. The winter freeze-thaw cycle has happened and many new loose holds, flakes, and general choss has been created. So, it doesn't matter that the route you climbed last year was tight with no loose holds, because it can and often will have new loose holds. Thus, DO NOT BELAY DIRECTLY BELOW YOUR CLIMB. DO NOT HANG OUT DIRECTLY BELOW OTHER CLIMBERS. DO NOT PUT YOUR ROPE, PACK OR OTHER GEAR BELOW AN OCCUPIED CLIMB. Rocks will fall, and what ever is below that route will get hit. So how does one belay at Vantage? Go to the side of the climb you are doing, if possible, with an overhang above you. Put you rope to the side of your route and under an overhang. Do not tie your dog in the rock fall zone, its not the dog's choice being there, please think of their safety too. I realize this is counter to what you've been taught about how to belay but Vantage is different. Rock fall is a constant hazard, it just like ice climbing, so you've got to think that rock will come down on you and your team at any minute. The rock fall danger gets worse the more cliffs you have above you. People walking on trails, climbing and natural rock fall all are now against you. So if you climb on the lower cliffs on the "safe" "sport routes" you also got all that shit hanging above your head!!! Just look down the talas slope below you to see what size things have come down from above you.
Fixed protection
Don't trust any fixed protection, back it up!!! Use any fixed protection at your on risk!!!
Most of the fixed protection that you'll find on our routes are fixed pitons. If you want to see what they look like click on Pitons. Why pitons instead of bolts? In most cases the pitons are in places where we couldn't get in clean protection but couldn't hang out long enough to drill a bolt. Also in many cases bolts are not safe in the less than perfect rock sometimes found at Vantage. If you sit on one of the knife blades the blade will flex. They should flex, that's part of their design. Now, if they move in the rock then you're in big trouble. The down side of pitons is they can loosen over time. We attempt to avoid this by using soft iron pitons instead of chrom-moly pitons. They tend to deform instead of loosen with time. That said, don't trust any fixed pitons or bolts found anywhere, ours included.
Fixed Rappels
Don't trust any fixed rappel, back it up!!! Use any rappel at your on risk!!! Your most likely way of dying is while rappelling.
We use either 1/2" x 7" or 1/2" x 8 1/2" bolts and 3/8" hardened chain for our rappels. We place them far enough back so that hopefully they won't pull out. This doesn't mean they're safe, just slightly less dangerous than many of the rappel stations you find at Vantage. If you look carefully, many of the rappel stations placed below the top of the cliffs are in pillar caps. The pillar caps can fall off with you attached. Personally, I wouldn't trust any of these rappel stations.
Suggested equipment that you may need for many of our routes.
We used active protection almost exclusively on all our routes. We don't carry nuts but use Lowe Balls and TCUs instead. We find them much more useful than nuts. On the large end we use #5 Camelots, #5 and #6 Friends and #4 Big Bros for the large cracks. If the route has pro to 6", #5 Camelots will work, if pro to 7" is required you'll need #6 Friends, if protection to 9" is required you'll need #4 Big Bros. If you don't know what these things are click on Protection. So if you want to climb all our routes, you will need protection from #1 Lowe Balls to #4 Big Bros. A "standard" rack for most of the routes except the large cracks would be set of Lowe Balls, double set of TCUs and Camelots (or what ever brands in the size range you have) from 1/3" (00 TCU) to #4 Camelot (4"). This will get you up 80 to 90% of our routes.
One last thing, don't expect to find fixed protection at the tops of our routes, you'll have to set up your own belays i.e. carry extra gear for the belay. We set up belays by hunting around on the tops of the cliffs and finding solid rock. Some of the places where we have placed protection are as much as 15 feet away from the top of the route. Why? Well again, much of the rock near the top of the cliffs is shit and putting bolts in this choss is just setting up problems. Don't trust anyone but yourself. Set up your own belays in rock you think is safe. Think of it this way, would you rather trust your own judgement or some one you've never met?
A Little Bit About Each Cliff
Green Wall
This is the first cliff you past as you walk towards either Sunshine or Middle East Walls. This is a great place to learn to lead climb. There are 1/2" x 7" bolts on top, two about every 10 feet to help with the belays. This area is NOT set up for top roping, it is set up so that one climber leads and the second follows. Here you can practice for longer routes in Leavenworth, Index or wherever. All of the routes are between 5.4 and 5.9 so have fun. Your rack for this cliff doesn't need to be as large in number, a single set of Camelots or Friends will work. Nuts and hexs will also work but I didn't lead any of these routes with them so you might have more difficulty finding good protection without active pieces.
