Rock Climbing

Rock climbing is just plain fun. Its fun when you’re trying hard. It’s fun when you’re not. It’s fun when you’re practicing new skills that let you move over the rock smoother, more efficiently. Those skills translate into Alpine Climbing if you want, but they don’t have to. Unlike the alpine’s “cheerful suffering”, rock climbing can be characterized by short approaches, big packs filled with comforts, and good breaks between routes. Or not - it could be light packs and long multi-pitch routes, gaining a perspective on the world that only the birds and the climbers before you have had. Take a look at these suggestions, let your imagination wander, and then let’s talk about your ideas. From movement to technical skills to simply enjoying a day out at the crag, rock climbing is fun. It just is. Updated for 2021!

“The best climber is the one having the most fun.” - Alex Lowe

May - September: Cragging in the valleys

From the Canadian border to Smith Rock, there is rock climbing throughout the Pacific Northwest. Snoqualmie Valley has over 300 routes, stretching from North Bend to Snoqualmie Pass, from 5.4 to 5.12 (gulp), from single pitch to the 10 pitch Improbable Traverse on Guye Peak, blurring the line between alpine and rock climbing. Further north, there is Yosemite-like granite at Index and Darrington (my favorite place), and closer to the ocean, the surprisingly clean and complex Mt Erie. There’s the bolted multi-pitch routes in Mazama, trad cracks in Leavenworth, and the longest bolted route in the United States, the 26-pitch 5.10b Infinite Bliss. If you have a rock climbing itch, it can be scratched before the snow melts away and makes the mountains reachable, or again in the fall after the snow’s returned.

May, October: Further afield at smith Rock

Just 30 minutes north of Bend, Oregon, Smith Rock was the birthplace of modern sport climbing in America, and since then its popularity has only grown. It’s unique in that every type of climbing can be found here, so you can just pick your goals for the trip and have at it. There’s trad climbing in the columnar basalt of the Upper Gorge, clean sport climbing just across the river in the Dihedrals, or multi pitch adventures on the Red Wall and the Marsupials. Want more? Tie it together with an ascent (or ski descent!) of Mt Hood, and you have the perfect mountain holiday.

August-September: choose your european adventure

How about climbing in Istria, surrounded by castles used to film “Game of Thrones”? Or sport climbing in Finale Liguria, with over 1000 routes and a two-volume guidebook? Not to mention the countless number of world-class crags surrounding the central Alps, from Chamonix to Innsbruck. Have you seen pictures of the climbing in Sardinia and thought, “I want to go there”?! Me too!