Recommended routes:
Gerbil Lies 5.6 (best of the cliff)Hand Jive 5.8
Middle East Wall P>Many of the new routes on Middle East Wall are face routes, put in from the ground up, just some really fun routes. We've also worked at trying to find fun, well protected moderate routes and I think we have found some. If difficult and technical is what floats your boat, they are there too. We've put in a number of new rappel stations so that you won't have to walk too far (if you choose to use the rappel stations do so at your own risk, remember rappelling is the most dangerous thing you do climbing). Middle East is a great place to climb in the summer (unlike roasting on Sunshine) and is as short or shorter walk than Sunshine Wall. On many of the more difficult routes (5.10s and 5.11s) Lowe Balls were used extensively, along with small TCUs and Aliens.
Recommended Routes:
Too Loose to Come 5.6Closet Boy 5.8
Falling Out of Love 5.9
Closet Catamite 5.10 b
Angel with Armor 5.11 a
Hard by Viagra 5.11 b
High Holy Hardware 5.11C
Sunshine Wall
Sunshine Wall is so long that I have split it up into three section; Old Sunshine Wall (the main older section), The Nether World and The Far End. Most new routes are on the Nether World or Far End. If you don't climb on the older section of Sunshine, you can spend most of the day alone.
Recommended Routes:
Chapstick 5.5 (fun first lead)No Fear Just Gear 5.8 (good first 5.8 lead)
Magic Fingers 5.10 a
Here There Nowhere 5.11b
Rump Rider Wall
Called Ryder Wall in Marlene and Jim's guide book, this is the second tallest wall at Vantage (parts of Fugs are a little taller). Sports Climbing is Neither is a full 160 feet long. Most of the routes involve both face and crack climbing and require a wide ranging rack including Lowe Balls. We have cleaned some of the routes and will be putting in many more routes in this area.
Recommended Routes
Tit Tamer 5.8Sports Climbing is Neither 5.9 (the longest route on the wall so far)
Big Bodacious Ta-Tas 5.10 A
Fugs Wall
Incorrectly reported in Smoot's horrid guide as difficult to get to, there is a nice trail along the base and it's no longer a walk than the Far End of Sunshine Wall. Many of the new routes on Fugs Wall are off-widths but on Fugs Wall is one of the few true roof problems that there are at Vantage. We have installed two new rappel stations to make the walks shorter (use any rappel station at your own risk).
Recommended Routes:
Grope Chortle 5.9
Onyx Colored Tit Wax 5.10 a (roof problem)
Rip it off, Rap it up, Stick it in 5.10 d (one of the best handcracks at Vantage)
Trapeze and Can't Win Walls
If you want to be away from the crowds, these are two of the places. The routes on Trapeze wall were put in by someone that was just learning how to lead and they are a lot of fun. Many of the routes are similar to routes found on Green Wall. Again like Green Wall a smaller number of pieces are required for leading on these walls but unlike Green Wall there are no top anchors.
Recommended Routes P>Trapeze Wall
No Longer a Virgin 5.5
This Ainıt Like Climbing Plastic 5.8
Dancing With the Devil 5.9
Believe in the Impossible 5.10 a
Canıt Win Wall
Whining Seattlites 5.8
The Death of Malibu Barbie 5.10
Controversial Subjects
There are a number of controversies at Vantage and I am going to express my opinion on some of them. The most important thing to remember is ³Opinions are like assholes, everybody has one² and not take mine or anyone elseıs too seriously. Another thing to consider is that many climbers have ³strong² personalities (some people would substitute words like assholes, egomaniacs, type ³A² personalities on steroids, etc.). They hold their opinions very strongly and will loudly express them. I include myself in the above category. The controversial subjects that I covered last year were; route names, putting in new routes, and cleaning old established routes. The reason I picked these subjects was that they seem to be the ones where I was directly involved. People have read (or not) my opinions and have formed what ever opinions about my opinions, so these are old subjects. If you want to read the old issues click on
Old Issues. Washington State Fish and Wildlife will have a new Management Plan for Vantage in the near future and I believe that this and other access issues are now much more important than the previous subjects. For those of you that have not been ³in the loop² I think that a little background on how the Vantage climbing community (what ever you think that is) got involved with the Washington State Fish and Wildlife (WSFW), Memorandums of Understanding (MOU), and the forth coming Management Plan for Vantage. If you want to read about the background and logistics, what's going on today my ramblings about the future click and the ever fun best of the best slanders click on the subject. Enjoy
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